Showing posts with label garlic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garlic. Show all posts

Friday, July 9, 2010

SHRIMP SCAMPI RECIPE

Last Wednesday I promised to cook my boyfriend dinner, despite getting out from hosting trivia at 10:30. I bought some shrimp from the Farmer's Market on King's st. hoping to find a quick and easy recipe. Lucky for me I found a shrimp scampi recipe on epicurious.com that was fast and incredibly tasty with a light, yet rich flavor.

What you'll need:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1lb peeled and deveined large shrimp (raw)
- 4 large garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- capellini pasta
- 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

What I added:
2 more cloves of garlic (because I love garlic)
2 large tomatoes chopped
I also tossed the shrimp with some extra hot pepper flakes before cooking them
a little lemon juice at the end

How to Make:

boil 6-8 quarts of water with a pinch of salt (or olive oil)

While the water is boiling, heat the olive oil in a large heavy skillet over moderately high heat until it's hot, but not smoking. Saute the shrimp, turning over once until just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Transfer shrimp to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add garlic to remaining oil with pepper flakes (you can adjust the amount to make it spicier or less spicy), wine, salt, and black pepper (I also added my chopped tomatoes here). Cook over med/high heat for 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Add butter, stirring until melted, and stir the shrimp back in. You can remove from heat if your shrimp are cooked through, I let mine simmer for a minute or two first.

Cook pasta until tender, reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water before draining. Toss pasta with shrimp mixture and parsley in a large bowl, adding reserved cooking water if necessary to keep moist.

I chose not to toss the pasta, but made it a "serve yourself" kind of thing with grated parmesan, parsley and lemon juice. It took about 30 minutes (after the shrimp were peeled and deveined), and was so good that my boyfriend and I ate everything! My only regret was not having a baguette or bread of some sort to dip in the awesome sauce that was left over in the skillet.. I can't wait to make this again!

Original recipe can be found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shrimp-Scampi-Pasta-234258

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Tilapia Mediterranean style


Just finished eating dinner and it was f***ing great with out too much work!! The dish is a mediterranean style tilapia with spinach in a light, spicy, tomato garlic sauce.. over pasta of course! It took about 30 minutes and was hit with the bf too! (original recipe can be found on prevention.com)

What you'll need: (dinner for 2)
2 boneless skinless tilapia filets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 14oz. can of diced tomatoes with juice
3-4 basil leaves (minced)
1 tablespoon oregano (minced)
1 cup of chicken stock
1 teaspoon of red-paper flakes (this is a pretty mild to medium heat.. to make spicier add more)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
8 oz of baby spinach
parmesan to grate (optional)
pasta (your choice but I used capellini)

Heat olive oil and minced garlic over medium heat for 3 minutes in a medium to large skillet with sides. Add tomatoes with juice, basil, oregano, chicken stock, red pepper, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a medium simmer and cook for about 8-10 minutes to thicken. Add the tilapia and submerge in sauce. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes (flipping the tilapia over halfway through and covering again). Once the tilapia is fully cooked (it will get flaky), remove and set aside. Add the spinach and turn the heat up high, cooking and stirring for two minutes. Put the tilapia over pasta, add the sauce, and enjoy!! (parmesan can be grated on top).

The pasta I used only took two minutes to cook, so I put a big pot on to boil as a started cooking, and the pasta was done 5 minutes before the dish was ready... Also, I put in about 2 tablespoons of red pepper flakes and it was still a medium spice... My bf didn't care for parmesan (as he's not a big cheese fan to begin with) but I loved it!