Lemony Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp

I can't believe I ever bothered with precooked shrimp. We much prefer the fresh(er) taste of cooking with uncooked shrimp, especially if you cook them just right! I kept a close eye on these shrimp so they'd be tasty!

Risotto isn't that hard. I don't know what Gordon Ramsey fusses about. Okay, I do really. I guess I just make sure that I have everything chopped and prepped so that I don't have to scurry around the kitchen during that crucial 18 minutes of stirring and adding, stirring and adding.

I wouldn't change a thing about this risotto. It was delicious! Maybe I would add a squirt of lemon juice on top to brighten it up a bit. Maybe. Personal preference.

Thanks Kristina and Ana (& Rich) for the recipe! It will be one of those that you keep handy for comfort food. Jim will love if this makes it into a regular rotation!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Lemon Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp.

Pssssst! Do you see my artisan bread in the background? Third batch of bread! I'm still trying to perfect the master recipe. I think they are going well enough, but I'm anxious to try out something more exotic. It's amazing how yeast, water, salt, and flour come together to make such deliciousness!

Coconut Shrimp

Seriously one of my favorite foods. I don't know why I hadn't made this recipe for a few years, but it used to be one of our regulars. It was in a Cooking Light magazine way back when we used to live in our townhouse. It seems easier to make now, I think because I'm more experienced in the kitchen. I even did the extra step of toasting the coconut. Yum. It filled the kitchen with a lovely smell!

Easy recipe. And I have definitely conquered my fear of raw shrimp. I bought them frozen from Sam's Club. Easy. Cheap(er). Wonderful.

So originally I knew this recipe from a magazine but of course it's made it's way to online.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Coconut Shrimp. I skipped the pineapple salsa. We used Plum Sweet & Sour sauce from Big Bowl.

Quick Shrimp and Corn Soup

Wow, it's been a while! I've been cooking but nothing new. Certainly nothing blog worthy. This recipe is an old favorite. We love soups around here. When I first met Jim he didn't think a soup was a main course, that it couldn't possibly fill him up. I think the first soup I made for him was the Salsa & Meatball soup (Albondigas) and after that he was convinced. This soup is an easy meal to put together. I've cheated with this recipe and used cooked shrimp, not because it's hard to cook with raw shrimp but because well, I don't know.

I kind of consider this recipe cheating (raw shrimp or not) because it's using a bunch of canned foods. Canned tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, creamed corn, etc. I usually don't use a lot of canned or processed foods in recipes. Well, it's good. I don't want to say it's not!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Quick Shrimp and Corn Soup. This recipe was originally from Cooking Light but I found it on another website.

Grilled Chicken (and shrimp) with Lemon Basil Pasta

Dinner last weekend was a collaborative effort. My sister brought over some wonderful wine and an interesting shaved asparagus salad (I can post later if there is a request for the recipe- I think shaved asparagus, olive oil, shaved parmesan, pepper?) . I swear, I learn the best kitchen tips and ideas from my sister. I would never have thought of using asparagus this way but I'm going to have to try it soon!

We made a Pioneer Woman recipe because you just can't go wrong with that. I prepped the cheese and squeezed the lemon juice (4 lemons) early and that made it a lot easier. The sauce pulled together quickly and the chicken was great (salted and peppered only, not following the PW directions), and the Garlic Butter shrimp from the butcher was an impulse buy that worked out well! We don't deal with uncooked shrimp around here, and now I just don't know why we haven't. They are so much better than the precooked stuff I usually make!

The pasta was so lemony and fresh. The basil came from my basil plants. Everything was really good!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta.

Linguine with Shrimp, Lemon, and Garlic

I have a goal of trying one new recipe a week, at least. This week I have THREE planned- two meals and one dessert :)

Here is the first recipe of the week. I have lifted this from my The Best Light Recipe cookbook, from the editors of Cook's Illustrated, one of the best cooking sources I know. A recipe from these people is almost guaranteed to be great or foolproof. I started subscribing to the magazine years ago, let the subscription go, and just recently have found my way back to it. I'm so glad. My sister gave me two of their great cookbooks for my birthday one year, the other cookbook is Baking Illustrated. I really need to make more from these cookbooks! And I just realized I have a third cookbook, The Best 30 Minute Recipe. I'm a lucky girl! This makes me more determined to use these cookbooks.

I wasn't able to find the recipe online so I typed it out below. There is no stolen online recipe. This is a LIGHT recipe.




Linguine with Shrimp, Lemon, and Garlic

1 medium onion, minced
1 tsp olive oil
salt
8 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 c. low-sodium chicken broth
2- 8 oz. bottles clam juice
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
2 T cornstarch
2 T water
1/2 cup juice from 4 lemons
3 T light cream cheese
1 1/2 lbs extra large shrimp (21-25 per lb), peeled and deveined
1 lb linguine or spaghetti
3 T minced fresh parsley leaves
ground black pepper

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a large pot for the water.
2. Meanwhile, combine the onion, oil, and 1/2 tsp salt in a 12 inch nonstick skillet. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the broth, clam juice, pepper flakes, thyme, and bay leaf to the skillet, scraping up any browned bits. Bring to a boil and cook until the sauce measures about 2 cups, 7 to 10 minutes.
3. Whisk the cornstarch and water together, then whisk it into the simmering sauce. Continue to simmer the sauce until it has thickened, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the lemon juice and cream cheese until smooth. Add the shrimp, cover, and let sit off the heat until the shrimp are firm and no longer translucent in the center, 7 to 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaf, cover and set aside.
4. While the shrimp are cooking, stir 1 T salt and the pasta into the boiling water and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Gently stir the shrimp-sauce mixture and parsley into the pasta. Cover and let sit off the heat until the shrimp are hot, about 1 minute. Add the reserved pasta cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide among six individual bowls and serve.

Recipe adapted from The Best Light Recipe


What did we think of the meal? My husband gave it the "really good" rating. When I cook he has a couple of things he says: "it's good" (so-so), "it's really good" (wow!), or "it's okay" (his nice way of saying that it isn't worth repeating). I agree that this was really good. I always can pick out a thing or two that I would do differently- for this one I might add just a bit more red pepper flakes or lemon juice. The shrimp were excellent. I don't know why I've never cooked with raw shrimp. Peeling and handling the shrimp really made me queasy, I felt like I was handling little aliens, but it was worth it in the end.

We will make this again!