Tag recipes

Recipe Post: Penne Pasta with Wine Sauce and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Lauren

And… another recipe post. These will automatically tell you that the paralysis of going too long without a post has set in and so I trot out the already created content as a way of knocking myself out of it. It’s like my L Dopa. (Oliver Sacks reference there. Drink up.)

And , as I’ve mentioned before, I am working on a LONG running project of trying to finish a cookbook which is why I have so many recipes as existing content to use. This is ongoing from 2011 and it’s about damn time to not have hanging over my head anymore. Write a cookbook, I said. It’ll be fun, I said…

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You’ll need a couple of these. Image by Andrzej Jakubczyk

 

Penne Pasta with Wine Sauce and Sun-dried Tomatoes

I would recommend memorizing at least one recipe- it impresses the hell outta your friends if you bust it out of thin air at their house. Also it’ll mean you are pretty guaranteed* to not forget ingredients while grocery shopping. This is the one I always can pull out of the ether,  hippocampus, or wherever memories are actually stored. Typing sounds. Google tells me memories are stored in the limbic system of which the hippocampus is a part. Jesus. Did my hippocampus actually just remember that the hippocampus is where memories are stored?! It’s too damn early for this.

Oh. Does that literally tell you NOTHING about this recipe? Okay, well let’s see, This is universally loved by everyone from the 1 year-old through inlaws and all kids/ teens/ adults in between and that’s great considering the amount of onion it has in it. Ummm… it doesn’t need a side dish- like what a huge plus that is, right? Reheats well for next day lunches (woot, woot- right teachers?), and… ah! Is vegetarian! But not vegan- because of the cheese. And seriously vegans- if you are against cheese then you have NEVER felt the relief of being a breastfeeding mother and being able to nurse after a delay in your normal schedule. Ugh… look. I don’t know where this is going either, honestly. Back to the pasta.

1 8oz. package of Penne pasta

3 Tbsp. olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

10-12 Cremini mushrooms, sliced

1/2 yellow onion, diced

8 sundried tomatoes, reconstituted in water, drained, and sliced lengthwise

1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and cut into thirds

1 can black olives

1 ½ cup white wine, dry

Juice of half a lemon

1 cup of Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Cook pasta, drain, return to pot and put lid back on to maintain temperature. In a large skillet or sauté pan heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes until mushrooms have reduced in size and released their juices. Add sundried tomatoes and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Add wine and lemon juice as well as artichoke hearts and olives. Continue cooking until sauce is reduced by half. Pour sauce over pasta, add Parmesan cheese, and mix to combine. Top with fresh chopped parsley.

This is also good topped with grilled chicken or shrimp, but I prefer it just like it is, honestly.

*Nope. I usually forget the olives, myself. It’d be nice if it worked that way in real life though, wouldn’t it?

Recipe Post- Shrimp Cakes

Lauren

A few tips and worthless info: Make sure you refrigerate these for an hour after you form them- otherwise they will fall apart on you. And serve with some jalapeño tarter sauce or green goddess sauce.  I’ll give you cliff note versions on those right here:

  • Jalapeño Tarter Sauce: Chop jalapeño, lemon, mayo, salt pepper. Capers. Don’t forget the capers.
  • Green Goddess Sauce:  Bunch of herbs (basil and parsley mostly). Yogurt. Lemon. Salt-y and pepper-y. Blender.

Also, this recipe calls for green onions. Or scallions. They’re the same thing, turns out, and I was an embarrassing age when realized that. Let’s just say it starts with “Twen” and ends with “ty-seven”. Oh, and coriander leaves and cilantro are the same thing. And cremini mushrooms are small portabella mushrooms. And… that’s all I can think of right now, actually. Wait- beet greens and Swiss chard are the same plant. There we go.

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And just to REALLY confuse things: this picture was titled “Spring Onion” -Image by Melanie Kuiper.  

1 lb. peeled and deveined US wild caught raw shrimp (large), roughly chopped*
1 large egg
2 green onions, sliced
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. of ground black pepper
1.5 cups seasoned breadcrumbs
Olive oil

Peel and devein shrimp and roughly chop (about 6 pieces out of each shrimp). Combine with next 7 ingredients and form into patties roughly three inches across, or slightly smaller than palm sized for me and about a half inch thick. Add more breadcrumbs if needed to hold together. Refrigerate for one hour prior to cooking. Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat. Sauté 4 cakes per pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until shrimp is cooked through.

*And look- I don’t want to make it a thing: but do NOT buy farmed shrimp . Anyone who goes: “Well these things can survive in filth and contamination- think of the profit!” DO NOT EAT THAT END PRODUCT.

Sautéed Soy Sauce Shrimp

Lauren 2 Comments

Four foxes found five forks fascinating. The turtles thought tiny tremendous theories. Little ladybugs love lit lanterns. And so on. I dig me some alliteration, is what I’m trying to say.

So. About the shrimp. I buy wild caught Texas Gulf shrimp, myself. I’m not personally a fan of the frozen, bagged shrimp; but I understand how convenient those are. But it’s awfully easy to peel and devein my own, and I like supporting my beloved gulf economy, so that influences what I buy. Get one of the tools designed for cleaning them and it really is as easy as unzipping a coat. Also, get rid of the black vein running down the back. Yes that’s shrimp poop. It’s still easy to do, though, so don’t look at me like that. Author’s advice actually assists another’s acceptance of ack-inducing actions. Alliteration.

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“Psst, Buddy. How’s about I slip ya a fiver and you have chicken tonight, eh?” image by Mussaddique Naina

I serve this over rice… but they’d be awesome in lettuce wraps or for sandwiches too. Or a taco. Everything is good as a taco.

 

1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp

1 clove garlic

Small bunch chopped cilantro/ or small handful chopped green stems of scallions/green onions.

Marinade:

¼ cup orange juice

4 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

3 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. sesame oil

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Peel and devein your fresh shrimp (because I know I convinced you to support our local Gulf fisheries.) Add all other marinade ingredients to bowl and whisk to combine. Add shrimp and marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat 2 Tbsp. of olive oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Add chopped garlic and stir until the garlic become aromatic. Add half shrimp to pan and let sit for 45 seconds to 1 minute without touching. Flip shrimp (they should be pink and have lost their translucency.) Repeat on other side. Remove from heat to a plate and cook the second set of shrimp the same way. Why not all at once, you ask? Because that would crowd the pan and drop the heat if you added to many at once. Once all the shrimp are cooked and removed to a plate or bowl, add all of the remaining marinade to the pan, increase the heat, and simmer. Once the marinade has reached a rousing simmer (Is that a thing? I’m making that a thing) let it reduce by around half and remove from heat. Serve shrimp over rice or however you’re eating it and sparingly drizzle with cooked marinade- I say sparingly because depending on how much you reduced it, it might be quite salty thanks to the soy sauce. Taste it before serving, to be sure of flavor.

Garnish with cilantro and or chopped scallions/green onions. Or not. It’s your life.

The Occasional Recipe Post: Pico de Gallo

Lauren 4 Comments

The fun part of writing a cookbook is finding out the correct spellings to words you’ve been saying for years. Turns out it’s “de Gallo” and not “de Gailo”- who knew? My guess is all of my inlaws and everyone that took Spanish instead of French in high school or Dutch in college. Well, aren’t you the smarty pants, with your good life decisions and all!

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We all probably know what Pico is, but the trick is all about ratios of ingredients. The biggest tip? Make your pico look like the Mexican flag, minus the eagle, snake, and cactus. I mean, alright, I guess that looks more like the Italian flag, but how odd would that be? What I mean by that is you want almost equal parts green, red, and white to make a good pico.*

And the best peppers for this are serrano peppers, though I’ll admit they do have a serious design flaw: they can be brutally hot to mild as bell peppers.  I’ve spent some uncomfortable minutes of my life with my head under a faucet from mistakely taking too big of a test bite- but how else could you possibly determine how much pepper to add, and how finely to mince it? Rub it in your eye? So yes, they are tricky, but I’m also convinced these are the only peppers for the job.

Ingredients:

3-4 medium to large tomatoes, deseeded and diced
1 bunch cilantro, rough chopped
¾ white onion, diced
Juice of 2 limes
Serrano Pepper- from ½ to 2 peppers depending on hotness- seeded and minced (finer for hotter peppers, larger pieces for milder ones)
Fine sea salt or table salt to taste
Combine all ingredients, and adjust amounts if more or less of 1 ingredient needed- remember, the Mexican flag is what you’re looking for. Stir well to distribute minced Serrano peppers. Refrigerate for an hour or two for best results, stirring again right before serving.
*If you are not a fan of cilantro you can change your ratios to reflect the Lebanese flag. You weirdo.