Shrimp 2 Ways

As the old saying goes...double the shrimp, double the fun!

While that may not be the saying, it's definitely true in my case. I love shrimp. I could seriously be a pescatarian and give up meat if I could have seafood every single day. And that's saying a lot, because I love meat. Maybe it's the Caribbean in me, but seafood just does something special for me.

To keep my diet varied while living on my own in the real world, I like to get frozen, pre-shelled shrimp from Trader Joe's that I can just cook up in a jiffy whenever I want. It doesn't really matter if they are pre-cooked or not since shrimp take so little time to cook.

Now, some people may be sticklers for shrimp with the shells on, and I do understand that. I even made my own shrimp stock at the beginning of the summer under the influence of Chef John Besh's cookbook My New Orleans, which is truly impressive and convinces you that the only way to cook is to spend hours slaving away over a hot stove and make everything from scratch. Oh, and raise a farm in your backyard. Suffice it to say, I never used that stock after I made it and it sat in my freezer for a month. So the net of that experience is that I now simply buy pre-shelled shrimp!

So, on to what I made:

Creamy Cajun Shrimp Linguine...found it on Pinterest!

Celery Shrimp Sauté with Guacamole Toast

So, how to make it? Here we go:

Creamy Cajun Shrimp Linguini

Original recipe found here

1 cup water

1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

6 ounces uncooked linguine (I just substituted pasta)

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms*

1 large red bell pepper, cut into (1/4-inch-thick) slices

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt free Cajun seasoning (I found mine in the bulk spices at my local supermarket)**

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup fat free half-and-half

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Parmesan cheese (my addition)

*Didn't have any mushrooms

**The Cajun spices here must be different, because this came out kind of sweet. I compensated by adding Adobo...awww yeah. 

So from that point on I basically followed the steps of the recipe, which are below:

Combine 1 cup water and broth in a large pot and bring to a boil. Break pasta in half; add to pot. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 8 minutes. Add shrimp to pasta. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until shrimp are done; drain and set aside. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and red pepper to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until moisture evaporates. Add flour, Cajun seasoning, and salt to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Stir in half-and-half; cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add pasta mixture and parsley to pan; toss together with tongs. Add Parmesan cheese!

My main piece of advice for this is to prep (wash, cut, etc.) all the ingredients beforehand because this recipe moves along at a quick clip! Also, as the original recipe notes, the pasta is much better cooked in broth because it absorbs that flavor. I wasn't able to do it because I had leftover plain spaghetti, but I want to try it again. On to recipe number two!

This recipe is something I threw together off-the-cuff, but more or less this is what went down:

Celery Shrimp Sauté with Guacamole Toast

Shrimp, as much as you think you'll eat
1 tbsp. olive oil
Celery, 1 stalk per serving
1/2 a yellow onion
Red pepper flakes
Whole wheat baguette slice, halved
Salt and pepper, to taste
Guacamole

Wash the celery, then halve it lengthwise and chop it; dice up the onion and set aside. Slice the bread in half, toast it, and set it aside. (You can always warm it up later and there's nothing worse than waiting for your bread to toast as your hot food gets cool.) Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat and put the celery and onions in at the same time. Normally I wouldn't advocate that for veggies, but celery is high in fiber and takes a while to cook through, so it's okay to put it in with onions. Be sure to stir periodically to make sure the onions don't burn. At this point, add in red pepper flakes so that they have started releasing their heat before you add the shrimp. Next step is--you guessed it--add the shrimp! Cook for 3-5 minutes, until pink and no longer grey. Add the salt and pepper before you finish the shrimp. Finally, reheat the bread if necessary, slap some guac on there, and eat! Eat, eat, eat!

See, double the shrimp equals double the fun! And definitely double the noms!

Happy eating!

Celebrating with Food!

So to celebrate Christmas and the end of term, I cooked my boyfriend some food last Sunday: spaghetti carbonara and brownies!

Since they're both so easy to make, I'm just going to post pictures and recipes. This also likely to be my last post before the 25th, so Merry Christmas, y'all!


Spaghetti Carbonara:

This recipe is a bit Martha Stewart, a bit of my boyfriend's French host mom's recipe, and a bit of my own tastes:

Spaghetti Carbonara

1 pound spaghetti

8 ounces (8 slices) bacon, cut 1 inch thick crosswise (if you're ritzy you can substitute pancetta)

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

3 large eggs* at room temperature

3/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano** cheese, plus more for serving

1/2 cup half-and-half at room temperature

2-4 cloves of garlic (optional)

1 handful chopped parsley (optional)

*Straight from an Italian and tested by my boyfriend's host mom, it's best when there are n-1 eggs, n being the number of people eating. However, I follow this rule starting at 3 people; for 2 people I add 2 eggs, 3 if I don't have half-and-half. 

**Gruyere is yummy, a bit more flavorful, and may melt more easily. I've done both and I like the Gruyere more, but negligibly. I wouldn't substitute any other Parmesan cheese for the Pargmigiano Reggiano. 

1. Set a large pot of water to boil (for pasta) and salt generously. 

2. Mince the garlic.

2. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat (with the minced garlic cloves if you add them), stirring occasionally, until the bacon is crisp, 8 to 12 minutes; transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

3. When the pot is boiling, add pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions.

4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan, and half-and-half. Set aside.

5. Drain pasta, leaving some water clinging to it. Working quickly, add hot pasta to egg mixture. 

6. Add bacon and some of the grease if you desire; season with salt and pepper, and toss all to combine (heat from pasta will cook eggs). 

7. Serve immediately, sprinkled with additional Parmesan cheese (and the chopped parsley if you have it).

Next up, Rose's (my roommate) world-famous brownies!

I follow the recipe exactly, and they are super easy to make. Just don't forget to grease/Pam the pan!

Brownie Recipe #2

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13x9 inch baking pan.

2. Mix together the butter, sugars, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. Combine the dry ingredients, gradually stir into the wet mixture until well blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes

And then, just because it's totally brilliant--Rose's Christmas present to me! It has the in/appropriate name of a "Screwnicorn" because it's a corkscrew in the shape of a unicorn (I collect unicorns!):

Happy Eating!

What is this blog?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for reading =).

This blog will center on food and fashion, not necessarily in equal amounts. What will I talk about?

Well, food will (mostly) consist of food that I cook plus recipes, food my roommates cook plus recipes, food I want to cook, wine and beverage fun, and things I do to improve my house's dining hall offerings.

In terms of fashion, I'll include anything from what to do if you want a job working in fashion, to trends I like/don't like, to fashion inspiration/mood posts, links to other folks' blogs and websites, and maybe my own outfits (or things I wish I were wearing).

That's the basic idea for this blog. Other subjects will probably pop up from time to time.

One last thing: Spaghetti in Heels. One, I love spaghetti. Over the course of my life, my diet has at multiple points been about 90% spaghetti. Two, I love heels. Therefore, Spaghetti in Heels.