Peel and Eat Shrimp

Sounds fancy, huh?

Nah it's all good. Sometimes even I don't even realize how many good things are out there that are easier to make than my go-to recipes. This shrimp was the perfect appetizer, especially when they were fresh from the gulf. Lucky for us Louisvillians, we get some of the freshest seafood flown here daily. My go-to in Lou is Highland Fish Market. Any other places you have seen that have great seafood?

How to do it:
Can you boil water? Good, great first step! ;-)

This shrimp is a breeze then.

Recipe adapted from Southern Living

2.5 quarts (10  c) water
1/4 c old bay
3 lb shrimp (preferably deveined) with shell on
Lemon

Bring water and old bay to a rolling boil in large stockpot or dutch oven. Add shrimp to pot, cover and take off heat for 12-15 minutes or until shrimp are pink. Sometimes takes sooner - you don't ever want to overcook shrimp!

Then drain, place in bowl with lemon slices and cover. Place in fridge until shrimp are cooled - or if you prefer them hot, they are ready for dipping in some cocktail sauce!

It is hard to wait for these to cool down, but so worth the wait in the end.

Soy Honey Glaze

We eat a ton of salmon. It's easy, relatively cheap, and delicious.  Needed to switch it up a bit and started to play with some different flavor combinations. It's not earth-shattering by any means, but this glaze to finish off the pan-roasted salmon we made the other day was super awesome. p.s. charred lemon squeezed over salmon is the bomb.com.

Sorry for the crap picture, but we were starving and it was delish...so real life happened, forgive us! ;-)

Here's the recipe:

1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp soy sauce (I used lite sodium, but live dangerously!)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp lemon or lime squeeze

Whisk together ingredients with fork/whisk. When you take salmon off your skillet, I just poured this mixture in the skillet and rolled it around a couple of times to deglaze the pan and heat it up. Keep on the side or generously pour over your dish. I bet this would also be good with tilapia served on rice or even on chicken breast! Here's the baked salmon I've made in the past and this would be great poured on top right before serving.

Any other flavor combos you like to try?

Shrimp Verde

A.K.A. Green Shrimps. Probably one of the easier recipes I've made, simply for the fact there are 4 ingredients. Shrimp, rice, Salsa verde, and chicken broth. Probably everything is in your pantry minus the shrimp. Super uber delicious.

Cook rice according to directions with 1 cup broth, 1/2 c salsa verde. Let those flavors get all up in the rice. I love the Trader Joe's organic brown basmati (quick cook). It is done in around 20 minutes. P.S. as a side tip, if you want any extra flavor with anything that is usually boiled in water, flavor it up with your favorite broth or add any seasonings you like. Adding the salsa verde from the get go really gave the rice a great flavor.

 Olive oil on med-high heat.

 Oh yes, one more ingredient if you are garlic lovers like us, I add 2 of these beauties into pan right in with the shrimp.

 I use Trader Joe's Argentinian Red Shrimp from the frozen section. It's peeled, deveined, and cooks up really nice. They are a little bit bigger too.

 Right after you add shrimp, add rest of the salsa verde (1/2 c) into the pan along with the shrimp with a little salt and pepper (just a pinch or two).

 Let them simmer for 2-3 minutes until pink and your shrimp will be done. Be careful to not overcook your shrimp or it'll taste like rubber. Shrimp cooks incredibly fast so don't think just because it's just a couple of minutes they won't be done...promise, they will be!

 I just serve up the rice and shrimp all together and enjoy.

Here's the rundown:

1 16oz. bottle of mild salsa verde (still gives it a nice kick)
1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined
1 cup quick cook TJs basmati rice
1 cup chicken broth
Optional 2 cloves garlic

Cook rice according to directions on package until done (substituting salsa verde and broth for the water)
1 tbsp olive oil in med/high heat pan. Add shrimp, s&p, garlic and salsa verde. Simmer and flip shrimp for 2-3 minutes each side until slightly pink.

Serve together and enjoy.

Joey and I were huge fans of this and will make it again soon. Inexpensive and delicious, and took about 20 minutes start to finish, and there were plenty of leftovers to dig into the next day!

Perfect Salmon

I'm always a little nervous about cooking fish. I don't want to go into overkill and make it too overdone, but I don't want to poison my family with raw fish (j to the k). I have been working with a couple of ways to cook salmon and have figured out my favorite and what works best for us.  Baking it!

I also always thought salmon was a more challenging dish to make. After figuring out the right temp and time for baking it, it is just the same or easier than baked chicken breasts. And for my chicken hating husband, definitely more delicious.

At any butcher, you can specify how you want them to cut your salmon. In our case, we just picked a large piece from their selection, cut it in half with a sharp knife at home, and I freeze the rest for a rainy day. Tastes just as good, in my opinion! On this particular day the salmon was on sale! Yah!

I put a piece of foil on the baking sheet, spray with non-stick spray, and put the skin side down. I cook with the skin on, and when you are done you can easily flake the salmon away from the skin when eating or if you are careful not to burn yourself you can peel the skin right off.

Here's what I used;

1 lb salmon (we hungry folks- in all honesty, this could have served 3-4 people)
S&P
Lemon slices (however many you like...I'm not a huge lemony person but 3 was just right)
Olive Oil - drizzled about a tablespoon to coat before I added the s&p and lemon

Preheat your oven to 375. Bake for exactly 22 minutes.

Too good to be true? No, really, it's that easy.

Serve with your favorite beverage - I have taken a comfortable front seat on the Fat Tire bandwagon - and a couple of your fave sides and you are set!

Now that it's grilling weather, my next challenge will be to attempt salmon on the grill.

Now make this over the weekend and tell me how you like it!