roasted shrimp

Umb. I'm dumb. Where has this been? I'm sure I own the Ina Garten cookbook that it's in. As in, for the last three years this recipe {or rather this simple 8 minute interaction between a hot oven and four household staples} has been sitting in my kitchen, in painfully close proximity to the freezer which houses an old, colossal and overly ambitions, never ending bag of frozen shrimp.

Le Sigh. Despite the time it took, I'm so glad cute Little Kitchen could bring it to the forefront of my Google Reader so that at least, albeit feeling like an idiot, I could at least come out of the cave I've been living in, begin to enjoy this and make some more room in my freezer. Or maybe not since I'll probably go to Costco for an elephant sized bag later today.

This. Is. So. Good. So versatile. So stinkingfrikinannoyingly simple. Be generous with your oil, salt and pepper and use good olive oil. Eat these babies alone, chopped up on salads, thrown into summer pastas, make little ceviches.

Roasted Shrimp

via The Little Kitchen that Could {to whom the pic belongs} from Ina Garten

{Ingredients}
2 lbs. large shrimp (15-20 count), peeled and deveined with tails left on

3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon coarse kosher or sea salt
1-2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon Old Bay blackening seasoning is also good if you have it
{Directions}

If your shrimp were frozen, as mine were, easily thaw them by running them under lukewarm water in a colander or setting them in a bowl of lukewarm water for 5 minutes or so. They are then easy to peel if they aren't already.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Toss shrimp with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread in one layer.  Roast for 8 minutes or just until pink and cooked through.  Set aside to cool.  Serve warm or at room temperature, on top of salads, mixed in pasta, or even in warmed corn tortillas with some fresh pico de gallo, cilantro, maybe some chopped mango, cabbage, and a little chipotle mayo.

pesto rubbed trout

for my pizza and pasta adventures, central market's dip slash sauce bar thing is perfect for purchasing the exact amount of pesto needed for one or two dishes. their pesto is SO good. this is even better when you can find trout on sale, like i did, and salmon can easily substitute as well.

pesto rubbed trout
serves 3-4
INGREDIENTS
1 lb fillet trout
1/4 cup basil pesto
DIRECTIONS
Rub the pesto generously over the fish. Really rub it, like with the back of a spoon. Cover and marinate 30 min. Heat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with foil. Bake skin side down 8 - 10 min until fish begins to look slightly opaque and flakes with a fork. Use a metal spatula to slide fish off skin, as skin will stick to the foil.

drunk spicy shrimp

drunk spicy shrimp
INGREDIENTS
1 dozen peeled and devined shrimp
1 cup beer (I used Shiner)
2 tsp paprika
1 tablespoon minced cilantro
juice from one lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
dash of cracked pepper
dash of salt
butter
DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients except butter in shallow bowl with lid or a ziploc bag and marinate refrigerated for 30 minutes to and hour. I imagine longer wouldn't hurt but I did not have time for that business. Heat 2 tablespoons butter on medium high heat and begin to add shrimp from the outside in. Each side only needs about 1 to 2 minutes so begin to flip the outer ring of shrimp almost as soon as you've placed the middle ones.

Try this on kebabs on the grill too!

{image belongs to tommywilliams}

...on the menu: Salmon with Fresh Tomato Mint Salad

On a quest to make us eat more vegetables outside of salad and now my roasted veggie medley, I bought about every vegetable type at the store this afternoon. So expect more vegetable endeavors but for now this is what was for dinner:

Baked Salmon
Steamed Asparagus
Tomato Mint Salad

Baked Lemon Salmon
INGREDIENTS
2 8oz Salmon fillets
lemon
mint
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
DIRECTIONS
Oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil and place salmon on it. Squeeze half a lemon generously over fillets and sprinkle with a few teaspoons finely chopped mint leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread evenly. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until outside is white and flakes easily.

Tomato Mint Salad
1/2 a large tomato, chopped
1/2 large avocado, chopped
1 cup arugula, chopped
juice from half a lemon (or whole, but the other half was on the salmon)
zest of one lemon
1/4 c. olive oil
1-2 cups corn kernels (I used no salt added canned)
2 T. finely chopped fresh mint leaves
1 T. seasoning salt, or more to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine ingredients and serve.

This was basically a veggie leftover salad. We both really liked it and is obviously very flexible. You could also just toss it with your favorite salad dressing like Newman's Italian. I also steamed asparagus in my cool Calphalon steamer insert and the rest is yummy history.