Quick and Easy Shrimp!

Tonight we wanted something light for dinner. We had roasted prosciutto wrapped shrimp with cantaloup.  It was quick, easy, and delicious!! An arugula salad with lemon vinaigrette and shaved parm makes this a complete meal. The key is to get good prosciutto; I'm talking $24/lb cut by someone who knows what they are doing. You end up spending the same amount of money buying prepackaged/cheaper prosciutto as you do on the real stuff from Italy. Most of the American knock-offs just don't have the same intense flavor and it is sliced thicker. So to get a similar taste, you use more. I used 3 very thin slices of prosciutto di Parma for 1/2 pound of shrimp. The prosciutto only cost $1.75 and the Whole Foods cheese-monger did not blink when I only asked for 3 slices.


Hope y'all are all enjoying your summer!  ~  Ellen


Roasted Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp
(serves 2)
1/2 lb shrimp
3 slices of prosciutto di Parma
olive oil spray
freshly ground black pepper

Place a stoneware baking sheet or pizza pan in oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Use convection if you have it. Peel and devein the shrimp. Wrap with a small piece of prosciutto and secure with a toothpick. Spray with olive oil spray and season with pepper. Transfer the shrimp to the hot pan and cook 3-5 minutes. (OK, I didn't time this. It doesn't take long. The shrimp turn white and curl a little bit. People also vary wildly their shrimp temp.) Serve immediately as they will keep on cooking on that hot pan!

Anniversary Dinner

I just celebrated my 21^st wedding anniversary with my sweet husband. I started cooking dinner rather than going out on our anniversary many years ago. It’s really nice to celebrate with just the two of us. Since I enjoy cooking and he likes eating at home, it’s a perfect easy gift. It was a lovely evening. Cheers, Sweetie!

The menu all started with some good looking rainbow trout at the grocery store. I thought it would be nice grilled. Also the Georgia peaches have been fabulous this year. I love grilled peaches in a salad with some feta cheese. I picked up some Cypress Grove Purple Haze. This is a lovely creamy artisan goat cheese seasoned with lavender and fennel pollen. Unfortunately the Kroger didn’t have any Sweetgrass Dairy goat cheese. I would have loved to have gone local! I picked up a nice baguette and a bottle of wine and left the grocery store a happy girl.

Grilled Rainbow Trout with Pecans

Grease a sheet of aluminum foil with butter. Place the trout filets skin side down on the foil. Drizzle with melted butter and top with salt, pepper and chopped pecans. Grill for about 7 minutes over medium hot coals or until fish is opaque and flakey.

Grilled Peach Salad

(for four)

Apple Cider Vinaigrette

            3T apple cider vinegar

            ½ tsp Dijon mustard

            scant ¼ tsp salt

            freshly ground pepper

            2 T canola oil

            4 T olive oil

2 peaches*, cut in half & pitted

baby romaine lettuce

goat cheese**

2 T chopped pecans

Make your salad dressing by combining the vinegar, mustard, salt & pepper. Slowly whisk in the oils and set aside. Grill the peaches flesh side down for 5 - 7 minutes over medium hot coals. You should have some nice grill marks & a golden color; and the skin should come off easily.

Remove the skin from the peaches, slice and serve over a bed of romaine, goat cheese, and pecans. Taste your dressing for seasoning then drizzle over the salad.

* The peaches should be ripe but still firm. Freestone peaches work the best here as they are easy to pit. Most Southern & Eastern peaches are freestone. Sometimes early in the season you get some that aren’t though.

** I have used everything from crumbled feta to a smear of super creamy artisan goat cheese. Herbed is good as is plain. If you are not using an herbed cheese, try adding a little thyme, lavender or chervil if you have it on hand. 

Quinoa!

Gosh, I can get really philosophical about this but I'll try to hold back. Quinoa kind of symbolizes where I want to be in life but half the time I'm just potato chips!!! Quinoa is the perfect food, it looks, cooks and acts very much like cous cous but is a wonderfully balanced nutritional element. It's been classified as a superfood - has a lot of protein but is exquisitely balanced in amino acids. Like pasta, it takes on flavors beautifully; unlike pasta, it's actually good for you. I think of quinoa as the food that can ease hunger and obesity in one food! Is that possible? I'm totally infatuated...

So what have I been doing these last few months since I haven't been blogging? I've been stuck. I've been looking for perfect recipes for really healthy food that is affordable and easy to make. I would like to find a way to help people be more healthy in their diets but it seems such a huge task that I've become paralyzed. Please pray that I can get past my shortcomings and move on to my calling - 'bridge the gap!'.

In the meantime, I've come up with this really great dish that I can't get enough of. I think it is so healthy and delicious that you can eat your fill with no worries.

Quinoa with Corn and Roasted Red Pepper
1 C quinoa
2 C water
2 tsp Knorr Caldo de Pollo (chicken bouillon)
1/2 red pepper
1/3 C Vidalia onion
2 Tbs olive oil
3 ears of corn - cooked and cut off the cob
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tsp chopped parsley
salt & pepper

Rinse the quinoa. (This removes a bitter taste but none of the nutritional value.) Put in a medium pot and add the water and bouillon. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. It should still be moist when done. In the meantime, saute the onion and red pepper in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add this to the cooked quinoa along with the cider vinegar and parsley. Taste for seasoning and finish with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Friday...

Here it is again - Friday without meat. Last Friday night we had some store-bought frozen cheese enchiladas that ended up mushy. Lesson - you can probably make it better fresh. However the Trader Joe's individual frozen spinach lasagna wasn't bad for lunch. Yes, I could have made it better fresh, however, I only have a microwave at The Big Chandelier and I didn't plan ahead. Today for lunch I will have edamame & a salad. I like the Trader Joe's fully cooked frozen edamame. And I need more soy as a middle-aged woman who gets very cranky! Tonight I think we are eating out - Mexican. Rice, beans and fish tacos are calling my name!

But here's a thought. My ancestors and Jacks were country folks who ate a lot of veggies. There's some evidence that our bodies are genetically inclined to process these foods better. The theory is that those folks with farming ancestors can process carbohydrates better than those who are descended (we're talking a couple of hundred years) from hunters and fishers. The hunter/fishers can process the animal fat and don't have as many issues with cholesterol. Interesting...

Thai Market

Here's the 411 on the Thai Market where I bought the ingredients for Tom Yum Soup. It looks just like a little country store with Asian food instead of pickeled pigs feet!

Oriental Food Mart
located in Northwood Plaza
5091-F buford Hwy.
Doraville, GA 30340

Tel:770.457.5666

Flat Iron Steak with Chimichurri

Spring is here and the weather is NICE in Atlanta. Here's a great recipe when you're ready to grill out. This is an Argentinean style dish. The grilled meat is flavored with a little smoked paprika and is wonderful on it's on. The chimichurri sauce is a dressing of parsley, cilantro & garlic. It's traditionally paired with skirt steak but I had a flat iron steak. I served it with a salad with vinaigrette dressing. If you want even more flavors, gorgonzola in the salad works nicely with the flavors. If this isn't versatile enough yet, turn it into a wrap! Very delicious!

Chimichuri Sauce

1 1/2 Tbs minced parsley

1 tsp minced cilantro

3 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic

1/4 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients and taste for seasoning. Let sit for an hour or more so the flavors come together. (This will keep in the fridge for a week or so.)


Chilli Water Marinade
1 C warm water
2 Tbs salt
1 Tbs smoked paprika

I got this marinade from a Food Network recipe. Mix the ingredients and pour it on the meat and let it sit at room temperature while the grill heats up. I love this because it adds tons of flavor to beef but no fat. This is the recipe that sold me on smoked paprika and I haven't looked back!

The grill needs to be 450 - 500⁰ - nice and hot! Grill on the first side about 8 - 10 minutes until you have a nice crust. Flip over and cook for another 5 minutes for medium-rare. It should be nice and dark brown on both sides with a good crust.  Remove from the grill, loosely cover with foil and do not touch it for at least 10 minutes!!!  After the meat has rested, cut it into ¼” slices.

Serve with a small amount of chimichurri and enjoy the explosion of flavors!

Straight from the Freezer

I am truly thankful some nights for frozen pizza! Tonight I worked late and didn't have anything lined up for dinner. I opened the freezer and there it was... pizza! My favorite frozen pizza is Newman's Own. It's the best I've tasted anyway. Tonight we had California Pizza Kitchen peperoni. It's not too bad but a little smaller - not enough for 3. Also in the freezer were some Trader Joe's Arugula and Parm ravioli. I sauteed some mushrooms in olive oil and tossed it with the ravioli. Caterina devoured it so I assume it tasted good! What do you cook in a pinch?