Shrimp with Spiced Masala and Coconut Milk

Shrimp masala is a recipe from a friend that originated in an old bon appetit. Two great things about this recipe: first, you can make the masala the night before, which means dinner comes together in a snap when you get home on a weeknight, and second, you could easily substitute another protein for the shrimp. The gravy is fragrant and mild, very typical of what you'd find at an Indian restaurant in the U.S. Serve with naan, and you're done!

Shrimp with White Beans and Quinoa

Week 3, day 2, a.k.a., shrimp with white beans and toast.

The more I think about this recipe, the more I love that it is a total secret weapon. It literally took less time than a DiGiorno pizza to make this (and that is even with me peeling and slicing the garlic). The subtle flavor of butter, garlic and white wine (traditional shrimp pairings), together with the creamy white beans and peppery arugula, results in a sophisticated meal. Yay!

Update: we fell off the health wagon a bit in December, and I made this as originally designed, with toasted white bread. Husband (completely ignorant that we'd had this before) swore the bread made the dish. So there you go.

Real Simple Four-Week Dinner Plan / Curry Shrimp and Snow Peas

October's Real Simple features a four-week dinner plan of easy weeknight recipes. Last week we did week 2-- we got out of order because the first meal of week 1 (Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes and Lemon) was too close to the Baked Cod and Chorizo to have 2 weeks in a row. So far, the recipes are simple and quick as promised, and the variety is incredible. We tend to fall in a fish/chicken Mexican/stir-fry rut, and even though I plan each week in advance I've never tried to vary the cuisine this much, which I'm definitely going to start doing. However, we have had some problems with the emphasis on white flour based dishes (toast, pizza, pasta) and therefore it looks like I'll be eliminating or adapting 1-2 recipes a week.

To start, the curry shrimp and snow peas. Bean sprouts and red curry paste are ingredients I have never bought before-- yay branching out! Central Market has a bulk bin of bean sprouts in the produce section, near the bulk lettuce, so I was able to buy just the right amount. I ended up using quinoa instead of rice, as we were out of brown rice, and this dish definitely needed something to soak up the sauce. Overall, I loved the cold, crunchy vegetables and the warm, Thai-style shrimp; not sure that I loved them together, in the same bowl. Next time, I think we'll try this as an entree and a side.

Linguine with Shrimp and Lemon Oil

So, not everything I make goes into the blog. Sometimes I'm starving and frantic and forget to snap a photo. Other times, the recipe completely bombs for whatever reason (hello, Jamie Oliver's favourite curry sauce from Happy Days with the Naked Chef). This recipe almost fell into the latter category, but I gave it a judge's save.

Here's the deal: I've mentioned before (here and here) that I love Giada. Love her. Love her because her recipes are so, so, so reliable. Make it the first time for company reliable. As such, I started cooking the Linguine with Shrimp and Lemon Oil from Giada's Kitchen without intensely studying it. I was humming along well into the third paragraph when I realized that I had reserved a cup of the pasta cooking water (as directed in paragraph 2) but had no clue where it went, as the recipe did not so indicate. Panicked, I threw it in with the cooked linguine, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Immediately it became clear that that was a mistake. I don't know where the pasta cooking water goes, but it does not go back in the pasta. [ed.: Actually, now that I've seen the online version of the recipe I do know: "some" should be added after the addition of the lemon oil to bring the pasta to the desired consistency.] I hastily drained some of it out, but flavor dilution was an obvious concern. With this in mind, I ate the pasta and was not wowed. My husband, aware of the pasta water disaster but somewhat removed from the situation, liked it fine. Flash forward to the next day, eating the pasta for lunch. The reasons for selecting the recipe came back to me: good warm or good cold, incorporates enough veggies to make this a one-dish meal and light enough for summertime.

I'm planning on trying it again-- maybe with frozen shrimp this time, so at least if it fails I won't have spent 30 minutes peeling and deveining.

8/12 update: made it again WITHOUT adding any pasta water and it was a success! The peppery taste of the arugula really popped against the lemon flavor.