Pasta, Shrimp and Fennel bake

I came across this recipe in 2007 based on an 18th century Italian dish. We had to try it. As all of the things we blog, its been tested and retested, so  the recipe is perfect!  We've make it yearly when our fennel in the herb garden is ready. There really is nothing like the smell of fresh fennel, so I encourage you to try this recipe. But just use the store bought if you don't have it in the garden!

This recipe serves 4, but we usually use our LeCreueset #40 rousting pan. (10X14) Then we use 32 oz macaroni, 3-4oz cans of mushrooms, 2 fennel bulbs and 18 oz (21-25) count shrimp.




12 oz macaroni  (any small tubular pasta)
1 T olive oil, plus a little more for brushing
6 T butter, plus extra for greasing
2 small fennel bulbs, sliced thinly leaves reserved
6 oz mushrooms sliced thinly - you can use canned
6 oz raw shelled shrimp
Bechamel Saucee  or  see sauces
pinch chili powder
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 large tomatoes sliced
1 t dried oregano
salt and pepper

1. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan in boiling salted water. Add 1 T olive oil. When the pasta is almost tender, drain it in a colander, return to the pan, dot with 2 T butter.  Shake the pan well, cover tightly and keep warm.

2. Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium heat and fry the fennel until it begins to soften. Stir in the mushrooms and stir for another 2 minutes. Stir in the shrimp and cook for about 6 minutes until the shrimp is pink. Remover from the heat and set aside.

3. Make the Bechamel Sauce and add the chili powder. In a large bowl, mix the sauce, vegetables, shrimp and pasta.

4. Grease a shallow oven proof dish. Pour in the pasta mixture and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle on the parmesan and arrange the tomatoes in a ring around the edge or to your liking! Brush the tomatoes with olive oil and sprinkle on the oregano.

5. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 25 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Serve hot!

Balsamic Butter Sauce for meat/fish/vegetables

Looking for a sauce to have with salmon this afternoon, I came across this one. I'm not a salmon lover

but its in my spartan plan, so I thought a sauce would help. It really is great, but who doesn't love butter. I just might put salmon in my meal plan more often since this is a simple and a great sauce.

I would imagine its heaven on potatoes! 

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 clove's garlic,  minced

1/2 cup butter

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, simmer the vinegar and the garlic.

Simmer until reduced to a thick syrup, about 5 minutes. Set aside while the rest of

the meal is prepared.

When ready to serve the sauce, re-warm over medium low-heat. Cut a stick of butter

into 6-8 pieces and add to the balsamic reduction one piece at a time. Whisk until all

the butter is incorporated and the sauce is smooth again. 

Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Drizzle over mashed potatoes, fish and vegetables.

Whole grilled pineapple with yellow rice and spicy shrimp

1 whole pineapple cut in half
4 jumbo shrimp pealed and deveined 

1 cup uncooked rice of your choice

1 corn on the cob - or 1/2 cup frozen

1/4 cup diced green pepper

1/4 cup diced red pepper

1/2 t onion powder

2  seeded and chopped jalapeno's

1 T olive oil
1/2 lemon or 3T of lemon juice
Big Joe's spicy cajun spice (from NOLA)

Mix the lemon juice with Big Joe and pour over thawed shrimp. Let marinade about an hour.

Cut the core out of each 1/2 of the pineapple and discard. With  paring knife or pineapple knife i(f you have one), cut the center out of each 1/2 of the pineapple. Cut into chunks.

Prepare the rice as directed.

Paint the cut side of the pineapple with the olive oil. With the cut side down, grill about 15 minutes.

In a small skillet ( or if you have a skillet for the grill - even better) combine the corn, green and red pepper, onion power and jalapeno's and chunks of pineapple.  Sauté about 10 minutes and then  combine this with the rice.

Grill the shrimp 5 minutes on each side or until cooked.

When the pineapple is ready, fill it with the rice mixture and top with grilled shrimp.
Heavenly!

Roasted Buffalo Shrimp

This recipe is a keeper and a new favorite from the latest Martha Stewart Living magazine! It is packed with a lot of flavor and is a great appetizer. My suggestion is to use large shrimp; I used 16-21 count and it was perfect, smaller shrimp would cook down too much. It's sinfully easy! I plated the shrimp by sprinkling a bit of shredded cabbage on the platter first, then I added the shrimp. As you can see, it looks great on the platter!  

Shrimp
1 1/2 lbs. of large uncooked peeled & deveined shrimp tail on
2 cloves of garlic minced
3/4 t. celery seeds
2 1/2 t. paprika
1/2/ t. cayenne pepper
2 T. honey
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
finely grated zest of 2 lemons

Dip
1 cup of sour cream-I used light
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. Kosher salt
1/4 t.pepper
1/2 tabasco sauce
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 cup of finely chopped celery leaves

Preheat the oven to 450 and put a rimmed baking dish in the oven to heat up. Combine all shrimp ingredients in a large bowl. Toss in the shrimp & coat with the sauce. Place shrimp in a single layer on the hot pan and roast without flipping until the bottoms are browned about 7-10 minutes. Meanwhile make the dip by combining all ingredients together. Arrange shrimp on a platter and pour the extra sauce from the pan over the shrimp. Serve with the dip and also some carrot and celery sticks too.

Catalan Fish Stew

The title is translated. In Catalonian is reads Zarzuela de Mariscos a la Catalana.

This is a Spanish recipe from the Catalonians, the area surrounding Barcelona. We love Barcelona. Its a city that comes to life at 10:00 pm. Took a few days to get used to the knew hours but we caught on quickly.
While we were there, we were shopping for tile for the kitchen. The plan was to get different tiles from each country and incorporate them into our kitchen. This is my favorite saying  in Catalonian, in translation it means wine makes warm the heart of a man! It took 4 people to get the translation since its not the spoken language anymore.


I'm not a fish person, but my husband lives for any dish that combines anything from a body of water. So here we go, I hope you enjoy this. Tom swear's its

1/2 cup olive oil

2 cups chopped onions
salt
freshly ground pepper
1/2 lb fresh squid, cleaned and cut into 1/4" pieces.
Spanish brandy
1 T tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups clam juice or seafood stock
1/2 lb medium shrimp peeled and deveined
1/2 lb small (dime size) scallops
2 dozen muscles scrubbed and debearded
1 T fresh chopped parsley
loaf of crusty bread
Serves 4-6

In a large dutch oven, over medium heat add the oil. When the oil hot add the onions. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until wilted about 10 minutes. Season the squid with salt and pepper. Add to the onions and saute for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the brandy and carefully flame. Shake the pan back and forth several times until the flame dies out. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and clam juice and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, cook for 20 minutes. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Add the muscles, shrimp and scallops to the pot. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the shells have opened and the shrimp is fully cooked.
Remove from the heat and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with parsley and serve with crusty bread.

You can really add any of your favorite fish to this dish. This is just what had - without making a formal to make this. It was very spur of the moment!

Oyster's Rockefeller - or shrimp Rockefeller!! equally wonderful!

Its thought to have originated at Antoine's in New Orleans. We had this dish at the Union Oyster House in Boston and the chefs there have developed this wonderful combination of flavors. Some say its been given this name because its so "rich". This is the recipe from their chefs.

1 lb fresh spinach cooked, squeezed and chopped (or 1/2 lb thawed, chopped and squeezed dry.)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese plus a little more for sprinkling
1 T Dijon Mustard
1/2 cup Fish Veloute (recipe below)
salt and pepper to taste

12 oysters freshly shucked on the half shell. Rinse thoroughly.
1 cup Hollandaise sauce (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 450. In a bowl, combing spinach, cheese, mustard and Veloute.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir well to combine.

Place the oysters on a baking sheet. Place a spoonful of spinach mixture over each oyster. Sprinkle additional parmesan on top. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until oysters are heated through and sauce is bubbling.

Top each oyster with a teaspoon of warm Hollandaise sauce. Serve Immediately.

 You can substitute shrimp for the oyster. Just combine the spinach mixture with 20 large shrimp in a baking dish. Bake until bubbling. Or make individual servings in ramekins. Bake until bubbling then add a little of the Hollandaise sauce.

To make Fish Veloute


To make  Classic Hollandaise Sauce- this easy to make sauce is great on everything from asparagus to white fish.

Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail

Just so you know Bloody Marys are one of my favorite cocktails (the recipe can be found under the Cocktails section) so when I came across this recipe I had to make it. It's simple and of course I put the "Pam" spin on it to make it mine!

Shrimp
1 lb. large shrimp peeled and deveined
1 c. green onions chopped
1 1/3c celery diced

Sauce
3/4 c. ketchup
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
1/4 c. vodka (Absolut Peppar if you have it)
2 t. prepared horseradish
1/4 c. cilantro chopped
2 T. chili lime hot sauce
2 t. worcestershire sauce
2 t. steak sauce
1 t. honey
salt & pepper
lime wedges & cilantro for garnish

Thaw shrimp if frozen, remove tails and place in a bowl with scallions & celery. Place in the refrigerator for about an hour. In a mixing bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients. Season with salt & pepper and allow to chill for at least an hour. When you are ready to serve add the shrimp to the sauce mixture & combine well.  Spoon into chilled martini glasses & garnish with a lime wedge & a sprig of cilantro and serve. Makes 4 servings

Panko shrimp - Japenese bread crumbs

8 jumbo shrimp 8-10 count
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
2-3 T water
dash salt
1 cup panko
Vegetable oil - you will need enough to cover the shrimp, so the amount depends on your pot.

You will need 3 bowls. Put the flour in 1, beaten eggs and water in the 2nd and the panko in the 3rd.

Take the shimp and cover them with flour, then dip them in the egg mixture and then into the panko. For each dipping be sure to cover completely.

Let each shrimp set for about 5 minutes. Heat your oil to 350. When the oil is ready add the shrimp slowly and cook 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Don't add too many at one time - we want to keep the oil at 350.

Remove and drain.

Crab in the Wok with black bean & hoisen sauce - the smell was amazing!