Sizzling Prawns

Tonight I was looking for a quick and easy main dish. I picked up a recipe book I've never used before: Cooking In Spain. We've had this recipe book since we got married, since Mike is sentimental toward anything Spanish (on account of his two year mission to Barcelona). On a whim, I looked through it and found this fantastic recipe, "Gambas Al Pil Pil".

It's so easy, it wasn't even laid out in the traditional recipe format - just a short paragraph describing it: This dish is supposed to arrive at the table "pil-pileando", a word that sounds like spluttering oil. It is traditionally made in individual ramekins and topped with a plate of chunks of bread for sopping the savoury juices. One daren't remove the plate nor taste the first morsel until the oil stops sizzling, for fear of singeing the tongue.

Per serving:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped clove of garlic
1 teaspoon crushed chili pepper
pinch of smoked paprika
10 peeled shrimp
Heat oil, garlic, pepper, and paprika in a pan until quite hot, then add shrimp. Cook only until they just turn pink and curl slightly. Serve immediately!

Salmon with Cherry Tomato Salsa

Mike's back on the Paleo bandwagon so I've been looking for new ways to cook meat and veggies. I found a good blog with a few recipes I'll try out over the next few months. This one was a HUGE hit with Mike, though I changed a few things based on what's in our pantry. I'll for sure be making it again.

4 wild salmon fillets, skin-on
1 tsp dried garlic (or 2 cloves minced)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground thyme
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil

Set your oven to broil. Place salmon in a tinfoil covered dish. In a small bowl, combine garlic through olive oil. Whisk well and pour over salmon. Let it marinate in the fridge until the oven is preheated. Broil for 8-10 minutes, or until salmon is pale pink and flaky.

Tomato Salsa:
1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1/2 tsp dried garlic (or 2 cloves minced)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Combine garlic through pepper in a small bowl. Whisk well, then add tomatoes to the bowl. Toss to coat. Serve on top of cooked salmon.

Miso Fish

3 fillets of white fish
3 T miso
3 T rice wine
2 T vegetable oil

Mix the rice wine and miso together to make a paste. Lay fillets flat on a dish and spread miso mixture on the fillets. Cover and marinate in fridge for 4 hours to overnight.

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Panfry the fish until both sides are evenly browned, about three minutes per side. Serve with steamed white rice.

Creamy Shrimp Alfredo

You can also substitute the seafood of your choice (tilapia, halibut, salmon) for the shrimp. Whatever you've got handy in the freezer!

1/2 lb linguine
2 T balsamic vinaigrette dressing
1/2 lb shrimp (or fish)
3 cloves garlic
6 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 c chicken broth
1/4 c parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta. Heat dressing in large skillet on medium heat. Add shrimp, cook for 2-3 minutes (until done) adding garlic for the last minute. Remove shrimp with slotted spoon; set aside.

Add cream cheese and broth to skillet, cook until cream cheese is completely melted (stirring often). Add shrimp and half of parmesan. Add drained pasta to skillet; toss to coat. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan and serve.