Shrimp with Sambal and Banana

Right before heading out on our 'round the world trip, the Real Martha cooked up this tasty dish that combined unusual ingredients (shrimp, overripe bananas and sambal?).  Before she made it I tried to convince her to make something else, assuring her that she would eat more rice and sambal than she ever dreamed of when in Indonesia, but she had seen this recipe on the Food Network and was itching to make it...  I'm glad she did because it came out pretty tasty!  An interesting mix of sweet, spicy and savory.

Definitely a good use for bananas that have sneakily gone overripe (other than making a variety of banana shakes).  The Indonesian sambal we used may have been a bit too spicy, but that's easily remedied by leaving a little bit out next time.  I bet chicken, tofu or tempeh would work well in lieu of the shrimp, too.

Vietnamese Pomelo Salad

Tim and I have been craving some of the awesome dishes we had while traveling around Vietnam... we decided we would give one of their super fresh, spicy, salty, sweet and crunchy salads a go.  I found local (well, local-ish; from Aceh) pomelos at the grocery store and thus pomelo salad it was.  

Pomelos are massive; I think the one I bought was about 2 lbs.  They have a super thick rind and pith, over an inch in most places.  The flesh is pretty great, too... like a mild grapefruit (not as puckeringly tart), and although quite juicy, the little sacs don't break when you pull it apart, so, as you can see from my photo, the juice doesn't get all over everything.

Strangely the cookbook we bought from Morning Glory restaurant in Hoi An didn't have a pomelo salad recipe, but the internet was full of options.  I decided to go with this one from Appetite for China, supplemented with some sauteed shrimp, briefly marinated in fish sauce per Steamy Kitchen's directions.

An awesome dish, perfect for a hot summer night (or any night here, as they are all hot).  Crunchy from the carrots and roasted peanuts, salty from the fish sauce, spicy from the chili, sweet/tart from the pomelo and fragrant from the mint.

Shrimp Scampi

Tim cooked a lovely shrimp scampi the other night... buttery, garlicy, lemony. Mmm.

Okra, Corn and Tomato Saute with Cajun Grilled Shrimp

The end of summer is nigh... but the summer veggies keep coming! The CSA is still rife with corn, tomatoes, okra, peppers, and other summery goodies, though. I threw a whole bunch of these veggies together in a quick stir-fry, supplemented with a dash of hot sauce. Topped with some Cajun-esque grilled shrimp. Simple and delicious!

Surf and Turf CSA Dinner

Surf and Turf dinner...Roasted Tenderloin of Beef, Shrimp Gratin, oven roasted potatoes, Snap peas with chives from the garden and a field greens salad with parmesan, shallots and stone ground mustard vinaigrette

Deja Vu: Risotto with Shrimp, Asparagus, Feta and Dill

So... remember last year when I raved about this risotto dish with asparagus, shrimp, feta and dill? Yeah, well, I'm raving again. It's still good. I still suggest you run to your local farmers market, pick up some asparagus, and make this dish.

Camarones Enchiladas (Shrimp in a Spicy Tomato Sauce)

I've been craving something cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and served with feta since seeing various recipes bandied around the internet of late... Deb from Smitten Kitchen has been making shakshuka (eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce), Kevin from Closet Cooking is making tomato and feta baked eggs, and Alejandra from Always Order Dessert (who I met once in DC, as she used to be coworkers with Andy), had a spread in Real Simple with her mom's recipe for camarones enchiladas, or shrimp in spicy tomato sauce.

I decided to give Alejandra's recipe a try: definitely worth a try. The second recipe for us this week that uses the awesome smoked paprika as the main star.

Baked Shrimp Scampi

This baked shrimp scampi is a pretty reliable Ina Garten recipe that I've made several times. However, I think this time I squished the shrimp too close together in the dish, because it took waaaaaay too long to cook the shrimp in the center. Perhaps next time I'll do these in individual dishes.Anyway, it's garlicky, buttery and delicious- good with some bread to dip in the sauce! We took the tails off for ease of eating, but they do make the presentation a little bit fancier.

Smoky Shrimp, Hominy and Tortilla Soup

This smoky and spicy soup is an easy weeknight combo of tortilla soup and pozole (a spicy Mexican pork and hominy stew)... it's really delicious- hearty, smoky, spicy and jazzed up with a little bit of shrimp. It really didn't take much time at all.

We topped ours with salty queso duro blanco, diced avocado, lime and cilantro. Plus, rather than let the corn tortillas dry out overnight, I brushed them with a little olive oil, sprinkled some sea salt on top and threw them on a cookie sheet under the broiler until crispy.

Lemony Shrimp Scampi

So my CSA is only delivering every two weeks this winter (which is fine since they are mostly selling root/storage types crops right now in the dead of winter), and last week it slipped my mind that I had to put in my order. So for the first time in a while our meals are not determined by the CSA box contents. I took this opportunity to attempt to do some eating down of our fridge and freezer contents...

We had a couple bags of frozen shrimp in the freezer, a bag of lemons in the fridge, some parsley on the roof, and some pasta in the pantry, so I decided a buttery, garlicky, lemony shrimp scampi was in order (plus a simple salad using the last of some lettuce we bought last week).
I used a combination of a couple Ina Garten recipes... her linguine with shrimp scampi and her lemon pasta with roasted shrimp. I roasted the peeled shrimp in olive oil and S&P, and then added them to the butter/garlic/red pepper flake/lemon juice/lemon zest mixture. Tossed with whole wheat spaghetti and sprinkled with parsley and a little bit of grated parmesan. Yum.

Beef, Shrimp and Bok Choy Stir Fry

Remember that week where two days in a row I made recipes I have already made, but switched up the ingredients? It should be fresh in your mind because it's this week.

I made this stir-fry last week with beef and broccoli, and it was so easy and good, I decided to try it again this week with the bok choy I got in my CSA. I threw in about 10 shrimp for good measure and cooked the boy choy stems longer than the bok choy leaves, but otherwise followed Steamy Kitchen's method. Yum.

Sesame Soba Noodles with Baby Bok Choy...

...and cucumber and mixed greens and cilantro and mint and peanuts and shrimp (my addition to the recipe!).

This stuff was really good. Light and refreshing, crunchy and earthy- it's more of an Asian salad with soba noodles (Japanese buckwheat spaghetti) on top as an afterthought. All of it, salad and noodles, is covered in a citrusy/peanuty dressing. I added the shrimp, marinated in fish sauce and lemon zest then quickly sauteed, like the shrimp in the summer rolls I made a few months ago.

I will definitely make this again next time I get bok choy in my CSA share!

Salt and Pepper Crusted Shrimp with Lemon-Basil Dipping Sauce

Jennifer made these tasty shrimp and their associated dipping sauce as a pre-burger appetizer. Used some basil from the all-basil Aerogarden I've got going right now.

Mmmm.

Summer Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Another Steamy Kitchen recipe... this time a Vietnamese summer rolls with a spicy peanut dipping sauce. I always wanted to try my hand at making these, and this week I had mint, a cucumber, and Bibb lettuce from my CSA. I had the rice noodles and rice wrappers from a trip to Eden Center with Jennifer many months ago.

These were delicious. I added some basil in there, and used lemon zest in place of lemongrass for marinating the shrimp, as Jaden recommends. I omitted the mango because the ones I saw in the store weren't really ripe yet. I considered adding nectarine or peach instead for a little bit of a sweet factor, but the peach just turned into a pile of mush when I tried to make it into matchsticks with the mandoline. We didn't miss it, though.

Warning: these things are very hard to wrap! Mine were pretty messy looking. My lack of skills may have been due to the 3 margaritas and hookah full of cinnamon tobacco I had on Amy's roof just prior to making these, though.

Greek Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto

A coworker sent me a link to this recipe from Cooking Light... she picked a winner!

I know I've made a plethora of asparagus recipes recently, at least one a week for the last month, but I think about it like this: I eat asparagus once a week for approximately one month out of the year when it's in season, but then I don't get to eat it again for a year! So I am enjoying it and trying to keep it interesting by trying new recipes each time. Randy from Star Hollow Farm has already warned me that this coming Saturday is the last time I'm getting asparagus in my CSA box this year.

I had the dill left over from Amy and Tim's Peace Corps reunion "horovatz" (BBQ).

So, back to the recipe: I halved the recipe since Chuck and Tim were eating elsewhere (and because I only had half of the 1 pound bag of shrimp in the freezer), but the halving wasn't exact. I messed with the ratios a little bit.

I did half the rice, stock, water, onion, garlic and shrimp, but added approximately the full amount of asparagus, dill, lemon juice and cheese. Good idea. The extra asparagus was a bonus as far as texture and color goes, the extra flavor from the dill and lemon was key and the additional cheese added to the creaminess, as it basically melted when I stirred it in the rice.

As Jennifer is known to say: "It was really yummy!"