Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

I stole this photo from Food Network, as I forgot to take my own. My dishware isn't this rustic, nor my nails that nice. 

Ina Garten's Linguine with Shrimp Scampi is one of my easy go-to recipes for a speedy, tasty dinner. I try to keep frozen, raw shrimp on hand for situations like this. As noted on the most recent season of Top Chef (aka "Shrimpgate"), chefs say to avoid pre-cooked shrimp. It's easy to overcook and become chewy. I usually buy raw, deveined, easy-peel shrimp. Raw shrimp cook quickly (about 5 minutes in this recipe), and for those of us who are not good at planning ahead, you can defrost frozen shrimp easily by immersing them in some cool water for about 20 minutes. You do need to then peel them, but it's pretty quick and easy to do once defrosted.

I go off of Ina's recipe, but usually don't follow it exactly. I tend to use only about 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 to 1 1/2 of olive oil when making the sauce. I usually zest the lemon, and squeeze in lemon juice, but don't always use lemon slices. And I almost always forget about parsley (unless I luck out and it's laying around the house). All of those ingredients (more butter and olive oil, including the lemon slices or parsley, etc.) do add a stronger flavor -- but I think it's pretty tasty even without them!

It is fast to whip up with ingredients you have in the house already, and makes for a tasty and fresh dinner. Pasta is always a fave of mine (and Paul's), and doing something different than a marinara sauce kind of mixes it up a bit. Some lemony pasta with a green salad works well in the summer -- or during this warm spell we're having in spring! Enjoy!

Collard Green Phyllo Triangles

Left with a single pear and some collard greens, I whipped up some collard green phyllo triangles. I used this recipe, which was pretty easy. The only thing that can be a little challenging is that the phyllo dough can dry out really quickly when you're making the triangles. And you have to plan enough ahead of time to thaw the phyllo dough. 

Chopping the greens and shallot

Cooking the collard mixture with some olive oil and garlic

Assembling the triangles, with the collard mixture and a slice of pear on top

Ready for the oven!

Crispy and ready to eat!

We had these as a tasty little appetizer before dinner. The collards can be a little intense, so you could lighten them up with more pear or use a different green like spinach and change the flavor up a little. The recipe also suggests blending in a little tofu, so I imagine a soft, mild cheese would also work.

Seafood Paella

In addition to enjoying the bacon wrapped dates, Paul and I also made a seafood paella. We purchased mussels, shrimp and squid to include in the paella. 

Enjoy the photo montage of me prepping the raw squid. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I was wary at first.

You begin by removing the head and the internal organs in one fell swoop.

I think the face is warranted as I was pulling out the spine. Yerg.

Taking off the outer skin. I may have been screeching at this point.

Okay, phew. Last step of chopping up the body into rings.

Yup, it was pretty intense. After I did one, it was easy to do the others, following the directions in Mark Bittman's book How to Cook Everything. I survived however -- and it was worth it as the squid was a welcome addition and quite delicious. 

Back to normal photos...

Cooking up the onions in the paella pan

After adding the raw shrimp, mussels and squid rings.

Final product!

When I make the dish again (yes, I'm still willing to do it again), I think I would add some additional seasoning to spice things up up a little. The recipe is very basic -- onion, arborio rice, olive oil, fish stock, the seafood and some saffron -- so there's room to jazz things up. 

The recipe we used suggested cooking the onions and coating the rice in the onion/olive oil mixture before adding the stock and seafood and moving the pan to the oven. We didn't get that layer of crispy rice (or socarrat) at the bottom, but I hope that will come with practice.

I definitely liked the use of fish stock. It wasn't too fishy, and I think had we used vegetable or chicken, it may not have had the same effect of working with the other seafood items. I liked the variety of seafood included in the paella, and would continue to use two/three/four seafood options.

Homemade Ravioli

Paul and I were motivated one Friday evening to make our own pasta. Four hours later, we were ready for dinner. It's definitely a lot of work, but a fun experience (especially when your frantic pasta making is fueled by wine and sheer hunger). We started by making Mario Batali's tomato sauce recipe (it's our go-to for making sauce).

We made two fillings -- a roasted squash with sage and a ground turkey with ricotta cheese and Italian seasonings. We used the tomato sauce with the turkey, and make a sage brown butter sauce for the squash ravioli. 

The sauce bubbling away on the stove.

Turkey, ricotta and Italian seasonings on the left -- roasted squash and sage on the right.

Paul is usually the pasta-maker in our house, but I helped roll it out as well this time!

We used a pizza cutter instead of a more traditional pastry wheel or pasta cutter.

Squash ravioli with browned butter and sage sauce

Turkey meat ravioli with a fresh tomato sauce

It's definitely time consuming, but also pretty fun and rewarding to make your own pasta. Food just seems to taste better when you've made it yourself. I think I would have a little less dough on the outer edges of the ravioli next time, as it cooks differently than the pasta that is surrounding the filling (i.e. it takes longer to soften up since it's two layers of pasta versus one). I think I would just trim the ravioli a little more next time to solve that problem. My favorite was the squash ravioli with the brown butter and sage sauce -- so delicious!

We also had TONS of leftovers -- and opted to freeze them, uncooked for a quick dinner another evening. We defrosted and cooked them yesterday for a tasty mid-week meal!

Breaded Mussels

We've recently been really excited to start cooking some more seafood. For a nice, relaxing Sunday dinner, we made breaded mussels to eat alongside some soup and salad. The recipe was quite simple to do -- we spend much more time prepping the breaded mixture and soaking/cleaning the mussels than actual cooking time. 

I've also resolved myself to the fact that I need to buy more mussels that I think, as some always need to be tossed out. They open too early (and won't close back up), they don't open at all, they are cracked -- a few have to go unused no matter how carefully I treat them. Oh well.

Some of the steamed mussels

Cooking up the pancetta

Paul topping the mussels with the breadcrumb mixture

After browning in the oven

I loved the way that these turned out. The breadcrumb topping was salty and crunchy. Adding the strained wine mixture to the mussels before broiling added another level of flavor also -- you definitely noticed that little extra something.  I topped mine with a little squeeze of lemon juice as well. They were gone in a flash.

Homemade fish stock

I did it. I fought old ladies (not really) for fish bones at the fish market. But it was worth it.  As per usual, I took my recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. 

The stock includes: 1 chopped (unpeeled) medium onion, 1 carrot and 1 celery stalk roughly chopped, 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1 pound of white fish bones, and a bay leaf. Combine everything in a pot, add 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. After coming to a boil, drop the heat down to a little less than a simmer and let cook for 30 minutes. Cool slightly, then strain (pressing on the vegetable and fish to get the most flavor). And you're done. 

We used the stock in the seafood paella we were making that evening. Not only are fish bones super cheap, but the fish stock it was so easy to make. I'm not even sure what fish bones I picked up, but it worked. I imagine it is a lot less salty than purchasing some at the store. I'll have to try homemade chicken or vegetable stock next!

Spanish Panzanella Salad

Last week, we made a fun Spanish panzanella salad from Wholesome Kitchen. The salad was SUPER easy to make, and really tasty! I really like warm or slightly warm salads in the winter -- they just add something a little seasonal. 

Instead of regular chorizo, I picked up some chicken sausage chorizo. We didn't lose any flavor, and definitely cut down on the fat content and (possible) oiliness of the salad. I also used regular paprika instead of Spanish smoked sweet paprika (not for lack of trying -- I couldn't find any at the store). That may have changed the flavor slightly, but I imagine it was not noticeable. The spinach wilts a little with the heat of the other ingredients and the warmed oil from the pan.

A great change-up from a traditional Italian panzanella salad -- we'll definitely make this again!