Thursday, July 22, 2010

Middle of a Move

I won't be able to post anything for awhile. My kitchen in packed up and we are in the middle of a move. I probably won't be able to cook anything other than top ramen (gag) until the end of September when our household goods arrive.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Shrimp Stir Fry


Typically, when you stir fry beef and chicken you cook the meat at a high heat. By searing the meat first, you lock in the flavor and the moisture. On the other hand, if you stir frying shrimp on a high heat, you will end up with rubbery shrimp. In this recipe, you should cook your shrimp on a low-med heat first, remove the shrimp and turn up the heat stir fry the vegetables. Your shrimp won’t have the lovely brown hue, but it’ll still taste fantastic. You’ll add the shrimp the last thirty seconds or so to toss it with the vegetables. That way you have crisp vegetables and tender shrimp. For this recipe, you will need:

2T butter
2T Olive Oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed
12 whole Jumbo Shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails off
2 whole Zucchini, sliced at a slight diagonal
2 ears of corn, kernels cut off
1/2c grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
Salt and pepper

Heat 1T of butter and 1T of olive oil in a large skillet over a low-med heat. Add minced garlic. When the butter and oil are hot, add the shrimp in a single layer and cook for about three minutes, turning half way through. (If you double this recipe, you may have to cook your shrimp in batches because overcooking the shrimp will make them rubbery.) Remove to a bowl, but do not clean your skillet. Add the remaining butter and oil and turn up the heat to a med-high heat. Add zucchini slices in a single layer and cook for one minute, tossing once. Push zucchini to edges of the pan and add the corn to the middle of the pan. Cook for about a minutes. Add grape tomatoes, salt and pepper and toss around. Add the shrimp and cook for about thirty seconds before removing from heat. Serve with rice.

The original recipe said to leave the shrimp tails on, but I have kids so I took off the tails. Why give them an excuse to decide it's nasty before they even try the shrimp?

An aside: I think the recipe tastes better if the tomatos are warm, but not really cooked yet. It's my preference in this house because everyone else just picks out the tomatos anyway.