grilled shrimp with sweet corn polenta

Grilled shrimp, salty pancetta, sweet corn, and creamy polenta.

Indubitably delicious.

I saw a recipe photo on the cover of Food & Wine last month that inspired this. I think it was actually a saffron risotto with grilled shrimp, but polenta sounded so much better. It was surprisingly easy and the flavor pay off was definitely high.

Not a single complaint. It even made fabulous leftovers for lunch the next day.

Make this, people will love you. You know, even more than they already do.

Click to read more ...

Shrimp Saganaki

Bubbling hot tomatoes, shrimp, and salty half-melted feta all scooped on to some nice crusty bread - shrimp saganaki qualifies as some serious comfort food.

Saganaki is technically a cooking vessel used quite extensively in traditional Greek cooking, but over time it's been adulterated to refer to what is inside the vessel. In this case it's the conventional pairing of tomatoes, onion, shrimp and feta cheese.

This version hails a little more from the Northern region of Greece because of the added heat from the red pepper flakes. If you're not a fan of spice, feel free to tone it down a notch or two.The 1/4 teaspoon really does add a significant amount of heat.

Usually a splash of ouzo is in order to add that extra kick and impart that rarely identified flavor that accompanies this particular dish, but I couldn't find any. I'm too much of a weenie to venture into any civilian liquor stores around here - mainly because there's a very real possibility I'd get mugged or walk into the middle of a robbery.

Click to read more ...

Shrimp & Spinach Stuffed Portobellos

Sometimes, when I have way too much time on my hands, I think about how it was discovered that certain foods are edible.

I'm sure everyone's thought about who the first guy was to eat a chicken egg - imagine his wife's face when that happened. "Honey, what are you doing? Don't play with that. Stop bothering the chicken! What are you doing with that frying pan...? OH MY GOD."

Similarly, the potato (once deemed poisonous), escargot (Seriously, who thought that one up? Whoever you are though, thank you!), and caviar seem equally as unappetizing when the attempt is made to look at them as if you'd never seen them before. Who's going to pull up a plant, see some weird looking round tuber thing stuck to its roots...and then decide to put it in their mouth? Also, how many raw potatoes were eaten before it was discovered that they're way better cooked?

Click to read more ...