Spicy Shrimp Noodle Bowl

I'm SO excited to be going to Thailand in just a few short days here.  In fact, I haven't felt this amount of anticipation and excitement since the Christmas mornings of my youth.  Anyone else remember waking up at an ungodly hour (4:45 am) and laying there in bed waiting sosososo patiently for your parents to hurry up and get up?  There are PRESENTS to be had here people!  Get to gettin'.

Either way, my excitement lead me to prep a Thai shrimp noodle bowl from Cooking Light's October 2010 issue.

Spicy Shrimp Noodle Bowl as adapted

• 1 pd tail on shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 cups water
• 2.5 cups low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 8 ounce bottle of clam juice (if you can't find this, I just subbed in equal amounts chicken broth)
• 2 1/4 in slices peeled ginger
• Olive oil
• 1 sliced red bell pepper
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3/4 cup sugar snap peas
• 2.5 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 ounces uncooked rice sticks
• cilantro
• lime wedges

The biggest pain in the neck on this recipe was the shrimp.  I had purchased what I thought was a stellar deal on shrimp from whole foods, but let me tell you, there's certain a price for convenience.  Ever time I use these shrimp, I have to spend a painstaking amount of time shelling them and then deveining them.  Total buzz kill.

Here we go!  Start with ripping all the tails of of your shrimp and chopping up a few medallions of ginger.  You dont' need alot - but both of these ingredients are going to add to the richness of the broth you are going to create.

And add in your broth, water and clam juice (if you found at the store).  Bring to a boil and them simmmmmeerrr on low for about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Once the broth is going, start slicing up all your veggies, if you haven't done so already.  Throw the onion and peppers into a sauce pan with a bit of heated EVOO and start sauteing.  Keep the heat low as you don't want your onions to burn, you just want to soften them.



Before Saute

After Saute

Once those are nicely sauted, add in the broth mixture (be sure to scoop out the tails and the ginger medallions first!), your shrimp, sugar snap peas and the rice noodles.  Allow to simmer until the shrimp are fully cooked and the noodles are soft.  When it's ready to serve, add in the chili garlic sauce (more if you like it HOT, HOT, HOT).   

Sprinkle with a bit of cilantro and give yourself a pat on the back.  This is incredibly low cal, fresh and filling.   

I hope every meal I eat in Thailand is 5 times better than this - but obviously, it's nice to be able to create at home!

Asian Shrimp with Brussel Sprouts

This is another recipe that I discovered in Real Simple's January 2011 magazine.  I was drawn to it because of the Brussel sprouts.  I've only had them twice before - once post college when we were having regular YP dinner parties every few weeks and once more recently. My girl Molls cheffed 'em up back in the day - and I remember being hesitant, but pleasantly surprised at this strange, tasty new vegetable I just tried.  And when I had them recently, they were a little over EVOO-ed, but I still thought they had decent flavor.  I feel like Brussel Sprouts get a bad rap.... sometimes rightly so.  I think they have to be cooked perfectly and they aren't such a bad little vegetable.  (Raw is a completely different story.  ewww.)

Asian Shrimp with Brussell Sprouts: (as adapted)

• 1 cup long-grain white rice 
• 1 pound shrimp, chopped in halves 
• 3 tablespooons canola oil, plus more, if necessary 
• 1/2 pound Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced 
• 1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks 
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce 
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar 
• 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar 
• 1 red chili pepper, thinly sliced 
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced 
• 2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
• 1/4 carrots (optional)

Get your skillet pan going on medium heat and heat up some of you oil.  Once hot, in go the sprouts, ginger and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar and 3/4 cup of water to pan and cook another 2 to 3 minutes until the sprouts are crisp tender.  Unfortunately, I don't know what that means.  In all honesty, I cheffed this up after shoveling and I was a few brews deep.  It was 12 inches.... can you blame me for being a little thirsty??

(On a side note: Southern Tier's Double IPA's are insanely tasty... but with a 8.2% ABV, they creep on you.)

Either way - it looks like this.  The sauce needs to thicken.  I threw a little cornstarch into mine to help speed it along (about 1 to 2 tablespoons).

Don't these look pretty?

Once the sauce has thickened, throw in your shrimps and your chili.  Cook until the shrimps are pink. And, in the grand finale, toss in your sesame oil and scallions and top with smashed peanuts.  If that's your thing.  It's clearly my thing.

I served over a bed of brown rice.

As you can see from the picture below, the vegetables are overcooked - hence the loss of their brilliant colors as shown above.  That's okay.  I believe it tasted pretty good... but by then, I had already moved on from wicked strong beers to a bottle of wine.  

Help me Rhonda.

The leftovers the next day made for a quick and easy lunch.

Sweet and Sour Shrimp

This is a weekday meal, hands down.  From fridge to mouth, it is under 30 minutes!

This is an easy dish to sub in/out various ingredients. For example, sub out shrimp for pork or chicken. Or even tofu if that's your thing. As for the veggies, you could add whatever you little heart desires - peppers, onions, sugar snaps, etc. This recipe is basically just a sauce and you can customize as you want to!  In addition to being flexible, it comes in pretty low cal.  Just 350 calories per serving (serves 4)!  Yum!

Sweet and Sour Shrimp:  (from Food Network)

• 1 pound shrimp (or pork, or chicken)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp ketchup
• 3 tbsp sugar, plus a pinch
• 3 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced on the diaganol
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 3 cups snow peas

Toss shrimp with 1/2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a bit of salt in a bowl. 

Mix the remaining balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch, ketchup, sugar, 1/3 cup of water and 1/2 tsp of salt in a bowl.  Wisk together. 

Heat a skillet on the stove using medium heat and a tbsp of peanut oil.  Add shrimp, sauteing lightly until opaque.  Remove with a spoon and set aside.  Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.

Heat another tbsp of peanut oil in a pan.  Add garlic, pinch of salt and sugar.  Keep moving as to not over do the garlic.  When garlic is overdone, it gets a bitter taste.  Add carrots/sugar and stir fry until crisp-tender, 2 to 5 minutes.  Add shrimp, snow peas and soy sauce mixture.  Stir until the sauce thickens a bit.  Roughly 3 to 5 minutes.  I ended up adding a touch more of cornstarch to thicken it up a bit more.

Then I served over a bed of brown rice.  Optional of course for all you carb watchers!

Roasted Tomato and Feta Shrimp

My office gets every magazine under the sun.  I love reading and so I frequently go downstairs to see good ones are downstairs in the mail room.  Recently, I grabbed my first copy of Southern Living.  I found this gem of a recipe inside.

Roasted Tomato and Feta Shrimp:

• 2 pints grape tomatoes, halfed
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp, halved
• 1/2 cup jarred roasted red peppers, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• arugula (optional)
• French bread (optional)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Place tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and pepper in a 13 by 9 glass dish and toss to coat.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until tomatoes are semi roasted.

Stir in shrimp and peppers and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until shrimp turn pink.

Toss with parsley, lemon juice and feta cheese.  I had some goat cheese on hand, so I threw that in as well, but it's a soft cheese, so it melted right away.  

You can serve this over a small portion of pasta noodles, with a side of french bread, or over arugala lettuce like I did.  I added a bit more fresh squeeze lemon over mine once I toss it all together. 

This was SO good!  Such a tasty, filling, relatively low calorie meal!  Bon Appetit!

Shrimp fra Diavolo

I have a new love in my life and it's called Shrimp fra Diavolo.

Seriously.  I love it.  I'm drooling a bit over my keyboard just thinking about it.  Below is an incredibly easy recipe that takes zero time - perfect for a weeknight after a long day of working.

Shrimp fra Diavolo

Pasta (of your choosing)

Olive Oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic - minced

16 oz can of crushed tomatoes

2 to 3 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 to 1 pound of shrimp

1/8 cup parsley, chopped

Shaved Parmesan

Step 1: Heat Olive Oil and sauté onions until translucent and soft.  Add garlic and sauté for a two more minutes.

Step 2: Add in herbs and red pepper flakes.  I used about 2.5 teaspoons of red pepper flakes and my sauce was pretty fiery.  Had some kick.  Made ya sweat.  So if that's not your thing, I would suggest using less.  I will probably do just over 1.5 tsps next time.  Allow the herbs and peppers to sauté into the onions - about a minute.

Step 3:  Add canned tomatoes and parsley to the sauce pan and reduce heat.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.  Stirring frequently.

Step 4: Add a little evoo to a pan and lightly sear your shrimp, heating until pink, but not overcooking. 

Step 5: Chef pasta according to package instructions.  I choose a wheat angel hair.  Strain, set aside.

Step 6: Add shrimp to the sauce and allow to heat together for a minute or two.

Step 7:   Serve over pasta and top with shaved Parmesan and chopped parsley.

Step 8: Pour yourself a glass of red wine and enjoy!

Calories:  This is a low cal dish.  Keep it light by not over using the EVOO and not overdoing it on the pasta.  I like to eat pasta out of a bowl instead of a plate - it keeps your portions down.  One pasta serving size is 220 calories - which is about the size of one hand cupped.  

Shrimp fra Diavolo- so healthy and so tasty!