Garlic, Lemon Prawns

If you're one of my regular visitors, you'll have noticed that I haven't posted anything for a while.  Some of you have even emailed me to check up on me, and I appreciate your thoughts and concern more than you can ever know.

I'm not going to go into details here, this is not the place, but the reality is life has been pretty challenging for me lately, leaving me completely disinterested in food.  I've scarcely been bothered to eat it, let alone cook it or write blog posts about it.  But life goes on;  there are plenty of people who are faced with very much worse;  and the clouds are beginning to part sufficiently for me to get back into the kitchen today.

And I have the lovely Nicole at I Am a Honey Bee to thank for getting me back to the stove top.  It's Secret Recipe Club (**) time, and Nicole's blog was my assignment for the month.  Nicole lives in the Bay State with her husband, Price, and beyond gorgeous 16 month old daughter, Autumn.  She works in architecture, and like me she enjoys cooking, design and loves all things Greek.

*  So what's this Secret Recipe Club you may ask?  The club has over a hundred members, divided into four groups, and each month one member is assigned (in secret) to another member from their group.  That person then selects a recipe (or more) to make, photograph, and prepare a blog post - all in secret.  Then everyone in the group posts their recipe on the same day, and of course the secret is then out.  It's a always a thrill to find out who has posted something from your own blog, and to meet and discover some new blogs.   If you are a food blogger and interested in joining the Secret Recipe Club, be sure to check out the Join SRC page.

So several weeks of secretly browsing through Nicole's blog, has been enough to tantalise my jaded taste buds.  Dishes like 40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken, Scallop Salad, and VegetarianWontons with Spicy Soy Dipping Sauce all piqued my appetite and have been bookmarked for a later date.  But it was Nicole's delicious Garlic Lemon Shrimp that eventually lured me back into the kitchen.

This dish is incredibly quick and easy to put together (which is just perfect for me right now), and I took Nicole's advice of serving it with some crusty bread, though you could just as easily as she suggests serve it over some rice or pasta.  To keep things healthy I had a simple green salad on the side.  Other than adjusting quantities, as I was only cooking for one, I followed Nicole's recipe fairly closely - adding lemon zest and parsley being the only other changes I made.

Garlic, Lemon Prawns Recipe
Adapted from recipe from I Am a Honey Bee
Serves one as a main meal
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

200g (7 oz) prawns or shrimps, shelled & deveined
3x cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine
generous pinch of red pepper flakes
zest and juice of 1x lemon
flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lemon cut into wedges
generous handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C (450 degrees F).

Place prawns into a bowl.  Add the crushed garlic, butter, olive oil, wine, red pepper flakes, and lemon juice.  Add half the lemon zest, and set the remaining zest aside to use later.  Season generously with sea salt and black pepper, and mix everything together well.

Line a shallow baking dish with foil (makes the washing up easy later on), and spread the prawn mixture in the baking dish in a single layer.  Nestle lemon wedges in amongst the prawns, and place dish in the preheated oven.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the prawns have turned pink and cooked through.

If serving with crusty bread, place bread in the oven 5 minutes before the prawns finish to heat through.

Remove from the oven and use the foil to carefully transfer the prawns and all the lemony, garlicky juices to a serving dish.

Mix the reserved lemon zest with the chopped parsley and sprinkle over the top of the prawns and serve immediately.  Use crusty bread to mop up all those heavenly juices.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did, and visit the links below to check out all the other great dishes my Secret Recipe Club friends made.

An InLinkz Link-up

Prawns Saganaki, Pita Bread & other Mezedes

Today I'm taking you on a trip to the Greek islands, and treating your taste buds to, not just one, but four recipes.  You see, at I Heart Cooking Clubs this week, where we are down to our last few weeks of cooking with Tessa Kiros, our theme this week was Mezedes - the Greek tradition of shared foods.  So I thought it was time to break out my copy of Food from Many Greek Kitchens - one of Tessa' books I have been enjoying enormously, but which I have not yet introduced you to.  Which, also makes this a great opportunity to share this post at Cookbook Sundays, a weekly event I host here at Couscous & Consciousness, in order to get some of those unused cookbooks down off the shelves and into the kitchen.

This is a wonderful book - the recipes, as is typical of Greek food, are simple and uncomplicated.  The photographs are stunning - for those of you who have ever been to Greece, this book will stir up so many memories;  for those of you who haven't, this will get you dreaming and planning your first Greek island holiday.

Anyway, as I mentioned, our theme was Mezedes and well ... you can't exactly just have one meze now, can you?  So I decided to go all out and came up with my version of a Greek feast - Prawns with Feta & Tomato, Peppers Stuffed with Feta, Roasted Lemon Potatoes, Pita Bread and a Greek Salad.

Traditionally, mezedes are served as small plates to be shared as the starter or appetiser to a meal, and the dishes offered here would probably be enough for 4-6 people if they were served as the appetiser to a larger meal.  But two of us ate this as our main meal, and had plenty of leftovers for the next day.  Every one of these dishes were wonderful, and the meal was greeted with the response, "Wow, that very first mouthful transported me right back to Paros".

I would recommend all of these dishes - every single one of them will get made again in my house - and I highly recommend the book.  The pita bread I had been wanting to make ever since Michele raved about it, and it did not disappoint - the breads were soft and fluffy, with just the right amount of "chew".  In fact, if I had to choose a highlight of the dishes I made for this meal, it would probably be the pita breads, not least because it was a revelation to discover how easy it was to make them, and how good the results.  The feta stuffed peppers were beyond easy to make, could easily be prepared in advance, and in fact could even be cooked in advance as they would be just as good served at room temperature as hot.  The saltiness of the feta and the sweetness of the roasted peppers marry together well for a wonderful flavour combination.  The roasted lemon potatoes are to die for if you're a potato lover, and I think this just became the go-to potato dish at my place.  As for the prawns - what's not to love about the simple combination of prawns, tomatoes and garlic?  I think that next time I would bake this in the oven though to intensify the flavour a little rather than cooking on the stove top.

Prawns with Feta & Tomato Recipe

(Garides Saganaki)

Adapted from a recipe by Tessa Kiros from

Food from Many Greek Kitchens

Serves 4

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

400g (14 oz) tin tomatoes, chopped

3 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

300g raw, peeled prawns or shrimps
100g feta, crumbled

 Heat the olive oil in medium saucepan over low to medium heat.  Add the garlic and saute until it is just fragrant.  Immediately, add the chopped tomatoes with their juice, half the parsley and season liberally with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Bring up to the boil, then cover the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Remove the lid, and simmer for a further 5 minutes or so to reduce and thicken the sauce a little.

Add the prawns to the pan and stir gently to make sure all the prawns are covered in the sauce.  Simmer for about 3 to 4 minutes until the prawns are just beginning to turn pink.  Add the crumbled feta to the pan, shake pan gently to distribute feta through the sauce and prawns;  cover and cook for about 5 minutes until the feta is just starting to soften, shaking the pan from time to time.

Grind some more black pepper over the top, and sprinkle the rest of the parsley over the top to serve.

Pita Bread Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Tessa Kiros from
Food from Many Greek Kitchens
Makes 8 pita breads
Vegetarian

2 teaspoons dried active yeast
1 teaspoon honey
3 tablespoons warm water
450g (1 lb) plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons olive oil
200ml (7 fl oz) water

Put the 3 tablespoons of warm water in a small jug or glass.  Add the honey and sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Stir to dissolve, and then set aside for the yeast to activate.  You will know it's ready when it is frothy on top.

Put the flour and salt into a large bowl.  Make a well in the centre, and pour in the activated yeast mixture, the olive oil and the water.  Mix with a wooden spoon until the dough forms into a rough clump.  Remove from the bowl and, using your hands, knead for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft and springy.  Note, the dough will be sticky to begin with, but avoid adding more flour or flouring your work surface, but simply flour your hands ever so lightly from time to time if the dough is clinging to your hands.

Lightly oil a clean bowl, add the dough ball to the bowl, cover with cling film and then a heavy cloth, and leave in a warm place to prove.  It will take about 1-1/2 to 2 hours and the dough should almost double in size.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F).

Knock the dough down, knead lightly for a minute or two, and then divide into 8 equal sized pieces.  Using your hands, flatten each piece into a flat disc and leave for about 5 minutes for the dough to relax.

Using a rolling pin, roll each disc out into a rough circle, about 2mm (1/16th in) thick.  Brush lightly with olive oil and put onto unfloured baking trays (I got three to a tray). Bake one tray at a time until the breads are just firmed (about 5 minutes), then turn them over and bake for a further 3 minutes.  The breads will finish cooking when reheated just before serving, so they should be a little under-done at this point.

Remove from the oven and immediately stack the breads one on top of each other and wrap in a clean tea towel to keep them soft.

To serve, brush each side of the bread with a little olive oil, and add to a chargrill pan over high heat until warmed on both sides.

Peppers Stuffed with Feta Recipe
(Piperies Yemistes Me Feta)

Adapted from a recipe by Tessa Kiros from
Food from Many Greek Kitchens
Serves 2
Vegetarian

4x small sweet peppers
(look for the long, narrow, thin-fleshed ones - not capsicums)
100g feta
1 tablespoon olive oil
dried oregano

Cut the tops off the peppers and carefully remove the seeds, taking care to keep the peppers intact.

Crumble the feta, and stuff quite firmly into the peppers.  Replace the tops.

Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan.  Saute the peppers over high heat, turning from time to time, until the peppers have softened and browned and blistered on the outside, and the feta has started to soften.

Sprinkle a little dried oregano over the top to serve.

Roasted Lemon Potatoes

(Patates Fournou Lemonates)

Adapted from a recipe by Tessa Kiros from
Food from Many Greek Kitchens
Serves 3
Vegetarian

600g (1-1/2 lbs) potatoes, peeled & rinsed
juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil
flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
dried oregano
1 cup water

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Halve the potatoes lengthwise, and cut each half into 3 wedges.  Put potatoes in a single layer into an ovenproof dish.  Pour over the lemon juice, and drizzle liberally with olive oil.  Season generously with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and sprinkle over the oregano.  Toss the potatoes to ensure they are all well coated with everything.  Pour the water down the sides of the dish, and give the dish a gentle shuffle.

Roast for about 1-1/2 hours, turning and basting every 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and golden, and there is still a little sauce left in the dish.

Serve hot, adding more salt and pepper to taste.

I do hope you'll give some of these dishes a try - I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

If you would like to get to know Tessa a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Food From Many Greek Kitchens and many of Tessa's other great titles available from Amazon or Fishpond NZ.

         

I hope you'll give these mezedes a try - I'm sharing them this week at Cookbook Sundays, where my friends are delving into their cookbook collections and sharing some of their recipes.  Do stop by to see what they're cooking - you might even feel inspired to link up a recipe from one of your own cookbooks.

Fregola Soup with Shrimps & Chorizo and Cookbook Sundays # 5

The thing I love about cooking, as opposed to baking, is the way that you can take just about any recipe and adapt it to suit your tastes or the ingredients you have on hand without necessarily sacrificing anything in the way of the quality of the dish.  Baking on the other hand is a precise science, and disaster lurks in the wings for those novices who dare to tinker with the recipe.

Today's recipe is a great example of being able to adapt and still come up with a great dish.  I would not for a moment suggest that my adaptation is an improvement.  After all, the original came from the book Molto Italiano by Mario Batali, the orange-clogged "God" of all things Italian, and I'm pretty sure his word cannot be bettered.  Still, I like to think that my interpretation of his Fregola Soup with Clams turned out to be a pretty good dish.

So this is the way it went down.  Having half a bag of fregola languishing in my pantry, I had decided a couple of days ago that I was going to make this dish today for my contribution to this week's Cookbook Sundays.  Trouble is, I forgot to check the recipe before I went out this morning to do my shopping.  I knew I had to get clams, but not finding any available today, I opted for some shrimp which I thought would make a good substitute.  Since I keep a fairly well stocked pantry, I thought that I would have pretty much everything else necessary on hand.  Turns out I was wrong.  For starters, I didn't have a red onion, but there were a few spring onions in my vege crisper and I knew that I could get away with finely slicing just the white part of them - of course, a shallot or two would also make a reasonable substitute.  The recipe also called for some prosciutto, which was conspicuously absent from my fridge, but I did have some chorizo sausage, which was a great alternative and paired really well with the shrimp.  I was also missing some basic tomato marinara sauce, but I had some really good hot, roasted pepper sauce that I have been loving lately, so subbed that in instead.  Also, as I am only one person, I halved the original recipe (intended to serve 4 people) to create two very generous servings, which means that tomorrow night's dinner is already sorted!

All things considered, all though I changed the dish quite significantly, I was really pleased with the end result.  The earthy flavour of the saffron which comes through in the broth is both comforting and a great foil to the brininess of the shrimp - I can imagine that this would be amplified if you used clams here as they have even more of that briny quality than the shrimp.  This definitely works as comfort food, but it also has an elegance about it, and I would not hesitate to serve it to company.

Fregola Soup with Shrimps & Chorizo

Adapted from recipe by Mario Batali from

Molto Italiano

Makes 2 generous servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

250g (1/2 lb) fregula (see note below)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 spring onions, white part only, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

125g (4.5 oz) chorizo sausage

250g (1/2 lb) peeled shrimp

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

pinch saffron threads

1/4 cup basic marinara sauce*

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes*

(*I used a hot, roasted red pepper sauce as a substitute for both of these ingredients)

large handful flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

Note:  Fregola is the Sardegna version of couscous.  It is not that easy to find here in New Zealand, but you will come across it in gourmet specialty stores such as Mercato, Zarbo, Farro, Sabato or Nosh.  It does have a fairly hefty price tag, so if that's not in your budget you could substitute Israeli couscous (mograbieh).  Mind you, that too can be pricey, so if that is still not in your budget go and check out this post from Mika at milliemirepoix for a more budget friendly Palestinian couscous.

Set a large pan of water over high heat and bring to a rapid boil.  Salt the water very liberally, then add the fregola and cook according to the package directions - could take anywhere from 12 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, set a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add the olive oil, and once the oil is hot add the chorizo sausage.  Saute until the chorizo is just starting to brown, then add the spring onions and garlic.  Continue to saute until the onion has softened and the garlic is fragrant.

Add the shrimps, wine, stock, saffron and roasted red pepper sauce.  Bring to the boil.

Drain the cooked fregola, add it to the pan, and cook until the shrimp is pink and you have reached the consistency of a soupy risotto.

Stir in the parsley and serve in warm bowls.

 

Earlier I mentioned Cookbook Sundays.  What is that all about, you are perhaps wondering.  Well, if you're anything like me you have dozens of cookbooks gathering dust on your bookshelves, some of which have never even been cooked from.  Sure I spent hours browsing through them when I first bought them, marking all the recipes I was going to make with little post-it notes, and yet still those books languish in the bookcase and never make it to the kitchen.  There are others from which I have made but one recipe which was such a resounding success that I've made it over and over again, and yet somehow I've never made anything else from that book.  Sound a bit familiar?!

Take comfort - you are not alone, and now Cookbook Sundays is your opportunity to change that.  Every Sunday I'm going to share with you a recipe that I haven't made before from one of my ever expanding collection of cookbooks.  And, because I know that if you have read this far then you are guilty of this too, I'm inviting you to join in with me.  Each week my Cookbook Sundays post will have a linky for you to share something you've cooked from one of your cookbooks.

The rules for joining in are simple:

1. Your post must state the author and the title of the book your recipe has come from.
2. Your post must mention Cookbook Sundays and link back to this post.  Including the Cookbook Sundays badge is optional, but always appreciated.
3. You may submit as many entries as you like, and you may use the same cookbook as many times as you like.  Old posts are also welcome.
4. Lastly,  remember that what goes around, comes around - one of the reasons you are participating in this is because you want people to read your posts, so do the right thing and go and visit a few of the other participants. 

Now, go and dust off those cookbooks and get cooking!  Use the linky tool at the end of this post to submit your entry/entries - simply scroll down to where it says "You are next ... Click here to enter", and then follow the instructions.  The linky will be open for one week.

Lastly, if you would like to use the Cookbook Sundays badge in your post, simply copy the code in the box beside the badge below and paste it into your post.  Feel free to also use it in your sidebar if you wish.

<a href="http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.com/p/cookbook-sundays.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa476/Susan_Busch/CookbookSundaysBadge.jpg" border="0" alt="CookbookSundays"></a>

I'm also sharing this post at Souper (and Sammies & Salads) Sundays hosted by my lovely friend Deb, at Kahakai Kitchen, and at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the equally lovely Michelle, at Ms enPlace.

    

Bittman's Simplest & Best Shrimp Dish

The dish I'm sharing with you today comes from Mark Bittman's weighty tome, "How to Cook Everything" (though I actually referenced it on the HTCE iPhone application), and is another contribution to Make it with ..... Mondays, challenge paprika as well as to the latest Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop.

"The Simplest & Best Shrimp Dish" is Bittman's own title for this dish and, to be honest, it is so good and so deliciously simple that it is hard to imagine a more fitting name for it.  If you buy shrimp which have already been peeled and cleaned, then the only work involved is a bit of garlic preparation and parsley chopping - hardly what you would call labour intensive.  The actual cooking is even less demanding.  I served this dish with some saffron rice, and the shrimps can basically be prepped and cooked in the time it takes to cook the rice, which is what I call perfect timing.

The sauce is gloriously garlicky and redolent with the smoky aroma of the paprika, and was beautiful served over rice, but would be equally good with some pasta or fresh crusty bread to mop up all that wonderful sauce.  This dish would also be perfect served with a variety of other dishes as part of a selection of tapas.

Of one thing you can be certain - no matter which way you serve this, you will be asked for it over and over again.

The Simplest & Best Shrimp Dish Recipe

Adapted from Mark Bittman's

How to Cook Everything

Makes 2 generous servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

extra virgin olive oil

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

300g shrimp, peeled and deveined

flaky sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon hot paprika

chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Pour enough extra virgin olive oil into a large skillet to liberally cover the bottom of the pan.  Set the pan over low heat, warm the oil, add the garlic, and cook until it turns golden.

Increase the heat to medium-high and add the shrimp.  Sprinkle over some flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper;  add the cumin, and the paprika.  Stir to blend and continue to cook, shaking the pan occasionally and turning the shrimp over a couple of times, until they are pink and the mixture is bubbly - about 5 minutes.

Garnish with the parsley and serve immediately.

Interested in cooking some more with Mark Bittman?  I highly recommend any of these Mark Bittman books:

     

Available from Amazon, Book Depository UK, and Fishpond NZ

This post is submitted to "Making it with ..... Mondays" # 4, challenge paprika (there's still time to join in - linky will be open until 11.59 am, Monday 7 February) and the Tackling Bittman Recipe Hop Volume 4 (linky will be open until 11.59 pm, Thursday 10 February).  I'd love you to get cooking either with some paprika or Bittman, or maybe a combination of both, then come on over and join in the fun.

     

This post is also linked to "Let's Do Brunch" at My Sweet & Savory and Food on Friday hosted by Carole at Carole's Chatter.

Spaghetti with Shrimp & Lemon Oil Recipe

My very first visit to the United States was a four day business trip to San Francisco.  From New Zealand that was a long way to go for a two-hour meeting, but back then I worked in advertising and then was the 80s - an industry and an era both renowned for their excesses.   There is much about that trip that is to this day indelibly etched in my memory, but most significant of all were some wonderful food memories.  It was the first time I ever ate nachos and drank a margarita (well, actually, more than one);  at the marina in Sausalito I enjoyed a plate of succulent oysters and my first ever tuna melt;  I ate the most heavenly dish of snails, each in tiny little pots with little pastry lids at a restaurant in Union Square that was called something like Forneaux Ovens (I could stand corrected on that one);  and lunched on linguine with garlicky shrimp at a wonderful Italian restaurant in Ghirardelli Square.

This dish in particular was an absolute revelation to me - back then we didn't really have too many Italian restaurants in New Zealand, and the only pasta I had ever eaten up until that point in my life was spaghetti (only ever with a bolognese sauce) and macaroni elbows (either in a classic mac 'n' cheese or some kind of tuna bake).  Back then, if you wanted to buy olive oil you had to get it from the pharmacist.  Much has changed here in the last 30 years, but without a doubt that day in Ghirardelli Square was the day my love for Italian food bloomed, and it has been a growing passion ever since.

When our theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where as you know we are cooking with Giada de Laurentiis, was California Dreamin' her Linguine with Shrimp and Lemon Oil was the dish that immediately evoked for me those memories of California.  As it turned out I used spaghetti because that's what I had on hand, but linguine would be the ideal.  I hope you'll try this and bring a little bit of California into your kitchen.

Spaghetti with Shrimp & Lemon Oil

Adapted from "Giada's Kitchen"

by Giada de Laurentiis

Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For the lemon oil:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

zest of 1/2 lemon

For the pasta:

250g (1/2 pound) spaghetti (or linguine)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

250g (1/2 pound) fresh shrimp, peeled & deveined

1 lemon, juice and zest

flaky sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 large handfuls of rocket (arugula) or spinach

freshly chopped Italian parsley for garnishing

Begin by making the lemon oil.  Put the 1/4 cup of olive oil into a small bowl.  Using a vegetable peeler, take off thin strips of the lemon peel and add them to the oil.  Take care to avoid any of the white pith, scraping it away from the peel if necessary.  Set aside to infuse (I actually did this the day before - not necessary, but the longer you allow it to infuse the better the flavour).

Bring a large pot of water to the boil over high heat, salt the water liberally, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente.  Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.

While the pasta is cooking, warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic, cook for a minute, then add the shrimp and cook just until the shrimp turn pink.

Add the cooked spaghetti, a little grated zest and most of the juice of the lemon, flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Toss well to combine, then turn off the heat and add the rocket or spinach (I used about equal quantities of both).

Drizzle liberally with the lemon oil (discarding the strips of zest), sprinkle over the chopped parsley.  Toss again to combine, adding a little of the pasta water if necessary, and serve immediately.

Close your eyes and imagine you're in California.

Interested in getting to know Giada a bit better?  Then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up ....

.... or check out Giada's Kitchen and many of her other titles, available from Amazon, Book Depository UK and Fishpond NZ

       

I'm also submitting this post to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this week by Jen at Tastes of Home - you will be able to see a full round-up of all the submissions there on Friday 28 January.   I'm looking forward to checking out a whole lot of new pasta dishes.