Spicy Shrimp Pasta

You'll need:

10 Jumbo Shrimp (peeled with tails on)

Tomato paste

Garlic

Whole grain pasta

Edamame or green peas

Red pepper flakes

S&P

1-2 Lemons

Tabasco

I went to our neighborhood grocery and couldn't pass up these jumbo shrimp. Having no idea what to do with them, I came home and discovered we had lemons, garlic, pasta, and edamame.

I boiled the pasta and reserved about 1c of the water. I added some cooked edamame to the pasta and set that aside.

Next, I put some salt and pepper on the shrimp (both sides), and sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil, only until they turned pink (about 90 seconds).

I removed the shrimp from the pan, set them aside, and sauteed a mixture of garlic, tomato paste, lemon zest, juice from 1 lemon, Tabasco, and red pepper flakes in the remaining olive oil. Then, I added the leftover cup of water from the pasta.

I let that come to a boil, then simmer for around 5-6 minutes.

I usually find that I season the protein instead of the pasta, and my pasta then falls short. So this time, I decided to pour the sauce onto the pasta/edamame mixture I'd made, and simply place the shrimp on top. This worked out great, I was able to dress it up with about 5-6 shrimp each, and the pasta had a spicy kick to it, while the shrimp retained their flavor. I sprinkled a little parmesan on top, and it was a perfect use-what-you-have, easy recipe! (I was also able to use the leftover pasta, sans shrimp, as lunch the next day by adding some sauteed tofu- making it a totally different meal.)

Stuffed Mirliton

I decided to attempt to make an old recipe healthier than the one I found on the internet... Mostly it worked out, some of it didn't. When I was little, I remember my grandmother used to have this little southern vegetable, mirliton, growing on a rather large vine in her backyard. We used to pick them when they were seasonal and she always used to show me which ones were ripe. I've never made stuffed mirlitons, but when we went to the farmer's market and saw they were in season, I had to take the challenge. I found this recipe online from the Crescent City Farmer's Market, and wanted to give it a try.

I started by halving then boiling the mirlitons, then did as the recipe described, de-seeding them, and chopping the meat out of the vegetable. Next, I substituted chopped carrots for the celery (because I didn't have any in my house), and sauteed the vegetables (carrot, onion, and green bell pepper from the Farmer's Market Box) in a little bit of butter, then added the shrimp. Instead of adding the french bread the recipe called for, I added quinoa. This did a pretty good job of sopping up the broth, and seemed like a great, more nutritious, substitution.

Next, I added the meat from the mirliton, and Italian Style bread crumbs, as well as green onions, parsley, Worcestershire, black pepper, italian seasoning, and salt... Then I decided to get lazy and not measure the Tabasco... BIG mistake... Measure and USE HALF of the recipe's Tabasco suggestion...unless you like your mouth to be on fire.

Anyway, I cooked that for around 6 minutes, and removed it from the heat.

Next, I stuffed the mirlitons with the mixture, topped it with some grated parmesan, and put them in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

When I pulled them out, they looked delicious. Mike wasn't a huge fan, and I think next time I try this dish, I'll pulverize the mirliton pieces (he said they reminded him of tomato, which he doesn't eat). I also plan to eliminate the Tabasco all together- you can always add it later.

I saved the stuffing leftovers and will likely either add more quinoa, or some cream to it and sautee it for some peppers later in the week. Hopefully that cuts it a little, because the spice was almost too much to handle!

PS, I can't take credit for the yummy looking gumbo, it's my Mom's.