For Trista: The Green Bowl

... was removed from the fridge and washed out today. Partner said, as she was rinsing its contents down the drain, that it even smelled good going down the drain.

Last week in a fit of "what-to-make-for-dinner," I realized we had a big old bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer. This can provide for a myriad of dinners, my favorite being a salad where the shrimp are marinated and served on greens with a lovely peanuty dressing that everyone who tastes immediately falls in love with. (I'll give you all the recipe if you are interested. Indicate interest below.) But then last week I realized I didn't want to go to the store for fresh greens.

I am fresh-shopper whore, which means my ideal dinner making scene would be to get fresh produce daily and cook that way. However, as time (and money) usually prevail, along with some badgering from Partner, I have relented and now stock some frozen goods in the fridge. Some salmon, chicken, hamburger, shrimp and other assorted sundries (like a big leg o'lamb, which next week [I promise] will be made into a fine stew.)

In terms of the shrimp, we are mostly spoiled and the frozen stuff unless properly marinated mostly tastes like, excuse me, shit. I had two brothers living for a number of years in New Orleans and shrimp is plentiful there and on visits I ate what I could eat without appearing (too) gluttonous. And then of course, there is my parents' house in South Carolina. We routinely drive to the shrimping docks and buy the shrimp right off the boat. My favorite time was when we were in a little flat bottomed skip, doing some crabbing, and decided to pull alongside a shrimper and get the shrimp direct from the boat. After eating shrimp like this, frozen is a sad sad substitute. What can I say? Aside from being a snob about many other things, I am definitely a food snob. And not ashamed or embarrassed to say it.

So last week I decided that shrimp kebobs could be in order and I perused the pantry for some readily available goods. I ended up making shrimp kebobs with a romesco sauce, which is a really tasty classic sauce from the south of Spain. The recipe called for swordfish, but I subbed the shrimps, and the result was delightful. Don't ask me why I had all these ingredients in the pantry other than I fancy myself of somewhat of a gourmand. But with no further ado, here's what to do:

For the Romesco sauce:
1/4 cup of sliced almonds
1 tomato, peeled and chopped
1 large red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and seeded [I used some roasted red pepps I had in a jar)
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1/4 cup of sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon of sherry (with an extra dash for good measure. It cain't hurt yeh!)
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Smoked paprika (just use the regular old stuff)

To make this sauce, use a food processor or blender and process the almonds until finely ground. Add your tomato, roasted pepper, garlic, vinegar, sherry and process it all up until smooth. Keep the motor running and add the olive oil slowly, drizzling it in until thickened. Season it to taste with salt and paprika. I also add a little pepper here, and use sea salt. Put it in a [green bowl] and set aside.

To marinate your shrimp or swordfish, you will need:
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 lb swordfish cut into 1 to 1.5 inch cubes (or shrimp!)
2 large red peppers (that's capiscums to my friend over the various ponds)
some skewers
(I added some onions and tomatoes to the mix too)

So, stir all this together and marinate your fish! Skewer it up, and put it on the bbq, and cook until it's done. Serve it with that romesco sauce, and hopefully you will enjoy it. I also grilled up a little pineapple to go with this, and that answers all the pineapple queries. (You sickos! And I mean that in the best, most endearing of ways.)

Let me know if you make it and you like it. Or if you want to see more recipes on here. I love to cook, and I love to cook for my friends. Since most of you live far far away from me, sharing my secret recipes with you is maybe the closest I can get to cooking for you. Because I'd readily feed you all five course meals every night, and no, I am not kidding about that.