Curry Butter Shrimp

An easy and flavorful meal made from pantry staples, curry butter shrimp 

takes ten minutes to make and is gluten-free and paleo-friendly.

I've kind of been boycotting grocery stores. Weekend before last I went to Florida for a wedding, and since getting back I have not set foot in one. I finished up my last week of my last internship for graduate school this past Friday, we're getting ready to move down to Chattanooga this coming weekend, and I'm exhausted. Ben has been kind enough to pick up essentials like coffee, eggs, fruit, and bacon for us, but the eggs ran out yesterday.

What's a girl to do without any eggs for breakfast and with a long day of packing ahead of her? The answer is definitely not grocery shopping. The answer is curry butter shrimp! Yes, I ate this at ten in the morning. No, I have no regrets. #dinnerforbreakfast may not be mainstream yet, but just you wait and see!



I didn't do a 30 Minute Mondays post yesterday because I wanted to announce my cookbook (Paleo Planet is available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and indie bookstores near you!). This is even better, though, because this is like 10 Minute Wednesday--not as alliterative, but much faster. Not counting the rice or cauliflower rice, this meal comes together in just ten minutes. (And, true confession, I didn't even make this rice. It's left over from the Indian food we ordered last night.)

Curry butter shrimp is a flavorful pantry recipe that requires almost no chopping (except for the cilantro--but if you're really anti-chop you could just break that up into little sprigs). Melted butter or ghee is mixed with Thai curry paste to form a fragrant sauce for cooking the shrimp. A tiny bit of maple syrup and fish sauce add just enough sweetness and umami to complement the rich butter and spicy curry.

Pesto Shrimp Bake with Squash and Tomatoes #30MinuteMondays

A quick summer casserole bursting with Italian flavors.

I know this is a totally blasphemous thing to say in the food blogging world, especially in the middle of summer, but I'm really not a fan of tomatoes. They've grown on me since I was a kid, when I wouldn't touch foods with them in it (including pizza, ketchup, and most of all anything involving raw or sundried tomatoes). I now really enjoy a good tomato sauce (like this bolognese or this garlic tomato sauce) and I'll dip into a fancy ketchup if it's got curry mixed in or something, but the appeal of raw tomatoes still largely eludes me.

My best experience so far has been with a couple of memorable caprese salads, including one at dbar, one of my favorite Boston restaurants, which is conveniently located just blocks from our apartment. A caprese salad with housemade mozzarella and tomatoes and basil from their rooftop garden was on the specials menu, and my mom and I had to try it. And, surprisingly enough, I didn't hate the raw tomatoes.

Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Creamy Sesame Slaw #30MinuteMondays

Quick and easy grilled shrimp skewers, creamy sesame slaw, and ripe avocado get together to form the perfect paleo summertime meal.

I know it's been quiet on the blog this past week, but I'm back with another delicious and fast recipe for 30 Minute Mondays! You can grill or broil these shrimp skewers, and the vegetables don't need cooking. That means if you grill outdoors, you can avoid heating up your kitchen and still end up with a delicious and balanced meal. That's what summer is all about, right?

My fiancé and I have been down in Chattanooga for the past few days, checking out jobs, houses, and apartments. Even though I grew up in Boston, I've always felt like I'm a Southern girl at heart due to my mom's Texas roots and all the time I've spent down there, so I'm really excited that we're moving to Tennessee next month. I'm almost done with graduate school, and after we move I'll get to start my job as a speech-language pathologist working with kids of all ages (and of course, blogging in the evenings and on weekends). I can't wait!

Roasted Shrimp and Asparagus with Green Goddess Dressing #30MinuteMondays

Succulent roasted shrimp and asparagus are served with a tangy garlic scape green goddess dressing for an easy, 30-minute paleo dinner that's also Whole30-compliant.

I'm kind of mad at myself because I missed the boat on ramps this year. At the photography workshop I went to in May we ate them at almost every meal (there's a picture of them in this post), and when I got home I vowed to track some down so I could cook with them myself for the first time. However, I'm a lazy late-evening grocery shopper and there were never any ramps left. Before long, their short season had ended.

You'll be relieved to hear that I am NOT missing out on garlic scapes.

While ramps are their own kind of plant and are usually foraged wild (hence their limited availability), garlic scapes are the flowering stalks of garlic plants that farmers cut off so the plant's energy can be fully devoted to the bulb forming below. Garlic scapes are cool looking (see evidence above) and I like their name: it sounds like they've been trying to escape from the head of garlic, which is pretty much what they actually do.

Garlic scapes are milder than regular garlic with some fresher, grassier notes to their flavor--kind of like a cross between garlic, scallions, and chives. Here I used them to make a green goddess dressing with some fresh herbs and Primal Kitchen's avocado oil mayo, which I just tried for the first time. I'm not a mayo person at all so I don't foresee myself ever eating it straight up, but once some other flavors are mixed in to create a dressing or aioli, I can usually hop on board. (If you haven't seen garlic scapes at your local market, don't worry. You can substitute scallions and a clove of regular old garlic.)

Burmese Chile Prawns with Cucumber and Avocado Salad

Are you fast in the kitchen? I'm super slow. No matter how much I wish I could be an ingredient ninja, I just can't seem to get things located and prepped very quickly. I took a knife skills class a few months ago, which helped a little, but I think the issue stems more from disorganization than a lack of dexterity.

I'm working on making more 30-minute paleo dinners to share here on A Calculated Whisk. To make sure I'm representing things accurately, I time myself as I cook, which really highlights my lack of culinary efficiency. For this recipe, I started timing, assembled most of the ingredients for the marinade, and then realized I couldn't find a sharp knife to cut the lime in half. I paused the timer while I located a chef's knife and washed it, because I thought you, my wonderful readers, were likely to already have a clean knife on hand. Several other misplaced items and dirty dishes slowed me down and I didn't stop the timer every time, but I still managed to make this meal in JUST over 30 minutes (if you're making rice, you may need an extra 3-5 minutes to get that measured and set up).

So, even if you're less than speedy in the kitchen, like me, you can have this dinner on your plate in just about half an hour.

Today's recipe comes from Sue at Couscous and Consciousness. I was assigned her blog for this month's Secret Recipe Club reveal, and had so much fun browsing through her delicious recipes. (I was also excited to read that Sue is a yoga teacher. I love yoga and have been trying to do at least a few sun salutations every morning. I wish I could take a class with Sue, but she lives in New Zealand, so it would be quite a commute.)

Sue's food is colorful, creative, and usually on the lighter side, so there were a lot of tempting options to choose from. She also has many internationally inspired dishes, which makes browsing her site really fun. For this month's reveal, top contenders included bengali aloo with lemon turmeric aioli, roasted apricot gelato, and plum and cardamon cake. Even though I'm not much of a salad person at all, I also found myself wanting to try this salmon with green tea soba noodle, broad bean, and radish salad and this watermelon and feta salad with preserved lemon dressing.

Spicy Shrimp and Kale with Creamy Rutabaga

This is my paleo answer to the inexplicable cravings I've been having for shrimp and grits.

Who knows why? I've only had shrimp and grits a few times in my life, but lately they've been totally stuck in my head. Perhaps it's because this coming Tuesday is Mardi Gras, and I wish I could just pick up and drive down to NOLA. When I lived in Houston New Orleans was only a five-hour drive away, and now it feels far enough to be in another world.

The good news is that this dish is just as delicious as shrimp and grits, if not more so, and instead of grits we have vegetables.  Rutabagas for the win!

Also, I snuck some kale in there.  This is hardcore health food.

It's also hardcore comfort food.  If there are 80 inches of snow on the ground in your city, or even if there aren't (lucky you--do you happen to have a guest room??), this is just the thing to warm you up on a winter night. The creamy rutabaga forms a bed for plump shrimp bathed in an herby marinade and kale leaves that are crispy around the edges.

Shrimp & Zoodles with Garlic Tomato Sauce

Have you ever made zoodles?  If you get yourself a julienne peeler, you can be making zucchini into low-carb noodle stand-ins in no time.  It's actually really good.  You may not be able to fool people into thinking they are eating actual spaghetti, but I don't think anyone will be complaining.

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with Creamy Rutabaga

I made you a whole dinner!  This is one of my favorite things to make for my boyfriend--he loves it.  You can also make it with scallops instead of shrimp.  The shrimp or scallops broil wrapped in bacon, which makes them almost impossible to overcook, and they don't need any other seasonings!  So simple and so delicious.  You only need five ingredients (salt and pepper don't count)!

If you've never tried rutabagas (also known as yellow turnips), I highly recommend them.  This creamy rutabaga is a healthier, more flavorful version of mashed potatoes.  You're going to love it!  It's adapted from Ina Garten, and you should check out her version, because it has an amazing crispy shallot topping.  I usually make the crispy shallots, but they take a while and today I was in a bit of a hurry.

I served the shrimp right on top of the creamy rutabaga, with a simple salad on the side.  I plumped some raisins, toasted some pecans, and tossed them with baby arugula, olive oil, balsamic, and a little salt.  The perfect summer dinner!

Ingredients (serves 2-3):

For the bacon-wrapped shrimp:

1/2 pound shrimp (I used 31-40 count per lb), peeled, tails on (or use sea scallops)
8 or so slices of bacon (you need one slice of bacon for every two shrimp or every one or two scallops)
Toothpicks

For the creamy rutabaga:

2 rutabagas
3/4 cup whole milk, heavy cream, or coconut milk
3 tablespoons butter, ghee, or olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the rutabagas, trim and peel them and cut them into 1-inch chunks.  Put them in a saucepan with a generous pinch of salt and water to cover.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 35 minutes (they should feel tender like cooked potatoes when pierced with a fork).  Drain them, and put them in a food processor with the milk, butter, and some salt and pepper.  Process until smooth.  Taste seasonings and adjust as necessary.

To make the shrimp, preheat the broiler and lightly grease a baking sheet.  Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until it is starting to brown but still very undercooked.  Drain on paper towels.

When the bacon is cool enough to handle, cut each piece in half lengthwise.  Wrap each shrimp with half a piece of bacon, using a toothpick to secure the ends.  If you are using large scallops, you can wrap each one in a whole piece of bacon.  Place the bacon wrapped shrimp on the baking sheet.

Broil for about 3 minutes, then flip the shrimp over and broil for another 3 minutes or until the bacon is crisp and the shrimp are fully opaque.  Scallops may need an additional minute or two if they are large.  Serve hot.

Garlic Honey Grilled Shrimp

Yesterday I really wanted to fire up the grill and make some shrimp.  That is, I wanted my boyfriend to fire up the grill and make me some shrimp.  To be totally honest, I don't know how to grill.  Coals and lighter fluid and all that--it's a mystery to me.  Give me a hot grill, though, and I'll totally stand there and flip.  I've got that part under control.

Anyway, Ben wasn't excited about grilling.  I, however, was super excited about the yummy garlic honey marinade I'd dreamed up, and decided I could just broil them.  I've made skewers of shrimp in the broiler before and they always come out great.  But, at the last minute, Ben changed his mind and fired up the grill.  I guess he didn't like the thought of what a 500 degree oven would do the temperature in our apartment on this 90-degree day.  So, I got to grill in the end and we had a great time lounging on the patio, flipping shrimp skewers.

We ate these on top of this salad and it was a very satisfying combination.

    

Ingredients (serves 2-3): 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon garlic paste 2 1/2 tablespoons honey Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cumin Pinch of cayenne

Soaked wooden skewers (soak in hot water for 30 minutes or more to keep them from catching fire)

Mix the olive oil, garlic, honey, and spices, and pour over the shrimp.  Toss to coat.  Marinate for up to 30 minutes at room temperature or 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Prepare the grill, or preheat your broiler.

Skewer the shrimp--I like to thread the skewers through each shrimp twice so they are easy to flip on the grill.  I used six skewers for this recipe, with 5-6 shrimp on each skewer.

Grill or broil for about 3 minutes per side, or longer as necessary, until charred in spots and opaque throughout.  Serve hot.

Gambas al Ajillo--Sizzling Garlic Shrimp

For my birthday, we went to dinner at Solea, a fabulous tapas restaurant in Waltham.  If you live in the Boston area and haven't been, you need to try it!  It's one of my absolute favorite restaurants.

Ben, my mom, and I ordered six tapas to share.  We got sizzling garlic shrimp, scallops in saffron cream, lamb meatballs in truffle cream sauce, greens sauteed with pine nuts and raisins, and baked goat cheese.  Everything was amazing.  I ordered a blood orange sidecar to drink, which was delicious, and we started out snacking on a really good chickpea-porcini mushroom spread (my take on that coming soon).  The whole meal was great and I highly recommend everything we ordered.

I decided the sizzling garlic shrimp would be fun to recreate at home.  At Solea they serve them still bubbling in a small cazuela.  You could achieve the same effect by putting the shrimp into ramekins and sticking them under the broiler for a couple of minutes before serving.  If you try that, don't cook the shrimp all the way on the stovetop since they'll finish cooking under the broiler.

Ingredients (inspired by Solea, serves 4-6):

1/2 cup olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed, defrosted if frozen
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Pinch or two of red pepper flakes, optional

Preheat the broiler, if using.  Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the garlic and saute, stirring frequently, for about five minutes, until the garlic is softened but not browned.

Add the shrimp, raise the heat to medium high, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, and red pepper.  Cook for three minutes on each side or until the shrimp are completely opaque.  Serve hot.  If you decide to broil the shrimp in individual ramekins, cook on one side in the skillet, flip over into the ramekins, top with some of the oil and garlic, and broil until opaque throughout, about 3 minutes.

Mediterranean Shrimp with Pearl Couscous

Have you ever tried pearl (Israeli) couscous?  It's bigger than regular couscous, and has a great, chewy texture.  It's easy to make, and delicious hot or cold in a salad.  I decided to pair it with shrimp, and add some edamame, bell pepper, parsley, and feta.  It's a healthy and colorful meal with a great combination of flavors, plus it's quick to make.  We ate ours hot, but I'm looking forward to trying it cold tomorrow for lunch.



Ingredients (makes 4-5 servings):

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and pepper
2 cups pearl couscous
1 orange, red, or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2 cups frozen shelled edamame
2 scallions, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Juice of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon turmeric, toasted
1/4 teaspoon paprika, toasted
1/4 teaspoon cumin, toasted
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

To cook the couscous, add it to a pot with 2 1/2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until the couscous is tender and has absorbed all the water, about ten minutes.  Fluff with a fork and set aside.

For the shrimp, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add the shrimp, raise the heat to medium high, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook the shrimp for about 3 minutes on each side, until opaque.  Remove from skillet and set aside.

Wipe out the skillet, and add another tablespoon of olive oil.  Heat it over medium heat.  Add the pepper and edamame and cook until tender, about 7 minutes.

In a small, dry skillet, toast the spices over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Combine the couscous, shrimp, vegetables, scallions, parsley, lemon juice, remaining olive oil, spices, and feta.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice.  Stir to combine and serve hot or chilled.

Pasta with Shrimp and Garlic Tomato Cream Sacue

For my entire childhood, all I ate was macaroni and cheese.  My repertoire gradually expanded to include other foods with cheese, such as grilled cheese, cheese pizza, and broccoli with cheese. While I now eat almost anything, there is still a special place in my heart/stomach (those two are pretty much the same thing for me) for pasta with cheese.  Now I like to add a few other ingredients in to make things more interesting.  This is my current favorite. It’s pretty easy to make and delicious to eat the next day for lunch, too.

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

3 tablespoons olive oil
10-20 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 28 oz. can whole, peeled tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound penne or other pasta
1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups fresh baby spinach
3 tablespoons light cream
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Warm the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the crushed garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. (Note: to crush garlic easily, I place 2 or 3 cloves at a time under a chef’s knife turned so the blade is parallel to the cutting board, then push down on the flat top of the knife with the heel of my hand).

Drain and chop the tomatoes.  Turn the heat to medium-high and add the tomatoes to the skillet with the garlic, sprinkling with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the sauce thickens and comes together some, about 10 minutes.  Remove the skillet from the heat and cool slightly, then process the sauce until smooth in a food processor or blender.  (If you prefer a chunky sauce, you can skip this step).



 
Return the processed sauce to the skillet over medium-high heat, and add the shrimp.  Let them cook for about 3 minutes until pink on the bottom, then flip to cook the other side.  After a minute or two, add the spinach.  Toss gently until the shrimp are opaque throughout and the spinach is wilted.  Stir in the cream and remove from the heat. 
When the pasta is done, combine it with the shrimp, sauce, spinach, and parmesan.  Add the cooking water if the sauce seems too dry.  Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve with additional parmesan sprinkled on top.