One-Pot Pasta with Shrimp

I should probably just sign up for a daily Martha Stewart recipe or something by now, because I seriously love pretty much every recipe I've tried from this woman's domestic machine.  The most recent of these is a one-pan pasta dish, which I only modified a bit.

What an appetizing bowl of pasta to serve up for the family!

Ingredients

• 12 ounces linguine
• 12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
• 1 onion, thinly sliced (about 2 cups' worth)
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I used a little less because I worry about heat, but could have easily done the full 1/2 teaspoon or more)
• 2 sprigs basil, plus torn leaves for topping
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 to 1 pound shrimp, peeled and tails removed (I actually used pre-cooked shrimp)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (I actually skipped this, and liked it better just with olive oil)

Directions

1. Place all ingredients except for shrimp and Parmesan cheese in a large straight-sided skillet or pot.  I used a pot because I was not confident that all of this would fit in my largest pan.  Bring to a boil and toss with tongs occasionally.  Boil 9 minutes, or until pasta is al dente and water is almost all evaporated.  Add shrimp to pot the last minute of cooking time and cook until just pink and beginning to curl.  Do not overcook.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Garnish with torn basil, drizzle of olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.

Seriously, how easy is that?!?  Some chopping and 15 minutes to boil/cook everything, and you have a pretty impressive dinner to dish out.  Perfect for a weeknight meal.

Everything all situated in my stock pot.

Bubble bubble!  This is the last minute when I tossed in my shrimp.

Chili Maple Glazed Salmon

I'm so behind on posts!  I have a handful of recipes and crafts to write up, and the backlog keeps mounting.  Oh noes.  Well, clearly the solution is an 11 p.m. blog post on a Saturday night.  Afterwards, I'll reward myself with some popcorn and Doctor Who.

I loved it, but this recipe came with some mixed reviews from my dining companions.  My son generally won't touch fish, so we'll not count his opinion.  My husband took one bite and was horrified by the presence of maple flavor on his fish.  Maybe I should have prepped him beforehand?  I think the reaction was more out of shock than an actual dislike of the flavor.  Me?  I loved it, and it reminded me a lot of my spicy honey BBQ chicken recipe, which my hubby LOVES, so he's inconsistent in my book.  That's nothing new.  :)  A Seattle-ite friend says this is how she used to make salmon when she lived in Washington, so I take that as another vote of confidence.  All that being said, the message is: this is a tasty way to make salmon, and will go over well if you prep your audience that it is a spice rub with a sweet glaze.  No more shock and awe treatments in my dining room.  Lesson learned.

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt
• 1 large salmon fillet
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions

1. Preheat broiler.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil but do NOT spray with Pam.  If you keep it unsprayed, after the fish is cooked you can simply slide the fish off of the skin with a spatula (the skin will stick to the foil).  Love this trick.
2. Combine spices and salt.  Rub the spice mixture all over the salmon (but not on the skin).
3. Place salmon on baking sheet and broil for 6-10 minutes, until just shy of fully cooked.  
4. Remove from oven, pour on maple syrup, and spread evenly with a pastry brush.  Broil for 1 more minute or until nicely glazed and just cooked.
5. Remove from oven and let rest.  The salmon will continue cooking a bit more while resting, so be sure not to overcook.  Because you (most likely) will be dividing the fillet into 2 or more servings, when you cut it you can check the done-ness.  If necessary, you can pop in the oven a couple more minutes to finish cooking.

Lemon Butter Shrimp

This delicious main dish comes courtesy of one of those Pinterest pins with details in the caption, because the  link doesn't actually go anywhere with a real recipe.  So I ran with the notes from the pin, modified a bit to suit my family, and before I knew it I had a new favorite way to make shrimp that got enthusiastic votes from the peanut gallery.  Hooray!

Ingredients

• 30-50 pre-cooked, peeled shrimp, tails removed
• 1/2 stick of butter (4 tablespoons)
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave.
3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Pour on the melted butter and evenly coat the baking sheet.
4. Lay the lemon slices in a single layer on the buttered baking sheet.
5. Arrange the shrimp on top of the lemon and butter so that each shrimp is at least covering a bit of lemon slice.
6. Sprinkle generously with Italian seasoning.  I'm guesstimating that I used about 2 teaspoons.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.

There you go.  Insanely easy, and super delicious.  I served mine with rice and a salad and it was great!  Enjoy.

Baked Old Bay Fish and Parmesan Garlic Knots

Tonight we had one of my easier meals: fish, macaroni and cheese, and rolls.  But this is no blah fish, and these are no ordinary rolls.  Not by a long shot.

Parmesan Garlic Knots

I found this recipe on Pinterest, and I'm pretty sure I could make these every night with no complaints from the peanut gallery.  A few modifications, and we're off.

Ingredients

1 tube (12 ounces) refrigerated biscuits (I use the Pillsbury Grands original flaky layers biscuits)

Nonstick cooking spray

Little bit of flour

1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons)

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I grate mine fresh, but store bought is fine, too!)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Makes 8 knots

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (425 if baking the fish at the same time).
2. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray
3. Lightly flour work surface,  roll each biscuit into a rope (about 10-12 inches), and tie into a knot. Tuck the ends under and press against another piece of dough so they stay in a knot.  Place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave.  Then stir in the Parmesan, garlic powder, oregano, and parsley.  You can make this while the knots bake, but will need to stir again before brushing the knots because the ingredients will separate.  Brush the warm knots with the mixture.

Baked Old Bay Fish

I found this one in my love for Old Bay and giving random seasonings a try whenever I made fish a few years ago.  Hence the very imprecise measurements.

Ingredients
Fish fillets (I usually use tilapia with this recipe)
Nonstick cooking spray
Onion powder
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Old Bay seasoning

Makes as many fillets as you use

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Sprinkle both sides of the fillets with a tiny bit of onion powder (only a couple shakes), a bit of salt and pepper (a few shakes), and generously with Old Bay to evenly coat the entire filet as shown in picture.
4. Bake in oven for 15-18 minutes.  I often use frozen fillets that I haven't even thawed (they come out just fine!) so those may take closer to 17/18 minutes.  Fresh ones may be more on the 15 minute side.