House Spouse

I was in need of some inspiration. Having been out to eat every day, often twice a day, for a week straight with Andrew’s parents, I found myself getting hooked on restaurant food, tasty tasty food that doesn’t require doing dishes or turning on the stove in my already uncomfortably hot kitchen. So, I went to the library and checked out some cook books. My library fortunately has a nice selection such books and I walked out with Jamie’s Kitchen and The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (along with a non-fiction work and two books of knitting patterns). After picking up some zucchini and summer squash at the farmer’s market earlier this week, I happily chose a recipe out of Jamie’s Kitchen for a stir-fried warm salad of shrimp and baby zucchini and modified it slightly to accommodate just two of us (the original recipe is for 4) and the ingredients I had on hand.

Spicy Shrimp and Zucchini Salad
(Adapted from Jamie’s Kitchen)
-Serves 2
Ingredients
10 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 small zucchini, thinly sliced diagonally
2 small summer squash, thinly sliced diagonally
1-2 T vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil
zest and juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1-2 tsp red chile flakes or 1 fresh red chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 small bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 small bunch fresh mint, chopped
1 T soy sauce

Have all your ingredients ready before starting this recipe. (It moves really fast and once the shrimp hit the oil, plan on eating within about 3 to 4 minutes.)

Heat the two oils in a pan over medium-high heat, until shimmering. Toss the shrimp with the lime zest and the ginger, then throw in the pan. Stir together for about 2 minutes, or until the shrimp are lightly golden, then remove from the heat and place in a dish. Allow them to cool for about 30 seconds before adding the lime juice, herbs, chile, zucchini and squash. Toss these together and then dress with the soy sauce. Serve.

We ate our salad with a side of brown rice mixed with cilantro, which made it a full meal. I suppose some dressed cold noodles would be good on the side as well.

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