Shellfish – Kara Cooks and Eats

Choppin’ ingredients

This is not your grandmother’s shrimp salad. It’s also more of a chopping and mixing recipe, not a “cooking” recipe. But it’s the most I have been able to manage lately – it’s been a super busy month so far! After I had purchased all of the ingredients for the recipe, I realized that I should have cut the recipe in half…though two of my lucky coworkers benefited from the surplus.

The salad is dressed

The Greek yogurt dressing was delicious, and so easy. I blended it up in the Ninja in one of the single-serve containers. Hopefully my next smoothie will not taste like garlic! I have to remember this for when I get bored of plain ol’ olive oil and balsamic vinegar on my salads. I made the dressing first and let it rest while I chopped all of the veggies.

Shrimp avocado salad
Serves: 8
Source: adapted from ifoodreal via Pinterest

Ingredients
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice (juice from 1/2 a lemon)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
12 ounces cooked shrimp, cut in half
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in halves
2 medium bell peppers, chopped
2 medium avocados, cubed
1/2 English cucumber, cubed
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions
1. Add Greek yogurt, cider vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper to small food processor (or Ninja!) and process until smooth. Set aside.

2. Chop veggies, shrimp, and cilantro and add them to a large bowl. Mix in dressing and stir to combine. Serve chilled.

I always seem to have this idea in my head that I don’t like cooked shrimp…it’s totally not true! I had this for lunch twice, over rice, and was kinda impressed with myself both times. I couldn’t find smoked paprika (used regular paprika) and forgot to buy fresh parsley (used 1 tsp dried), but the results didn’t suffer.

Getting my ingredients ready

Cooked shrimp waiting to get into the stew

Garlic shrimp with white beans and tomatoes
Serves: 4-6
Source: Pam Anderson via Runner’s World, February 2013

Ingredients
1 pound medium peeled and deveined shrimp
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp pimenton (smoked paprika)
3 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf, broken into pieces
1 14.5-ounce can petite-diced tomatoes, drained
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 15-ounce cans white beans, drained
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)

Directions
1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Toss shrimp with 1 Tbsp oil and pimenton. Add shrimp to skillet and saute 1-2 minutes. Add half the garlic during the last few seconds of cooking. Spoon shrimp into a bowl and set aside.
2. Return skillet to heat; add 2 Tbsp oil, pepper flakes, bay leaf, and remaining garlic. Cook until garlic is golden, a few seconds. Add tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid evaporates, 3-5 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook until tomato mixture darkens.
3. Add beans and broth and simmer until it’s a thick stew, about 5 minutes. Stir in shrimp and parsley; cook until heated through.
4. Enjoy!

Final product