Get Cooking_ 150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen - Mollie Katzen [75]
1 pound frozen extra-large shrimp (“easy-peel” or peeled, deveined)
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 1 good-sized clove)
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
A big pinch of red pepper flakes (plus more for passing at the table)
Fresh lime wedges, for garnish
1. Put the shrimp in a colander in the sink and run cold water over them until they are thawed. Drain well, and pat dry with paper towels. If using easy-peel shrimp, remove the shells and, optionally, the tails.
2. In a shallow pie plate or bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes; mix well. Add the thawed shrimp and toss to coat well. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes and up to an hour.
3. Place a large (10-to 12-inch) heavy skillet over medium heat. After about a minute, add the shrimp (leaving the extra marinade behind in the bowl to discard). Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until the shrimp turn from glossy to opaque.
4. Transfer to a serving platter and serve immediately, with many fresh lime wedges and additional red pepper flakes if you like.
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GET CREATIVE
Garnish these with a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley and/or snipped chives.
Put freshly cooked, still-hot shrimp right on top of a big green salad along with slices of cucumber, red onion, tomato, and avocado.
Serve the shrimp over rice or couscous (see Chapter 7: Sides), with lime wedges on the side for squeezing over everything.
To turn this into a pasta dish, cook ¾ pound linguine or fettuccine according to the package directions. Meanwhile, sauté the shrimp, using a large skillet that will accommodate the pasta. When the pasta is done, toss it in the skillet with the cooked shrimp to combine. Remove the pan from the heat, drizzle up to 2 tablespoons olive oil over the pasta, and squeeze a few tablespoons of lime juice over it as well, to taste.
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peperoni e salsiccia (italian-style peppers and sausages)
Makes 2 servings
This traditional home-style Italian dish is a sauté of sweet peppers, onions, slices of browned sausage, and tender potatoes. For this recipe, go with mild or medium-spicy Italian sausage. Meat expert friends of mine say pork sausage is best for this dish, rather than turkey or chicken, but that’s their (very educated) taste. If you’d rather go nontraditional, you can use any of those sweeter, fruitier, or spicier “designer” sausages (like chicken-apple or mango-cilantro). Many of these are fully cooked, so if you use them, you just need to brown them, whole, for a few minutes and then slice them and proceed with the recipe as directed.
This dish keeps for up to 5 days in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. It reheats well, either on the stovetop over medium heat or in a microwave, and you can do all kinds of tasty things with it.
Polenta (see Chapter 4: Vegetarian Entrées) is a perfect match for Peperoni e Salsiccia. Just spoon the soft polenta into soup bowls and top with the peppers and sausage. Or let the cooked polenta cool slightly, which will cause it to firm up, and then slice or scoop chunks of it onto plates and top with the pepper-sausage mixture.
½ pound small potatoes (Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn is good), scrubbed and cut in half
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 sweet or spicy Italian sausages (about 3 ounces each)
1 large onion, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
1 large red bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide strips
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide strips
1 large green bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide strips
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 1 good-sized clove)
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Put a medium pot of cold water to boil over high heat, and place a colander in the sink. When the water boils, add the potatoes, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork. Drain