Quick & glorious shrimp and side salads

J was so in love with this dinner, she insisted that I blog about it. I resisted because there's no mystery here, except for great ingredients and attention to cooking. I have to give credit to Weavers Way for the fresh and juicy shrimp, and to the garlic-infused olive oil. I crushed a few cloves of garlic and soak in a small measuring cup with 1/4 c olive oil. Stir and let it sit for awhile (hours if possible), then discard the garlic. Do this to get great garlic flavor without burned bits of garlic in the dish. Use any leftovers in salad dressing.

• 0.7 lbs shrimp (around 15), peeled to the tail and deveined.
• olive oil to coat bottom of pan
• 1 tsp hot paprika (or maybe cumin for variety)
• a few wedges of lemon
• some wine

I used a cast iron pan. Get it very hot before adding oil, then make sure the oil is hot before adding shrimp. Lay shrimp in a single layer. Add fresh black pepper and paprika. When shrimps start to show a little gold and release from the pan, turn them over, add more pepper and paprika. Don't overcook! Plate the shrimp and add a little salt. Toss wine and a squeeze of lemon into the pan, scape any bits off the bottom. Let it foam up and reduce. Pour over shrimp, add more lemon if you want. This shrimp is so good, you don't even need the sauce.

I served this alongside various prepared salads from WW co-op that I doctored up:

• Lentil salad: I added chopped scallions and served it on top of lightly dressed radicchio
• Steamed green beans (cooled), chopped tomato and crumbled feta with basil in a vinaigrette
• Beet salad: for J only (I hate beets), I did nothing to it