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

Taste of China

Our outstanding meal last week in Toronto was at Taste of China. After an early evening at the Art Gallery Ontario (free Wednesdays from 6:00 PM to 8:30) we walked over to Chinatown and tried this place (338 Spadina Ave., 416.348.8828). They specialize in live seafood, with a wide range of fish, shellfish & bivalves available (I avoided looking in the tanks). The patrons were nearly all Chinese, and there was a Chinese blackboard with specials on it. Around us people were eating dishes heaped with whole fish, lobster, mussels and oysters. But this evening we were craving green vegetables! We decided to trust our waiter to help us out. He brought us two dishes, both excellent: garlic shoots and tiger shrimp in black bean sauce, and snowpea leaves and king mushrooms in garlic sauce. I hadn't had either of these vegetables before. The snowpea leaves were similar to spinach. The garlic shoots were tender, crunchy and a bright green, sort of a cross between shallots and asparagus. The shrimp was perfectly done -- extra juicy and flavorful, with a light touch on the black bean sauce. I'm going to look for these ingredients next time I'm in Chinatown (Philly) and will edit this entry when I make them!

Summer Grilling: Cedar Plank Flounder and Shrimp

This dish went over really well. I had two pieces (0.6 lb total) of flounder and 0.5 lb of shrimp for the two of us.

• Soak the cedar plank for 2 hours in water
• Start the coals.
• Make a quick marinade of olive oil, add a ton of garlic put through a press, some lemon, pepper and some crab boil (very salty, so don't add more salt).
• Cut a zucchini lengthwise and brush with the oil.
• Skewer the shrimp and brush them and the flounder filets all over with the oil.
• When the coals are ready, put the cedar plank on the grill for 2 minutes, flip it and put the fish on the hot side. Cover the grill and cook for a few minutes.
• Add the shrimp, flip the zucchini, and cover again.

Serve with a large mound of salsa: a mix of chopped mango, red onion, tomato, poblano pepper, lime juice, black beans, and cooked corn cut from the cob.

Yum. The cedar flavor really came through the mild fish.