Get Your Girly On

I love being a girl, and by that I mean being a girly girl. My mother instilled in both my sister and I the importance of always looking presentable; and her favorite statement was “it hurts to be beautiful”. Well mom you were right about the looking good at all times, but not the pain part. (Come to think of it, she only said that when she was sadistically yanking my hair into a French-braid). Seriously what’s so painful about visiting your hairdresser every few weeks, getting regular pedicures or wearing pretty clothes and shoes? Merde the shoes, those alone are enough to make me thank God everyday for being a girl. I’m actually jealous of Carrie Bradshaw’s shoe closet in the Sex And The City movie, and irritated that I didn’t have my contractor build one for me! Actually I would have preferred more closets in general. Anyway, if I hear the phrase “I don’t need to dress up its just Otis” again, I might scream. To me it doesn’t matter where I am, at the very least I want to look good for myself. I mean, how could I ever feel good about myself if I looked like a messy schlub?

Now in my opinion shrimp is the ultimate girly food; it’s pink, delicate and can be dressed up a million ways. Plus it’s my favorite food, girly or not. I always have a bag of shrimp in my freezer because it makes the tastiest quick meals. And did I mention, it’s pink? Okay so before we start girls go and put on your cutest skirt, highest heels, crank up the Pussycat Dolls and let’s get down to some girly cooking! (Guys can join in also, but I’m not sure about the dress and heels).

Let’s start with a Shrimp Salad Niçoise, because what girl doesn’t love salad. It is the perfect girly meal because even though it has the reputation of being light and super healthy once you put those creamy yummy dressings on it becomes filling. Begin by making a vinaigrette in either a blender or food processor out of six garlic cloves, two thirds a cup of chicken broth, a quarter cup each of fresh basil and parsley, two tablespoons each of lemon juice, white wine vinegar and olive oil, two teaspoons Dijon mustard and salt and pepper to taste. Now combine your favorite lettuce, red bell pepper strips, tomato wedges, quartered artichoke hearts and slightly steamed but still crisp green beans in a bowl. Toss all this with some of your homemade vinaigrette and top with cooked shrimp, hard-boiled eggs, niçoise olives and capers. This is a twist on the classic salad niçoise with tuna and is surprisingly protein packed. You can also add some cooked tortellini to this salad for a carbohydrate boost.

Okay on to girly dish number two, Shrimp with Corn Relish. Start by combining one and a half tablespoons fresh lime juice, one-tablespoon fish sauce and a half-teaspoon of sugar and then set aside. If you have a wok now is the time to dust it off, or just use your skillet to stir-fry this dish. When you are stir-frying over high heat you should use light oil like vegetable or canola because it has a higher cooking temperature and lighter flavor that will not distract from the flavors of your vegetables. Okay, so over high heat, cook half a cup of minced shallots, two minced garlic cloves, one small seeded, ribbed minced jalapeno, one and a half pounds of shrimp and one and a half cups of corn. Once everything is cooked stir in the juice mixture and serve over either rice or fresh spinach. You can adjust the spiciness by increasing or decreasing the pepper. But here’s something to think about; spicy food helps with weight loss. I guess it has something to do with the capsicum which increases internal body temperature and boosts metabolism, but who cares as long as it speeds up losing those unwanted pounds.

A flavor that I have recently grown to love is Chipolte; it has a nice combination of smoky and spicy and has become a popular ingredient in recipes lately. As you will learn in later columns I am not a huge fan of Mexican food in general but I do however like their seafood dishes, like Chipolte Shrimp Tacos. Begin this dish by combining two teaspoons of chili powder, one teaspoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of cumin and ¼ teaspoon of chili powder. Add the shrimp and toss with the seasoning to coat. Cook the shrimp over high heat for about one and a half minutes on each side and then remove from heat. Serve these in warmed tortillas with shredded lettuce, avocados, and a few dashes of Chipolte hot sauce all topped with a dab of salsa Verde. If you are feeling brave you can dice up some Chipolte chilies in adobo sauce and spread a little bit on the tortilla, but go easy because they can be a bit spicy due to the fact that the seeds are left in the chilies.

I am a fan of couscous and use it not only as a side dish but also as an entrée like this Greek Shrimp couscous meal. Start by sautéing one small minced shallot, two minced cloves of garlic and one and a half pounds of medium sized shrimp in olive oil until the shrimp turns pink. Remove the shrimp mixture from the pan and replace it with half a cup of white wine, a quarter cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes and two tablespoons of capers. Sauté this for a few minutes and then add three cups of fresh baby spinach, cook this until wilted and then add one and a half cups of chicken broth. Bring it to a boil and add one and a half cups of uncooked couscous, cover this pan, remove it from the heat and let it sit for five minutes. Once all the liquid is absorbed, fluff it with a fork and stir in a dressing made from two tablespoons each of lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and oregano. Now fold in the shrimp mixture and quarter cup of either goat or feta cheese, cook this until heated through, then stir in one cup of chopped cucumber and serve with more cheese sprinkled on top. This is a really yummy flavor packed dish that is fairly low in calories; it is also a dish that can be changed around if you do not like the seasonings or vegetables. Make it with chicken, chickpeas and Indian spices or use scallops, snow peas and lemon dill seasoning, play with this recipe and make it your own.

Finally here is a fancy girly meal that will keep your dinner guests coming back for more, Blushing Penne with Shrimp. Start by sautéing one minced garlic clove and a small minced shallot in two tablespoons of butter until golden. Already you know I mean business because I’m using butter and not olive oil. Next add about twenty halved cherry tomatoes and a pinch of each, red pepper flakes, salt and brown sugar. Sauté all of this for about six minutes or until the tomatoes soften and release their juices. Now add two cups of half and half and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat before adding about a dozen jumbo shrimp, and a quarter cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Simmer this for about five minutes to cook the shrimp through. Serve this blush colored sauce over penne pasta. This is by far the heartiest girly meal I make, but I just can’t resist its pink creamy goodness. And honestly, I could eat this meal at least once a week, and I don’t really like repeating myself to often. You can lighten the dish up by using fat free half and half, you will lose a bit of the richness but if you’re counting calories it’s worth it.

Oh and even though I live rurally, I am most certainly not a country girl. I do not wear overalls, think that country music is the devil’s sound system and no I don’t think your tractor is sexy, your BMW yes, your tractor emphatically no. I really don’t see being a girly girl as a bad thing; I mean what is so bad about caring about your appearance and using it to your full advantage? (It may not be very PC but appearances do count). Believe me any woman who tells you she hasn’t used her feminine charms to get what she wants is either lying or just not really a female. The way I see it is if guys are going to continue to fall for the same helpless girl act time after time why should we stop playing it. Girls you have a power that men cannot resist, use it to your full advantage! In my opinion there is nothing more powerful than a woman who knows she can command attention with just her beauty. Plus looking and feeling pretty makes me feel so much better about myself; and if I am happy then everyone is happy. Oh and please stop stating the obvious; I mean do people really think I don’t realize that I’m “such a girl”. Hello what am I supposed to be?


Chipolte Shrimp Tacos

2 tsp Chile Powder
1 tsp Sugar
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Cumin
1 ½ lb Shrimp
1 tsp olive oil
Tortillas
Lettuce
Chipolte Hot Sauce
Avocado
Salsa Verde

Mix together the seasonings and toss with the shrimp. Cook the shrimp in olive oil over high heat until pink. Serve in the tortillas with lettuce, avocado, hot sauce and a spoonful of salsa verde.

Shrimp with Corn Relish

1 ½ Tblsp Lime Juice
1 Tblsp Fish Sauce
½ tsp Sugar
2 Tblsp Canola Oil
1 med Shallot, minced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 sm Jalapeno, minced
1 ½ lb Shrimp
1 ½ cups Corn

Mix the first three ingredients together and set aside. In a wok or fry pan stir-fry the shallot, garlic, jalapeno and shrimp over high heat in the canola oil until shrimp is pink. Add the corn and stir-fry one minute until corn is seared. Stir in the juice mixture. Serve over rice or spinach.



Shrimp Salad Niçoise

6 Garlic cloves
2/3 cup Chicken Broth
¼ cup Fresh basil, chopped
¼ cup Fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tblsp Lemon juice
2 Tblsp White wine vinegar
2 Tblsp Olive oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper
Lettuce
Red Bell Pepper
Artichoke Hearts
Green Beans, flash steamed
Shrimp, cooked
Eggs, hard-boiled
Niçoise olives
Capers

In a food processor combine the first nine ingredients into vinaigrette. Make up a salad out of the remaining ingredients and top with the dressing.



Greek Shrimp Couscous

1 sm Shallot, minced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1-½ lbs. Shrimp, uncooked
¼ cup Sun dried tomatoes, chopped
2 Tblsp Capers
½ cup White wine
3 cups Baby spinach
1 ½ cups Chicken broth
1 ½ cups Couscous
2 Tblsp Lemon Juice
2 Tblsp Balsamic vinegar
2 Tblsp Olive oil
½ tsp Oregano
1 cup Cucumber, diced
¼ cup Goat or Feta cheese


Sauté the shallot and garlic until soft, add shrimp and cook until pink. Remove from the pan and sauté the sun dried tomatoes and capers a minute before adding the wine. Add the spinach and cook until wilted then add the chicken broth and couscous. Cover and turn off the heat, let sit for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork. Make a dressing from the juice, vinegar, oil and oregano. Stir into the couscous mixture with the cheese and heat through. Finish off with the cucumber and more cheese if so desired.



Blushing Penne with Shrimp

1 clove Garlic, minced
1 sm Shallot, minced
2 Tblsp Butter
20 Cherry tomatoes, halved
Pinch Salt
Pinch Red Pepper Flakes
Pinch Brown Sugar
2 cups Half and Half
12 Jumbo shrimp
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Penne

Sauté the garlic and shallot in butter until soft. Add cherry tomatoes, salt, red pepper flakes and brown sugar and cook until tomatoes release their juices and break down. Add half and half and bring to a boil, add cheese and shrimp. Cook this until shrimp is pink and serve over penne with more cheese.

Loaves And Fishes

Ok, so I was raised Catholic and once I made my confirmation I felt that it was my graduation from going to Church. However I find myself following the rules of Lent each year. I always give up something, this year it is shopping for anything except groceries and toiletries; and abstain from eating meat on Fridays. The meat thing is very difficult for me because I really love meat and when I crave something it is predominantly red meat. As a child I remember having frozen fish fillets and pancakes on Lenten Fridays and not really liking those dinners, and seriously how many tuna fish sandwiches can you eat. So this year I have decided to step it up and make a new fish/seafood dish each week.

I love seafood, shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops, but amazingly not lobster. The main focal point of my family’s grocery store is the lobster tank and everyone goes gaga over these stupid sea bugs. That is not to say that I won’t eat lobster if it is served to me, but don’t come to my house expecting to be feed that over-priced and pain in the ass food. I just don’t feel that you get your monies worth and it is way too much work for so little reward. But we sell a ton of these creatures and will continue to carry them to make everyone happy. I prefer to have other seafood and would eat the crap out of shrimp if I could, but after the shrimp-fest that was last spring I discovered that that food might be low in fat but high in cholesterol. How unfair!

This year I have been trying different recipes with mussels and have discovered that I really like them. I have also found that they are not too expensive and super easy to make. I really enjoyed them as Fire Breathing Mussels. Begin by sautéing three finely chopped cloves of garlic and a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes in olive oil for about one minute. Add one twenty ounce can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, one tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a half teaspoon of sugar to the mix and cook over medium heat for about ten minutes. Add about two and a half pounds of mussels in their shells to the pot, cover and cook until they open, about five minutes. You can serve this over pasta or with hunks of crusty bread to soak up all that flavorful broth.

I also enjoy Mussels Scampi, which is made the same way as Shrimp Scampi, one of my favorite meals. Sauté two cloves of minced garlic in two tablespoons of butter until softened, about a minute. Add a half cup of either dry vermouth or white wine, the juice of one lemon, a tablespoon of capers, cook this for a few minutes and then throw in two and a half pounds of mussels, cover and cook five minutes or until the shells open. Serve this over pasta or with the crusty bread again.

I will admit that I recently cheated and bought shelled frozen mussels for my recipes because eating them out of the shell is kind of a pain in my opinion.

Moving on to fish, which is a food that we only ate during Lent when I was a kid because my dad is allergic to it. So over the last few years I have been trying to eat more of it and try new varieties of fish. I have found that I really am not crazy about salmon or swordfish but really like the light and flaky white fishes. I have yet to try fresh tuna and have a question about tuna fish. If my dad is allergic to fish why can he eat canned tuna fish but not fresh tuna? Hmm makes you think about what they are putting in that can.

Ok so the Church probably frowns upon this next recipe, but I love it anyway, Fish Puttanesca. Typically it is made as a pasta dish and historically it was made by Italian prostitutes but with the addition of fish it is a good Lenten meal; sorry Pope Benedict. Begin by mixing two tablespoons of olive oil and a half teaspoon of anchovy paste until well blended then stir in one pint of halved cherry tomatoes, a half cup of chopped black olives, three tablespoons of capers, three minced cloves of garlic salt and pepper and a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Make four packets out of aluminum foil and drizzle a little oil onto each, place a piece of white fish into each packet, top with the tomato mixture and close each packet tightly. Bake the packets at 400 degrees for about 17 minutes or until the fish is flaky. I serve this with crusty bread, surprise surprise.

Even though Catholics are supposed to be abstaining from eating meat on Lenten Fridays as a form of repentance it does not have to feel like a punishment. Hopefully these few recipes inspire people to break out of the pancake and fish stick box to try some new things and grow through the required abstention. I think that the fact that I have given up the joyous activity of shopping should be enough repentance for this season; I shouldn’t have to suffer through dinner also.




Fire Breathing Mussels

2 ½ lbs Cleaned mussels
3 cloves Garlic, minced
½ tsp. Red pepper flakes
1 20-oz can Fire-roasted tomatoes
1 Tblsp Red wine vinegar
½ tsp. Sugar

Sauté the garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil for a minute, add the tomatoes, vinegar and sugar and cook about 10 minutes. Add the mussels and cook for 5 minutes or until opened. Serve over pasta or with bread.


Mussels Scampi

2 Tblsp Butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup Dry vermouth or white wine
1 Lemon juiced
1 Tlbsp Capers
2 ½ lbs Cleaned mussels

Sauté the garlic in the butter until softened, 1 minute or so. Add the vermouth/wine, lemon juice and capers, heat this through and add the mussels, cover and cook 5 minutes or until opened. Serve over pasta or with bread.


Fish Puttanesca

2 Tlbsp Olive oil
4 filets White fish, any variety
½ tsp Anchovy paste
1 pint Cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup Black olives, chopped
3 Tlbsp Capers
3 cloves Garlic, minced
½ tsp Red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper

Combine the oil and anchovy paste well, add the tomatoes, olives, capers, garlic, red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper, mix this well. Make 4 packets out of foil, drizzle oil on them, place fish in each and top with tomato mixture. Close the packets tightly and bake at 400° for 17 minutes. Serve with bread.