Easy Half-Pop Shrimp

Posted by amanda in appetizer, easy, healthy, recipe, shrimp

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Sometimes I'm in the mood for something special, but I don't have a lot of time, ingredients, or energy. Usually this is because I've left dinner too late, and am so hungry I don't feel like cooking. On nights like these, I tend to throw together things in my cupboard and hope for the best. Tonight? Success!

These shrimp take all of 15-20 minutes (but, only 5 of which that you will spend actually doing anything) and are super tasty and flexible. I ate mine off the baking sheet, but they could definitely be dressed up, drizzled, or served on something green. They'd be nice and punchy on a salad, or would make a nice crunchy-chewy topping to a simple pasta.

You'll need:

Panko crumbs

Shrimp, tails removed (this is most of your 5 minutes). I did 30 medium sized.

1/2 - 1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp whole wheat flower

A few good cracks of black pepper

1-2 tsp minced garlic

(chili flakes or other seasonings optional)

DO:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put shrimp in a bowl big enough to do some moderate mixing in.

Drizzle with olive oil. Stir in garlic and distribute as evenly as possible.

Sprinkle mix with flour and stir

Crack your pepper over the mix. If you want chili flakes or other seasonings for extra kick, go for it now.

Toss in enough Panko crumbs to more or less coat your shrimp to your liking (this works best if you use less rather than more - enough for a little crunch here and there).

Shake out onto a cookie or baking sheet.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, checking periodically to make sure they're the way you want. They should smell delicious.

Eat and enjoy!!

 luv,

A

Easy Escargot Appetizer

Posted by CK in appetizer, budget, recipe

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Last week, A and I had our monthly date night. With a lot of different occasions coming up, we decided to have a romantic dinner at home, where we cooked together and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine. To start up the dinner, we put together a very easy escargot appetizer that will truly make you feel like you can open your own restaurant. Here we go:

Ingredients (for two large portions - this could easily have been 4 portions):

• 2 tbsp garlic butter (the green package at the market, or you could make your own)
• 2 cans of escargot
• shredded mozarella cheese (you can ultimately use whatever cheese you want)

Do:

1. In a non-stick frying pan, melt the butter on medium-low heat 
2. Add the escargot and mix well until they are coated with the butter. Keep stirring for about 3-4 minutes.
3. Set in plates and sprinkle some shredded cheese. Add as much cheese as you'd like. 

That's it! It was absolutely fantastic! 

You could even up it up a notch and cover them with cheese and broil them in the oven for a few minutes. You can serve these with some scoop tortilla chips (yes, yes, trust me on this one) at a potluck, your guests will love you forever! 

Roasted HeartBeets Valentines' Day Appetizer

Posted by amanda in appetizer, beet, budget, cheese, chevre, easy, healthy, mint, recipe, roast, valentines day, vegetable, vegetarian

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Special occasion dinners are divine, but they can also put a lot of pressure on people who are used to eating out of tupperware to make a multi-course meal on real dinnerware (i.e. me). I'm always on the lookout for fun appetizers that make me look like a better cook than I am, and this year I've happened upon a winning combination. The combination of foods isn't a terribly original one (beets and chevre have a long standing and delicious history), but this is a cute visual twist on a safe taste combination that will dress up a dinner in a heartbeat ;) Though this dish is commonly served as a salad, I think it makes an elegant appetizer. It would pair nicely with the lobster dinner we're recommending, and would also be dressed up prettily by a glass of champagne! A nice bonus: beets are great for, you guessed it, your heart.


You'll want to prep your parts about 1.5 hours before serving: the beets need to cool once roasted, and you want to assemble no more than 30 minutes before you serve, so things don't try out or unravel too dramatically). I actually roasted and cooled my beets a whole day before prepping my dish - slicing mint and spreading chevre takes only a minute, and you only need to spend as long arranging your plates as you actually want to - assembly takes about 5 minutes let's say)






Appetizer for 2


Ingredients:

• 2-3 medium sized beets, peeled
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Sea Salt
• 2 sprigs of fresh mint (depending on your servings and your mint...basically you want about 2.5-3 mint leaves per plate)
• a small pat of chevre (I know that's an incredibly vague measurement designation, so check out the final picture..basically you want to put down a little pillow of chevre to "plant" your heart-shaped beets in, so it's pretty much up to you.)

"Heart-beets" before roasting

Don't:
-Wear white. These hearts bleed.


Do:


-Preheat your oven to 375 (make sure your rack is on the middle rung)


-Notice that your peeled beets are already somewhat heart shaped. Slice the beets top to bottom (preserving this natural shape in the slices) in pieces about 1/4 inch thick.


-Using the preexistent shape, make small cuts to shape your beet slices into hearts


-In a bowl, toss the beets in the olive oil until coated


-Sprinkle the coated beets with a few dashes of sea salt


-Lay them out on a Pyrex (glass type?) baking dish or pan. Try to make enough room so that each beet has a surface on the bottom of the pan


-Roast for 35-40 minutes, checking every 10 minutes or so. Skinnier slices will roast faster, so feel free to take them out early (my littler hearts took more like 15 minutes), thicker ones could take as long as 40 minutes. Stir the beets every 10 minutes. When they're done they'll look glazed, but not crispy.


-When they're done, chill the beets covered in the fridge, for an hour.


Before serving:


-Using a knife, lay down a pat or "pillow" of chevre on a little plate; try to mold the pat into an angle, so the hearts will be supported "up" by the chevre, as in the first picture in this post.


-Using your knife, dig little wedges into the cheese, to place the heart in. The beets will dye the chevre pink where they touch it, so you can get creative with that if you want.

Stirred and delicious final product

-Slice your mint into strips, removing the stems. If you want to make little rosebuds of mint, roll a leaf (or stack of leaves) into a tube and slice across the tube. Pinch the little rolls (little minty cinnamon bun shapes) and plant them in the chevre around the hearts, or strew them like confetti if you prefer. It'll be pretty anyways :)


-Love all serve all!