Martha Monday: Roasted Buffalo Shrimp

I'm not really a fan of shrimp.  I love it.  Don't get me wrong.  But every time I cook it at home it ends up in a watery mess.  It's probably because I'm cheap and I use the frozen stuff.  But, where I live, even the shrimp sold at the fish counter boldly claims to be "previously frozen."  There's just no way to get away from the frozen kind.

And then I read the book Cheap.  The author, Ellen Ruppel Shell, dedicates a whole chapter to the environmental devastation of shrimp farming in Thailand.  Which is where the majority of our frozen shrimp comes from.  Even with claims of sustainable farming stamped on the Whole Foods label, there is no way to know for sure whether anyone is really monitoring this kind of stuff.

Oh.  And my kids won't eat it.

So I am not really a fan of shrimp.

But the Martha Monday project this week was to make Roasted Buffalo Shrimp.  It looked really easy and I thought, "Why not?"  I could give shrimp another go.  After all, I do believe in making my kids try and retry foods they claim to hate.

It was pretty easy.  Shrimp is tossed in a fragrant sauce of spices, lemon zest, honey, and olive oil.  Then it is roasted at high heat on an already hot pan for five minutes.  Once out of the oven, it is served with a pucker-inducing dip of sour cream, lemon juice, and chopped celery leaves.

And?

They weren't bad.  I still had a bit of a watery mess left on my pan.  But most of the zesty sauce stuck to the shrimp and I really liked the dip.  The boys?  Well, Jonathan ate one.  Adam got one bite down, gagging all the way.  Ha ha!  I guess shrimp will have to stay in the refrigerated section at the store for a few more years.  Maybe by then they'll have figured out a cleaner and greener way to raise them!

Want the recipe?  Skip on over to the Martha and Me blog and you'll find it right here!

Valentine Oreos

Happy Valentine's Day!

My valentine currently resides in the steamy land of Bahrain.  So instead of looking forward to roses and chocolate and a night on the town, I had to settle for baking cookies.  Baking cookies and boxing them up for the long trip to my love.

And what better cookie to make than this homemade version of the classic Oreo cookie?!?  These really do taste like the real thing.  Only better.  Because they are freshly made.  Not sitting in the bag for months on end.  And they do have a bit of butter in them, rather than all that hydrogenated stuff.  I couldn't resist adding the pink and red hearts.  Just perfect for the occasion.

So, if you haven't purchased a gift or bought any flowers or chocolate, get yourself over to Smitten Kitchen and follow this recipe.  Your honey is sure to love it!

Martha Monday: Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Arugula, and Pistachios

Pru from Perfecting Pru chose this interesting pasta dish for last week's Martha Monday project.  It sounded wholesome and refreshing so I was excited to give it a try.  And it is EASY. . . a rare thing for Martha Stewart recipes.

Whole wheat pasta is cooked and then tossed with a sauce and fresh arugula.  The sauce is a nut pesto made up of toasted pistachios, a shallot, salt, olive oil and a whole lemon.  Yes pith and all!  I thought I could get away with using a plain old lemon and I did get away with it.  But the recipe calls for a Meyer lemon, which is milder, sweeter, and less bitter.  If I were to make this again I would definitely seek out a Meyer lemon.  I think it would take the overly bitter edge off the sauce.

Another thing I found interesting about this recipe is that the directions told us to grind the nuts and shallot in a food processor.  Take it out.  Then grind the lemon.  Take it out.  Mix it all together with the olive oil.  BUT in the video Martha provides with the recipe, she just processes everything together - nuts, salt, oil, lemon, and shallot.  This makes so much more sense.  Why add steps when it's not necessary?  So, follow the video and not the recipe.

Of course, I served this meal to my family.  Here are the reactions:

Me: "Hmmm.  This is pretty good."
Jonathan: "It's decent."
Adam: "Ew!  I don't like this." (Without even tasting it.)
Me:  "I really think I like this.  Jonathan, I'm impressed you ate all your pasta!  You must have liked it."
Jonathan: "Well, it wasn't very good but I wanted to get dessert."
Adam: "I don't want dessert."

Check out Martha Stewart's recipe to get the recipe for Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Meyer Lemon, Arugula, and Pistachios.