(Most) Kidding and goofing around aside, this is one of the best things that will ever pass across your lips. Yeah, it is a shrimp dish, but the Alfredo sauce is the star of the show.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon corn oil
2 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic
Small chopped onion
1 pound shelled deveined shrimp
1 tablespoon dry parsley
2 sticks butter
1 pint lite cream (or half & half)
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 lemon
12 oz. fresh pasta
1/2 pound grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Grab a large pot — like a four quart pot, or so — and make pasta water. As the water heats, get out a large pan. Over a low fire, melt the butter. Then, add the garlic and onion to the butter. Once the garlic and onion a tender, add the shrimp to the pan. Keep the shrimp moving by stirring often.

Now the fun begins…

In a medium pan, add butter over a low fire, melt more butter. Once the butter has melted, add the cream (or half & half) and stir. Let simmer.

When the shrimp starts turning pink, add the white wine and squeeze the lemon over shrimp. Toss and cook for 1 minute. Don’t overcook. Turn off flame and cover.

Add your pasta to the water that is boiling by now.

Add Parmesan to the melted butter and cream.

Stir often while pasta is cooking. Fresh pasta will not take more than three minutes to cook. Commercial pasta will take around 9 minutes. Check the box or wrapper for the exact time.

Add more Parmesan for a thicker sauce, less for thinner sauce.

Drain the pasta in colander.

Put the pasta back in large pot, add shrimp and sauce. Toss thoroughly. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle parsley over top.

Apply lips.

We’re going to season the shrimp more than the pasta. Lots of different ways to go about it, but let’s start with a good, solid recipe. You can branch off from this one.

As a bonus, we are also going to talk about what goes into making the perfect pasta water, too!

Ingredients:

1 lb medium shrimp, deveined and tails removed
1 lb spaghetti noodles — more or less
6 -8 cloves of garlic, according to personal taste, minced
1/4 cup butter
Drizzled olive oil — A time or two around the pan
Italian seasoning
Freshly cracked pepper
Red pepper flakes
Salt
Herbs — according to taste

Directions:

• First, preparing the water for cooking pasta…

• I like salty pasta water…as in “tastes like the ocean.” Add roughly 1/8th cup of sea salt or kosher salt disolved in about 4 quarts boiling water. (Adjust to your taste.)

• To take the water preparation one step further — you can leave this out if you want, but I love it — squeeze half of a fresh lemon and drop the lemon half in the water. Adds amazing freshness to the flavor of the pasta. Mario Batali doesn’t like oil added to his water. Neither do I. You, however, are encouraged to make yourself happy! You want oil? Go ahead.

• Now, boil the pasta in your perfectly prepared water for two minutes less than what is suggested on the box.

• Save a cup of pasta water to use later.

• While pasta is boiling, wash the shrimp.

• Melt butter over medium heat. Add the cleaned shrimp.

• Once the shrimp begin to turn pink, add garlic.

• Cook about 6 minutes, add oil. Continue stirring until your shrimp is pink and curled.

• Add your pasta to the skillet with the shrimp. Add your seasonings.

• At this point, add just enough of that pasta water that you saved to “losen up” you pan. Use ‘just enough’ so that your pan is not dry, but we don’t want the shrimp and pasta to be swimming in liquid either. To be a little more precise, start by adding 1/4 cup of the water. If that’s enough, fine. If you need more, keep going until you have used the whole cup of pasta water you saved.

• When you are satisfied that your pasta is perfectly moist, you are in business. Make sure everything is warm, then plate it.

Since I love talking and writing about cooking, I may have made this seem much more difficult than it really is. After you’ve made this shrimp and pasta recipe, you’ll be a pro.

Matter of fact, one of the first variations on this theme that you might want to take a shot at is chicken and shrimp pasta. Lemme go dig up a recipe for that!

Take care!

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• tasty shrimp and pasta recipes

The recipe will include 2 cups of water, 1 pound shrimp, ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper and ¼ teaspoon of ginger. ¼ teaspoon black pepper, 1 clove of minced garlic, and 1 tablespoon sesame seeds are also needed. 2 table spoon of sesame oil, red pepper, sliced onions and 3 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce makes the recipe more delicious. You will also add 1 pound peas, ¼ cup of cornstarch, 1/8 cup of chicken broth and salt to complete its delightful taste.

Using a saucepan, add in water, together with salt and boil it. Add in rice to the water and cover the container. Boil the rice for few minutes. After, add the garlic sesame seeds, ginger and pepper to the rice. Place in a container the mixture in the saucepan and place it in a refrigerator.

In a skillet, sauté the onions, sesame oil, and bell pepper for about 2-3 minutes. After sautéing, add the teriyaki sauce, peas, and shrimp and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the cornstarch and the chicken broth to the mixture. Mix all the ingredients. Place the mixture over the rice as toppings. It is now ready to be served.

This stir fry recipe it so easy to prepare compared to other shrimp meals, and yet it is still amongst the best tasting dishes. It is advisable that you only prepare enough and not too much because this is very filling. You may try on balsamic vinaigrette as a condiment.

Incoming search terms:

• quick and easy shrimp stir fry recipe

Juicy prawns cooked in orange juice

This is one of the easiest recipe, which I love to make. It does not take much time to cook and tastes so unique. This dish has got me many compliments over the years. The ingredients you need are:

-    250gms of prawn
-    freshly squeezed orange juice of 3 large oranges
-    2 table spoon of balsamic vinegar
-    salt to taste

Remove the shell and head of the prawns. Rub a little salt over them and keep the aside. Pour orange juice and vinegar in to a pan and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the prawns to this and let them simmer for 3-4 minutes. Taste and add salt if needed more. Let the rest in the juice for some time so that the prawn soak all the flavors. They are now ready to serve.

Cheesy fingers

This is one recipe, which is liked by both children as well as adults. Of course everybody likes cheese. You can prepare this in advance and then simply fry the fingers at the last minute. For this you will need:
-    250 gms processed cheese
-    1 large cup breadcrumbs
-    ½ cup refined flour
-    salt to taste
-    pepper powder to taste
-    2 cups of milk
-    Oil to fry

Cut the cheese in to average size finger. Add salt and pepper to breadcrumbs and refined flour mixture. Now dip the cheese fingers in milk and roll it in breadcrumbs and refined flour mixture. Repeat the process twice. Make sure that the breadcrumbs fully coat the fingers. Let it set in the fridge for sometime.
At the time of serving just fry the till golden brown. Serve them with hot salsa.

I have included a vegetarian recipe because more and more people are turning vegetarian nowadays.

You can also get many finger food recipes from the internet but make sure that you try them before you included them in your menu.

me! Usually, stuff I really like will make you fat, give you four diseases and make people dislike you.  Just so happens, these two key ingredients are two of my favorite.

My pal Pat Keefer sent this recipe for Asparagus and Shrimp Risotto. Her note said, “sounds complicated but it’s not…just time consuming and oh so yummy.” Enjoy.

• 3/4 lb. Asparagus (thin)
• ¼ lb. Shell on shrimp
• 5 C. water or reserved asparagus/shrimp stock
• 3 T. butter, divided
• ½ C. minced onion
• ¼ C. dry white wine
• Salt
• 2 T. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 T. lemon zest

Cut off 1 to 1 1/2 inches of asparagus bottoms and thinly slice. Add to stock pot with onion trimmings and shrimp shells. Cover with 5 C. water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Strain this stock and return to pan keeping it hot.

Diagonally cut the rest of asparagus into ½" pieces and cut shrimp into ½" pieces and set these aside.

In a heavy sauce pot cook onion in 2 T. butter until soft (about 3 min.). Add the rice and cook stirring occasionally until rice is opaque. Add the wine stirring until it evaporates. Add reserved asparagus tips and shrimp and begin ladling a 1-1/2 C. of hot stock at a time into rice stirring constantly until liquid almost evaporates. You will be using entire pot of stock stirring constantly. This takes about 20-25 min. Do not let mixture dry out and remember to stir constantly. After last ladle of stock is almost evaporated and rice is now swollen and tender remove from heat and stir remaining butter and cheese. Add lemon zest and season to taste with salt. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

To find the steak that will be right is important. You have a few choices and recently the small cuts of beef have become more popular now that we have become concerned about how much fat we are consuming. I think the best all around steak is the T-bone. It is a good size and there is variety to the meat in this cut.

Whether you go for New York strip or porterhouse, the most important thing to keep in mind is the grade of the beef. You need to pick prime. Prime is the best as graded by the USDA. Choice is the grade you find at your neighborhood grocery store. It is okay, but not great. Find a local butcher store and get prime. If there is not a butcher store nearby, go to a fancy grocery store. We have a couple of those here in Austin, Texas.

Make sure to look at the steaks carefully because you want to pick one with good marbling. Marbling is the fat dotted throughout the steak. Make sure it is even and tightly spaced. Good marbling will ensure an excellent tasting steak.

When cooking the steak, keep is simple. A little olive oil, salt and pepper sprinkled on each side of the steak and spread evenly. Make sure your coals are ashy white, you don’t want them too hot. Cook the steak for a few minutes on each side. The time will determine the doneness of the steak.

So what are you waiting for, it’s time to head to the store and get charcoal, steaks and beer. You don’t really need anything else, do you?

seafood, so Chef Jerry couldn’t have picked a much better starting point.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 .5 pounds of shrimp. (Shell, de-vein. Hang on to the shells)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 stick unsalted butter (8 teaspoons)
• 2 leeks trimmed and split in half lengthwise. (Rinse well!)
• 3 stalks of fresh celery chopped into large chunks
• 2 peeled carrots cut into large chunks
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 strips of orange zest
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1/4 of a cup of brandy
• 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 4 cups of heavy cream
• Sea salt (Kosher will do) and freshly cracked black pepper
• Grate some orange zest (finely) and chop some fresh chives for a nice garnish. Purely optional, but a nice touch.

DIRECTIONS

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Melt the butter into it. Then add the shrimp shells, the carrots, celery, leeks, thyme, the bay leaf, orange zest and tomato paste. Cook – stirring every now and then — until the shrimp shells are red and the veggies are soft. Should take around 10 minutes or so.

Be careful here. And pay attention the instruction to take the pot off of the fire and carefully pour the brandy into the pot. (Really. Take it off of the fire. A liquor spill or fumes near the fire will cause a big problem roughly 99.7% of the time.)

Now, preferably with a long match, light the brandy. Wait for the flames to die. Place the pot back on the burner and sprinkle the flout into the pot, stir it and let is cook for two minutes more. Next, add water to cover the deglaze while scraping up the fond (brown stuff that adds flava!) of the pot. Now add the cream and bring it to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn down the heat right away to a low simmer until your bisque has thickened. That will take 30 to 45 minutes. One you have achieved a creamy thickness, pour the soup through a strainer and into a clean pot. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.

Finally, chop the shrimp, return the bisque to a simmer and drop the shrimp into the pot to cook for two or three minutes. That’s all it will take to cook the shrimp. After a final taste — and seasoning adjustment, if it is needed – serve the deliciousness! Add orange zest and chive garnishes at this point.

That’s the way Chef Jerry’s shrimp bisque recipe! He loved it. I’m sure you will too. Especially if you like creamy soups like She Crab Soup….another South Carolina Low Country favorite.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Unpeeled Shrimp (heads off)
• 16 oz. Bottle Zesty Italian Dressing
• 2 Tablespoons Black Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Crushed Garlic
• 1 Lemon
• 1 Cup Butter

Makin’ It:

1. Place clean unpeeled shrimp in a glass 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
2. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over shrimp.
3. Add garlic, black pepper and Italian Dressing.
4. Cut butter into small pieces and place on top of shrimp.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes stirring after 15 minutes.
6. Serve with French Bread and call me!

As I write this in order to get it on the web site as quickly as I can, I have not yet tasted it. But simply imagining the combination of ingredients and the cooking method makes me think that I will get the clean, fresh flavor of boiled shrimp from the lemon, garlic and Italian dressing. When the smoothness of the butter hits your palate, the black pepper will slide in to create the depth of flavor.

The the thing I like about simple recipes like this one is the inspiration they create and ideas they foster. Take this idea and run with it, if you’d like;

Several large prawns (unpeeled, heads off) in a sauce pan with the ingredients above, adding a pinch — tiny! — of cayenne pepper. Just enough to wake up the front of the palate. The black pepper base is going to do a tremendous job creating that warmth and depth of flavor at the back of the palate.

Being a fan of dry spice rubs, it wouldn’t take much to imagine this idea being transferred into an intense final output that dry rubs tend to produce. For instance, sear the shrimp — or boil the shrimp, for that matter — and let them cool in the refrigerator. When they are cold, put them on a plate. Add a couple of teaspoons of melted butter, the garlic, then a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, then a teaspoon of black pepper, etc…

Well, I’m outta here. Headed to the store to restock on shrimp and a baguette.

The Stuff:

• Large Shrimp – 1.5 – 2.0 pounds
• Clarified Butter – 1/3 to 1/2 cup
• Minced Garlic  — 4 table spoons
• Green Onions, thinly sliced – 5 or 6
• White Wine (Dry) — 1/4 cup
• Lemon Juice (fresh is best)  — 2 tablespoons
• Chopped Fresh Parsley — 2 tablespoons
• Add salt and pepper to taste

Makin’ It:

1. Peel and devein shrimp.
2. Rinse the shrimp and set them aside.
3. Heat the butter in a large skillet, medium heat.
4. Cook garlic 1 or 2 minutes or until softened but not browned.
5. Add shrimp, green onions, wine and lemon juice. Cook until shrimp are pink and firm, about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Do not overcook.  (‘Poke’ shrimp with finger to feel firmness.)
6. Add chopped parsley and salt and pepper before it hits the table.

Other Thoughts:

I’m a big fan of lemon zest. Especially with fish and chicken dishes. I like to zest a lemon and toss it in the pan at the very end of this preparation. The flavor, aroma and freshness-boost it gives the recipe is perfect.

A Little History:

Scampo is Italian for Shrimp. Scampi is the plural of Scampo. Now that we have all of that squared away, on to something that you may actually find interesting.

This dish made its way into our country around the end of World War II. Between 1955 and 1960 it started finding its way to big city restaurant menus pretty regularly. As with everything else, there are several versions of several stories about how it was really made in The Old Country. Here are some variations on the theme that you may want to experiment with as you develop your preferences for making shrimp scampi in your kitchen…

Instead of using butter, use olive oil – not extra virgin, though. Some older Italian cooks shake their heads ‘no’ at the idea of adding garlic to shrimp scampi. I have seen some scampi recipes and preparation that call for nothing more than a medium – hot skillet with olive oil and lemon juice, there seems to be plenty of room for interpretation. And that is probably as it should be. Cooking is, after all, art.  So experiment. Have a little fun. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.

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• tasty garlic shrimp scampi recipe