Eating Well - South Pacific Shrimp

Please tell me that you missed me? I missed you all too..my ever loyal and supportive readers.  I know I have been missing in action in the blogosphere. I have good reasons for my absence, though. That would have to be divulge at a later post. HE!HE!
Even my cooking has been affected as well. I haven't been preparing anything spectactular especially for my "Around the World with Contessa" segment.  One thing that I can tell you is that I have been mostly cooking healthy food (like always). 

I bought a new recipe book, "Eating Well," which features recipes that are for the health conscious. I love that I have various options and recommendations in preparing my proteins. In the past, I would usually eat the same prepared meal three times a week (grilled, baked, grilled, baked). So in my next upcoming posts, I will feature most of the recipes that I have adapted from the book.



The above photo does not do justice of how tasty this South Pacific Shrimp was.  For all you rice lovers out there, this will definitely go well with rice. And if you love coconut milk? This one's for you too. :-)

First marinade one pound of jumbo shrimps in 1/3 cup lowfat coconut milk (you can use regular if your prefer), one teaspoon minced fresh ginger, 1 clove minced garlic, 2 teaspons coconut soysauce (regular soy sauce will do), 1/4 cup lime juice, 2 jalapeno peppers (seeded and minced), and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Leave this marinating for 20 minutes. 

Heat 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil and cook shrimp (maybe 30 seconds per side as shrimp does not take long to cook). Transfer to a plate. Sautee chopped seeded tomato and four cups of baby spinach in the pan where you just cooked your shrimp. Add the reserve marinage to the tomato and spinach. Stir until wilted. Return the shrimp and mix together. Serve immediately over hot steamed rice. Or dip some toasted pita bread on it. Yum and Healthy!

Happy Friday and promise, I will get back to blogging regularly soon.

Bisous, Contessa

Lobster Roll Reinvented

Ever had a time when you were craving for something so bad that you can't have because of the availability? In my case, I have been craving (more like dreaming) of Lobster Salad Roll all this week. So to compensate for my craving, I made do with what I had available.  I reinvented the Lobster Roll using Shrimp and Scallop and served it on a bed of lettuce.  It was a winner and B loved it. Of course, his salad was served on a toasted roll:-). 

Unlike the commercial Lobster or Shrimp Salad made with mayonnaise or butter (depending on which style you like) that most restaurants serve, mine was a much healthier version. The secret was my own home made mayonnaise. :-)


Contessa's Shrimp and Scallops Salad (these were all the ingredients I had at the time, but you can always add or omit any ingredient according to your preference)
one bag of large cooked shrimp
10 pieces of cooked Japanese Scallops 
1 Persian cucumbers (this is a smaller kind but you can use whatever cucumbers available)
2 stalks of Celery
2 chopped carrots 


home made mayonaise 
one room temperature egg yolk
1/3 cup safflower oil
one lemon juice
mustard powder 
salt and pepper


Whisk (or beat if you have an egg beater) the egg yolk and add drop by drop a little oil to it, which is really critical to creating the emulsion that is the basis of mayonnaise. Keep on whisking and add the remaining ingredients it thickens. Refrigerate for an hour or two. 


Mix the mayonnaise with the rest of the ingredients above and let it refrigerate. Serve on a bed of lettuce, bread, or eat it as it it. 



Have a great weekend ahead.


Bisous,
Contessa

Seafood Friday - Shrimp and Scallop Lentil Risotto

In honor of this lenten season, I am going to be switching my "Seafood Wednesday" to Friday and "Fitness Friday" to Wednesday. Get the drift, right? LOL! 


This recipe was inspired from the Scallops Risotto that I had from B's bday dinner at Cava. I liked it so much that I wanted to recreate it without using arborio rice. Yes, I know arborio rice is an important component of making risotto. But who said you have to follow the rules? Certainly not in my kitchen. Lentils will do and yes I am still in my lentils cooking craze. LOL! It turned out great in my opinion. Vegetarians can easily use this recipe without the scallops and shrimp. 

Contessa's Shrimp and Scallop Lentil Risotto

one cup of French green lentils 

one half cup of heavy cream

half a cup of tomato paste

two chopped tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

freshly grated parmesan cheese

herbes de provence

chopped shallots

Let three cups of water coming into a boil and add your lentils to the boiling water and let it simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until cooked and tender. Drain and let it cool. Saute chopped shallots for a few minutes and add tomatoes and stir together. Stir in your lentils, tomato paste and heavy cream. Let it simmer and add your parmesan cheese. Season to taste. Plate and add your seared shrimp and scallops (both seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika) of top. Don't forget to sprinkle more cheese as well. 

Happy Fasting! Bisous, Contessa

Impromptu Dinner Party

Yesterday at the last minute, B and I had a spur of the moment. We decided on a whim, while we were out running errands, to invite one of our couple friends to have dinner at our house. We decided at around 3 p.m. and asked them to come to our house at 7 p.m. At this time, we were still running errands but it was rather cut short as we had to decide on our menu.  I had to think quick. Do we just pick up food to serve them? Trust me, that's all I wanted. But of course my husband wanted to show off how good his personal chef is (aka moi) to his friends.  I had to no choice but to think of something quick, yet delicious. Sounds easy, right? Come to find out that B's friend's wife does not eat meat. Good thing shes not a complete vegetarian so I had a little bit of leeway. Okay, I can do seafood. No problem! 

 Right after errands, B and I made a quick stop at Whole Foods to get some ingredients. Time was not on our side, so we were out of there in 15 minutes.  This time, it was 5:30 p.m. already and we had to act fast.  Not too mention, we haven't even cleaned up the house or have taken a shower. lol!

Caprese Salad - with fresh Mozzarella, Roma Tomatoes, Basil, drizzled with Old Aged Balsamic Vinegar

Mussels with Pork Italian Sausage (e-mail me for recipe)

Vodka Shrimp Penne Pasta (e-mail me for recipe)

Banana Blueberry Muffin

May I present to you my festive holiday table scape.  What do you guys think

Fresh Tulips from Whole Foods. I love having fresh flowers around the house.

Our tiny Christmas Tree. 

I hope you all had a great weekend. Tomorrow will be posting Sunday's brunch.

Bisous, Contessa