Marinated Shrimp Pasta

This isn’t a low-cal meal, but if you want to make yourself feel better about eating it, it does contain quite a bit of olive oil, which is high in the “good” fats (monounsaturated). As per some of the reviews of this recipe, I decreased the amount of olive oil by half, as well as the salt content, and was happy I did.

The marinade is originally intended for grilling the shrimp, but I used the broiler instead and used the leftover marinade to toss with the cooked shrimp and pasta. It was delicious.

My intention was to serve this with a really good salad, but it ended up being a mediocre salad because the cucumbers I thought I had in the fridge turned out to be zucchini, which unfortunately doesn’t works quite as well in a salad.

Marinated Shrimp Pasta (Original recipe here)

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 lb (8 oz) linguine pasta

In a mixing bowl, mix together olive oil, parsley, hot sauce, garlic, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Pour marinade into a large resealable plastic bag with shrimp. Seal, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. During last 15 minutes, add lemon juice.

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Remove shrimp from marinade, place on greased baking sheet, and broil 3-4 minutes each side, until done (shrimp can be grilled instead if desired). Pour leftover marinade into a small saucepan or skillet and boil 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine shrimp, pasta, and boiled marinade and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

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Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi

You probably notice that the shrimp in the picture actually have very little pepper on them. For something called “Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi” you’d expect pepper to be a star ingredient. And it is… or it’s supposed to be. It isn’t in ours, for two reasons:

1. Too much fresh-ground pepper tends to overwhelm me.
2. JW broke the pepper grinder.

If you ask him, he’ll say he didn’t break it. It “just broke,” and he happened to be holding it at the time (I’m sure you’ve heard that one before).

Actually the truth of it is that neither of us knows exactly what happened, but it really did just kind of all fall apart into a number of un-reassembleable pieces. The best part was that anytime we moved it, even two inches to the left, little peppercorns escaped all over the table and onto the floor. It didn’t matter how we held it, or even if we stopped up all the holes. Somehow the little balls of “what the crap is a peppercorn anyway” kept finding a way out. We finally salvaged the few that we could and stowed them in a ziploc bag. The broken pepper grinder remains in the pantry. We lied to it and told it we were planning to fix it. I’m not sure if it believes us.

I managed to grind a few of the salvaged peppercorns with a mortar and pestle, and called it a garnish. It was just right for me.

Regardless of your preferred amount of pepper, this is another great recipe from Culinary in the Country (I’m in love with that blog!). It’s simple, fresh, and light. And it probably has about a zillionth of the calories of your typical shrimp scampi recipe. Do me a favor and use the orzo pasta, the texture is fantastic with the shrimp.

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi (Original recipe here)

1 cup dry orzo
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or a pinch or two of dried)
3 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided
salt to taste
1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
fresh ground black pepper

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook according to package directions. Drain and place orzo in a medium bowl. Stir in parsley and 1 tablespoon butter – season with salt and cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt remaining 1 1/2 tablespoon butter over medium-high. Season shrimp with salt and add into the skillet (if your skillet is small, do this in two batches) – sauté until almost cooked through, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Scoop out shrimp and place onto a plate.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter into the pan. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in shrimp, juice and pepper – cook until the shrimp are just done, about 1 additional minute.

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Easy Baked Tilapia

Sorry I don’t have a picture of this one, it really was lovely. If you like tilapia (I’m sure some other fish would do as well), and you’re looking for a beautiful but easy weeknight dish, give this a try.

For what it’s worth, I would add extra Old Bay if I did it over again, to give it a little extra “something.” I also used six thinner fish fillets instead of the larger 4-ounce called for in the recipe. It still evened out to a pound, so I figured it was all right.

It was.

I also used frozen haricots verts instead of the vegetables called for in the recipe. I’m sure you could use just about any frozen vegetable – whatever you like best.

Easy Baked Tilapia (Original recipe here)

• 16 oz. tilapia fillets
• 2 tsp. butter
• Old Bay seasoning to taste
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt, or to taste (I didn’t measure)
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 16-oz. package frozen vegetables

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish. Place the tilapia fillets in the bottom of the baking dish and dot with butter. Season with Old Bay seasoning and garlic salt. Top each fillet with a slice or two of lemon.

Arrange the frozen vegetables around the fish, and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Cover with foil and bake 25-30 minutes, until vegetables are tender and fish flakes easily with a fork.

We had this with a brown rice blend (from a box… I know, I was really lazy last night – ha). It was a light, delicious meal.

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