Shrimp and Tofu Salad

Inspiration: B and I really like tofu, but it always seems like every time that I buy it, I can’t figure out what I want to do with it. Most recipes that I find for tofu are Asian-inspired, but I just wasn’t feeling that this week. I had all kinds of odds and ends that needed used in my refrigerator, including a bunch of lettuce, so I decided to make a salad with a bit of a Mexican twist.

What we Loved: To be truthful, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this meal as much as I did. I’m really not a huge lettuce-based salad fan, and neither is B, but this salad was so great! Perhaps  because I put so many ingredients in it that you could barely find the lettuce. :) Regardless, it was a great meal-sized salad with all kinds of bright, Mexican/Southwestern-inspired flavors. I coated the tofu in a taco seasoning, and I coated the shrimp in a yellow pepper cilantro pesto, and the two different flavor profiles complimented each other very well. The tofu carried the flavors of all sorts of spices, and the shrimp were light and fresh. With the addition of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and feta cheese, this salad had all kinds of bright, fresh, and spicy flavors that provided for a nice and healthy meal.

Helpful Hints: I mixed a ton of cilantro in with the lettuce, and I thought that it really went well with all of the other flavors. So I would definitely recommend going heavy on the cilantro. I also think that goat cheese or chihuahua cheese would work great in this salad. I used feta because it’s what I had, but really any kind that you’d like would probably taste great. Lastly, using a whole package of tofu makes a lot of tofu. We used about 2/3 of it. If’ you’d like, just use half a package and save the second half for another use.

Shrimp and Tofu Salad
Source: Original recipe to serve two

For the tofu:
1 package extra firm tofu
1/4 cup almond meal (or you could use breadcrumbs)
Chili powder
Cumin
Kosher salt
Oregano
Garlic powder

For the shrimp:
20 shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
3 tablespoons yellow pepper cilantro pesto

For the salad:
1 large bunch of lettuce, any kind that you’d like
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
Black pepper
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 lime

1. Add the almond meal to a shallow bowl. Sprinkle in a good shake of chili powder and cumin, and then add a pinch of salt, oregano, and garlic powder. Stir to combine.

2. Drain the tofu, and cut it into slices. Pat the slices dry with paper towels. Cut the slices into cubes, and toss them in the almond meal mixture. Set aside.

3. Add the pesto to a second shallow bowl. Add the shrimp, and toss to coat. Set aside.

4. Wash your lettuce, and tear into salad pieces. Arrange on two plates, topping with the cilantro.

5. Mix the tomatoes, onions, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper together. Add them to the salad, along with the feta cheese.

6. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the tofu, and cook until browned and heated through, approximately 8-10 minutes, stirring often to brown all sides.

7. Heat a second saute pan over medium heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until cooked through, approximately 3-4 minutes.

8. Add the shrimp and the tofu to the salads. Slice a lime in half, and squeeze half over each plate. Serve.

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta

Inspiration: I always think that polenta topped with seafood is a great combination. I’ve made red pepper polenta topped with fish and pepperjack polenta topped with scallops, and I adored both of those meals. When I saw this recipe a few months back, I knew that I would love it, too.

What we Loved: This meal is a just  full of flavors. I used a lot of pesto with my shrimp, which mixed nicely into the cheesy polenta as I ate, and the few bits of crispy bacon on the top added a really great saltiness to the dish.  I don’t know that you can go wrong with Parmesan, bacon, and pesto!  I served this with some sliced grape tomatoes sprinkled with salt and pepper for a delicious supper.

Helpful Hints: I could only find jumbo shrimp when I went shopping. As I was eating, I thought that it would be much easier to eat the meal if I had sliced the shrimp into smaller pieces before adding them to the polenta. Next time, I would chop the shrimp after cooking and also break the bacon into smaller pieces, so that I could mix everything together and get a bit of each flavor in every bite.

Similar Recipes: cornmeal-crusted orange roughy with roasted red pepper polenta, cumin-crusted scallops over pepperjack polenta with roasted vegetables

Pesto Shrimp with Bacon and Parmesan Polenta
Source: bitchincamero

I adjusted the recipe to serve two. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

3 tablespoons pesto
10 peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
1/2 cup polenta
1 1/2 cups water
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 slices bacon
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Toss the shrimp with the pesto, and set aside.

2. Place the water in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Stir in the polenta, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring and scraping the pan occasionally. When the polenta is done, stir in the Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

3. While the polenta is cooking, add the bacon slices to a saute pan, and cook until crispy. Drain on a paper-towel covered plate, then break into small pieces.

4. In a separate skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shrimp, and cook until just opaque, approximately 2 -3 minutes.

5. Spoon the polenta into bowls, and then top with the shrimp. Top with the crumbled bacon and serve.

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Enchiladas

Cuisine: Mexican

Inspiration: I’ve said it many times, but B and I both love Mexican and Tex Mex food. If I go too long without a Mexican meal, I usually get an intense craving that won’t go away until I make a Mexican supper or go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Last week, I was really craving Mexican food again, particularly enchiladas. I was happy to find this fairly healthy recipe that, as a bonus, also included seafood, which is something that I always crave a lot during the warm weather.

What we Loved: The salsa verde sauce for these enchiladas has an amazing, roasted pepper flavor. It’s made with a base of roasted tomatillos, poblanos, and garlic, and it really tastes so rich and delicious. I also really liked the flavor of the goat cheese. I’ve never used goat cheese in enchiladas before, but I had some extra in the house so I gave it a shot. It’s my favorite cheese, so I wasn’t too worried, but I was interested to see how it would taste. I ended up loving it. Goat cheese has a great, creamy quality that blends perfectly with the shrimp and the salsa verde sauce. I really liked that these enchiladas were different than any enchiladas I’ve had, with relatively little cheese and a focus instead on the flavors of the salsa verde and the shrimp filling. These aren’t your standard ooey-gooey cheesy enchiladas, but they’re still fantastic.

Helpful Hints: The salsa verde sauce dried up a bit in the oven while the enchiladas were baking. Next time, I think I would bake the enchiladas without the sauce, and instead heat up the sauce in a sauce pan to pour over the enchiladas when they come out of the oven. Also, when I make enchiladas, I use corn tortillas, and I typically heat them in the microwave to make them pliable, rather than quickly frying them as is traditionally done. I do this to save fat and calories, but it has the downside of giving the tortillas a fairly mushy texture when they come out of the oven. I’m starting to question whether this calorie-saving step is worth it, because the enchiladas break open easily and are very difficult to get out of the pan. If you would like to avoid this and aren’t too concerned about a few extra calories, just heat a bit of canola oil in a saute pan, and quickly fry each tortilla (for maybe 5 seconds per side) before filling and rolling.

Similar Recipes: avocado enchiladas with smoky chipotle sauce, chicken chilaquiles

Shrimp and Goat Cheese Enchiladas
Source: Bon Appetit Magazine

I cut this recipe in half and made a few adjustments. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 large poblano chiles, halved lengthwise, cored, and seeded
2 unpeeled garlic cloves
1 cup packed, coarsely chopped cilantro, plus additional for garnish
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed (I would use 1 lb next time, but I was running short)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
8 corn tortillas
4-6 oz goat cheese

1. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the tomatillos, poblano chiles (cut-side down), and garlic cloves on the sheet. Broil until the tomatillos and chiles begin to soften and blacken, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool.

2. Add the tomatillos to a food processor. Peel the garlic, and add it to the food processor. Peel the charred parts off of the chiles, and coarsley chop. Add 1/4 of the chiles to the food processor, and reserve the rest. Add the cilantro and green onions to the food processor. Process until the mixture is pureed. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl.

3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan. Saute the onions until softened, approximately 2-4 minutes. Add the shrimp, oregano, cumin, and the remaining chopped chiles to the pan, and saute until the shrimp  are just opaque but not completely cooked through, approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the bottom of a baking dish with just enough of the salsa to coat.

5. Microwave the tortillas between paper towels until just pliable, approximately 1 minute. Working with one tortilla at a time, dip the tortilla into the bowl containing the salsa, turning to coat both sides. Transfer to a plate, and add some of the shrimp filling and a sprinkle of goat cheese. Roll up the tortilla, and place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

6. Pour the remaining salsa over the tortillas, and bake for 20 minutes.

7. Serve garnished with goat cheese and cilantro.

Shrimp and Vegetable Kabobs

Cuisine: American

Inspiration: Our Memorial Day weekend was filled with fabulous weather, and there’s no better time to start grilling than on Memorial Day. B and I took a nice bike ride in the afternoon, and it seemed like the whole city smelled like grilled food. It was fabulous.

What we Loved:  This was easily the best meal that we’ve had in months. B grilled everything just perfectly, and I couldn’t believe the flavor. Neither B nor I have ever had grilled shrimp before, and because shrimp cooks so quickly, I wasn’t expecting it to taste that much different than shrimp cooked inside. But the grilled, charred flavor of the shrimp was just amazing, and we couldn’t get over how great it was. It was  like the shrimp soaked up the entire essence and flavor of the grill in the few short minutes that they were cooking. The vegetables were just as good, with my favorite being the slightly crisp and blackened onions. I coated all of the vegetables and shrimp with lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, cilantro, and plenty of garlic before cooking, so everything also had a nice, garlicy flavor. We ate this with some white rice mixed with cilantro for a great, healthy meal that we plan to make a staple in our house over the summer months.

Helpful Hints: When I skewered the vegetables, I put the zucchini on the wrong way. Make sure to skewer the zucchini through the skin, so that you can get nice grill marks on the flesh of the zucchini. The shrimp will also cook much more quickly than the vegetables, so be sure to skewer the shrimp on their own skewers, so you can start grilling the vegetables first.

Other Shrimp Recipes: sausage and shrimp jambalaya, shrimp creole

Shrimp and Vegetable Kabobs
Source: Original Recipe to serve 2

14 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 small zucchini, cut into thick chunks
8 baby portabella mushrooms
1/2 red pepper, cut into thick slices
1/2 vidalia onion, cut into thick wedges
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 lime
A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white rice

1. Skewer the vegetables and the shrimp, making sure to keep them on different skewers because the shrimp will cook much more quickly than the vegetables.

2. Place the skewers in a dish or on a platter, and drizzle them liberally with olive oil and the juice of one lime. Sprinkle with Kosher salt, black pepper, cilantro, and the minced garlic.

3. Cook the white rice according to package instructions. When the rice has cooked, mix in a handful of freshly chopped cilantro.

4. While the rice is cooking, grill the skewers. Grill the vegetable skewers first, for approximately 7-10 minutes per side. When the vegetable skewers are just about finished, grill the shrimp skewers for approximately 1-2 minutes per side.

5. Serve the shrimp and vegetables over the cilantro rice.

Fisherman’s Rice

Cuisine: Southwest

Inspiration: In February I made this jambalaya, and I ended up thinking that it was one of the best recipes to cross my dinner plate in months. It’s not a particularly complicated, unique, or even authentic recipe, but there’s just something about the flavors of one-pot, rice-based recipes that I just adore. The jambalaya recipe has become one of my favorite meals, so I was very excited last week to find a similar recipe, but with a very different flavor spin, at We Heart Food. This is one of those recipes that has been stuck in the back of my head ever since I found it.

What we Loved: I knew that I’d love everything about this dish before I even made it, and I did. The rice has a great tangy bite from pureed tomatillos that are added at the end of cooking, and I loved all of the different flavors and textures. The great thing about a one-pot dish is that you taste so many different flavors in each bite. There’s a tang to the rice, a spiciness to the chorizo,  a cool, buttery taste to the avocado, and a fresh seafood taste to the shrimp. I could eat dishes like this every day and be a very happy girl.

Helpful Hints: If you’re not concerned about a particularly healthful meal, I don’t think that it would be a bad idea to up the chorizo to about 6-8 oz or so. I used 3 oz and restrained myself from adding more, since this was supposed to be a healthy weeknight meal and all, but both B and I particularly enjoyed the chorizo flavor in this dish.

Similar Recipes: sausage and shrimp jambalaya 

Fisherman’s Rice
Source: We Heart Food, originally from The Border Cookbook

I only made a few minor changes to the recipe. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

3 oz bulk chorizo
Extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 bay leaf
8 oz shrimp, cooked as desired (I sauteed mine for about 2 minutes with olive oil, salt, and pepper)
1 Haas avocado, diced
2 medium tomatillos, husked and pureed
Cilantro, to garnish

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan, and saute the chorizo over medium heat. When it is just browned, add the onion, garlic, and rice, and saute briefly until the rice is translucent.

2. Pour in the stock, soy sauce, and vinegar. Add the bay leaf, and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and cook for approximately 15 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.

3. Stir in the cooked shrimp, avocado, and pureed tomatillos. Cook for a few more minutes, and serve garnished with cilantro.

Seafood Lasagna

Cuisine: Italian

Inspiration: I found this recipe on Confections of a Foodie Bride about a month ago, and it’s one of those recipes that has stuck in the back of my head ever since. I’ve been craving and making a lot of seafood lately, and a seafood lasagna using shrimp, crab, and scallops, which are my three favorite seafood variations, sounded so delicious to me. B’s mom came up for a night over the weekend, so I thought that it was the perfect excuse to make this fancy supper, along with some appetizers and a caprese salad.

What we Loved: The seafood flavor in this meal is incredible. If you don’t like seafood, you definitely wouldn’t like this dish, because the flavor is very pronounced. We love seafood, though, so we thought that it was perfect. I loved that the recipe used a lot of Parmesan, because it gave the cheesy portions of the meal a really sharp flavor, and I also loved that there wasn’t a tremendous amount of sauce in the final product. There are four cups of bechamel sauce added to the lasagna, but when you cut the cooked lasagna and serve it, it’s not very saucy and it cuts into pretty portions. The top of the lasagna also gets nice and crispy brown in the oven, which added a great, browned cheese flavor. Really, I loved everything about this recipe. It was delicious.

Helpful Hints: This dish can easily be made ahead of time, which is one of the reasons that I thought it would be great for company. I made the lasagna in the afternoon, and then I just put it in the fridge until we were ready to make it in the evening. There’s nothing worse than being busy in the kitchen when people are over, so I’m always happy to find a good recipe that can be made beforehand. I bought the more-expensive lump crabmeat for this dish, but because there’s so much going on with all of the different flavors, I think that you could get away with buying the cheaper claw meat and it would be just fine.

Other Italian Recipes: Angel hair pasta with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese

Seafood Lasagna

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

I made a few alterations to the recipe (mostly to the seafood amounts), but I really didn’t change a whole lot. Here is the recipe as I made it.

Extra virgin olive oil
8 oz lump crabmeat
1/2 lb bay scallops
1 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
6 tablespoons buter
6 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk
8 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated and divided
Kosher salt and ground white pepper
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
8 oz Mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2-3/4 lb lasagna noodles (I used no boil noodles)

1. Add the crabmeat to a large bowl. Heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Place the scallops into the pan, and cook  for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. Pour the scallops into the bowl with the crabmeat. Add the shrimp to the pan, and cook for 2-3 minutes or until just cooked through. Add the shrimp to the bowl, season with salt and pepper, and mix.

2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk 1 cup at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. When all the milk is added, cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until the sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally so that the mixture doesn’t scorch. Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Mix the spinach, 1/2 cup Parmesan, ricotta, egg, all of the mozzarella, salt, pepper, and 1 cup of the prepared white sauce in a large bowl.

4. Spread 1 cup of the white sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles in the pan, and spread with half of the ricotta mixture. Top with 1/2 cup white sauce.

5. Arrange a second layer of lasagna noodles in the pan. Add all of the seafood mixture, spreading to distribute evenly. Sprinkle half of the remaining Parmesan cheese over the seafood, and top with 1/2 cup white sauce.

6. Arrange a third layer of lasagna noodles in the pan. Spread with the remaining ricotta mixture, and top with 1/2 cup white sauce.

7. Arrange a final layer of lasagna noodles in the pan. Top with the remaining white sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.

8. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes before cutting.

Shrimp Creole

In an effort to make my blog a little different and a little more interesting to write, I’m experimenting with some changes to the format.

Cuisine: creole

Inspiration: I haven’t done much experimenting yet, but judging from the few creole dishes that I’ve tried, creole cuisine is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  The stew-like dishes that are traditionally prepared each have a fantastic heat to them, and every dish that I’ve tried so far has had layers of spices and flavor. There’s something incredibly comforting about a spicy pot of shrimp creole or jambalaya simmering on the stove, and the flavors never disappoint. Over the last few months, I’ve found a new love in spicy and comforting creole food, and I always look forward to trying a new recipe.

What we Loved: The sauce in this dish is really rich in tomato flavor, with just an edge of smokiness from the addition of worcestershire sauce. The spice level that comes from the cayenne pepper and hot sauce is perfect, having quite a kick but not leaving you reaching for your water glass after every bite. I love that this dish is served over a bed of white rice, instead of mixing the rice into the pot, because you can mix the rice into your own dish as much or as little as you’d like while you’re eating.

Helpful Hints: The original recipe calls for seafood stock, but I had some extra chicken stock in the pantry and used that instead. This is a good idea if you want the final dish to have a less “fishy” flavor, although you’re sacrificing some authenticity. What I find most important about this dish is to add the shrimp to the pot just a minute or two before serving. As soon as the shrimp turn pink, it’s safe to turn off the heat and serve. Shrimp only take a few minutes to cook, and overcooked shrimp will have a very tough texture. It’s best to stop cooking even before you think they’re quite done. There’s nothing like fresh, tender shrimp!

Similar recipes: jambalaya, red beans and rice

Shrimp Creole
Source: Food Network

I changed the amounts of several ingredients and omitted a few ingredients. Here is the recipe as I made it.

Extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
Dash worcestershire sauce
Dash hot sauce
2 bay leaves
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 lb large shrimp, shelled, deveined, and tails removed

1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil, and saute the onions for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Stir in the cayenne, and let carmelize.

2. Add the chicken broth, tomatoes,Worcestershire, hot sauce, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, and crush the tomatoes with the back of a spoon as much as you can. After cooking, the tomatoes will become more tender, and you can crush them further then.

3. Simmer for 35 minutes, or until the sauce is as thickened as you would like. You can crush the tomatoes more at this point.

4. Add the shrimp to the pot, and cook until just pink and opaque. Serve immediately.

Shrimp Scampi Orzo

You know, this doesn’t really look very special. It just looks like orzo tossed with shrimp. But really, it was so much more delicious than it looks! I sauteed the shrimp in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil, seasonings, and butter (a treat for us, since I never cook with it), and then I poured the entire mixture into the cooked orzo. The result was amazing! For something so simple, it really tasted complex and like it took a long time to cook. The whole dish had a great, buttery flavor with just a little kick of heat. I served this with seared filet mignon on Valentine’s Day, for a surf-n-turf type meal, and it worked great. I think that it would also work well with some more additions, like basil or Parmesan cheese, or even with some more seafood added, like crab meat or lobster, to make a seafood orzo. Just how it is, though, this recipe worked really well as a side dish, and I think that it would work great as a main course, too, with some crusty bread and a salad.

Shrimp Scampi Orzo
Source: Adapted from Ina Garten

I changed this recipe all around and scaled it down to serve two as a side dish. Here’s what I did.

10 large shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and black pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2/3 cup orzo
1 cup chicken stock

1. Pour the chicken stock into a small pot, and heat it to a boil. Pour in the orzo, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Simmer until the orzo is cooked through and the liquid is evaporated, approximately 15 minutes.

2. When the orzo is almost finished, heat the olive oil and the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, and saute for 1 minute.

3. Add the shrimp to the pan, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the shrimp are just pink, about 3-4 minutes.

4. Remove the shrimp from the heat and season with a pinch of red pepper flakes. Pour the shrimp mixture over the orzo, and stir well to combine.

Rice with Sausage and Shrimp

This is the best meal that I’ve made all year. SO GOOD! Usually, I can just tell while I’m cooking something if it’s going to be delicious or if it’s just going to be okay (or terrible!). The whole time that I was making this, I was so excited because I knew that it was going to be incredible. And it was. B and I could barely stop eating it. Neither one of us had ever had a similar dish before this, and I have to say that I plan to put this meal into my regular rotation. I can’t even explain how good this was. The sausage and shrimp tasted wonderful with all of the vegetables, and because everything was cooked together in the same pan, the finished dish had all kinds of great and complex flavors. I served this with avocado slices, and they really added a fresh and cool contrast to the hot rice. I can’t wait to eat this again!

Rice with Sausage and Shrimp
Source: Adapted from Laylita’s Recipes

1/2 vidalia onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup white rice, uncooked
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 lb Italian sausage
1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed
2 tablespoons chives
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
1 avocado

1. Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan, and cook until the sausage is no longer pink and is starting to brown.

2. Add the onions and the peppers to the pan, and cook for approximately 5 minutes.

3. Add the minced garlic to the pan, mix, and cook for an additional minute.

4. Add the diced tomatoes to the pan, and cook for approximately 5 minutes.

5. Add the rice to the pan, stir, and cook for approximately two minutes.

6. Add the chicken broth to the pan, cover, and cook for approximately 15 minutes.

7. Add the shrimp to the pan, cover the pan again, and cook until the shrimp are cooked through, approximately 6-8 minutes.

8. Add the chives to the pan, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

9. Serve with fresh avocado slices.

Cilantro Shrimp Pizza

I was trying to use up a bunch of leftovers and came up with this pizza. I was sort of looking for a Mexican feel with the cilantro, shrimp, and tomatoes, but I was a little worried about how a pizza would taste with cilantro. It turned out that I loved the cilantro flavor, and this ended up being one of my favorite pizzas that I’ve made at home. I used a light coating of olive oil and garlic for the sauce, sprinkled it with a bunch of cilantro, and then I added the cheese and toppings. I also used a lot of feta cheese…one of my very favorite ingredients on pizza.

Cilantro Shrimp Pizza
Source: Original Recipe

Pizza dough (I use the dough in this recipe)
Extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Mozzerella cheese, freshly shredded
Feta cheese (I used about 1/2 a container)
1 roma tomato, thinly sliced
1/3 package of turkey bacon, chopped into small pieces and cooked
12 shrimp, tails removed

1. Preheat the oven to 425.

2. Spread the pizza dough onto a pan and lightly brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with black pepper and the minced garlic cloves.

3. Sprinkle the cilantro on the pizza and top with some mozzerella. Add the tomato slices and cooked bacon, and then top with more mozzerella and feta.

4. Cook the pizza for approximately 10 minutes, or until the crust has browned. Meanwhile, drizzle a pan with olive oil and season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Saute until just cooked, only 2-3 minutes. Chop the cooked shrimp into smaller pieces.

5. Add the shrimp to the pizza and sprinkle with a little more mozzerella. Return the pizza to the oven and cook just until the additional cheese has melted, 1-2 minutes.