When I came home, I immediately went to work on a banner. Because Ryan was on his way home soon, I didn't even have the time to change our toner cartridge, much less decorate the sign. At this rate, my banner was going to look much worse than the one he made for me. Not to be outdone, I made mine a little bit bigger.
So, that disaster averted, on to making dinner!
This is my first recipe post, so a few points:
1. I looked at other food blogs for inspiration, so I haven't really come to my own style.
2. My camera skills still need work.
3. My kitchen is small, and although I try to keep it clean, that doesn't really disguise the fact that it's not particularly new and definitely used. So, keep your focus on the foreground, not the background.
4. Recipe and source are on the bottom, if you want to skip the rest of this crap.
Alright. So, I put a pot of water to boil for the pasta and I started with the garlic bread. I set the oven to prehead at 350 degrees and I cut the french baguette in half and then cut that in half horizontally.
At the same time, I took about a bowlful of frozen shrimp (I buy the already-cooked variety, 'cause I don't wanna fuck around) and started defrosting them in the microwave. There were somewhere between 20 and 30 of them.
Then I combined about a heaping spoonful of Country Crock (>> butter), two small spoonfuls of minced garlic (I buy the little jar of minced garlic because I only use garlic sporadically and fresh garlic goes bad faster), and one big spoonful of parsley flakes. This will be the spread for the garlic bread.
After mixing everything well (and adding a little bit more garlic and parsley), I spread it on the bread slices to put them in the oven.
At this point, my water was boiling, so I salted and pasta-ed it.
At the same time, in a saucepan, I combined 1/2 a cup of olive oil, 1/2 a cup of County Crock and about two big spoonfuls of minced garlic (the recipe actually called for a little bit more, but I ran out). I put it on medium heat and let it, you know, do it's thing. After about five minutes, I added the shrimp (which I de-tailed) and about 1/4 cup of parsley flakes.
After about ten minutes (more, if you decided to use raw shrimp), it gets all bubbly. It's pretty much done now.
At this point, the garlic bread is done (it was in there for about 20 or 30 minutes). I took it out in the oven and cut it up into horrible-looking pieces. But still, delicious-looking!
The pasta was also done, so I drained it and then combined the shrimp garlic sauce. I also added a little more olive oil and parsley, just 'cause. The end result looked pretty good:
Ta-da!
Ryan and I liked it, but here were some problems/changes:
1. The garlic bread was AWESOME, but it could stand to be more garlic-y.
2. I do NOT know how to toss angel hair pasta well, so the pasta on top was a little less buttery and the pasta on the bottom was REALLY buttery. Also, it was lacking on the flavor front, so maybe some salt should be added somewhere at some point.
3. I made the recipe for a whole box of pasta (on the possibility that we were going to have guests that night -- this didn't pan out), which is way too much for two people.
I also managed some dessert, and while the work wasn't as hard, I'll put in the recipe.
1. Find your local CVS. I like using Google Maps, but any brand you like is probably good.
2. Go into the CVS aisle that has all the Entenmann's desserts.
3. Find the one labeled "Cinnamon Swirl Buns", take it up to the front register, and buy it (I think it's about $5.39, including tax).
4. Open the box well before you're about to serve them then decide, no, NO, I'm not going to eat one now, and close the box.
5. Have that smell drive you nuts the rest of the day.
6. When it's FINALLY time for dessert, put a piece in the microwave and nuke it for 10 seconds.
7. Enjoy. You've earned it.
---
Recipes
Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp in a Garlic-Parsley sauce
(adjusted from a recipe from about.com)
* 1/2 lb angel hair pasta
* 1/4 cup butter (I like Country Crock)
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 2 tb of minced garlic
* 20-30 medium shrimp
* salt (to taste)
* pepper (to taste)
* 6 tb parsley
Cook spaghetti per package directions. Meanwhile, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, cook until golden (about five minutes). In garlic oil, add the shrimp, parsley, salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat about 10 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat. Toss with drained spaghetti. If desired, add 1-2 tb extra parsley and Parmesan cheese to taste (the cheese isn't tested, but it would probably work well). Good for 2-3 people.
Garlic-Parsley Bread
(adjusted from a recipe pretty much found anywhere)
* 1/2 loaf of French bread (Italian bread will work equally as well)
* 1/4 cup of butter (Or Country Crock, if you know what's good for you)
* 2 or 3 tb of garlic (depending on how garlic-y you like things)
* 1 tb of parsley (fresh is better, but dried works well, too)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut the bread in half, horizontally. Mix the butter, garlic, and parsley together in a small bowl. Spread butter mixture over the the two bread halves. Put into the oven and heat for 10 - 20 minutes, or until the edges start darkening a little bit. Remove from oven and let it cool for about a minute or two, then cut into horrible, horrible looking pieces. Or nice ones, if you're that kind of person. Good for 2-3 people.
Okay, I'm going to stop avoiding my boyfriend and cats now.
No comments:
Post a Comment