Michael and Christopher have been gone to New Orleans and Baton Rouge for the past couple of days so that Christopher can attend two more of Louisiana Tech’s football camps. While we have missed them terribly, Elizabeth and I were happy that we finally finished watching the fifth season of Pretty Little Liars so that we could watch the new episode that aired this week. Yes, I know. But it’s a guilty pleasure. I do find, though, that I use the residents of Rosewood to try to teach my child life lessons. “See? That’s why you always, always, always tell someone where you’re going!” “Did you see that? Baby, always turn on the lights in the house when you get home at night. You never know who could be hiding!” “Now you know it’s not normal for girls to kiss that many boys, right? Especially when they’re dating someone else.” “Do you understand that all of this could have been avoided if she’d only told her mother everything?” Luckily she’s still at the “Eww!” stage when it comes to boys. But she endures all of my statements and nods and says she understands. Her addition to the commentary almost always includes, “Why don’t any of them carry a pocket knife?”
Well, last night, we took a little break from our marathon viewing (we watched the entire fifth season in three days) to make dinner. I poured. She whisked.
I love shrimp. Especially shrimp that are properly cooked. In fact, when it comes to shrimp, I’m a lot like Bubba from Forest Gump. Because I love fried shrimp and boiled shrimp and baked shrimp and stuffed shrimp and shrimp po-boys and shrimp and grits and barbecue shrimp and shrimp salad and shrimp cocktail and…
I love shrimp.
I didn’t want to drag out a frying pan and fry or sautee the shrimp that I had thawed earlier in the day. I just knew I wanted lots of flavor. I certainly got that!
Oven Roasted Shrimp
- 2 pounds of medium shrimp, tail on
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of grated garlic
- 1 tablespoon of chopped basil or basil paste
- 1 tablespoon of chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, soy sauce, garlic, basil, chili powder, pepper, and salt. Add shrimp and toss or stir until well coated. Pour onto a large baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Zest the lemon and set the zest aside. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the top. Sprinkle the shrimp with zest.
Well Duh #1: Please don’t overcook the shrimp. Nothing is worse to me than rubbery, overcooked shrimp. Just watch them. When they turn pink and curl slightly, they’re done! If they’re still gray, cook them a few more minutes, but keep a close eye on them!
Well Duh #2: I served our shrimp over red pepper Parmesan quinoa. I used a box of Far East red pepper quinoa and cooked it in the microwave according to package directions. Once it was cooked, I added a couple of teaspoons of butter and a half-cup of Parmesan. It was yummy! The only downside was that the box doesn’t make much. If the boys had been home, I probably would have made two or three boxes.
Well Duh #3: I used tail-on shrimp because it gave the shrimp a little handle to hold on to. We dipped ours in remoulade sauce and it was divine!
Well Duh #4: If you want your shrimp a little spicy, you can always add a teaspoon of cayenne or red pepper flakes.
Well Duh #5: Don’t overcrowd your pan. If the shrimp look a little too snug, use a second pan so you can spread them out a little.
This was perfect food for sitting in front of the t.v. and watching our favorite guilty pleasure. The good news is that the t.v. show was our only guilty pleasure because the shrimp and quinoa were really pretty healthy. And, yes, it was a big serving of shrimp for each of us, but it was kind of like popcorn while we watched to see what the girls were up to!
Buttery quinoa and succulent shrimp with the Pretty Little Liars was pretty darn awesome. But the best part was spending time with favorite girl and teaching her life lessons through the show.
“See? If you’re ever locked in a crazy basement catacomb, you need to…”
“Okay, Mama.”
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