Shrimp Florentine

Sometimes some of these dishes are so easy, it's not even funny. You get home, throw some stuff in the pan, cook some pasta, toss it all together and make an amazing meal. And sometimes you spend hours slaving over the stove and when you finally sit down to eat, you think "hmmm, all that work for this?".

Today was a typical amazing meal day. It had been a long one with car troubles, work issues and having to meet with people that are in the past for a reason, so by the time I walked in the door, I had no time or desire to do anything fancy. Hurray for the freezer, I say! Because I pulled out a package of shrimp that I stuffed in there somewhere, grabbed a handful of spinach, some shredded cheese from the fridge and used up the rest of that half-and-half that was bought for the butter chicken and within fifteen minutes, I had a tasty, flavorful meal. You can do the same!!

Shrimp Florentine
1 package of whole wheat spaghetti (or the pasta of your choice)
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon of butter
2 cups of fresh spinach
Shrimp (this very much depends on how big they are, how many you have: just get enough for everyone)
1/2 cup of half-and-half
1/2 cup of warm chicken stock
1 cup of shredded Italian cheese (I use a 6 cheese mix: parmesan, asiago, mozzarella etc)
Salt
Pepper

Add the package of spaghetti to a pot with enough boiling water. While the pasta cooks, peel and mince the garlic. Heat the butter in a Dutch oven and caramelize the garlic until golden, then quickly add the spinach. Stir for a minute or two, then add the shrimp, continue to stir until the shrimp are heated through or pink, then add the half and half and the stock, stir until well blended and add in the cheese. Keep stirring until the cheese is melted and the sauce thickens, then taste and adjust with salt and/or pepper. Drain the spaghetti and toss with the sauce.

See? Nothing to it and soooo yummie!! If you don't have shrimp, you can use chicken.

Mussels à la Belgique

I don't actually know that there is such a thing as Belgian-style mussels but I'm not entirely making this name up either. The way these are prepared are very similar to how they're eaten on the Belgian coast. With a dipping sauce, some bread and, here I am majorly lacking today, some golden fries.

In the Netherlands, mussels are usually on the menu when the letter "R" is present in the name of the month: from September till April, you can find mussels on the menu at restaurants, for sale at the fish mongers and on the stove in Dutch kitchens all over the country. Well, I wasn't up for making fries what with one thing and another, but I didn't mind making the sauce and baking the bread. "R" has been in the months for a long time and I was really starting to crave these puppies!

I dug out a bag of mussels from the freezer. They're so quick to prepare and totally hit the spot today: their salty, oceany smell reminded me of summer, of holidays on the beach and of happy times. Get frozen ones if you can, they've been cleaned and scrubbed already and will save you a lot of time. Don't eat the ones that have broken shells or don't open up during the cooking process: they're likely to be bad and may make you sick.

Mussels
2 pounds of mussels
1 rib of celery, diced
1/2 carrot, peeled and diced
2 shallots, peeled and quartered
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 cups of white wine
2 cups of water

Dipping sauce
2 tablespoons of mustard
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of vinegar

Mix into a smooth sauce.

Put the water, the wine, shallots, carrots, garlic and celery in a Dutch oven with a lid. Bring to a boil. Lift the lid, add the mussels and boil for seven to eight minutes. The mussels will open up and will be ready to eat.

To serve, place the pan on the table with an extra plate for the shells. Serve with fries and a dipping sauce. Use your fingers to pull the mussels out of the shells or a small fork, dip into the sauce and eat up.

Easy Paella

We are all over the globe this month! Asian, Dutch and now Spanish. This is an easy paella, a rice dish with chicken and seafood, that will hopefully bring a little bit of sunshine on this stormy Monday afternoon.

I raided the freezer and found a couple of chicken tenders, half a pound of seafood mix* and a bag of yellow rice. Here we go!!

Easy Paella
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 chicken tenders (or a small chicken breast)
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
1 tomato, grated
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 pound of seafood mix (shrimp, squid, mussels etc)
1 bag of yellow rice mix (5 oz)
2 cups of warm water
1/4 of chicken bouillon cube
1/2 cup of green peas
strips of roasted red pepper
1 lemon

Cut the chicken in bitesize pieces, peel and chop the garlic and heat the oil in a flat base, non-stick skillet with a lid. Quickly cook the chicken, then remove from the skillet. Add the onion, the tomato and the garlic and cook while stirring until most of the liquid is gone and it almost becomes a paste. Add the seafood mix and stir regularly until the shrimp are cooked, then put the chicken back in. Mix it together, pour in the package of yellow rice, stir several times until the rice is coated with the olive oil and add the warm water and the quarter bouillon cube. Add the peas and stir everything together.

Bring everything to a boil, turn to simmer and place the lid on the pan. From this point on, do not stir the rice anymore. After about fifteen minutes, carefully lift the lid. If most of the liquid has gone, add the red roasted pepper strips on top and replace the lid. The rice should cook dry in about another five minutes, leaving you with a yummy pan full of yellow rice with chicken and seafood, i.e. easy paella.

Serve on warm plates, with a slice of lemon so you can add lemon juice to your taste.