Living alone and having an active social life makes my dinners mostly unpredictable. I see tons of Pinterest posts about printable meal plans and Rachael Ray always has a weekly shopping list that lasts a whole week’s worth of dinners. I always think “Ohhh so pretty! Ohhh so practical!” Well, I’m not Rachael Ray nor am I feeding a family so a pre-planned dinner list for the week is not my style. Plus what if you’re not in the mood for what you thought you’d be in the mood for on Friday when you planned your meals on Sunday?! Tsk. Not for me.
Instead I find myself hungry with random ingredients at home and am left to whip up something. Sometimes dinner turns out horrific (like that elderberry syrup drenched chicken breast with grapes and onions– yuk!!). Sometimes I surprise myself though and surpass my mother’s cooking skills…
Tonight’s challenge: Will be going on a 5 day business trip and have 1/4 broccoli head, a lemon and two potatoes that look more like orange peel crispness wise. Definitely destination trash can if I didn’t use them tonight. Hmmmm. Further digging in my fridge produced a long ago opened bottle of white wine, some garlic, a glass of marinated artichokes and frozen shrimps. A half hour later I am eating a frickin’ amazing dinner. Sandra 1. Waste 0.
Proud chef that I am, I posted a pic on FB and my friend C was so enthralled she asked for the recipe. Here goes:
Shrimps with Artichokes & Broccoli in Lemon White Wine Sauce and Potatoes
- Start cooking your potatoes – they’ll need the longest
- Defrost shrimps under running water and pat dry. Season with garlic powder (I was thinking, aww shucks I don’t have time to marinate them but I want them somewhat garlicy – garlic powder to the rescue!)
- Chop broccoli and garlic – I used two cloves
- Heat olive oil in pan and add garlic. A little later the shrimps and finally the broccoli
- Squeeze out half a lemon and pour juice into pan
- Let simmer a few minutes then add a handful of marinated artichoke segments and white wine (don’t drink the wine, it’ll taste sourrrr)(ignore content of last parentheses if fresh bottle)
- I added some white pepper and a pinch of sugar to season. Add more wine if things should dry rub against the pan
- After it’s been simmering until your potatoes are almost done, mix some cornstarch with cold water (you’ll only need a little bit) to thicken the sauce. Stir into shrimp wine mix and bring back to a boil
- Guten Appetit!
I made this with potatoes because they weren’t going to survive my absence and I’m German – we love potatoes (and The ‘Hoff). I could see this work at least as well with pasta, couscous or rice, too, though. Let me know how yours turned out and happy cooking!