Mystery Ingredient: Week 5

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pomelo avocado crab salad 3

Oh my. Whatever could this be? The bumps indicate it may be some kind of citrus, Watson.

Let me zoom out a little and see if that helps.

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It’s a lemon … It’s a grapefruit … It’s superman!

Actually no, it’s pomelo!

pomelo avocado crab salad

Pom-who-o? You ask. Or maybe you already know what a pomelo is, in which case touché. According to the guy at the farmer’s market, pomelo is an Asian grapefruit that tastes just like regular supermarket grapefruit except a bit sweeter. He said it’s great in savory salads, so I decided to let that guide me in my recipe.

Then I asked him to pick out two good pomelos, which he so graciously did. For someone like me, who doesn’t like grapefruit, that was a big mistake. I should have just bought one because it yields so much fruit there is no way I could eat it all without my tongue burning off.

Anyway, I got home, opened up a bag of Easter themed chocolate and started googling pomelo and saw that the skin is sometimes used as a container for salads and then I got excited, and off my ass, and began cooking.

If you wanna make a pomelo bowl, start by making a zig zag shape with a knife into the upper part of the pomelo to create a lid. Hard to explain with words, so here are some photos:

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Once you’ve zig-zagged all around the pomelo, use your thumb to dig in between the skin and the flesh to separate them. Do that all around the pomelo a few times until the top comes off.

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Now you want to get the fruit out of the skin. It’s the same process as the top lid except you need to dig deeper, physically and emotionally, and go around a few more times.

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It looks like a pumpkin. 

Now you want to peel and separate the segments like you would an orange. Except you don’t want any pith at all, just the inner flesh.

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As you can see, all that flesh is just from half a pomelo. This fruit is a giver.

Now you have the pomelo all prepped. I decided to make a lump crab salad and a pomelo and avocado salsa to go along with it. Here it goes!

This is what you need:

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To make the dressing for the crab salad you need some mayo, a few dashes of Worcestershire and a bunch of spices (found in the recipe card at the end of the post).

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Mix it all up.

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Add some green onions and cilantro.

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Stir and add the crab.

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Season with S&P

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Gently mix, leaving pure chunks of crab still intact. Chill in the fridge until needed.

Next let’s make the pomelo & avocado salsa. You need avocado. Obvi.

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Slice it into a grid, make sure you don’t cut through the skin and into your hand.

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Spoon it into a bowl.

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Mix in the pomelo.

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Squeeze lemon on avocados to prevent them from browning, then add cilantro and S&P.

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To make the dressing, squeeze some lemon juice into a bowl.

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Add in some honey.

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Trusty rusty S&P.

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A drizzle of oil. I used grape seed oil, that’s why it’s neon greenish.

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Whisk, whisk, whisk, until the dressing emulsifies.

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Pour onto your salsa.

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Add some chia seeds for good measure, if you have them.

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Place the salsa into a bowl, or hollowed out pomelo.

(Side note: I should have added some lettuce to fill up the pomelo a bit more. It still looks ok, but I think it could be better, so if you’re gonna go the hollowed-out-pomelo route, add some romaine lettuce to the “salsa” and call it a salad.)

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The next part is optional also. I chose to mold the crab salad. You can use a small bowl for a rounded top or a ramekin for a more spherical shape.

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Turn it over on top of the salsa in the bowl and pray like you’ve never prayed before. (The mayo dressing should help it slide out easily).

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Add a little garnish for shits and giggles and decoration as well.

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Awwwww. How cute is that?

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Peekaboo!

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Enjoy!

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Angry Meat Sauce (a.k.a Arrabbiata Sauce)

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Yum. This sauce is really pissed off. It’s all hot and bothered. It’s too hot to handle. It’s too cool for school. No. Wait. Nevermind. This sauce is spicy ok? That’s why it’s called angry, because Arrabbiata sauce means angry. Does anyone notice the link? It seems like Arab and angry always find a way to be connected. Hmph. Moving on.

So, this sauce is great without any spiciness, if you reduce (or completely omit) the amount of red chili flakes this sauce is a good basic meat sauce to have on hand, or foot.

First you need meat for the meat sauce. Shocking, I know.

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Ya, I used veal. Wanna fight about it? Obviously you don’t have to go down this politically incorrect path. But me? Ya, I’m fucking going there.

You also need these spices:

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I used about a 1/2 tsp of each spice (plus a pinch of sugar to offset the acidity of all the tomato product that I didn’t include in this photo because I’m not perfect but I still love myself.)

Finally, you need these items to make complete the sauce:

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Let’s get cookin’

Start off by finely dicing all the fresh veggies:

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Start by sautéing the onions, until they have browned.

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Then add the garlic and cook until softened.

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Add the fresh tomato or tomato. Oh wait, you can’t hear my accent when I’m writing.

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Cook it down, or up.

Once all the veggies have cooked through, add your ground meat and half of the spice mix (except sugar and bay leaves).

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Cook the meat through and break it down into little crumbles.

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Brown it thusly:

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Time for the good stuff.

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When you add the wine to a hot pan it should immediately bubble up and deglaze the pan (which just means it helps lift up all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan when you were cooking the meat), scrape the bottom of the pan to help loosen the brown bits of yummy deliciousness.

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Cook until you can’t smell the alcohol anymore and it has mostly evaporated.

Add  a bit of the parsley, and stir.

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Once everything is absorbed like in the picture above, add your canned tomato products and the rest of the spice mix.

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If using whole tomatoes, use the back of your spoon to crush them in the pan.

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Add the tomato paste.

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Then the spices.

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Add a pinch of sugar.

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Most of the shredded parmesan. Use Parmegannio-Reggiano (In Giada DeLaurentiis’ voice/accent) if possible. If not possible then fuck it.

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Add almost all of the rest of the parsley (save the rest for garnish).

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Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to simmer and cook for an hour.

In the meantime, do this:

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After an hour, check for seasoning and adjust to your liking. I added a touch more sugar, a bunch more parmesan and a final sprinkling of S&P. 

Perfect.

I decided to enjoy this Angry Sauce over some Gluten-Free pasta. My bestie recommended I try a brand called Tinkyada. Life. Changing. This shit tastes like real fucking pasta!!! Sorry for all the cursing, I’m just so happy that I can be gluten-free and eat pasta! Oh joy!

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Look, even the package says “Pasta Joy!”

So, I cooked that up and made me a big-ass plate of pastaaaaaaa and and it went a little something like this:

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GET IN MY BELLY! (Name that movie)

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Mint & Garlic Shrimp

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I love mint. I love garlic. I loooove shrimp. Actually these are prawns. Prawns are bigger than shrimp. I found they taste the same, but the meatiness of the larger prawns gives them an amazing texture.

The sauce is really fresh and light and perfect for spring.

This is what you need for the sauce:

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Also, make a spice rub to go on your crustacean.

You need these spices:

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I used 1 tsp of paprika, and 1/4 tsp of all the other spices. The amount of red chili flakes is up to you and how spicy you like it.

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It looks like a paw print. Awww. A spicy paw.

Mix.

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Ok now it’s time to prep your shrimp if you bought them with the shell on.

I bought these prawns from Whole Foods and when I got home I noticed something … well something that caused me to scream, cry and rock back and forth in the fetal position.

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Look closely. Do you see it?

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How about now? Do you see those little orange bubble things. That’s roe (a.k.a eggs). Yes, those are hundreds or billions of eggs! I screamed. I cried. I googled.

Apparently these are female prawns who were carrying (read: protecting) their prawn-spawn (so proud of myself for that one) when they got caught. Tear. It’s a little too real for me. I wondered if it was safe to consume and found out that some people believe it’s great fortune to get prawns with roe and consider it a delicacy as well.

Not me. Not now. Not ever. I feel like a hypocrite because I always ask for sushi rolls to be modified with tobiko on the outside (smelt egg/fish roe) and it looks exactly like what my prawns were holding on to. Except the mother fish wasn’t holding on to the tobiko on my sushi. This is a very big difference.

So I totally psyched myself out and was like I have to touch the eggs to get rid of them. I’m gonna die. The eggs are going hatch inside of me.

Then I put my big girl panties on and decided to proceed how I would with regular, egg-free shrimp. I started by cutting down the back of the prawn to remove the vein.

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Then, instead of grabbing the legs like I usually do, I decided to pull the prawn out of the shell and it came out so easily! I didn’t even have to touch the eggs! The only thing is they leave a bit of orange coloring behind but it doesn’t smell or taste like anything and it’s undetectable in the final product.

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Excuse my mani.

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Once I had all my prawns prepped, I moved on to the sauce.

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Chop up everything like this:

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Heat some oil in a pan.

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Add the garlic first. Cook for about a minute.

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Then add the green onion and sauté until they have softened.

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Add the tomatoes.

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Season with S&P.

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Cook until the tomatoes have broken down.

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Add most of the chopped mint.

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Keep cooking while you season your shrimp with the rub you made. Use enough of the rub to coat the shrimp. 

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Once the sauce looks like this:

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Make a well to make room for the shrimp:

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Cook for a few minutes on each side unit the shrimp are white and pink.

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Once the shrimp are cooked through mix everything together and turn off the heat. You don’t want to overcook the shrimp, it becomes really rubbery.

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Add a final sprinkling of mint and squeeze of half a lemon and you’re done!

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It’s so light and fresh, but the spices give it a warm heartiness that hits the spot.

You can eat it alone:

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Or with sautéed spinach:

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Or with pasta. 

Sorry. I don’t have a picture of that.

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Crusted Salmon Salad

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By now I’m sure we all know how good salmon is for you. Omega-3’s and all that shit. Sometimes salmon can taste bland, boring or worst of all, fishy. Blech. 

Of course, picking a good fillet of salmon is the first step, but even the best wild-caught Alaskan salmon can taste like wild-caught Alaskan poo-poo. It’s all about seasoning and how long you cook it.

In terms of how long you cook it, that depends on personal taste. My mother happens to HATE undercooked salmon, she likes her salmon dry and super flaky. My friend on the other hand, likes her salmon borderline sashimi-style. I’m somewhere in the middle. I want a flaky light pink salmon that is also moist and juicy. I find that 375F for about 25-30 minutes works for me. So at the end of the day, do you boo boo *In Katt William’s voice*.

Ok, so I forgot to take a shot of all the ingredients (stop rolling your eyes, I can see you!) The ingredient list is on the recipe card at the end of this post. Sorry, that means more reading. 

Ok time for more photos!

This is my little salmon friend:

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I froze it before I cooked it so that weird off-white thing on the edge of the salmon is because of that. I’m sure Alton Brown knows exactly what that is. Ask him. Because I’m sure you know him well enough to do that.

A little S&P. Go easy on the S though, you will be adding seasoned salt next.

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Next, crush your coriander and fennel seeds. Use anything heavy to crush them if you don’t have a coffee/spice grinder. A heavy can or rolling pin does the trick.

Sprinkle some seasoned salt and crushed herbs on the salmon.

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As a final touch to make this salmon extra special, finely dice the garlic, ginger and parsley. Mix them together and top the salmon with the mixture.

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I hope you preheated your oven to 375F, because it’s time to pop this little sucker in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until it reaches desired doneness. 

In the meantime, make your salad. Chop and rinse the lettuce.

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Dice and season the cuke, slice the onion and finely chop the parmesan and parsley together.

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Now it’s just a matter of assembling, dressing and tossing.

Place the lettuce in bowl and top with the cucumbers:

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Then add the red (it’s actually purple WTF) onion:

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Top that with the heavenly parmesan-parsley mixture:

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Sprinkle on a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil:

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Toss:

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Once the salmon is ready, place the salad in a bowl:

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Top with the salmon:

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Eat!

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Taco Seasoning Mix

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Yes, the spoon is upside down. No, I didn’t know that when I took the photograph. 

Also, I love tacos. The seasoning packets at the store, which I admit I have used in the past, are apparently filled with sodium and a bunch of other artificial stuff that you probably shouldn’t be eating. 

Which leads me to this recipe. Taco seasoning. You will need these items:

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Spices from top left: Turmeric (optional but I add it to everything for the health benefits), onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, coriander, oregano, chili powder and cumin.

I feel very strongly about using freshly ground coriander in my recipes because preground coriander is just not the same, man. It’s just not. 

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I wish there was smell on the camera. So does this lady. The smell of freshly ground coriander is amazing, lemony and refreshing.

Add all the spices to a bowl (the proportions are in the printable recipe card at the end of the post).

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Stir.

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Use on chicken, beef, pork, fish, shrimp, or tofu. Ew. Sorry. Blech. Tofu and I haven’t gone “there” yet. I just look at him from afar wondering what it would be like. And then I come to my senses and remind my self that I go home to a freezer full of meat and that keeps me warm at night.

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Primo’s Ginger-Garlic Shrimp

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“What if I sit? Can I get some of that ginger-garlic shrimp then, Mom?” – Primo (the Chihuahua)

I’ve never seen that chihuahua sit so good (so well?) in my life. The sweet and savory smell of the ginger garlic must have knocked some sense into him. Isn’t he just the cutest little thing? I sound like one of those people.

So this shrimp is like some of the tastiest shrimp I’ve had and I’ve had some tasty-ass shrimp. Its so flavorful yet balanced and it is so versatile. Ok so let me get to the point.

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Get some shrimp. I got a pound of some shrimp with the shells still on. You can get them already peeled and deveined but I don’t mind doing it myself. Plus it’s cheaper. So there’s that.

If you are peeling and deveining this part is for you. My method of peeling is I grab the little feet (ew) on the underside of the shrimp and peel them back, which should remove a chunk (if not all) of the shell.

To remove the tails, I usually hold the bottom of the part of the tail connected to the shrimp and squeeze until the shrimp pops/slides out of the tail. I really hope this makes sense. I need to make a post about peeling and deveining a shrimp with more detailed pictures or a video. Stay tuned.

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Apologies for the chipped mani. My sumac (google it) colored manicure is dying, chip by chip. 

Now for the part that the evil forces of the universe have created. Deveining. The picture above shows this method of torture reserved only for frugal cooks who love shrimp. Ok so deep breath, slice open the back of the shrimp and (under running water) wash away the “vein”. You know it’s not actually a vein, though. Aha. Yep. That’s what it is. If you still don’t know what it is, ignorance is bliss. 

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I sprinkled S&P and Old Bay on my shrimp. Have I mentioned I hate bland food? I do. With a passion.

Then I added some of my magical Ginger-Garlic Paste to make these golden curls of crustacean some of the best shrimp I’ve ever had. Ever.

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 Then you want to heat some oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot add shrimp to the pan. If the shrimp isn’t sizzling then your oil ain’t hot enough honey. Test with part of one shrimp if you’re not sure. 

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Cook the shrimp for a few minutes on each side. You don’t want to overcook your shrimp. No one likes rubbery shrimp. No one that matters anyway. That was mean. I’m sorry. I really like moist and succulent shrimp. 

Anyway, when the shrimp turns white and pink and curls up then it’s done.

Hubby had the shrimp fajita-style with rice, salsa, cheese and flour tortillas. I had them as a salad on some shredded romaine lettuce with a bit of salsa.

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Primo got lucky and ate a shrimp that I dropped on the floor while transferring them from the pan to the plate. After a taste he kept staring at the shrimp and then he full-on sat down and was silently begging with his big bug eyes.

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Awwwwwww.

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How to Make Ginger-Garlic Paste

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Ginger and garlic. I can’t believe it took me so long to discover the holy combination. Each one balances out the other. One is slightly sweet and floral and the other is sharp and savory. Together it’s heaven. It’s also insanely easy to make.

It’s the basis of many Indian dishes but it can be used in many other dishes.

Let’s get into it. You will need ginger, garlic, turmeric and oil. I usually go for equal amounts of ginger and garlic. But one time I added more ginger and it was really nice and floral. So do you, boo boo.  

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 Grate the ginger and garlic and then sprinkle enough turmeric to coat the ginger-garlic. 

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Then drizzle a little oil. Just enough to coat the mixture and create a paste consistency. The proportions I used are listed in the recipe card below, use them as a starting point. 

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Once you mix it up it should turn into a beautiful bright yellow, unless your turmeric is a bit on the orange side : 

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 That’s it! You have made ginger-garlic paste. Yay you! Spread it on meats before cooking, or spread it on veggies or on your body. Whatever. The paste goes really well with seafood: 

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 Or with Primo’s Ginger-Garlic Shrimp which turned out amazing! Seriously, best shrimp I’ve ever had. Even Primo the Chihuahua agrees with me and he hates shrimp! 

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Oh. Hello there Primo! He had his eye on these shrimp like nobody’s business.  

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