Pasta with Spiced Shrimp and Cilantro Pesto

I made this recipe a few months back, and am sad to say I have completely forgotten where I got it from! Note to self: keep better notes. I debated not posting about it for that reason, but it was so good I will anyway. I'll keep searching and update if I find anything. It's not the quickest recipe but all the parts come together nicely - the pesto and shrimp complement each other to make a satisfying pasta dinner.

To make the pesto, I got to use my new mini food processor. A full size one would have worked better, as I had to work in a couple batches, but it worked just fine. Pulse together 2 cups cilantro, the juice of one lime (2 Tbsp), 1/4 cup walnuts, the zest of one lime (2 tsp) and 2 sliced garlic cloves. This will make a flavourful, dry pesto, though the walnuts added a slightly milky touch. Set it aside.

In a large pan, heat 1/4 cup oil. Add in 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp each cayenne, curry powder and coriander. Let the spices cook for about 2 minutes, then throw in about 2/3 lb shrimp. I used frozen, but fresh shrimp would only take a couple of minutes to cook. Watch what you're wearing - I got a few splatters on my work clothes.

Throw 1/2 lb spaghetti (cooked) into the pan, along with the pesto. I also added some pasta water to make it a little saucier. The shrimp itself was quite spicy but it gets tamed with the addition of the pesto. Top with some feta cheese and it's done! I found it a little hard to fully incorporate the pasta into everything else, as it was drier than I'm used to. By the end, however, it was a big bowl of oily, herby, spicy goodness. I hope to make more pesto-type things in my mini processor, since it worked so well.

Clam Chowder

With the colder weather comes soup-making season. To start it off this year, I decided to go all out and make something pretty decadent - clam chowder. I had never bought canned clams before, and was excited to make something rich, flavourful and different. It was early in the Thanksgiving weekend so turkey-mania hadn't started yet. I decided to go with Michael Smith's Maritime Clam Chowder because, hey, the guy's from PEI - he must know his stuff!

I got out my Dutch oven and started with the bacon - four slices, chopped in with scissors, with a splash of water. Cook until crispy, then get rid of most of the fat. Add in one onion, chopped, and two celery stalks, chopped, with another splash of water to get the brown bits loose from the bottom of the pan. Nothing like bacon to make the kitchen smell good! I skipped the splash of white wine (didn't have any) and added 1 cup milk and 1 cup half-and-half - heavy cream would've been so rich. I also added in about 1 cup of the liquid from the clam cans, as this was written in other recipes I saw online.

With the liquid went in the other ingredients - two 5-oz cans of clams, 1 large baking potato, unpeeled and coarsely grated (to thicken the chowder, baking potatoes are best), 2 bay leaves and 1 tsp dried thyme. I think I may have added extra, because the thyme became the most powerful flavour - it smelled like Thanksgiving stuffing! Not a bad thing. Cook on low for twenty minutes, to cook the potatoes - but keep an eye on it, as I found it was still burning a little on the bottom, even though the element was on low.

Add 1 can of evaporated milk, and keep cooking for another few minutes. Garnish with salt, pepper, and parsley (if you have it) and voila - a rich, steaming bowl of clam chowder! Way better than opening a can. It tasted like cream and thyme, mostly, with soft grated potatoes and chewy clams. Very simple, with few ingredients - I highly suggest if you see canned clams on sale, grab them and keep them for a Maritime-themed night. Even better, do as they do in San Francisco and get some sourdough bread bowls - YUM

Salmon Cakes

I admit, I forgot where I got this recipe. I'm pretty sure it was from Food Network magazine, but their website has 20 different recipes! These ones are pretty basic so they're good to try if you're new, like me, to salmon cakes and canned salmon. I wanted to try something new, with my new Old Bay seasoning, and I also wanted an excuse to eat tartar sauce.

First up - canned salmon is gross. Silly me, I thought it would be like tuna. Instead, it's a big hunk of salmon, complete with fatty skin and bone! No wonder it's not more popular. So it takes a minute to get the good meat out into the mixing bowl. Then I mixed in 1 cup corn, 1 egg, 3 Tbsp panko bread crumbs, 3 Tbsp tartar sauce, 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning, and 1 tsp lemon zest. I also had dill - no-brainer, I added that in too.

The recipe called for forming the mix into 8 patties, 3/4" thick - I'm a bad judge of things like that, but it definitely made more than eight patties and they were a little thicker. There was a good tip: put them on a pan in the freezer for 5 minutes before frying to keep them from falling apart. Spoiler - they still sorta fell apart. I coated them with more panko and pan-fried them for 3-4 minutes/side.

Luckily I was only making them for myself so I didn't really mind if they fell apart - they tasted damn good. I may put less corn in next time - I think it would help keep them together. But let's not kid ourselves, they were just an excuse to eat tartar sauce! I made my own with: 1/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1 Tbsp chopped pickles, 1 tsp green onions, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp capers and 1/2 tsp sriracha. Chopped up pickles make everything better - and it's almost potato salad season!

Light Shrimp Chowder

I found this Low Country Shrimp Chowder recipe in a Food Network magazine and it looked like an easy, quick shrimp soup. Not really a thick chowder but something a little lighter. On this particular night I had just received a nice package of chocolate from my dad in the mail, and was looking forward to finishing up the last season of True Blood, so I got to work.

I started with a good chunk of butter (yes, real butter!) in the pot but added some olive oil too - I find I usually burn pure butter. I added the scallions but omitted the celery (because it's gross). Actually I would have added celery in this case, but hardly wanted to go out and buy a whole bunch when I just wanted one stalk. I was very excited to use my Old Bay seasoning, which I had just bought, I just wished it called for more! I probably put in 2 tsp, even though I'm pretty sure it's mostly salt. I then threw in some orange bell pepper and, as extra veggies, a couple carrots.

The broth is made up of 2 cups of milk, and 6 cups water. Many of the reviewers on the Food Network website used stock instead because they found it too bland, but I just went with water. I did of course add salt and lots of pepper, and shrimp's pretty salty anyway. The recipe also calls for 1/2 cup white rice, which thickened it a little. Near the end I added in (drained and thawed) corn and shrimp - I bought the slightly cheaper 'Atlantic' shrimp, the tiny ones, which means there were a lot more and they were easier to eat in soup-form.

I topped the soup with parsley, grabbed a glass of white wine and sat down to watch vampires kill/have sex with each other. The soup was really good, light but with lots of flavour (definitely salty enough!) and a nice yellow butter shine on top. Mmm.