Warm spinach salad with shrimp

This is a quick improvised salad that I made yesterday. This is inspired by the traditional bacon spinach salad. I didn't have bacon but did have about a pound of shrimp in the refrigerator so I just improvised. The result is not bad :-)

First I marinate the shrimp with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some parsley and chopped some garlic

Then I put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and heat it at low heat. Cook the garlic until fragrant, then add the shrimps,  you may need to do this in two batches. turn the heat to high and cook it for 2 minutes. These are small shrimps so it doesn't take long. Don't over cook the shrimp. You can undertook a bit since even after you remove it from the pan the residual heat will continue the cooking process.

Put about 8 oz of spinach in a big mixing ball, then add 8 sliced mushrooms, some sliced black olive. Add 2 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of vinegar (I use my passion fruit sauce that I made the other day), some muster and mix a dressing. Toss the salad with the shrimp and serve. The warm shrimp will wilt the spinach a little. I served with some avocado.

PS. After cooking the shrimp there is quite a bit of liquid in the pan. I save it to make shrimp rice. 1 lb was too much shrimp for Fernando so I use half of the shrimp for the rice. To make the rice, I put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the same pan, then I add about 1 once of chopped prosciutto, or any cured ham (Sometimes Central Market sell ends of prosciutto for at half of the price, we I see them, i buy a few and use them for cooking) then I add 2 tablespoon of sofrito and 1 cup of rice. Then I add the liquid from cooking the shrimp and complete the rest with chicken broth so I had 1 and 3/4 cup of liquid. I add the liquid to the rice, let it boil, covered and cooked for 10 minute at medium low heat, then mix the rice, turn the heat to the lowest setting for another 10 minutes. When the rice is done. I add in the shrimps and mix it well.

Shrimp chile relleno with zucchini and mushrooms

Today dinner I made beet salad (recipe in separate post) and shrimp chile relleno with mushroom and zucchini. This dish does that some time to prepare but if you like Mexican food, this is a lighter version that you can make at home without deep frying.

Here are the steps:
1) preheat oven at broiler setting. Put the rack at 6 inches away from the top of the oven. While the oven heats up we can prepare the filling

2) tup 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a big pan. Add 1/2 diced onion and 4 cloves sliced garlic to the pan and cook for a few minute until translucent. Add 1 lb of the cleaned sliced mushroom and a pinch of salt and cook for a few minutes until mushroom browns and some water comes out, add 2 cups of chopped zucchini to the pan . Cook at high heat so the liquid in the pan reduces without burning.



3) at this time the oven should reached the broiler 550 degrees. Use a long tongs and mittens to protect your arm from the heat carefully place the 10 poblano peppers on the rack. Cook it in disturbed for 4 minutes then flip them and cook another 4 minutes. The skin should blister and blacken. Then them out after 8 minutes and put them in a pan. Cover it will foil or plastic wrap. Leave in ere for 5-10 min until it cools down a bit so you can handle them without burning your hand

4) add the shrimp into the pan and stir it for one minute. Turn off the heat. It's ok if shrimp is still half raw because it will cook some more in the oven. Do not over cook now or your shrimp will shrink so much you will need magnify glasses to find them in the end product.

5) pour 2 cup of any kind of tomato sauce in a conning ware that will fit all the peppers snugly. when the peppers have cooled down remove the skim, make a lengthwise incision and remove the seed. Then grab a handful of filling and stuff the peppers and put it in the conning ware.

6) sprinkle and cover the dish with cheese. I use quest fresco, but it didn't melt well, I think next time I will use Monterey Jack cheese. You need about 8 oz to cover the whole dish

7) bake at 350 covered with foil for about 40 minutes. The sauce should bubble and the cheese should be melted

At this time you can cook some rice to go with it, if you want. I use 1 and 1/2 cup jasmine rice with 2 tablespoons of homemade sofrito (i will post this recipe another time) and 2 tablespoon of the tomato sauce, a dash of olive oil, salt and about 1 cup of water and cook it in the rice cooker. This way when your shrimp relleno is ready,the rice will be ready too.

8) after 40 min take it out, let it rest covered for 5 minutes before serving. Fernando and I each ate 2 peppers without the rice, but everyone else had the rice and liked it.

This recipe serves 5 people. (2 chiles per person) and the nutritional value are as follows: 380 calories, 19 g of carb, 20 g of fat, 34 g of protein, 5 g of sugar.