Well cooked shrimp. Damn!

Simple ingredients make something greater than the sum of its parts

Good ingredients. Dumb luck. Sometimes that is what makes a meal great. Ernie had found some frozen wild gulf shrimp at Schnuck’s some time back. We pulled it out to defrost and planned to have it Wednesday night. By the time I finished doing my podcast interview it seemed too late and too much bother; we feasted on fried egg sandwiches. Last night however, we feasted on shrimp with dill and feta. This is so simple it’s almost not a recipe and while there’s nothing new about the flavor combination, it is a classic for a reason.

Sandwich Life Shrimp with dill and feta

• 1 pound shrimp (we used 16-20 size)

• 1 large bunch kale, chopped roughly, with stems removed (or other greens)

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

• 1/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled

• 1 lemon

• Olive oil

Yesterday afternoon Ernie peeled the shrimp and lightly salted it. That evening it came together really quickly and easily. Thanks to Heather’s generous sharing of her garden bounty, we had fresh, young kale leaves and a big bunch of dill.

I pulled the stems off the kale. You just grab hold of the stem of a leaf and with one hand, and slide the leafy part off with the other one. It doesn’t matter if it’s torn as we’ll be chopping it roughly afterward.

I sautéed the kale quickly in olive oil and a sprinkle of salt over medium high heat and then put it on the plates when it was just wilted. Then I added a bit more olive oil and tossed the shrimp in. I let it sit a moment to start cooking then added chopped dill and feta cheese. Because the shrimp had been salted earlier and the saltiness of the feta it didn’t need any more salt. I drizzled a bit more olive oil over and and tossed everything with tongs until the shrimp was just done, squeezing half a lemon over it as well.

I must admit I had planned to add a bit of mint as our big patch is going to flower soon but we’d forgotten to get it ahead of time and didn’t feel like bothering. Next time. I think it would add a great sharp note.

Of course it would have been good with rice or some bread to sop up the sauce. It’s amazing the way the shrimp juices, lemon juice, melted feta, olive oil and dill came together and create something new. Since I had no bread I just used my finger. It worked quite well!

It’s easy to overcook shrimp and it can get a bit rubbery. Honestly, I love shrimp so I’ll eat it overdone or not, but we somehow managed to cook it just right last night. Honestly, my back was hurting so bad I just said, “Ok, it’s done,” sooner than I might have normally. That’s where the dumb luck came in. It was opaque all the way through but still juicy, pink and slightly curled but not hard and cooked into a tight circle. Our shrimp was sized 16-20 to a pound and I must admit I find larger sizes like that tastier than smaller shrimp.

You KNOW a meal is good when you think about it the next day.

That’s all I have today. I’ve given up on my idea of yardwork on Sunday as virtually every friend that would help is out of town. Oh well. Ernie got a few sunflower seeds in yesterday and the boys will do what they can.

Sending good weekend wishes to all.

Onward.

Love,
Cynthia