freezer burn

I realized my freezer was packed full, so in order to start making ice cream, I'd have to start emptying stuff out. This was the remains of a bag of shrimp, some of which were inedible due to severe freezer burn.

shrimp salad
Nothing particularly fancy about the preparation. Sauté the shrimp in olive oil, salt and pepper, and put on greens tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
[shrimp, greens, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper]

guest chef series #10: good home cooking

I love that my mom can whip up a 4-course Chinese meal in no time. We went over for dinner, and had hamachi, miso soup with hamachi (not shown), shrimp and snow peas, and beef and spinach.

mom's cooking
What's even more awesome is that she grew the snow peas herself. Everything was really good, as always. She's always embarrassed by her plating, but I think it looks great. She keeps such good color in her veggies, and of course, how it tastes is really what counts.


Beef with Sa-cha Sauce and Spinach
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 lb beef, cut into strips (any tender cut will do—ribeye, skirt steak)
- 3 tbsp sa-cha sauce (a Chinese sauce labeled as bbq sauce, but is nothing like American bbq sauce. It contains brill shrimp.)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 2–3 slices ginger
- 1 lb spinach
- 1 tsp cornstarch plus 1/4 cup water (optional)

Combine beef, soy sauce, sa-cha sauce, garlic, and ginger in a large bowl. Let marinate 30 minutes. Heat a wok on high heat. Add oil, swirl until hot. Add the meat, and stir fry until cooked. Add the spinach, and stir fry together until spinach is wilted. Add the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce, if desired. Serve with rice.
[hamachi; soup: hamachi, miso, tofu, green onions, water; shrimp and snow peas: snow peas, shrimp, yellow peppers, garlic, oil; beef and spinach: beef, spinach, sa-cha sauce, soy sauce, pepper]

mega shrimp

My mom passed along these giant shrimp (i know, oxymoron). They were very sweet.

shrimp on pasta
I sautéed the shrimp in butter and garlic, and tossed the pasta in the butter-garlic sauce and garnished with cilantro and green onions.
[pasta, shrimp, garlic, butter, cilantro, green onions, salt, pepper]

inventive leftovers

I came home from a hot pot dinner with my parents with some nice, plump prawns and corn. (I know, weird hot pot, but that's the beauty of it - you can cook anything you like!)

shrimp lettuce wrap
These turned out to be really good. It felt more like a summer meal, but it was a nice light dinner.
[shrimp, corn, mayonnaise, green onions, salt, pepper, romaine lettuce]

shrimp & corn

I found a stray bag of shrimp in the freezer, so decided to make a soup.

corn soup with shrimp
This turned out better than I expected. Half of the shrimp was pretty badly freezer-burned, so I salvaged what I could. It's a simple corn bisque - the secret to nice soups is straining them well. It was creamy and sweet, a nice foil to the brininess of the shrimp.
[corn, fish stock, onions, garlic, shrimp, cilantro, salt, cayenne]