Sara Haddad and I had planned this extraordinary Asian dinner. Shrimp dumplings in a noodle soup (like here, except with shrimp instead of pork), thin, savory steak slices rolled up with peppers and carrots (like here), and fresh hot rice.

It mostly worked. The steak rolls (which i’ll tell you about later) and the soup turned out beautifully. But, right afte we had made this delicious shrimp mixture to pleat into wonton wrappers, we discovered that the wonton wrappers were MOLDY. What a downer.

But we didn’t panic! We brainstormed (and Googled, which is often the same thing). And we came up with these. Fried shrimp balls, a.k.a. Shrimp Falafel! They were phenomenal. We ate them dipped in chili sauce as a side dish to the steak rolls or floating in a brothy soup of cabbage, mushroom, and egg noodles. Sara took these great pictures, too.

Shrimp balls, also known as Shrimp Falafel (thanks, Sarah!)
(adapted from Steamy Kitchen)

1 pound ground shrimp (mince it in a food processor)
3 or 4 stalks scallion, finely minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 egg
2 slices of toast, made into breadcrumbs and toasted in a dry pan

Mix everything up. Drop tablespoonfulls of the mixture into a pan with hot oil. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Makes about 20. Serve with chili sauce or plop them into a bowl of soup (for the soup option, maybe make them 1/2 tbs size).

Ohh, this was a good one! The chipotle peppers give this soup a smoky smooth flavor. It’s a nice departure from the normal corn chowder. But, beware. The first bite of the soup isn’t spicy, so you might be tempted to add more chipotle. Be ye warned - it gets progressively spicier as you eat it. In the end, I felt feel somebody kicked me in the tastebuds. And I liked it.

The fish tacos couldn’t be easier. Why? They’re made of fish sticks! Gasp! Cheating! I know. Fish tacos from frozen fish sticks? What? But they taste so good, and they’re so quick. All you have to do is fancy them up a little with some salsa.

Recipe here: (more…)

I know. Hold the phone. Don’t worry, I took pictures to memorialize this moment.

I hear this pretty often at home. It’s said with love, so I let it slide most of the time, especially when I get to experiment with new foods. (Otherwise, a certain someone would find himself doing without the essentials for a week). But this time, he actually made his own sammiches! Wha?!?!

I hope this will become a series. The guy has some pretty good ideas of what to make, but we’re still working on implementation. So far, he can make tea, mac and cheese with hotdogs, Ramen noodles, frozen pizza and now, tuna fish sammiches! Supposedly also Hamburger Helper, but I have seen no evidence of such a talent.

I love you, honey!

Ameir’s Tuna Fish Sammiches

2 cans tuna packed in water, drained
1 tomato, diced
Handful of parsley, chopped
Couple o’spoons of Miracle Whip
Bread, toasted

Mix first four ingredients. Put it on bread. Eat. Serve with pickles.

This was actually the first dish I made in my cast iron pan. The shrimp got a savory sear on one side from the high heat, and everything came together perfectly. It’s reminiscent a Hamburger Helper meal, except so much better and less….boxed-pasta-y. This was for two meal-sized servings or 4 side dish servings. It was inspired by Pioneer Woman’s Penne a la Betsy (a lawyer-turned-food blogger, like me! Wonder how much Contracts Law she remembers…..or how much I’ll remember in oh….2 years at Bar Exam time.)
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See, now this one is just easy. I was running errands and cooking all day for a family dinner yesterday night and around lunchtime, I was famished. I had some garlic herb butter leftover that I had used to marinate a roast chicken so I put together this quick lunch for myself.

Two handfuls of small pasta
Six shrimp, peeled
One handful of diced tomato
Bit of olive oil
Bit of garlic herb butter
Dash of red pepper flakes
Squirt of lemon juice
Half a handful of peas

Boil some water, cook the pasta. I used farfalle (which, incidentally, means “butterfly” in Italian. Don’t you think the words for “butterfly” are so light and airy in many languages - tittaali (urdu), papillon (french). I like when words sound like what they mean. But I digress.

In a small saucepan, warm the olive oil and the red pepper flakes. Add the garlic herb butter and let it melt. (Garlic herb butter = softened butter + garlic + any dried or fresh herbs you have. You could also just use plain butter and add garlic and herbs to the pan. Same effect). Add the shrimp and sautee until just pink. Add the tomatoes and frozen peas. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and swirl it around in the sauce. Hit it with some lemon juice, salt, black pepper. Eat while watching Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version, of course).

OH, also - DONE WITH EXAMS! I’m officially a 2L. Well, I don’t have my grades yet, but I’m celebrating all the same.