Admittedly, it took a combination of New Year's Resolutions, a day off from work and buying so much food that I couldn't afford to let it go to waste (seriously, food is expensive nowadays). But I have a plan, and as of day 1, I have stuck to it. Long may it last.
Day 1 - Spicy Parmesan Shrimp
In true student_gourmand style, the first thing I did was change the main ingredient. I used prawns. I did it the first time I made this, and I will always do it. First things, shrimp is for salad. Or soup, gumbo dirty rice. When it is the star ingredient of a main meal, it lacks the bite and presence of a good prawn.
The second thing I did was not use chilli flakes, but chopped up some chilli peppers and added mild chilli powder. The last thing anyone wants is grit between their teeth, and that is exactly what happens with chilli flakes. I went a bit mad and added sweet chilli sauce as well- the kind you dip spring rolls in. I mixed the above ingredients with about half a block of parmesan (let's call it 60g), 2 cloves of garlic, a spring onion, about 6 tablespoons of olive oil, a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, salt and pepper, and then mixed together. At home I used a cute mini-whisk. In my new place where I have only the bare essentials, I used a spoon. Well, needs must.
While I would ideally have liked to leave that overnight to marinate, if I was to stick to the plan that I was already behind on (preparation-wise) then that couldn't happen. So I boiled some fusilli, which I discovered worked better than the recommended penne since the twists allow the cheese to cling to the pasta. I then poured the prawn mix into a very hot non-stick frying pan and heated it through for a couple of minutes (I used cooked prawns so you might want to double that for uncooked) and then I added the pasta to the (deep-sided) frying pan and mixed the whole thing together. I also added some tender stem broccoli I'd boiled for about 8 minutes, you know for some veg. All in all, it was tasty. So much so that I forgot to even think about taking a photo 'til afterwards.
If you're wondering about my irreverent layout (re: lack of ingredient list and recipe), the answer is that I've been awake since 5:30am, I also didn't follow the recipe I had due to having to quarter the amount of prawns and at most, halfing the other ingredients, but also not having any measuring instrumets beside a tablespoon. I felt like Jamie Oliver, or like I knew what I was doing. At the end of the day it was a terribly unhealthy, lightweight and yet still very satisfying meal. Amd despite butchering the quantities, I have enough for at least two more meals.
If you need a bit more detail than this, I got the recipe via pinterest. I'll add a link when I'm less full and more coherent.
Happy cooking,
student_gourmand
No comments:
Post a Comment