I tend to be someone who just cooks from my pantry and freezer (and as soon as the garden bounty starts, you'll see that most of it starts there!) so I was looking around for ingredients to make a nice hearty stew or gumbo ... you know, something with stick-to-your-ribs kind of quality. As I rummaged, I found one link of Spanish chorizo sausage and some frozen shrimp. I also had some fresh green peppers and I thought to myself....., "hmmm, I could do something with this!" And so I did ... I created a sort of mock gumbo, of course without the traditional spices and the roux. So my version happens to be a lot more heart healthy and less calories than some of the originals. But I don't know if I should be calling it a "gumbo" because the the main ingredients are different. So I'm thinking we'll call it a skillet stew ... how does that sound to everyone? Well, whatever we call if, it turned out to be a yummy dinner no matter what! So here's what I created.....
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large green pepper, diced
- 2 ribs of celery, diced
- 2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 6 to 8 ounce Chorizo sausage, cut into about 20 round slices
- 18 to 24 large fresh or frozen shrimp
- 1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- Several sprigs of fresh parsley, to stir in the last 5 minutes and for garnish
- 2 cups of uncooked long grain white rice
- 4 cups of water
To a hot skillet, add the 2 tblsp of extra virgin olive oil (please don't measure, 2 turns around the pan will do!) and then add the diced onion, peppers and celery. Turn the temperature to a medium heat and sweat the vegetables until softened. (That means to cook long enough to extract some of their juices, soften the diced veggies but NOT to let them brown.) Add the chorizo slices and cook them through.
At this point, the 4 cups of water is probably boiling. Add the 2 cups of rice. Stirring the rice, bring the rice back to a full boil and immediately turn the heat to the lowest possible setting. Once the rice stops bubbling, put the lid on and let it cook over that very lowest setting for 20 minutes. Don't TOUCH it! don't remove the lid to check on it ... don't stir it. In fact, set your timer for 20 minutes and IGNORE the rice! When the timer goes off, you'll have perfect white rice every time!
Once you get that going and the rice is cooking for 20 minutes, add your can of diced tomatoes along with the bay leaf and spices to the skillet. This should be enough time for the stew to cook down until the rice is finished.
When the rice timer goes off, remove the rice from the heat, use a fork to "fluff" the rice gently and then put the lid back on until you complete the stew.
Add the shrimp to the skillet mixture and cook them through until they are just pink..... don't over cook your shrimp or you'll have rubber hockey pucks. They literally need about 5 minutes to cook through (even the frozen ones!). At this point, you can add some fresh parsley (maybe 2 tblsp chopped fresh ... if you don't have that, add 1 tblsp dried).
I like to serve things like this family style ... spread the rice on a platter and pour the stew over it in the middle. garnish with a few fresh parsley springs and dinner is on, generously for four people!
As always, until next time, ciao!
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