One night last week, my plan was to use up some ingredients I had on hand to make goat cheese, spinach, and sundried tomato-stuffed pork chops with lemon quinoa. But since it turned out to be 79 degrees and sunny — and the pork chop recipe required turning on the oven — I aborted mission.
Plan B: Grilled shrimp, green rice, and guacamole salad, one of my favorite light summer meals.
Grilled shrimp
Servings: 2
14-16 medium or large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on
2 teaspoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
Preheat grill or grill pan to medium-high heat. Toss shrimp with olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and thread onto two metal skewers. Cook shrimp 2-3 minutes on each side or until pink in the center.
Green rice
Servings: 4 (I usually make the full recipe, knowing we’ll have leftovers)
2 cups chicken stock
2 poblano peppers, roughly diced
1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 cup long-grain rice (basmati works well)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Freshly ground black pepper
3 or 4 chives, chopped
In a blender, combine chicken stock, poblano peppers, cilantro and 1 teaspoon salt. Blend until smooth.
In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Cook onion until soft, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add rice and garlic and stir for another minute or two. Add chile puree, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, garnish with scallions, and serve.
Guacamole salad
Adapted from 2006, Barefoot Contessa at Home
Servings: 2-3
1/2 pint mixed grape tomatoes (red, orange and yellow), halved
1/2 yellow or red pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1 lime)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 ripe avocado, seeded, peeled, and diced
Whisk together the lime juice, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper. Combine the rest of the ingredients, and pour the vinaigrette over the top. Toss well to combine.
Since Drew had to get back to studying for finals, we skipped the cold beer that usually accompanies this meal , but it was still a satisfying ending to a gorgeous early-summer weekend.
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