come together
Sundays are such a crap shoot. I can make good plans for the day, but then by 9 pm that night I’m feeling dissatisfied with the weekend and anxious about Monday. Or I can make no plans (and apparently even have to work!) and have a superb Sunday. Such was the case this past weekend. I had a meeting to run, so I didn’t even really have a weekend, just a free afternoon on Sunday. Despite my exhaustion, the afternoon was both productive and relaxing. The productive part was the addition of two new pieces of furniture to our apartment- a TV stand and bedside table. I have been going sans bedside table for the past month and am overly excited to have my lamp and books easily accessible. And it’s also nice to have the TV off the floor and displayed nicely in the living.
The relaxing part was the couple hours I got to spend in the kitchen. I was craving something with lemon, and a dish that would produce sufficient leftovers for lunches this week. I settled on a recipe I’ve made a couple times from Giada’s Everyday Pasta. It’s very simple, requires few ingredients, but still packs a lot of flavor. It would be perfect for a dinner party.
For the most part, I follow Giada’s recipe to a t. I just made one small change. As opposed to sautéing the shrimp as the recipe instructs you to do, I opted to cook the shrimp Barefoot Contessa style and roast them. In her most recent cookbook, Ina includes a recipe for Roasted Shrimp Cocktail. As opposed to poaching the shrimp, you roast them to bring out the flavor. I wanted to do the same for Giada’s recipe, not only to enhance the flavor, but because I find roasting shrimp to be the easiest way to cook them. Shrimp cooks very quickly, and it’s easy to overcook, which turns them rubbery and not worth eating. Roasting takes all the guess work out- put them in the oven for a set amount of time and they’re done. Go whichever route you prefer, but I urge you to follow Ina’s lead!
Saffron Orzo with Shrimp from Everyday Italian, by Giada De Laurentiis Ingredients for 4 servings:
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 t saffron threads
1 pound uncooked orzo (small, rice-shaped pasta)
6 T extra-virgin olive oil, divided use
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
2 t salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss shrimp with 2 T olive oil, juice of half a lemon, 1/2 t salt, and a few grinds black pepper. Roast for 10 minutes, just until pink and firm. Set aside to cool.*
In a large pot, bring chicken broth to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, bringing broth to simmer. Add saffron, stir and simmer until saffron has “bloomed,” about 5 minutes (by bloomed they mean it has mostly dissolved and turns the water a deeper yellow).
Return heat to medium and bring stock to boil, then add orzo and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes.**
Drain orzo and transfer to large bowl. Add cooked shrimp, 4 T of olive oil, parsley, half the lemon juice, 1.5 t salt , and 5 grinds pepper. Combine thoroughly and serve immediately.
*I reserved 2 T of the roasting juices from the shrimp and added them to the dish to enhance the flavor.
** I found the instructions for cooking the orzo a little iffy. I ended up needing another 1/2 cup of chicken brother in order to cook the orzo as the first 4 cups absorbed quite quickly.
