Festival Shrimp with Veggies
Festival Shrimp with Veggies
Sometimes the best meals are created when you don’t really plan them out ahead. I worked a festival all weekend and didn’t have much time to cook dinner. Funny, since I spent the whole weekend cooking at the festival. When I was there, I picked up some beautiful rainbow carrots from a local farmer. By the time I got home and unpacked, I was pretty tired. I wanted to cook at least some of the carrots that night. I didn’t want a big mess to clean up, so I ended up making this one pot meal from what I had on hand. I had a nice bag of fresh spinach, so I used it. I needed a quick cooking protein. Since I had a package of shrimp in the freezer, I used them. I placed the shrimp in a bowl of cold water while I started the rest of the meal. They were thawed by the time I was ready to use them. I knew the onions and carrots needed some time to get tender and the rice would take about 20 minutes to cook. I started with them, then added the shorter cooking ingredients near the end. Decided to go a little Asian in the seasonings and ended up with a meal I would certainly make again. So here is the recipe.
Festival Shrimp with Veggies
2 T. oil
1 T. butter
1 small onion, minced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cloves minced garlic
3 c. stock- I used chicken
1 c. Jasmine rice
12 oz. fresh spinach, rinsed and drained
12 oz. raw shrimp- peeled and deveined
2 T. hoisin sauce
2 T. fresh chopped basil
1 t. hot sauce- or more to taste
1 t. grated ginger
½ c. cashews
Sesame oil
Heat oil and butter in saucepan and add the onions and carrots. Cook over medium heat until onions are tender. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add stock and bring up to a boil. Add rice, turn heat down to a simmer, cover and cook 10 minutes. Remove cover, add spinach, replace lid and cook 5 more minutes. Remove lid, stir the spinach into the rice mixture. Rice should almost be done at this point. Add shrimp and seasonings (not the sesame oil) and stir the shrimp into the rice mixture. Cover and cook 5-8 minutes longer, until shrimp is just cooked and rice is tender. Stir in the cashews. Spoon onto serving dish and drizzle with sesame oil and extra hot sauce, if desired.
Rainbow carrots and other veggies I got at the festival
