Breaded or battered shrimp dinner - with salsa and kale chips
Shrimps are just delicious. I love them with the shells on, shells off, baked, scampi, fried, boiled - anything. kudos to whichever ancestor who looked at these weirdo looking animals and think they could be yummers - and boy, they totally are!
Since I don't live next to the ocean, frozen bags of shrimps are what I use. They are staples in my freezer because they can be a great dinner (not so quick unfortunately) but delicious with a couple of side dishes. As you can see, I used the *exact* same side dishes for 2 separate times cuz it all goes so well together. It takes maybe an hour ish to make the whole thing. The shrimps are different but good either way. Try it out and tell me how you like them?
Shrimps:breaded or battered
Thaw: a bag of shrimp (around a pound), in cold running water.
De-shell: the shrimps or buy them de-shelled
I butterfly open the shrimps buy making a cut in the back of them so they lay flatter - not an absolute necessary step you can just leave them as they are too. dry the with paper towels so they are not dripping water.
Bread crumb or batter the shrimp:
- for bread crumb version, crack 1 egg and mixed it with some oil. In another bowl, pour some bread crumbs (if not already seasoned then throw in some herbs, salt and pepper). Dip shrimps in egg mix and then bread crumb, fry.
- for battered version, mix 1/2cup flour, herbs, salt and pepper in bowl. mix eggs and oil separately. mix those together. you might wanna add another 1/4 of water so the batter is not too dry. Dip shrimps in batter, and fry
bother versions are good - slightly different obviously. bread crumb version is more crunchy.
Side dishes:
1) Salsa with a south american twist: this adds a lot of flavor, don't forgo this one.
I was inspired after a visit to a local south american restaurant and made me think: well i can do this easily too.
Chop: 1 med/large tomato, 1 med/small red onion into small pieces put in a med size bowl
throw on: 1/2 tsp of salt, a dash of ground pepper, a dash of dried garlic powder
pour: 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/4-1/3 cup of lemon juice (Or if you want to juice your own lemon - but i find the store bought lemon juice works just fine)
Mix: and let that sit so it marinates and all the juices blend - it will go so well on the shrimps later
2) Kale chips: Don't really need it with the mains, but good addition to dinner.
Kale chips may need their own chapter - it's a great alternative to other chips, you get amazing crunch and can add as little or as many ingredients on top. I have been making them for years and have some-what perfected the least labor-intensive method:
preheat: 300F oven (low temp is less maintenance/less monitoring because the kales are not likely to burn)
rip: kale leaves off the stems. I used a whole bunch, often go for $3.99 a bunch at the local grocery store. I used to also throw away the stems but you can save them and throw them in soup chopped later for a different dish.
wash: a bunch of kale leaves.
Dry: with dish towel, a 1/4 of the batch at a time. I try to get as much moisture off as I could. If you have a salad spinner it probably works just fine - the goal is not to have dripping water and the leaves don't look visibly wet.
lay: dried leaves on a baking pan, I used parchment paper as well so for easy clean up.
drizzle and sprinkle: olive oil, salt and pepper on the leaves
bake: 15-20 min
This is the simple part where you walk off, go prep something else and check in 15-20min. touch the leaves (don't burn yourself) and see if they are hard/crunchy. you may need 5-10 min later but no biggy they don't really burn since 300F is pretty low.
i used to use high tempt and had to check every 2-3 min to ensure they don't burn up - too much maintenance. This way it's less work.
3) Lettuce: or taco shells, or tortilla chips.
They are being used as taco shells here. you can get actual taco shells, you can use tortilla chips, or like me: washed, dried romaine is just as good.
To eat:
I used lettuce as a taco shell, threw 2 shrimps on it, spooned some salsa over it - and straight to your mouth. the picture didn't turn out so well but believe me it was delicious.
So delicious I made it for my husband's birthday dinner - he was sick and didn't feel like going out. well, frozen shrimp magic it is!
There you have it, have your shrimp breaded, or battered. Don't forget the salsa!
Since I don't live next to the ocean, frozen bags of shrimps are what I use. They are staples in my freezer because they can be a great dinner (not so quick unfortunately) but delicious with a couple of side dishes. As you can see, I used the *exact* same side dishes for 2 separate times cuz it all goes so well together. It takes maybe an hour ish to make the whole thing. The shrimps are different but good either way. Try it out and tell me how you like them?
Shrimps:breaded or battered
Thaw: a bag of shrimp (around a pound), in cold running water.
De-shell: the shrimps or buy them de-shelled
I butterfly open the shrimps buy making a cut in the back of them so they lay flatter - not an absolute necessary step you can just leave them as they are too. dry the with paper towels so they are not dripping water.Bread crumb or batter the shrimp:
- for bread crumb version, crack 1 egg and mixed it with some oil. In another bowl, pour some bread crumbs (if not already seasoned then throw in some herbs, salt and pepper). Dip shrimps in egg mix and then bread crumb, fry.
- for battered version, mix 1/2cup flour, herbs, salt and pepper in bowl. mix eggs and oil separately. mix those together. you might wanna add another 1/4 of water so the batter is not too dry. Dip shrimps in batter, and fry
bother versions are good - slightly different obviously. bread crumb version is more crunchy.
Side dishes:
1) Salsa with a south american twist: this adds a lot of flavor, don't forgo this one.
I was inspired after a visit to a local south american restaurant and made me think: well i can do this easily too.
Chop: 1 med/large tomato, 1 med/small red onion into small pieces put in a med size bowl
throw on: 1/2 tsp of salt, a dash of ground pepper, a dash of dried garlic powder
pour: 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/4-1/3 cup of lemon juice (Or if you want to juice your own lemon - but i find the store bought lemon juice works just fine)
Mix: and let that sit so it marinates and all the juices blend - it will go so well on the shrimps later
2) Kale chips: Don't really need it with the mains, but good addition to dinner.Kale chips may need their own chapter - it's a great alternative to other chips, you get amazing crunch and can add as little or as many ingredients on top. I have been making them for years and have some-what perfected the least labor-intensive method:
preheat: 300F oven (low temp is less maintenance/less monitoring because the kales are not likely to burn)
rip: kale leaves off the stems. I used a whole bunch, often go for $3.99 a bunch at the local grocery store. I used to also throw away the stems but you can save them and throw them in soup chopped later for a different dish.
wash: a bunch of kale leaves.
Dry: with dish towel, a 1/4 of the batch at a time. I try to get as much moisture off as I could. If you have a salad spinner it probably works just fine - the goal is not to have dripping water and the leaves don't look visibly wet.
lay: dried leaves on a baking pan, I used parchment paper as well so for easy clean up.
drizzle and sprinkle: olive oil, salt and pepper on the leaves
bake: 15-20 min
This is the simple part where you walk off, go prep something else and check in 15-20min. touch the leaves (don't burn yourself) and see if they are hard/crunchy. you may need 5-10 min later but no biggy they don't really burn since 300F is pretty low.
i used to use high tempt and had to check every 2-3 min to ensure they don't burn up - too much maintenance. This way it's less work.
3) Lettuce: or taco shells, or tortilla chips.
They are being used as taco shells here. you can get actual taco shells, you can use tortilla chips, or like me: washed, dried romaine is just as good.To eat:
I used lettuce as a taco shell, threw 2 shrimps on it, spooned some salsa over it - and straight to your mouth. the picture didn't turn out so well but believe me it was delicious.
So delicious I made it for my husband's birthday dinner - he was sick and didn't feel like going out. well, frozen shrimp magic it is!
There you have it, have your shrimp breaded, or battered. Don't forget the salsa!
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