Happy 2010!

January 1, 2010

Happy 2010!

"End of the year, new day - Let the past, slip away - Open your heart and
you just may - Transcend troubles and find your way - Happy New Year everyone!
May we all find our way to greater joy, peace and love!" ~California College of Ayurveda

I saw this quote on my Facebook page and I really like it. My first day of the New Year is kind of slow. I was up early or at my normal time around 6 am. I went to bed before midnight last night because I just couldn't stay up. We had a quiet night, my brother wasn't home. He's not feeling well and wanted to stay at his care facility, so I made a homemade shrimp fettucine dinner for Mamacita. I used some Sauvignon Blanc in the dish so I had a glass while cooking too. It was from Robert Mondavi and it was really nice wine. Crisp and clean. I made shrimp stock with the shrimp shells and used that in the dish. It was exceptionally good, if I do say so myself. Some Italians I'm sure would think the dish was not right because I use cheese in the sauce and usually they do not use cheese with any fish/seafood dishes. Well, I do. Sorry. Here is my recipe.

Shrimp Fettucine

1 lb. fettucine, cook as directed
1 lb. large to extra large raw shrimp, cleaned and deveined
2 shallots, small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pkg. sliced button or baby bella mushrooms
zest of 1 lemon, about 1 tbsp. of zest
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup white wine, like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter
1 cup half and half or cream
3/4 c. grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
5-7 fresh leaves of basil, stacked and rolled and cut (chiffonade)

Peel and devein shrimp, putting shells in a saucepan and add about 3 cups
water and boil for about 20 minutes. Add about 1 Tbsp. olive oil to shrimp, add
minced garlic and salt and pepper and coat shrimp. In large saute pan, add
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tbsp. butter over medium high heat. Add 1/2
the shallots and saute for 1 minute. Add shrimp and saute on each side just
until pink. Add zest and lemon juice. Turn over and by the time you turn all of them they are ready to be removed from the pan. Put in a pan and set aside (they are not fully cooked).

Then add mushrooms and saute, when liquid is almost gone, add about 1-2 shrimp
stock and reduce until liquid is almost gone.

In separate saucepan add butter and cream and heat but do not boil. Add
about 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. white pepper. When butter is melted add 1/2 cup
cheese. Keep warm.

In saute pan, when shrimp stock is reduced, add wine and again reduce by
half over high heat to remove alcohol. Then add cream/butter mixture,
add shrimp back to pan. Mix and cook a couple minutes. Add cooked fettucine,
fresh basil and fresh grape tomatoes if you like. Toss together. Remove from
heat. Serve in a bowl with some basil and cheese sprinkled on top. Enjoy!

We also had peach pie and Vanilla Bean ice cream. Yum!

We watched the Rose Parade this morning. I am such a sap! The stories really get to me and I get the chills and even sometimes well up. Like the School for the Blind group and they had them marching. It was really cool. They had ice surfing bull dogs too. Way cool. It was 72 degrees during parade time they said. Sorry, don't hate us because we have nice weather almost all year long.

I finished another spiral hat. I really like it but not sure I'll keep it. I may put it in my Etsy shop. I'll try to post pics when I do. Now I need another project to do. I may start another mohair cowl. I really like and use my cowl in white so I got some black lace mohair.