efoodie

Restaurant Week...and Shrimp 'Scampi'

      It's Restaurant week in Boston.  And I'm on a diet.  Not a good combo. I slipped up Monday night, and indulged at Rialto in Cambridge. Restaurant Week is a great way to try new restaurants or go back to your favorites for cheap money. Each restaurant puts together a prix fixe menu and it's only $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner. Rialto received a 4 star rating from the Boston Globe, and owner/chef Jody Adams also has a cookbook, In the Hands of a Chef, that looks amazing.

I chose a carrot soup for my appetizer, and it was heavenly. It was smooth, and comforting, and reminded me of Fall and Thanksgiving, when it's always on our table. This version was rich and exotic, with a swirl of creamy yogurt, a fragrant mint leaf, and something called 'kuddah', which was a crushed mix of nuts and spices that was sprinkled over the top.

Next up was my main meal. I was torn between grilled Salmon Nicoise and Roasted Bluefish with lemon potatoes and snap peas. Bluefish is an iffy fish. Depending on how it's prepared, it's either a bit too fishy and oily or delicious. I decided to take the risk...and made the wrong decision. My bluefish was served skin side up, and was less cooked through than I would like, and was full of dark bits that I didn't want to eat.  One of the girls I was with ate every scrap of hers, so I could just be finicky about how I like my bluefish.

I've been spoiled though by the way my friend Laureen's husband Dave cooks it. He catches his bluefish on the Cape, then grills it after slathering it with a mayonaise/italian dressing mixture, that somehow draws out all the oil and imparts plenty of flavor. 

The potatoes though, were out of this world. They were a neat little stack of wafer thin slices held together with a lemony cream sauce. I would love that recipe.

Dessert was a decadent chocolate torte that was one of those  dense, moist, flourless cakes that is best eaten in very small bites. It was served with raspberry puree, a few berries, and a dollop of sweet, whipped cream.

Today, I'm back on my diet, but still thinking of that dinner, and wanted to make something a little special. I experimented, and it was so good that I can't wait to make it again. I boiled shrimp in Old Bay seasoned water, then made a sauce out of butter, garlic, tomatoes and the secret ingredient, a bit of reserved cooking liquid which added great flavor to the sauce. If you don't like the taste of old bay, you could substitute white wine instead.

Another great way to serve this is as 'Shrimp Bruchetta'.  My friend Janet and I have had this many times at a local restaurant. Get some good French or Italian bread, whichever you prefer for garlic bread, make a batch, and then pour the Shrimp Scampi over it. With the tomatoes (and feel free to add onions too), it gives a nice bruchetta flavor that blends really well with the garlic bread. And the toasty bread is wonderful for mopping up the extra sauce.

Shrimp Scampi

2 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning

12 medium shrimp, frozen ( I did shells off )

1/2 small tomato, seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons butter

2 small cloves garlic, crushed

1.  In small saucepan, bring water, seasoning and lemon juice to a boil.

2. Add shrimp, turn heat down to medium, and a minute later, turn the heat off. Check the shrimp a few minutes later. It will probably take about five minutes when you do it this way, but the shrimp will cook a little slower and you can keep an eye on them. When they are as done as you want them, pour off a quarter cup of liquid and set aside. Discard the rest and then run the shrimp under cold water, until they are no longer hot. Once cool, set them aside.

3. Add the butter, tomatoes and garlic to the saucepan and cook over medium low heat for a few minutes.

4. Add the reserved cooking liquid and cook a few minutes more.

5. Return the shrimp to the saucepan, and stir for a few minutes until heated through.

6. Serve...over pasta, vegetables (I did asparagus), or over garlic bread...

Enjoy!

:) Pam

The Candida Diet...and amazing Vegetable Tart/Pie

      Once again efoodie has been in hiding it seems. For the past few weeks, I've been strictly following a diet for health reasons. Which means, unlike when I try the latest diet to lose a few pounds,  this time I stuck with it. And a nice benefit is that I've also lost weight. Six pounds so far. Which isn't a whole lot, but to me it's huge, because on any other diet, they wouldn't budge (probably 'cuz I couldn't stay with the diet.)

     This diet has gotten me thinking more about what I eat, and how it's prepared.  It's a very simple diet that basically cuts out all refined sugar, starchy carbs, fruit, and anything made with yeast, oh, and alcohol, no wine.  It is designed to correct an imbalance of yeast in the system. This condition, Candida, depending on how severe it is, can be  responsible for a laundry list of symptoms, all kinds of digestive issues, like bloating, indigestion, burping, gas, yeast infections, abdominal pain, nausea, lactose intolerance, food allergies, as well as joint aches, fatigue and more.   I didn't have all of these things, but enough of them that it made sense to try the diet and see if it could help.  Here's a link with more information, and of course, see your doctor before 'self-diagnosing', as these symptoms are very general and could be a sign of something more serious.

     This link is to a site that explains the diet and has lots of  recipes.

     Initially, this diet reminded me of Atkins, which I tried a few years ago. I lasted all of a week, and what a strange week it was. I ate what I'd thought of as 'fattening foods', chicken wings dripping in blue cheese, juicy cuts of prime rib and marinated lamb chops, and I snacked on cheese, cubes of cheddar, sticks of mozzarella.  I ate all that, and lost 5 pounds in a week, and couldn't quite believe it. But, I didn't feel good, and was very glad when my friend who talked me into doing the diet with her, quit after a week because she didn't lose an ounce....with good reason, she found out she was pregnant!

     But, I quickly discovered that this diet is nothing like Atkins, not really. The focus is on low fat proteins, chicken, fish, meat, shellfish, eggs, and mostly green veggies. Also, water, lots of it. I'm drinking about 10-12 cups a day. I always drank a lot of water anyway, but now I'm replacing the diet soda and wine with it. I'm supposed to cut coffee out, but that is the one thing I can't or won't do, not completely. I have cut way back though.

    After a month or so, when you start feeling better, you can open up the diet and add in fruits and cheese, and eventually eat everything, in moderation. Evidently everyone has yeast in their digestive system, good yeast and bad yeast. Candida  happens when the bad yeast multiply and overtake the good. A poor immune system is a key contributor. But, certain foods can allow the bad yeast to thrive. They especially love carbs like bread, and anything with sugar.

    It was a challenge intially to get used to this. No more subway subs for lunch, no more bagels for breakfast, no more bowls of orzo pasta with fresh basil and hot pepper oil for dinner. That had been a typical day for me, all carb, all the time! Now it's scrambled eggs and fresh basil for breakfast, salad with chicken or turkey for lunch, and dinner is usually a piece of fish and lots of veggies.  What I've found, oddly enough, is that after a few days, my carb cravings are gone! I'm not as hungry, the protein keeps me full longer, and I'm eating way more veggies. I've especially lost my craving for sugar, and my tastebuds have gotten sensitive to it. I notice added sugar more than I used to. A basic caesar dressing for instance, really doesn't require sugar, yet a taste of a commercial dressing was way too sweet, sure enough sugar was one of the first ingredients.  The American diet is loaded with it. Since I've been checking labels more for this diet, I've discovered that corn syrup is apparently added to everything! 

   I was a bit skeptical at first, that a change in diet could make such a difference in how you feel, but the results were drastic. Within a few days, I felt better all around, and my fatigue was gone. That encouraged me to stick with it, and I've started to experiment a bit with recipes, ways to jazz up those vegetables.  This recipe isn't mine, but it's so good that it's the first one I tinkered with.  My grandfather and I went to my sister's summer house last weekend, and her mother-in-law made a side dish of vegetable pie to go with our grilled steak and chicken. I've had this before, and it's good, but my grandather loved it!  He tasted his portion, of sauteed vegetables on pie crust, topped with melted cheese, and then shoved it all into a bun, and ate it like a sandwich, skipping the meat entirely. We had to remind him to try a piece of steak. He had seconds on the pie instead.  I made it this week, twice, but without the piecrust or cheese. It's easy, and very, very good.

Vegetable Pie

1 small eggplant, peeled and chopped into one inch pieces

1 yellow summer squash, peeled and sliced into bite size pieces

1 zucchini, peeled and sliced into small pieces

1 small onion, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, chopped

Fresh basil, I used about a dozen leaves, chopped

1/4 cup water

Olive oil---about  1/4 cup, more or less as needed

One layer of pie-crust, she used Pillsbury pre-made

Low-fat cheese, about a cup, any kind you like, she used cheddar

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, cover bottom of the pan with olive oil, add garlic and onion and cook about 5 minutes, stirring every so often so they don't brown/burn too much. Add the eggplant, cook about five minutes, then add the rest of the vegetables, basil and water and let simmer for about twenty minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft enough and cooked through. Stir occasionally. Add Salt and pepper to taste. Then, serve or....

Place piecrust into a 9-inch pie plate. Fill with vegetables just until they reach the top of the plate, and set leftovers aside. Top with cheese, and bake at 350 for however long the  piecrust directions say.

Enjoy!

:) Pam