Spicy Shrimp and Leek Pot Pie

Spicy Shrimp and Leek Pot Pie

We’ve been on a bit of a shrimp binge lately (not a bad thing) as we scored some shrimp at an awesome price recently. Earlier in the day before I cooked this, I made a pot of golden shrimp stock from my hoard of frozen shrimp shells. I ended up with over 8 cups of gorgeous broth!

Golden Shrimp Stock

Since I am an admitted failure at all things pastry, I decided to use frozen puff pastry for this, but all I could find at the store I went to were these completely odd-shaped puff pastry disks that puff up to an enormous height (for a pot pie cover, that is).

Well this was a half-baked idea…

Being the complete ignoramus that I am (admittedly again) about all things bread, I had this stupid ingenious idea to bake them halfway until half-puffed, then place them on the pot pies to finish baking. Well. That didn’t work as I expected as they never fully puffed up all the way. So we’ll just ignore the puffs in the photos and focus on the heart of the dish, which is this completely amazing spicy/veggie/shrimp yummy mixture that you end up with and who the heck cares about the puff, right??

The only other thing to note about this recipe is that I’ll probably parboil the potatoes first next time. It took WAY longer than I expected to soften during the sauté process, even though they were diced fairly small.

Many thanks to Culinary Chronicles for this inspiration. I adapted it quite a bit for the ingredients I had, but certainly head over to look at her recipe as she seems to have a better handle on what a puff pastry should look like when cooked properly. 😀

Aside from the lame puff, both me and the hubs really enjoyed this a LOT. Hubby liked it so much he ate two ramekins of it that night. I reserved the last one for my lunch the next day. (And I even cheated and threw out the old puff and puffed up a new one for it, ha!)

p.s. (Happy Easter to all those who celebrate! We’ll be having the obligatory ham with asparagus and my Pecorino Romano Scalloped Potatoes.)

Spicy Shrimp and Leek Pot Pie
Adapted from Culinary Chronicles Shrimp Pot Pie

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrots
1 cup chopped leeks, white and light green parts only, washed thoroughly and drained
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup diced red potatoes
1/4 dry sherry (good quality, not cooking sherry)
1/2 pound (8 ounces) raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce, or to taste
1/8 cup flour
1 cup homemade Shrimp Stock or use good quality store-bought seafood stock
1/4 cup Half and Half (or milk)
Sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 egg, beaten with a splash of water
Frozen puff pastry (sheets if you can find them)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Chop the veggies and shrimp into even bite-sized pieces.

Chopped Potatoes and Leeks

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat then add the celery, carrots, leeks, and potatoes. Sauté until softened, about 20 minutes.

Colorful Veggies!

Meanwhile, toss the shrimp with the Sriracha sauce until evenly seasoned. Set aside.

Add the garlic and thyme sprigs to the skillet and cook for a few more minutes. Pour in the sherry and let it reduce for a few minutes.

Shrimp and Peas Added

Meanwhile whisk the flour and shrimp or seafood stock together in a bowl and set aside. Mix the shrimp and thawed peas to the skillet.

Pour flour slurry into the skillet and cook for several more minutes. Add the Half and Half or milk, whisking constantly until the mixture has thickened.

Shrimp Pot Pie Filling

Remove the skillet from the heat then take out the thyme sprigs. Season the mixture with sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste.

Ladle the filling into individual ramekins or other ovenproof dishes. Cover each dish with a puff pastry and brush with the egg/water wash. As a treat for any pets you might have, microwave the rest of the egg as a treat for them!

Place the pot pies onto a baking sheet lined with foil, then transfer to the preheated oven. Bake the pies for about 20 minutes until the crusts are golden brown. Remove and let cool a few minutes. Serve with a side salad.

Spicy Shrimp and Leek Pot Pie (This is my next day lunch pie.)

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Advertisement

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Flavor bombs, I tell you, and it’s no joke when I say these are da’ bomb! These large puppies are not only packed with flavor, they are the size of small cannon balls. I was searching the interwebz for something to make with my half-priced pound of ground turkey I found in the Reduce for Immediate Sale bin at the grocery, and came across several recipes for ground turkey meatballs. The thing is, I didn’t have all the ingredients for any single one, so did was I always do. I printed them all out, and mish-mashed them together to come up with this.

BONUS: Earlier in the week I had made some homemade croutons from roasted garlic-infused olive oil and grated Parmesan. I used leftover bread I took home from our company party.

Making Homemade Croutons

Gosh aren’t they lovely?

Homemade Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Croutons

They ground up in my Ninja perfectly to use as a binder for the meatballs. Keeping the roasted garlic theme in mind, I did a quick roast of three large cloves of garlic in my toaster oven for 20 minutes.

SECOND BONUS: The night before I had made a huge batch of our favorite side dish to go with whatever the heck meat we had (See I love these so much that I can’t even remember what I ate with them as in my mind they are the star of any meal.) I had plenty of this rosemary bliss to serve with the meatballs, so of course I carried the rosemary theme through to the meatballs. Recipe here ——–> Rosemary and Butter Red Potatoes and Green Beans.

Buttered Rosemary Red Potatoes and Green Beans

UN-BONUS: Sometimes my math isn’t so good. I was trying to figure out how long to set the timer so I could take the meatballs out of the oven about 5 minutes before they were done to zest some Parmesan over the top of them. I usually cook meatloaf about an hour, but figured I would check them with an instant-read thermometer at 30 minutes. So. I set the timer for 40 minutes. Why? I have no clue. Slightly on the dry side, but the spinach did help a lot with keeping them from being a disaster. The pan juices in the casserole dish poured over was also a perfect remedy.

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

3 large cloves garlic, peels left on
1/4 cup bread crumbs (from flavored croutons if you have them, or make your own!)
1/4 cup finely minced onion (I used the same Ninja that I ground up the breadcrumbs in)
1 pound ground turkey
8 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon dried, crushed rosemary (I crush the dried leaves with a mortar and pestle)
Pinch of dried thyme
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Ground black pepper, to taste

Wrap the garlic cloves in foil and roast for 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven (toaster oven is more economical). Remove and let cool, then peel and mince.

Meanwhile, process the croutons into bread crumbs, remove, then process the onion into a fine mince. (Store-bought bread crumbs are fine, as well as mincing your own onion with a knife.)

Processing the Croutons into Bread Crumbs

Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and get ready to mess up your hands. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients using both hands.

Ground Turkey Meatball Ingredients

When completely combined, scoop out a large handful and roll around in your hands and shape into the size of a large golf ball or small tennis ball. (What is that size? A rubber squash ball?) Either way, you should end up with six fairly same-sized meatballs.

Turkey Meatballs Ready to Bake

Place the meatballs in a small oil-sprayed baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 25 minutes (not 40 please) or until an instant-read thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Remove foil then grate some fresh Parmesan cheese over top. Cook for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve immediately with any sides of choice.

Baked Spinach Garlic and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

New Potato Salad with Lemon, Dill, and Chives (No Mayo)

New Potato Salad with Lemon, Dill, and Chives

I finally get to show off my new Ninja food processor I got for Mother’s Day! For whatever reason, we hadn’t cooked anything that needed something chopped small until now. Well not exactly true. We made a chef’s salad the other day and I had fun chopping up the carrots and such for it, but it was not a blog-worthy meal. Just a typical throw-in-anything-you-have-in-your-fridge salad on a busy weeknight. However, the other night I set out to make a “lighter” version of potato salad that didn’t use mayonnaise. From all my research it appeared Greek yogurt was the best substitute, along with some oil and citrus and herbs.  This would make a great potluck salad since it doesn’t have mayo or eggs in it!

Ninja with Chopped Celery and Radishes

New Potato Salad with Lemon, Dill, and Chives

1 1/2 pounds small red new potatoes, quartered
1 celery stalk
2 radishes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh minced chives
1 tablespoon fresh minced baby dill
Ground pepper, to taste

Boil quartered potatoes for about 10 minutes. Remove the potatoes from heat, drain, and rinse in cold water. Add to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to make the salad. Meanwhile, finely dice the celery and radishes. I really enjoyed using my the Ninja for the chopping. It only took about 4 pulses on the button to make me smile. It’s small and only handles two cups max of anything, but it does the job quickly and was a snap to clean up. I love it! (No I was not paid by Ninja for this endorsement.)

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, yogurt, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, minced chives, minced dill, and ground black pepper, to taste. Take a taste to see if it needs more of any one flavor.  Stir into the bowl of potatoes, then cover and refrigerate to let flavors meld until ready to serve.

Potato Salad Ready to Mix

I thought this was a fabulous light side dish to go with the babyback ribs my husband cooked for dinner. The only complaint I had from the family was that I made my potato chunks too big. Some of the new potatoes were not exactly small, so use your judgment on what size to chop them. I have learned my family likes smaller. Oh, and the hubs inquired why it had no bacon, either. 🙂

P.S. I will not have a weekend post, as we are off to our river property for five days over the Memorial Day Weekend. God Bless all our troops and the family members who have lost their loved ones for our country.

Potato Salad and Ribs

Spicy Garlicky Potato Wedges

Spicy Garlicky Potato Wedges

I really wanted to make a new baked potato recipe the other night, but the only one I saw interesting involved new potatoes with the skins on. But alas, I only had Russet potatoes in the house. But I thought what the heck, a potato is a potato, right? So I made wedgies out of the potatoes instead. And with my never-ending love of garlic, I just had to add that into the mix. And then I thought a little spicy kick would be nice, so in went the cayenne. Since I didn’t have the potato skins all around the potatoes, I figured I needed some kind of coating on it besides the olive oil. I came across another potato recipe that used cornstarch. I thought “What the heck, I’ll try that!” Besides, I knew cornstarch can be used for a variety of purposes besides thickening your egg drop soup. Heck, just the other day my feet were sticking to the bottoms of my dress sandals and went looking for baby powder. Since I couldn’t find any, I used cornstarch instead! I can be very resourceful.

We ate these yummy potatoes with some grilled T-Bone steak and salad. Oh my, what a great meal.

Spicy Garlicky Potato Wedges

3 to 4 medium Russet potatoes, cut into wedges
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
5 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Blend
Lots and lots of black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less or none if you don’t like spicy)
Grated Parmesan cheese

Baking Potato Wedges

Boil the potatoes for about 30 minutes. Drain and let cool until you can handle them. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cut the potatoes into thick wedges. In a large bowl, add the olive oil and garlic. Now in another bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients well. One at a time, add each wedge gently in the oil and garlic and roll around to coat, Make sure you press in some of the garlic into the potato. Lay each wedge in a single layer on an oil-sprayed foil-covered baking sheet. Using your fingers, sprinkle the cornstarch mixture onto each wedge, turning and sprinkling more to coat and rubbing in a bit. This can get a bit messy at this point. Just for good measure, I used some spray olive oil to coat lightly one last time. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden-browned. Delightfully crispy outside, and nice and fluffy on the inside. At the last minute I sprinkled on a bit of grated real Parmesan cheese after I took them out of the oven. That’s optional but it’s a nice addition. They were a little on the spicy side, but some sour cream on the side helped mellow it out.

p.s. I snuck a bit of sea salt onto the top of the potatoes before putting in the oven. I mean really, these just called out for some salt. I do try to cook salt-free for hubby, but what the heck. Every once in a while he even eats fast food… 😉

Grilled Sausage and Vegetables in Foil Packet

Sausage and Veggies Ready for Foil Packet

First off, I didn’t use a lot of seasoning in this since I figured the smoked sausage would impart a great deal of flavor along with the grilling. (It did) Second, I was quite surprised at how big my foil packet ended up. It was the size of a watermelon! I had already laid out the large piece of foil (doubled up since I didn’t have heavy-duty) and was still surprised how large it got. Next time I think I’ll try two smaller packets so it won’t take so long on the grill. The smoked sausage I used is one that looks like a Kielbasa — it comes in the horseshoe-like shape in a shrink-wrapped package, not the fresh sausage you find in casings.

Grilled Foil Packet

Grilled Sausage and Vegetables in Foil Packet

1 tablespoon olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
3 to 4 medium red potatoes
1 yellow, red, or orange bell pepper, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1/2 carton grape tomatoes
5 large white mushrooms, quartered
1 large green onion, chopped
1 Smoked Sausage or Kielbasa link, cut into 1/2 to 1-inch chunks
1 tablespoon butter, cut into tiny chunks

In a rather large bowl, whisk the olive oil, lemon, garlic, Mrs. Dash, and black pepper until well combined. Add all the veggies and let them marinate while you pre-heat a grill to medium heat. I didn’t want to marinate the sausage in the oil since it already has enough fat in it. Prepare a large piece of aluminum foil — heavy duty if you have it or double up if you don’t — about 18-inches square, or two small pieces to fit everything in it. When ready to cook, add the sausage chunks and lightly toss around to distribute evenly. Evenly spread the food over the foil, leaving enough room to close and seal the packet. Distribute the tiny chunks of butter over the top, then seal the foil packet(s). Just make sure you crimp everything really good so you don’t leak and get a flare-up on the grill. Place the packet on the grill and close the lid for one hour, turning halfway through. If you use two packets I’m sure it would greatly reduce the cooking time. Both my husband and daughter raved at how good this was! We had enough leftovers for two people, so this will easily feed four to six people, depending on appetites. Happy Grilling!

Grilled Sausage and Veggies Plated

Lemon Garlic Chicken with Rosemary Red Potatoes and Green Beans

Lemon Garlic Chicken Ready for Oven

This has the potential to be a splendid meal, however I have some tweaking I want to do before posting the recipe. This is one of the dishes I made last week that came out less than stellar, but ended up with some halfway decent photos. I do plan on making this again in the future, but I need to wait until I can get some fresher green beans in this area.

I am off to go camping the next several days over this long Memorial Weekend. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday and has a chance to pay respects to those who have lost their lives serving our country.

Meal cooked and plated

Buttered New (or Red) Potatoes with Green Beans and Rosemary

Fresh New Potatoes and Green Beans, Before Cooking

This is another one of my comfort foods. I do love to make this when green beans are fresh in season, but I was able to come across some fairly decent looking ones at the store the other day that weren’t too fat or stringy looking. I had bought the potatoes last week to make this but then forgot to look for the beans. Ever since then any of the beans I found were just not right until I spotted some nice ones on Saturday while shopping for avocados.

Now you may look at me funny wanting to find fresh green beans when all I’m going to do is cook the hell out of them in a pressure cooker, but believe me the taste just isn’t the same without them. I have tried. Trust me on this. Even though the green beans do get a bit overcooked (by 3 minutes in the pressure cooker world), the taste is still fantastic.

Cooked Potatoes and Green Beans

Now how this dish comes out all has to do with the end preparation with liberal amounts of butter and enough liquid and some milk to make a creamy broth after mixing it all around. The crushed dried rosemary cooked in with it all just makes this divine! It’s not the prettiest dish when it’s all said and done, but your  taste buds will thank you for trying this. There are rarely leftovers in this household.

Buttered New Potatoes with Green Beans and Rosemary

1-2 pounds of new or red potatoes
1-2 pounds of fresh green beans
1/2 -1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 1/2 cups water
2-4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup or so of  milk
Black pepper to taste

Scrub the potatoes and snap the ends off the green beans. If you have the small new potatoes, cut them in half. If you have the larger red potatoes, quarter them. Put the water in the bottom of a pressure cooker with the rack at the bottom. Add the potatoes and green beans. Using a mortar and pestle, grind the the dried rosemary a bit to break it up and mix it in with the vegetables. Put the pressure cooker on high heat, and once the jiggler on top starts rocking and rolling, set your timer for five minutes. On the mark, immediately cool the pot under cold water until the pressure is relieved. Open the pot and pour out all but about a half of cup of the water and dump the contents (minus the rack) into a bowl.  Add the butter, milk and pepper to taste.  Stir well until some of the mushy parts of the potatoes break apart and mix into the butter and milk to make a creamy broth. Serve with a meat of your choice. Last night I just heated up some leftover turkey from the freezer. So simple and delicious!