But this afternoon I made the choice to do something about it. If I truly want to get my cook on, and let the culinary goddess burst forth, I have to do something about my plight. I made a call to my apartment manager, informing him that my stove will burn things on the outside but leave them gooey and uncooked on the inside and this is an issue for me. He agreed that it was an issue and quite possibly very frustrating. Yes, very. So I've got an order in for an appliance maintenance person to come through. Hooray? Sure!
For my first time back, I wanted to go hard or go home. I've recently discovered I love asparagus. I do not know how to prepare asparagus so I scoured the cooking blogs in search of a recipe that would make asparagus as delicious as possible. Eventually I found, and settled on, a shrimp and quinoa dish that sounded delightful. Excitement bubbled inside; I could barely contain it. Several alterations later and dinner was served:
Lime Shrimp and Vegetables with Red Quinoa
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon tamari
shrimp (whatever kind you prefer in whatever amount seems reasonable)
1 cup red quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
6 fresh asparagus spears, diced
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon minced ginger
Remove the tail and devein shrimp. Or use the kind where that's already done, like I do. Rinse. Pat dry. Place in bowl, mix with lime juice and tamari. Leave to marinade for several hours (I stirred the shrimp around every couple hours).
Cook Quinoa according to directions. Or, if you screw up like I did, for as long as it takes to absorb the vegetable broth (you can also use water, but I wanted more body).
In large enough skillet, heat olive oil. Add bell pepper and red onion. Sautee until onions become clear. Add asparagus, raisins, and shrimp (adding the lime juice and tamari too). Stir everything together. Simmer. Add ginger. Stir. Allow to cook until shrimp is opaque and asparagus is tender.
Right away, the four year old disapproved. She tried a bite of everything, but decided it was all just "too yucky" - fine, be that way. I found the dish fulfilling and satisfying.
How you decide to serve this is your call. The recipe I let guide me suggested I mix everything together. I didn't choose to do that. The recipe also mentioned this dish would be delicious served warm or cold. I'm not sure about all of that. I do know that I don't know where my digital camera ran off to and the translation of the meal is a little lost with the camera on my phone so there is no picture to share. Despite that, I'm incredibly proud. Maybe I do really have this, after all.
