Monday 2 February 2009

We are going to have so much fun eating when you leave home

That's what I kept telling my kids as they were growing up. It was so hard to prepare anything that everyone was happy with, and some things were guaranteed to generate squawks from just about everybody. I dreamt of pizzas with onions, black olives, and mushrooms, seafood of almost any description, anchovies, asparagus, and artichokes, capers and, well, you get the idea.

Grown-up food.

As threatened, I had some fun this weekend. Fettucine Alfredo with shrimps and mushrooms and partially disguised as pasta primavera with zucchini and yellow bell peppers and broccoli. To swoon over.

It was, however, my first experience using raw shrimp in the shell, and I realized once they were in the pan with the onions and garlic, that I had only partially shelled them. I had to pick every single one out, let them cool, and remove the rest of the shell. You experienced shrimp cooks can stop laughing now.

We still had a lot of fun eating it and hubby managed, for once, not to get any errant bits of shell in his helping.

Technorati tags: , ,

6 comments:

John Burgess said...

Unless you're working with monster shrimp or the aptly named 'rock shrimp', go ahead an eat the shells!

They're a good source of calcium, something people always need.

You can, if you like, peel off most of the forward shell, but the tails are entirely edible, particularly when the shrimp are grilled.

Janet said...

Good to know. Shrimp is one of those things I didn't cook for years, so I'm just getting up to speed.

To be fair to my kids, they would cheerfully eat almost any kind of salad, and feta cheese, and never objected to herbs and spices, so I can't complain too much.

A lot of things didn't get bought because when you're feeding four boys, the quantities would have been too expensive. For many years, my weekly grocery trip filled two shopping carts to overflowing. Good thing they loved pasta...

John Burgess said...

With three brothers--and a sister!--I know what you're talking about.

All I can say is that it's a fine thing that I grew up in a place and time when lobster was dirt cheap, $1 each.

Janet said...

Fortunate indeed, although I personally prefer crab and shrimp to lobster.

Sounds like I followed in your mother's footsteps.

John Burgess said...

My parents, wisely or unwisely, ended up with a 20-year gap between the oldest and youngest. In effect, that resulted in three cohorts of kids. My older brother was, for seven years, an only child. Then came me and my younger brother, 22 months apart. Jump another five to my youngest brother, then two for our sister.

Janet said...

Oh my. I did have the girl last, but she came only 8 years after the first one.

I tend to be obsessive in my interests. ;o)

And I had been specifically warned not to do the whole cohort thing, too.

 

blogger templates | Make Money Online