Friday, June 1, 2007

Spicy Shrimp and Soyccotash over Whole Wheat Pesto Couscous


Ingredients:
Bag of frozen uncooked shrimp (16/lb count or higher)
Bag of soycutash (Trader Joe's, and no, that is not my flickr account!)
1 cup whole wheat couscous
Basil Pesto (home made or jarred)
Sriracha (the king of all hot sauces) to your preferred spiciness
Soy sauce to taste
1 tablespoon of flour
Chicken stock (homemade or store bought)
1 tablespoon oil (you can use hot sesame if you want to be fancy)
1 tablespoon peanut butter (we like the crunchy kind)
sesame seeds (optional)

Immerse bag of frozen shrimp in a warm water bath with faucet running.

Bring one cup of chicken stock to boil on the stove. Once it boils add 1 cup whole wheat couscous and 2 tablespoons of pesto, turn off the flame, replace lid and allow this to sit.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil (canola/olive/your lube you pick!) with 1 tablespoon of flour and mix thoroughly. When the mixture is fully mixed add in a tablespoon of stock to make sure it remains the right consistency (again, think elmers). After about two minutes the roux is not going to taste flour-y and you can begin building your sauce.

To the roux add soy sauce, sriracha, peanut butter and bring to a boil. Make sure it is a bit more liquid-y than you want (remember we still have to cook frozen veggies) and add frozen soycottash mix.

Remove shrimp from the bag, peel and reserve shells (what, you don't make your own seafood stock! don't worry, that post will follow shortly), and add to the wok with the veggies and sauce.

Cover and leave to cook for about 3 minutes. Remove top and make sure to mix it around a bit so that everything gets ample heat. Once the shrimp has curled and the veggies are crisp but warm turn off the heat.

Toss couscous with a fork to fluff, put .5 cup in each bowl followed with a generous serving of the soyccutash and shrimp, ladle a bit of the sauce on and enjoy yourself a quick and healthy meal.

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