Shrimp Scampi over Pasta

I love me some shrimps, though unfortunately My Librarian, having grown up in a surfer town, does not like the shrimp, nor other family members of what she calls "sand bugs." Though she implores me to cook my "sand bug" food whenever I get a hankering, I don't when we eat together as I would feel guilty and am perfectly content to cook my shellfish when she is absent at the dinner hour. I made this dish last night while she was at work and for the duration of the meal, was in shrimpy heaven.

I used cooked frozen shrimp since I think the blue uncooked shrimp are gross looking. Using some olive oil and two cloves of garlic, I heated the skillet before adding my shrimp, which, by the way, I had marinated in the juice of one lemon for about thirty minutes beforehand.

As the shrimp were heating, I added 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of sea salt, stirring everything occasionally. While the shrimp were cooking, I started the water to boil my spaghetti. Once the shrimp were turned for even cooking, I added about three tablespoons of butter to the skillet, stirring as it melted down. Then I added some dry white wine and the juice of one more lemon to taste. (The wine and butter combination is tweak-able to taste; just keep dipping your finger in the sauce as you stir to achieve the flavor you desire.)

Once the dish was complete, I tossed the spaghetti and the shrimp with the pan sauce in a medium sized bowl. After plating my dish, I topped it with fresh chopped parsley.

Chicken Gorgonzola over Red Potatoes and Fire Roasted Vegetables

Trader Joe's has a frozen meal that is "chicken gorgonzola" but I'm not really a fan of the meal-in-a-box, so I decided to recreate the dish. I stuffed the chicken with some gorgonzola cheese and then melted down some gorgonzola with butter and lemon and poured that over the potatoes and fire roasted onions, green peppers, and red peppers. Once the chicken was ready to cook with the other components, I chopped fresh parsley and rosemary and sprinkled the herbs across the top along with a dash of salt.

The dish cooked for about forty five minutes at 350 degrees and came out incredibly well. The gorgonzola that I stuffed into the chicken melted and was absorbed by the breast to give it a lovely tenderness that complimented the rest of the dish.