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Spring Vegetable Sauté

Evan Kleiman

spring veggies

Don’t worry about making the sauté at the last minute.  It’s delicious at room temperature. If you have leftovers you can use them as a topping for bruschetta, in a frittata (for an Easter Brunch), on pasta, in a risotto (along with the broth you made from discards) or just throw what’s left into a salad.

As you cook each vegetable don’t add too much salt.  Add just enough to pull some water out of the veg to create a little steam.  You will adjust the salt of the completed dish once you’re done cooking all the veg and they are together in a bowl.  Now is the time to use that fantastic salt you bought and haven’t touched.

Shrimp Risotto

Evan Kleiman

Risotto inplate
Risotto is the perfect vehicle for shrimp’s sweet flavor and quick cooking time.  Quick with risotto?  Yes.  Like most risotti, you will add the shrimp as a condiment at the very end of the cooking process.  Although you can use nearly any light broth with a fish or seafood based risotto I think  Shrimp Broth made from  shrimp peels or even Dashi gives you the best result for a non tomato-based version of the dish. If you only have a couple of cups of prepared broth don’t worry, just use water for any remaining liquid you need.  It is better to have a very light flavor from broth than one that is too heavy.

As I suggested in my post on SB Ridgeback Shrimp buy your shrimp unpeeled, peel them yourself then you get the bonus of fodder for making a quick shrimp broth.  Sweet, fresh and extremely perishable Santa Barbara Ridgebacks or spot prawns in season are perfect as a last minute addition to risotto.

 

Master Recipe: Simple Shrimp Saute

Evan Kleiman
shrimp saute

shrimp scampi style

Shrimp, scampi-style is the simplest most flavorful way to cook shrimp at home (aside from boiling).  And the beauty of the technique is that once you have shrimp cooked in butter or olive oil with garlic and a squeeze of lemon or lime you can used the finished dish in so many ways. Take a look at my post on SB Ridgeback Shrimp to see how I was able to transform one recipe into a week of special dinners.