LemonGrassGirls.com

Endive Shrimp Appetizers from Giada on the Food Network

Last night we watched Giada make this tasty little shrimp and endive appetizer, so tonight we prepared them here at home, for dinner. They looked like delicate little pale green canoes, stuffed with shrimp cargo and ready to set sail. Our Endive Shrimp Boats were quite delicious, in a light-meal-on-a-balmy-summer-evening kind of way... and healthy too! Here's the recipe.

Shrimp, sauteed in a little olive oil, 2 min on each side, drain.

Squeeze juice of one lime over shrimp and then chop them up a bit.

Chop up a fistful each of tarragon, chives and capers, mix with shrimp, set aside.

Sauce:

Puree in a food processor a generous handful of washed parsley.

Mix with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, or 1/4 yogurt and 1/4 sour cream.

Peel away the outer leaves of an endive and arrange in rows on a serving plate.

Fill each endive cup with the shrimp mixture, top with yogurt parsley sauce.

This was an excellent, easy to make, and healthy meal! We ate it with a spinach salad with a few onions/toasted walnuts mixed in, splashed with vinaigrette.

Dina ShrimpEater at Wordfeeder.com

RE: Salad Dressing

By now you may have noticed that Ann and I get a bit loquacious when we're together. Well... it makes for good web content, yes? Ah, but the topic was salad dressing. Indeed, I feel passionately about the salad dressing that's served at Japanese steak houses/sushi restaurants. This is THE greatest salad dressing EVER. As far as I'm concerned, no other dressing comes close. And yes, you can most certainly make Japanese salad dressing at home.

Puree the following:

carrot
onion
pinch of fresh ginger

add:

splash of soy sauce
vinegar
sesame oil

Some people may add a bit of sugar, but I prefer it without. You can also add orange juice.

You want measurements? Sorry, I cannot tell you those. I cook by instinct and do lots of taste-testing. My senses rarely fail me in the kitchen. But if you're not into whipping up your own salad dressings, you can always purchase this in the produce section of your local supermarket. I can't remember the name, but it comes in a glass bottle with a black label. It's over by Marie's, which is always with the lettuce and other greens.

I'm starting to salivate thinking about this dressing - it's in a category of its own. YUM.

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing Services

Salad Dressing

When was the last time you felt passionately about salad dressing?  If you're like me, you probably don't remember.  Salad dressing is one of those condiments I need, but it doesn't evoke a bunch of strong feelings in me.  I currently have 6 assorted bottles in my fridge. 

Until yesterday...

My friend Carol Hutcheon, of Hungry Hormones is bottling her salad dressing creations and selling them at local farmers' markets this summer.  She gave me a couple to try. 

The peanut dressing is my favorite.  Carol lists the ingredients as follows: Organic peanut butter, Cold Hollow apple cider, organic tamari, toasted sesame oil, and water. 

I can't stop eating this stuff.  Last night I chopped up a bunch of raw sugar snap peas, bell peppers of assorted colors, celery, and carrots and arranged them on a bright yellow plate (from the dinnerware set I grew up with in the 60s and 70s).  I became a dipping maniac.  The sweet crispness of the fresh, raw snow peas paired with the creamy, peanutty dressing turned me into a pea/peanutbutter addict.  I don't remember the last time I was this full on vegetables. 

I think Carol's dressing would be great for sesame noodles too.  Add some sliced up green onion, cooked pasta, maybe some bits of grilled Misty Knoll free range chicken, place it on a bed of fresh romaine from your garden, and serve chilled with fresh iced tea,  and what a healthy and refreshing summer lunch. 

Today I will be trying Carol's Miso and Sesame Dressing.  More on that to come. 

Now I'm heading outside to enjoy the first truly hot summer day in Vermont.  Perhaps my dog and I  will take a little walk in the woods near my house to the Huntington River.  I know a great, obscure swimming hole less than a mile from my front door.  Anyone care to take a guess at what the water temperature is?  Can you say COOOOOOOOOOLLLLLD? 

Ann Zuccardy, a different kind of food writer