Category Archives: Dinner

So it’s been way too long since I have done any blog posting at all and I came to the decision yesterday that I need to start making more time to do it, so here I am. Since my last original post I have made lots of great things so I have all kinds of fun recipes to share. Some I have pictures for and some I do not since I had to switch phones in the midst and lost some photos along the way, but I will do my best to keep up with everything.

For the first recipe upon return, we have an easy sheet pan shrimp and vegetables recipe I picked up from the Tasting Table. Sheet pan dinners are just as good as skillet dinners since you can do everything in just one pan for easy clean up and if you use aluminum foil on the bottom of the pan the clean up gets even easier for you. This recipe is a nice combination of shrimp and vegetables and has an Italian/Mediterranean flair to it with a great dressing for the vegetables. It is very much like a panzanella salad meal you might make. Best of all, you can put it all together pretty quickly and have dinner on the table in about 20 to 30 minutes.

Sheet Pan Shrimp and Vegetables

INGREDIENTS

For the Shrimp:

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon lemon zest

2 garlic cloves, minced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Dressing:

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons honey

¼ cup olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Salad:

8 ounces asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces

½ cup marinated artichokes hearts

½ cup pitted Castelvetrano olives, halved

½ red onion, large dice

¼ cup (10 each) sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

Dressing

4 cups roughly torn sourdough bread

For Assembly:

½ cup (6 ounces) small mozzarella balls, halved

¼ cup parsley leaves

¼ cup basil leaves, torn

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Prepare the shrimp: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a medium bowl, toss all of the shrimp ingredients together and place the shrimp in the center of the sheet tray.

To make the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard and honey. While whisking constantly, slowly stream in the olive oil until the mixture is emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, toss the asparagus, artichoke hearts, olives, red onion and sun-dried tomatoes with the dressing to coat. Scatter the vegetables around the shrimp, then top the salad with the chunks of sourdough bread. Bake the shrimp and vegetables until the shrimp are cooked and the bread is crisp, about 10 to 12 minutes.

4. Transfer the contents of the baking sheet to a large bowl and toss with the mozzarella balls, parsley leaves and torn basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then transfer to a platter and serve.

I did make a couple of slight changes to the recipe. Instead of using sun-dried tomatoes, which I didn’t have on hand, I used grape tomatoes instead. I also added a couple of ears of corn on the cob that I had cut into thirds to roast along with the other vegetables. Personally I liked the way it all turned out this way. I simply served the sheet tray platter on the table for the 3 of us and kept the mozzarella balls on the side for anyone to add if they wanted them. The vinegar dressing went really well with all of the vegetables and left a nice bite on the asparagus, artichoke hearts and red onion. The shrimp was done perfectly. I had used some wild American shrimp I got on sale and they were an ideal size and tasted delicious. The garlic and lemon also worked over to the corn on the sheet to give the corn some great added flavor. The sourdough bread worked nicely as well and was great for sopping up the dressing. It was certainly an easy meal to make and one that you can put together quickly on those busy summer nights.

That’s the recipe for today. I’ll try to be back tomorrow and get on a better routine again to keep things going. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day now that summer is here and enjoy your meal!