Creamy Shrimp and Spinach Spaghetti

Image ~ June 3, 2014 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 2 Comments

This is one of my absolute favorite spaghetti dishes that I make as often as Chris will allow it 😉 It is both quick and easy and then it tastes delicious – what more can one demand after a long day?

Actually I think that we had an extremely long day when I made this sunday evening… We spent last week driving from Atlanta to Austin Texas and back again – 15 hours each way! Well, we didn’t take it all on day but drove from Atlanta to New Orleans to celebrate Chris birthday and our 2nd wedding day, then drove to San Antonio to visit a friend followed by Austin. 45 minutes north east of Austin is a charming little town named Taylor. Taylor is one of those small towns that lost the Wallmart battle and many shops are closed and buildings abandoned. We drove all the way there from Atlanta to eat brisket at Louie Mueller BBQ and oh man, we were not led down. The place was as authentic as one can imagine when thinking of Texas BBQ and meat was prepared by a handful of artists. Actually they have all attended culinary school, but the beauty about this place is, that everything is made from the intuition of the cooks – there is not a single thermometer in the restaurant and the electric oven is only turned on to bake peach cobblers!
So if are ever in or around Austin, I can highly recommend this place for an authentic Texas BBQ experience 🙂 However, I must warn you a little bit… Don’t go there if you have hygiene issues. When I say it is authentic, I mean really authentic – there are no air conditioning and don’t be surprised if you find a cockroach or two in the dining room. But again, it is the best BBQ I have ever had, and I am definitely going there again some time.

Well to get back to this delicious spaghetti dish, we had a long drive home and non of really wanted to cook so we decided on something easy and quick. If you buy pre-washed spinach this dish does not take more than 15-20 minutes to make and it tastes wonderful. If you want it to be even quicker, you can buy shrimps that is already cleaned and ready to cook.

Hope that you like it and feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and or suggestions 🙂

Ingredients (4 servings)

1 tbsp. butter

3 large banana shallots

1 red chili

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp. fresh thyme

14 oz. spinach

1 lemon, zest

1/3 cup cream

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded + more for serving

17 oz. spaghetti

20 wild caught tiger shrimps

Salt & pepper

First step is to prepare the spaghetti as recommended on the package label. I will, however, recommend that you cooked it a little less than described, as it will cook a little bit more when it gets into the spinach mixture. Pour into a colander when cooked.

Next step is to clean the shrimps from sand and intestines. The easiest way to do that, is to cut it open in the back with a scissor, removing the shell and rinsing it in ice cold water. Place the clean shrimps on some paper towel on a plate in the fridge.

Begin by washing the spinach very carefully and let it dry on paper towel or something similar while preparing the other ingredients. If possible, I will highly recommend that you buy pre-washed spinach as it is much easier and faster to work with and I honestly think that it is worth the extra dollar.
Then slice the shallots and chili and grate the garlic cloves. Remove the stem and seeds from the chili if you prefer a very mild chili taste or leave it in, if you are like me – a true chili fan 🙂

Next step is to melt the butter a medium-high heat (I made this portion on our Big Green Egg, but you can of cause make it on a regular stove as well) in a relatively large sauté pan – remember that all your ingredients including the cooked spaghetti will go in to the pan. Add shallots, chili, garlic, lemon zest and thyme to the melted butter and stir once in a while during the sauté process. Turn down the heat to medium and add the spinach when all the butter has been absorbed into the onions and stir to combine. Place a lid on the pan and leave it like that for 3-4 minutes – this gives the spinach time to release all the water without you interrupting it by stirring all the time (this was a mistake I made for many years cooking spinach – the more you stir, the more you ruin the texture of the spinach).

Take the lid of the pan and let some of all the spinach water evaporate for a minutes or two before adding cream, parmesan and fresh black pepper. Stir carefully to combine and then leave it for a few minutes while you make the shrimps.
Fry the shrimps in a little bit of vegetable oil or butter or place them on the grill like I have done here. They only need a few minutes on each side, so make sure that you don’t forget while preparing the rest of the dish.

Add the cooked and spaghetti to the spinach mixture when almost all the cream has evaporated. Stir carefully and season with salt and even more fresh black pepper.

Divide the spaghetti and spinach dish on four plates and place 4 shrimps on top of each. Then garnish with a little bit of grated parmesan cheese and serve with a warm French baguette and a cold glass of Chardonnay 🙂 Shrimp and Spinach Pasta 11

Bon Appétit Friends!

Ingredients (4 servings)

1 tbsp. butter

3 large banana shallots

1 red chili

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp. fresh thyme

400 g spinach

1 lemon, zest

80 ml cream

0.6 dl parmesan cheese, shredded + more for serving

500 g spaghetti

20 wild caught tiger shrimps

Salt & Pepper

Spaghetti Meat Sauce Pie

November 5, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 1 Comment

I have for years – and years is no exaggeration – wanted to make a spaghetti meat sauce pie, but I have alway been bad at making a good pie dough. Now that I have found the perfect recipe for pie dough, I had no excuse not to make make it 😀

Spaghetti meat sauce is one of those dishes that tastes great and making enough it tastes even greater the day after so we sometimes make it, if we know that we will be busy and unable to cook for a few day. Putting a regular spaghetti dish into a pie raises the level of deliciousness just a bit and I will definitely try it with some of my other week night dishes that needs to be spiced up a bit 🙂

Ingredients (4-6 servings)

Pie dough:

2 2/5 cup flour

2/3 cup butter, cold

2 small eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 lemon, juice

1 egg, beaten (for brushing)

Meat sauce:

1 pound minced beef

1 tbsp. butter

2 onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. dried oregano

1. tbsp. dried thyme

1 tbsp. dried basil

2 red chilis, chopped

2 cups red wine

Salt & pepper

1/2 pound dried spaghetti

1 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions

Pie dough: Cut the butter in to small cubes and place it in a mixing bowl together with flour and salt. Use an electric hand mixer or stand mixer to mix until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the two beaten eggs and the lemon juice and mix until just combined. Pour the combined dough on to slightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes. Make sure that there are no lumps in the dough – it should be smooth. Wrap in plastic foil and fridge while making the spaghetti and meat sauce.

Meat sauce: Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add the minced meat and fry until the meat is browned. THen add dried herbs, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and chillies and red wine. Stir to combine and let cook for 20-30 minutes at medium heat or until almost all the red wine has evaporated. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Cook the spaghetti as recommended on the package and add it to the meat sauce when cooked. Stir to combine. If you have trouble combining it, try and cut the spaghettis in smaller pieces with a kitchen scissor.

Cut the pie dough into two pieces – 2/3 and 1/3. Roll the largest piece out until it is large enough to cover a the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie dish. Place the rolled dough in a greased and floured pie dish. Pour spaghetti meat sauce into the pie and sprinkle with the shredded parmesan cheese. Grease the edges with beaten egg.
Roll out the remaining dough, cut a few holes in it so any remaining liquids can evaporate, and place on top of the spaghetti meat sauce. Press the dough together with your fingers or a fork. Brush the top of the pie with the beaten egg.

Bake at 400F for 30-35 minutes and let rest on a wire rack for further 15-20 minutes before serving.

Serve with a crispy and fresh salad like raw brussels sprouts salad, roasted cauliflower salad or maybe a cauliflower and roasted almond salad.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (4-6 servings)

Pie dough:

300 g flour

150 g butter, cold

2 small eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 lemon, juice

1 egg, beaten (for brushing)

Meat sauce:

450 g minced beef

1 tbsp. butter

2 onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. dried oregano

1. tbsp. dried thyme

1 tbsp. dried basil

2 red chilis, chopped

5 dl red wine

Salt & pepper

225 g dried spaghetti

2.5 dl parmesan cheese

Yellow Tomato Sauce

September 15, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

The number of tomato varieties are HUGE and comes in several different colors and shapes. My (Ann) parents has been growing tomatoes as long as I can remember and my dad always wants to try new varieties. This year he decided to to the yellow pear tomato and he sowed several seeds hoping to get a plant or two – but unexpectedly they all grew and he ended up with 7 or 8 plant of this specific sort (and then came the 3 others sorts he sowed the year).

Some of the pants were given to family and friend (we got a plant to – the picture below) and then he kept the 3 plants himself. Having kept three plant himself means that one needs to be creative when cooking, if not having tomato salad every day 🙂

Last week there were an over float of tomatoes and my parents agreed that we should make try and make some yellow tomato sauce. Normally when we make tomato sauce we add red wine, but this would ruin both the taste and color of this sauce, so we decided to use chicken stock instead, which turned out to be the perfect match 🙂

Ingredients (4 cups)

2 large onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp. thyme leaves

1 tbsp. ground pepper

1 tbsp. butter

1-2 jalapeños, sliced

2 lb. yellow pear tomatoes, chopped

2 cups chicken stock

1 tbsp. salt

Melt butter in a saucepan, add chopped onions, garlic, thyme and ground pepper. Sauté for a few minutes until the onions begins to soften – then add the chopped tomatoes and jalapeños.

Stir and let cook for about 5-8 minutes until the tomatoes gets soft.

When the tomatoes has softened, you can the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

When boiling add salt and turn down the heat. Let simmer for approximately 2 hours or until it looks like the picture below. Stir occasionally.

Transfer the cooked tomatoes to blender and blend until smooth. Pour into sterilized jar, close immediately and fridge until use. Can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredienser (1 liter)

2 large onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp. thyme leaves

1 tbsp. ground pepper

1 tbsp. butter

1-2 jalapeños, sliced

900 g yellow pear tomatoes, chopped

1/2 liter chicken stock

1 tbsp. salt

Spaghetti with Tiger Prawns and Tomato Sauce

February 27, 2013October 3, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

I really had trouble deciding on tonights dinner. First I didn’t want to cook at all, then I wanted to make steaks – again (I am a true meat lover, and gets large steaks instead of flowers on Valentines day :-)), then I wanted pork cheeks and finally when I opened the freezer and saw the tiger prawns I decided on this fabulous recipe.

Prawns and spaghetti is the perfect combination – just change the sauce and your have can make hundreds of different dishes. This one is definitely in our top 10 when it comes to dishes containing spaghetti.

How that you and your family will love it as much as we do 🙂

Ingredients (4 servings)

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 shallots, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 red chilies, chopped

1 can crushed tomatoes

6 small tomatoes

3/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup cream

1/2 cup basil leafs, chopped

1/2 pound tiger prawns, cleaned

Salt

Pepper

1 pound spaghetti

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add chopped shallots, scallions, chilies and garlic. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the onions turn golden. Stir occasionally to avoid that the onions get burned.

Add white wine, tomatoes and cream. Cook for approximately 25-30 minutes. While cooking, chop the fresh tomatoes into quarters.

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. Drain when cooked and transfer to a large bowl

When the tomato sauce has thickened, add the tiger prawns and continue to cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the fresh tomatoes and 2/3 of the chopped basil leafs and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the sauce to the drained spaghetti and toss to mix.

Arrange on a pretty dish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and the remaining 1/3 cup chopped basil leafs.

Serve with a good Italian baguette and a cold glass of your favorite white wine 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (4 servings)

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 shallots, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 red chilies, chopped

1 can crushed tomatoes

6 small tomatoes

1.8 dl white wine

0.6 dl cream

1.25 dl basil leafs, chopped

450 g tiger prawns, cleaned

Salt

Pepper

1 pound spaghetti

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Food on Demant

by Ann & Chris Demant

spaghetti

Creamy Shrimp and Spinach Spaghetti

Spaghetti Meat Sauce Pie

Yellow Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with Tiger Prawns and Tomato Sauce