Delicious Buttery, Garlicy, Lemony, Spicy Shrimp

I was (again) wandering punchfork last night and searched for "Paleo Shrimp" and this jumped out at me. First off, it's really a Paleo cheat because it uses a lot of butter. Butter is "ok" from time to time. I use butter now and then and I'm careful to buy the "Happy Butter" as I call it. Grass fed cows, free-range, no funky stuff fed to them or injected.. so yeah, happy butter!

I also served it with some homemade french bread because the sauce you end up when it's cooked is just too good to waste so you can either pour it in a glass and drink it or use some french bread to sop it up. The latter won't make you feel dumb. ;)

You're going to need:

2 pounds Raw Shrimp, Cleaned and Deshelled
2 sticks COLD Unsalted Butter Cut Into Pieces
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
4 cloves Garlic, Peeled
1/4 cup Fresh Parsley
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
1 whole Lemon, Juiced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (190.6 C).

Get out your food processor. You're really going to need one to make this painless. Use the blade attachment that chops everything up.

In the bowl add your cut up COLD butter pieces. It's important that it's cold and hard butter or it's not going to crumble right. So butter, sea salt, garlic, parsley, crushed red pepper and the lemon juice.
Pulse it until it's all combined and kinda crumbly. 

Get a baking dish out (I used a 8x11 casserole pan) and lay the cleaned shrimp out all flat in one layer. The original recipe calls for the shells to be left on and then peel them as you eat them BUT, from experience, when you cook shrimp with the shells on and then peel them to eat, all of the good taste comes off with the shell! SO... I'm saying deshell, clean and put on the tray all nice and flat.

Sprinkle the butter mix all over the shrimps and pop in the oven. You're going to want to cook them until the shrimp is pink on the outside and opaque in the middle and butter is hot and bubbly. It took me about 13 minutes and Gary said it was cooked perfectly.

Next, take your plate and serve the shrimp up with big spoonfuls of the butter sauce that you can use your french bread to get off of your plate. The butter sauce is the best part in my opinion!

(image courtesy of punchfork stock)

Sizzling Shrimp with Garlic

On December 23rd, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few last minute things for Christmas dinner. I didn't wanna go the day before Christmas because I knew it would be a madhouse. I also picked up a few things to make meals right before and right after because again, I don't like madhouses. One of the things that I grabbed was a pound of shrimp. Then I went googling for a new shrimp recipe because I wanted to try cooking something new.
I'm going to post this recipe as I found it then tell you the changes I made along the way.
Gary gave it 5 stars. I, personally, don't eat shrimp. It's nasty. It tastes nasty and has a horrible texture. It did smell good though!


I found this recipe on punchfork.com. Punchfork is my new favoritest place to find fun, new recipes. It's where I found the dill, garlic, lemon salmon that I posted yesterday, and this one, and a few more I'll be trying.

While this recipe IS Paleo we did cheat and use some delicious french bread. I ate it with my gluten free pasta/marinara and he used it with the pan juices this dish creates.

You're going to need:

4 to 5 Tbs. olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. sweet paprika
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 to 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 Tbs. dry sherry
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Start by heating up the olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan. I didn't have lemons for juice on hand so I used a lemon infused olive oil. Once the oil is warm add in the garlic, red pepper flakes and paprika. Saute for about a minute ... until it's fragrant.

Turn up the heat to high and add in the shrimp, lemon juice and the sherry. Stir well and saute until the shrimps are cooked. They'll turn pink and opaque... it takes 3 to 4 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the parsley.

He liked it so much that instead of saving half for lunch the next (like he normally does), he ate the entire pound of shrimp.

Salmon With Garlic, Lemon and Dill

I pulled this recipe (and picture) from fortheloveofcooking.net. Well, I actually found it on punchfork.com but it led me to THAT website and anyway.... like you care, right?

So, I was looking for a new way to cook a piece of salmon that we bought right before Christmas. Our "go-to" way is delicious but I need change. Gary, on the other hand, could eat the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again for months on end. (Melia is the same way too!)

This one had the prettiest picture ... ok well it was the recipe that called for the least amount of ingredients AND had the prettiest picture. ;)

You're going to need:
1 lb salmon fillet
2 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Fresh dill, to taste
Lemon slices


First, preheat the oven to 450 F (232.2 C).

Line a baking sheet with tin foil then coat it with cooking spray. I forgot the cooking spray and thought "Hmmmm there's enough oil/butter on the top - it should ooze under and be ok, right?" WRONG. USE cooking spray, we lost our skin and that's the best part!

Put the fish, skin side down, on the baking sheet. I combined the melted butter, olive oil and garlic in a bowl then used my fingers to spread all over the fish. I put a bunch of salt and pepper on it too.

Then I grabbed my herb scissors and I was really excited to use them because I rarely get to. BE CAREFUL! These bad boys are sharp... I cut myself. :(
I used the scissors to snip a bunch of dill all over the fish.

I sliced a lemon into decent slices and layered them on top of the dill.

NOW, the recipe calls for you to cook for 10 minutes. I don't know if they like it rare or had a thin salmon or what but I had to cook it for almost 18 minutes and that did NOT overcook it. It was perfect. So, in a nutshell... cook at 450 F (232.2 C) until it's cooked the way you like it.

I served it with roasted broccoli and it's Gary approved. Delicious!!!

Butter Poached Salmon with Warm Tomato Relish

Before you start hollering... we did use a cheat last night because I just didn't think I could get the same effect butter gives you with coconut or olive oil. I used grass-fed, happy cow, organic butter. :P

I've never been a fish fan which isn't really fair to Gary that I've waited this long to try. He loves fish and other seafood. Ok, let me rephrase, I'm not a cooked fish fan. I love me some sushi!
He was pretty excited that I chose this recipe to prepare. He didn't have to ask me. I found and planned it without even telling him. I wanted to be a surprise.

Let's begin. First, I prepared enough for 3 meals. 2 servings for Gary (he brings one to work the next day) and 1 for me.

Tomato Relish
1 small red onion, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced *
3 tablespoons capers *
2 tablespoons grass fed butter
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Salmon
3 filets , skin on
2 tablespoons of butter per filet
Sea salt and black pepper

In a small saute pan melt the butter over medium heat, add the onions and cook until the onions begin to caramelize. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. The recipe says this is enough relish for 5 filets BUT * I didn't use the capers or the olives because Gary doesn't like them. I used an extra tomato.

For the salmon: The amount of butter that you use depends on how many filets you prepare. You will use 2 tablespoons of butter per filet.

Preheat the oven to 350F (176C). Generously season both sides of the filets with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a small oven proof pan (I didn't do this, I just quickly transferred it to another dish before popping it in the oven). Anyway, melt the butter until it's hot enough so that when you put the filets in, skin side down, they sizzle. Let them cook for about 3 minutes then you're going to start basting the filets. I used a spoon and continuously basted non stop for 4 minutes. After this, pop your fish in the preheated oven for about 8 or 9 more minutes. I put all 3 filets in a baking dish and poured the butter from the pan over top of them.
The time in the oven depends on how thick your filets are. Mine were average. I used the tail end of the salmon so they were less fatty and a little thinner.

I served this with an Asparagus and Mushrooms recipe. I cooked the Asparagus first with the tomato relish, put both aside covered with foil to keep hot and then worked on the fish since the fish didn't have to cook for that long and needed constant attention for half the cooking time. :)

Enjoy! I know I sure as heck did. I actually DID LIKE IT! I'll prepare this again anytime.

Paleo Fish Tacos

Ok, lets start by saying that I'm not a huge fan of fish. I'm TRYING to like it slowly, and what I've had I liked and I really liked these A LOT!

We used stone ground whole wheat tortillas which is NOT paleo but I didn't feel like dealing with lettuce so I used a cheat. The recipe calls for putting the fish taco mixture into romaine lettuce or cabbage. I've also used butter lettuce leaves.








You're going to need:
1lb fresh tilapia fillets;
1 tbsp Paleo cooking fat; (I used garlic olive oil)
1 medium onion, chopped;
4 cloves garlic, minced;
1 or 2 jalapeño pepper(s), finely chopped;
2 cups tomatoes, diced;
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped;
3 tbsp lime juice;
 Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste;
 1 avocado, sliced; (For garnish)

I'm sure you can use any sort of fish that you'd like, but I used tilapia because of how mild tastes.

In a large skillet over a medium-high heat, combine the cooking fat with the garlic and onions. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent in color.

Add the tilapia fillets to the skillet. Allow the fillets to cook for 3 to 4 minutes on one side prior to flipping. As the fish begins to cook through, use a fork to break it apart into flaky pieces.

Add the jalapeno pepper, tomatoes, cilantro and lime juice to the mix and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5 minutes before removing from heat.

Serve the taco filling to your liking and garnish with fresh avocado slices.

Absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Seafood Pasta on Linguine

I've made this with and without the seafood. It was a hit both ways! :)

You're going to need:
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of white wine or chicken broth (I use the broth)
2 can (14 oz) diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon oregano (I prefer to just use Italian seasoning)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 package (16 oz) linguine
1 pound sea scallops
9 oz. peeled and de-veined shrimp.

So, in a large skillet, saute onion in butter and oil until tender. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add in the chicken broth (or wine) and bring to a boil. Cook this until the mixture has been reduced to 1/2 cup.
Add the tomatoes, rosemary, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes.

Cook linguine according to the package.

Add scallops and shrimp to tomato mixture; cook for 4-5 minutes or until the shrimps and scallops are cooked.

Serve seafood mixture over the cooked linguine.

Enjoy!!!