Shrimp and Cilantro

We made Moroccan shrimps. We put them over millet and that part wasn't that great, but the shrimps were great. Next time we'll just have them with salad or something. They're not spicy, but they have a nice bright flavor. One pound of shrimp is maybe 40 regular sized ones, so think of how many shrimp you want and judge your servings from that.

1 pound medium shrimp, deveined and peeled, tail on

16 cilantro sprigs

5 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon tomato paste

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon (I cheated and just squirted in some lemon juice)

Sea salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Food process everything but the shrimp until it looks saucy, then put it in a large-ish bowl with your shrimps. Toss them together, then spread them out on a large baking sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. 

Even after peeling my own easy-peel frozen shrimp it was a pretty quick dish to make. We totally bought our shrimp frozen because we don't live in shrimp country, but those of you near oceans can probably do better than that. ;)

Poached Fish

I'm learning how to oil poach fish because I've lost all meat-cooking talent I ever had and poaching sounded very forgiving. I pretty much did this but with dried thyme--fresh would have worked way better, I think. We couldn't really taste the herbs.

But the poaching part was easy and the fish turned out really moist. And even though it was totally cooked in oil it didn't feel too greasy. And it's so low temp it doesn't heat up the kitchen much at all, so it's a great summer cooking method. We shall definitely experiment further. We're thinking rosemary would be an interesting flavor to try. The kids weren't sold on tilapia but they love salmon and shrimp so I think I can get them sold on poached something . . .

Thoughts and feelings on poaching, anyone? Flavor ideas? Side dish suggestions?

Not our fish. Stole the picture from the NY Times.