Receta I'm a Food Blogger?! Bien Sûr! Shrimp with Fresh Tomato Chevre Sauce
“C called this morning and wanted to know how to cook bacon. I told her to boil it.... in a big pot, like spaghetti.”
The kid can have a wicked sense of humor.
But his friend really didn’t have a clue how to cook something as simple as bacon!
I cook.
I love to eat ergo I love to cook.
We rarely go out to eat because, unless we go to a top restaurant, my food is better and healthier.
We cook together.
Mon mari pours a glass of wine and we make dinner. Cooking should be a fun, relaxing way of unwinding at the end of the day.
I kept running into people who claimed to be foodies but had never been in their own kitchen.
Most claimed they didn’t have time.
Well, obviously, going out to a restaurant, ordering dinner, eating, and driving home takes less than the 30 minutes needed to throw a healthy pasta dish together.
Some admitted they didn’t know how.
It occurred to me I had rather a lot to share.
So I started a food blog.
We live out in the middle of French farm country. That means three things to me as a food blogger:
I am not going to be using any American-type processed foods in any of my cooking.
I’m not talking Tater Tots, here, (which I wouldn’t use anyway), but I make my own salad dressings, barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce.... More of those types of things are available now but not four years ago.
I cook with the seasons. Pumpkin and sweet corn are pig food here. (Again, this is changing.) If I wanted either I brought the seeds from the US and grew my own. When one has a potager (vegetable garden) one eats what one grows – with the seasons.
I needed someone to tell my stories to. The dogs just didn’t get the nuances of the Hot Pink Shower. So, along with recipes and cooking tips, came the stories about life in France.....
As to the food: most of my recipes are easy; they're all fairly healthy. Some are my version of a classic; most are my own. I don't use a food processor (a sharp knife is easier to clean) and I don't have a slow cooker (the oven on low works perfectly fine).
All of my recipes reflect me and my life:
I've never made a pie crust so my quiche have brown rice crusts. I had lots of zucchini and tomatoes in the garden - Ratatouille Quiche was born!
We were out riding our bikes one glorious fall day and the path was covered in chestnuts. With the butternut squash from my garden I made Winter Squash Timbales with Apple Chestnut Sauce.
Last night, faced with still too many tomatoes, newly revived basil and spinach, plus a bit of leftover goat cheese I made this quick pasta dish - under 25 minutes.
Shrimp in Fresh Tomato Chevre Sauce over Pasta
This is a fresh sauce - and stays a rather interesting shade of pink....
- 12oz (350gr) shrimp
- 16oz (500gr) fresh, ripe Roma tomatoes
- 3oz (90gr) soft goat cheese, chevre
- 4oz (125gr) spinach
- handful fresh basil
- 1 tbs olive oil
1 1/4 cup pastaCook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
Peel tomatoes: Blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds. Refresh in cold water and peels will slip off easily. Purée in blender.
Clean shrimp if needed. Wash and spin dry spinach, if needed.
Heat oil in a large skillet. Add shrimp and sauté until they curl and turn opaque. Add spinach, basil and stir-fry 1 minute, just until the spinach starts to wilt. Add tomato sauce, chevre, and heat until the cheese melts into the sauce. Add pasta, stir to combine and serve.
Now, the question I'm supposed to answer for this 1st FoodBuzz challenge is: why should I be the next food blog star?
So I can convince the world that cooking is fun... and easy!
Voting starts Monday.... Just so you know.