Paprika Walnut Shrimp
How can something so ugly taste so delicious? If you've ever peeled and/or deveined raw shrimp, you know exactly what I'm talking about. These particular little shrimpys I only had to peel, but when this task was finished I had a pile of what looked like Locust shells.... which totally used to freak me out when I was little. I recall not playing on my swing set for a good part of the summer one year simply because a Cicada had chosen it as a good place to shed it's skin. Ewww.
But, I digress. Regardless of a shrimp's apparent lack of beauty, they are SO good. And the fact that they go from gray and ugly, to pink and delicious in a matter of minutes never ceases to amaze me. I love cooking with seafood because it makes for such a fast and healthy meal. I could eat it everyday.
I got the recipe for this particular dish from my fave cookbook, Powerfoods. I have been cooking from it a lot and am never disappointed.
Here is what I did to make these delectable little shrimpys:
I heated up 2 T. Safflower oil in a skillet over medium heat then added about an inch of peeled and grated fresh ginger along with 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of Smoked Spanish paprika...
...Which, by-the-way I have been looking for forever, but could never find in my grocery store. I ended up finding some at this cute little specialty food store in my town. If you live in Lincoln I highly recommend stopping in at the Saucy Cook. If you don't live in the area and can't find Smoked paprika, I know for certain you can order it through Penzy's. I have never ordered from them, but have a couple friends who do all the time. Regular paprika will work, but will have less of a deep and smokey flavor. I wasn't really sure if there would be that much of a difference in flavor between the smoked and regular paprika however, upon opening the jar for the first time, I could tell a huge difference just in the smell alone.
Okay, back to the recipe.... I promise, despite all my rambling, this is super easy to make.
- Stir the ginger and paprika in the oil til fragrant (about 30 seconds)
- add 3 T chopped walnuts and cook til lightly browned (about 3 minutes)
- Throw in a pound of shrimp and cook until pink (about 4 minutes)
- Stir in one chopped turnip, 1 T apple cider vinegar, 3 T. white cooking wine, and freshly ground S&P to taste.
- Cook for another few minutes.
- Serve over noodles or rice... I used yakisoba noodles which I stirfried in little bit of safflower oil with 1 Cup of chopped Asparagus and 1 chopped portabella mushroom. These particular noodles came with it's own seasoning packet, so I just used that to flavor the noodles and they turned out great.
First use of Smoked Spanish Paprika ever. First time making Yakisoba noodles. First time eating and/or cooking with a turnip, In fact, I really had no idea what a turnip even was before this kitchen experiment.. In case you too are wondering what the heck a turnip is, it looks like this:
Apparently, they are high in fiber, potassium, calcium , and vitamin C. I enjoyed the taste of them. Sweets said he didn't prefer the texture (similar to that of an apple)
Final conclusion on this meal... I will most definitely be making this again.
Peace & Love,
Chandra Nicole
