Mango Rice Salad with Grilled Shrimp

It's not even June yet, and the high hit over 90 degrees today in DC with some extreme humidity. I guess summer is officially here!

While looking through recipes for this week, the combination of curry powder and fresh mangoes seemed impossible to pass up. Shea and I don't have a grill, so we decided to pan fry our shrimp. It turned out well, and luckily there are lots of leftovers to eat for lunch tomorrow. !


Mango Rice Salad with Grilled Shrimp
Courtesy of Cooking Light at http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mango-rice-salad-with-grilled-shrimp-10000001065498/

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 36 shrimp) $
• 2 cups water
• 2/3 cup light coconut milk $
• 1 1/4 cups uncooked long-grain rice $
• 3/4 cup shredded carrot $
• 2 cups diced peeled mango (about 2 mangoes) $
• 1 1/2 cups diced red bell pepper $
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice $
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Cooking spray $
• Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Directions

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add shrimp; toss to coat. Cover and chill 1 hour.
2. Bring water and coconut milk to a boil in a medium saucepan; add rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Add carrot and next 7 ingredients (through salt); toss gently to combine.
3. Prepare grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.
4. Thread 3 shrimp onto each of 12 (6-inch) skewers. Place skewers on grill rack or grill pan coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done. Serve skewers over salad. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Crisp Asian Salmon with Bok Choy and Rice Noodles

Shea and I have been fortunate to have been busy with lots of visitors lately (Dunya and my parents came to visit the past two weeks!). It's hard to cook in our tiny apartment for a lot of people, so when we have visitors we usually go out to eat, which means we haven't been cooking lately!

This weekend was our first weekend with an empty apartment AND we had the day off for Memorial Day, so it was the perfect time to fill up our fridge and find some good recipes! We don't have a grill, so we aren't able to cook the traditional Memorial Day fare of burgers and brats, but we agreed that this dish looked fantastic. It was easy, flavorful, and full of brain food (what Shea calls salmon).


Crisp Asian Salmon with Bok Choy and Rice Noodles
Courtesy of Food and Wine http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/crisp-asian-salmon-with-bok-choy-and-rice-noodles

Ingredients 

1. 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2. 2 cups water
3. 1/4 cup mirin
4. 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
5. 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
6. 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
7. 2 garlic cloves, minced
8. 1 teaspoon sugar
9. 8 ounces rice vermicelli, broken into 4-inch lengths
10. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
11. 6 center-cut salmon fillets with skin (about 6 ounces each)
12. Salt
13. 1 pound baby bok choy, cut into thin wedges
14. 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth, water, mirin, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic and sugar to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a bowl, soak the rice noodles in very hot water until pliable, about 10 minutes. Drain the noodles and add them to the boiling water. Cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and transfer to 6 shallow bowls.
3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Season the salmon fillets with salt, add them to the skillet skin side down and cook over high heat until browned, about 4 minutes. Turn and cook until medium-rare, about 4 minutes longer. Set the fillets on the noodles.
4. Add the bok choy to the boiling broth and cook until bright green, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, divide the greens among the bowls and spoon in the broth. Garnish with the scallions and serve.

Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach and Pine Nuts

I found this recipe on the Cooking Light website while looking for something simple and delicious, and boy did I hit the jackpot. This recipe is extremely easy to make (Shea commented that the longest part of the prep was boiling the water!), and has an extremely decadent taste due to the combination of the brown butter and pine nuts. In fact, it was so rich that we decided to squeeze a little bit of lemon in at the end, which balanced the dish out perfectly. Enjoy!


Brown Butter Gnocchi with Spinach and Pine Nuts
Courtesy of Cooking Light
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/brown-butter-gnocchi-with-spinach-pine-nuts-10000001867562/

Ingredients

• 1 (16-ounce) package vacuum-packed gnocchi (such as Vigo)
• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 (10-ounce) package fresh spinach, torn 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely shredded Parmesan cheese
• 
  
• Directions 
• 1. Cook gnocchi according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.
• 2. Heat butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add pine nuts to pan; cook 3 minutes or until butter and nuts are lightly browned, stirring constantly. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute. Add gnocchi and spinach to pan; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts, stirring constantly. Stir in salt and pepper. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.