I Love Snow Days! As a teacher, I love them as much as, if not more than, the kids. These days I get a phone call and don’t have to wait for the town’s fire horn to sound the signal for ‘no school’ or wait for the posting on the news, like I did when I was a kid. And, as an adult who lived through the Blizzard of ‘78, I plan ahead. I fill up the car with gas. I make sure we have firewood and batteries for flashlights. I charge all of my devices and I go to the grocery store to get the requisite staples. However, I not only buy water and other necessities, I pick up ingredients so that I can play in the kitchen (my snow day/fun day supplies).
This week, during storm Juno/the Blizzard of 2015, I tried new recipes for natural laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and hair spray (all of which I will share in a later post). I also created a pretty tasty recipe for spaghetti squash and shrimp with a spicy lemon sauce, which is shared at the bottom of this post.
In the end, I had two lovely days off. Not only did I get to play in the kitchen, I had to shovel 2 feet of snow off my little Mini Cooper, who was practically buried alive. We are now waiting for another, slightly less intense storm to roll in just after the Superbowl…What should I cook Monday?
Go Pats!
Spaghetti squash with shrimp in a spicy lemon sauce
Makes 2 large servings
Ingredients:
1 large spaghetti squash
2-3 Tbls olive oil
1 lemon, zested and then juiced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
8-10 oz. medium shrimp, raw peeled and deveined
¾ cup dry white wine
1 handful of flat Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
1-3 shakes of hot red pepper flakes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and prick the outer skin with a fork.
Brush squash flesh with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Add enough water to cover bottom of sheet pan/cookie sheet.
Put squash upside down on pan and bake for 40-60 minutes or until soft, then put aside.
Sauté garlic in olive oil until it is translucent, then add the shrimp and cook until it begins to turn pink. Add lemon juice, lemon zest and hot pepper flakes and continue to cook shrimp until they are fully pink. Remove shrimp from the pan and save. Add wine to the cooking liquid and let simmer for about 7 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, use a fork to scrap out squash so that you end up with noodle like strands. Add the strands to the sauce until well coated and it has absorbed some sauce, about 2-5 minutes depending on how soft the squash is. Add the shrimp back to the pan and toss with the squash. At the last minute, just before serving, toss in fresh parsley and serve.
Alright….I made this with fresh scallops instead of shrimp which was tasty as well. Questions:
1. Do you have tips or tricks to help with fish smell while cooking In a small city space?
2. My final product had a very runny sauce…is this the nature of the spaghetti squash or is there a way to prevent that?
Hi Lola,
Let me answer #2 first…For scallops, I would sear them first in another pan with a tiny bit of olive oil and then add them to the sauce. I think that would create a less runny sauce. Also, I would toss the spaghetti squash in the sauce pan to coat before serving.
As for fishy smell in the kitchen/apartment…some people say leave a bowl of vinegar or baking soda out on the counter over night and that should help. Let me know if either of these work or you find another solution.
Thanks for your questions/comments!