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dani california cooks

homegrown and homemade in CA

Shrimp Pasta Salad

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This easy pasta salad comes together in less than 30 minutes, and is dressed in a light lemon vinaigrette, with plenty of garlicky shrimp and vegetables mixed in. It tastes great at room temp or warm, and can be a delicious entree or side dish this summer!

Sometimes when I hit “publish” on a post, I’m writing it to a specific audience and I forget that, for example, my mother reads the blog too! And coworkers! When I posted a “What I Ate Wednesday” not too long ago, I wrote that I didn’t really enjoy the texture of the Banza chickpea pasta and soon enough, there was an e-mail from the nice folks at Banza in my inbox saying they had read the post and wanted to know if they could send me another box so I could re-try it with a different cooking technique and see if I liked it! I said yes, and it kicked off a whole month of me providing feedback to brands/restaurants because it seemed like they were actually paying attention and I was kind of reaping the rewards…?

I joke-tweeted at our local ice cream shop when they were closed once that we were #devastated that we couldn’t get our ice cream fix in. Boy was I surprised that free ice cream coupons arrived at my doorstep the following week! (Side note - Nate frequents this place so much and orders a whole pint to himself normally). I e-mailed the manager of a restaurant after we had had a gross delivery and they too, sent me a gift certificate. I actually felt kind of bad about that e-mail, in retrospect. It kind of felt like I was going out of my way to complain.

I’m one of those people who responds a lot better to positive reinforcement than constructive criticism. I actually have had to do a lot of research at work for this recently - on how managers should be giving feedback to their staff. There’s a ton of science behind for every 1 critique, you need to give 5 compliments to “balance” it out. We often carry the criticism with us and dwell on them way more than we remember praise or a job well done. And positive reinforcement invigorates a workforce, motivates them, and encourages them to keep doing well what they are doing well!

So to these brands - like Banza, like the ice cream place, like the restaurant - I do enjoy your products! I’ll repeat that five times to get the critique out of your head. In fact, this pasta using Banza was delicious. I just needed to try out their cooking technique they recommended, which was to cook it a little bit longer. It did make it so the pasta didn’t hold up so well, but the texture and the flavor was spot on. Thanks for reaching back out and convincing me to give it another try!

I’m off to LA this weekend to reunite with one of my best friends who just returned from Peace Corps, and hang out with my parents and grandfather. I hope you all have a great weekend!

5.0 from 1 reviews
Shrimp Pasta Salad
 
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This pasta dish comes together in less than 30 minutes, and is filled with fresh shrimp, lots of vegetables, and a zesty vinaigrette.
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Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 box of pasta (I used Banza chickpea pasta)
  • 1 lb fresh shrimp, peeled and devined
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • Juice of 2 lemons, plus juice of 1 other lemon
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • Several handfuls of fresh spinach
  • ½ cup chopped italian parsley
  • ½ cup red wine vinegar
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tbsp
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. In a small bag, mix the shrimp, garlic, juice of 1 lemon, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Let marinate for 10 minutes
  2. Mix the vinaigrette, but whisking the vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, and a dash or salt and pepper
  3. Bring a large pot of water to boil, and add the pasta. If using Banza, don't over cook or else it will fall apart!
  4. In a medium saucepan, toss in the shrimp with all of the marinade
  5. Add the bell peppers and sautee until the shrimp is cooked through on each side, turning once
  6. Strain the pasta, and in a large bowl mix the shrimp and bell peppers, spinach, pasta, and vinaigrette
  7. Serve with parmesan cheese!
If you like this, you’ll love: Roasted Summer Vegetable Pasta with Vegan Pesto

Summer Roasted Vegetable Pasta with Vegan Pesto | danicaliforniacooks.com

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free)

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First of all - I really, really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on yesterday’s post. The support and advice that I get from our virtual blogging community is something I never expected, and that I truly appreciate.

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These healthy burrito bowls are layered with spicy shrimp, hearty black beans, avocado, on top of a bed of cauliflower rice. It’s a highly flavorful and filling dinner that’s still low in carbs!

bur This is one of the best things I’ve made in a long time. I mean it. It was the most lovely meal to have on a Sunday evening after a weekend of drinking on a boat - full of vegetables and lean proteins and fiber and flavor. And I absolutely cannot believe this is the first time I am ever trying cauliflower rice!! I love cauliflower mash, but cauliflower rice really takes the cake. I plan to make a large batch of it raw and keep it in my freezer, and use it whenever rice is called for. There are some healthy swaps that don’t stand up to the “real thing”, but I found the texture of cauliflower rice to be a lot like fluffy couscous, and with such a mild flavor. And I love that you can just eat it in volume!

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) On a completely different note, my little from my sorority is visiting San Francisco this weekend! We actually call her Little Alice and the nickname has stuck. I am super close with my sorority family - four years up and four years down - and I truly think joining a sorority was one of the best decisions I made in college. I can’t wait to have you with me soon, Little Alice! Look at us, so many years ago…

2015-08-10_20-37-32 We’re cute. But, back to the food.

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) I also used fresh black beans (not canned!) for this recipe, using a local brand that I’ve begun to love. Rancho Gordo has a space in the Ferry Building where they sell their beans and their corn. One day, I stumbled in there and bought some heirloom corn tortillas, not knowing what a GEM I had just come across. I was all upset one morning that I was out of something, and then made breakfast tacos using these tortillas and had like a euphoric experience. I’m never going back to plain tortillas again! Their midnight black beans have such a depth of flavor and texture, and they don’t require any soaking time since they are so fresh. I seriously can’t imagine going back to any other beans than their fresh ones. I’ve heard that people have the same experience when using soaked chickpeas instead of canned. I’ll have to give that a try and let you know!

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) | danicaliforniacooks.com This recipe is simple, fresh, and easy. And all of it can be made ahead of time and re-assembled throughout the week. I made it for me and Nate, but he had to work late (on a Sunday!!) so I ate alone and he was able to throw it together for himself. If serving cauliflower rice to a hungry man, I recommend serving in volume - lots of cauli-rice, lots of beans, lots of shrimp, lots of avo. Pile it on! And know that you can have a large serving too, because all of the ingredients are clean, clean, clean. And yummy, yummy, yummy.

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) | danicaliforniacooks.com This is the kind of dinner I would happily eat every night if I could. I don’t think I would get bored of it! But, obviously, swapping in salmon every once and a while. I could never give up on that love affair!

Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free) | danicaliforniacooks.com

5.0 from 4 reviews
Shrimp Taco Bowls with Cauliflower Rice (gluten free)
 
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These healthy burrito bowls are layered with spicy shrimp, hearty black beans, avocado, on top of a bed of cauliflower rice. It's a highly flavorful and filling dinner that's still low in carbs!
Author:
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ lb shrimp, peeled and devined
  • 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
  • ¾ cup black beans, cooked
  • ¼ cup salsa
  • 3 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • ½ tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp hot sauce (I used Tapatio)
  • Half an avocado
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • Juice of half a lemon, plus additinoal lemon slices
  • Olive oil (or use a little butter for the shrimp)
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. In a food processor, pulse the cauliflower florets until into couscous sized pieces
  2. In large saucepan, heat the chopped onion in some olive oil until translucent
  3. Pour the cauliflower rice into the saucepan with the onion, and cook through. This will only take 3-5 minutes
  4. In another saucepan, pour a little olive oil and add the shrimp. Add in cumin, chili powder, and hot sauce. Flip once
  5. Squeeze some lemon juice over the shrimp
  6. In two shallow bowls, make a layer of cauliflower rice
  7. Divide the shrimp over each
  8. Spoon the black beans in each bowl
  9. Place some sliced avocado and divide up the salsa
  10. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lemon wedges
Notes
I used dried black beans which I cooked over the stove, but if you use canned, make sure to heat them through before serving!

If you like this, you’ll love: Salmon Bowls with Miso Dressing

Salmon Bowls with Miso Dressing | danicaliforniacooks.com

Skillet Coconut Curry Shrimp Bake

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Wild rice is simmered with vegetables, spices, and coconut milk before adding in shrimp and tossing it all in the oven together. Put this to your repetoire of exotic one pot wonders!

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com I envisioned this recipe before I went to bed one night and leaped out of bed to write it down before I forgot it. I am the ultimate (read: scary) list person. I keep lists EVERYWHERE. On my computer, on my phone, in my notebook, on random post-it notes around my room, in my work notebook, in my Google drive, sent to me in e-mails…yikes, just listing those out doesn’t just read scary it IS scary. My dad and I have had long conversations about how we have several “priorities” of lists as well. The list goes on and on.

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com Anyways, this recipe was certainly something worth writing down on a list somewhere, and I’m glad I did in my sleepy state. While it’s a bit time-intensive, this recipe only requires one-pot and in the end, you have a warming, healthy, and flavorful dish with plenty of leftovers. The flavors are exotic but nothing overwhelming, and is a great Sunday night meal with a salad on the side.

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com The first step is to cook the wild rice. This requires a risotto-level style of cooking, which is why the recipe is a tad time consuming. Cook your onions, garlic, and ginger and then add the uncooked wild rice. Simmer in the coconut milk and green curry paste until the rice has soaked it up. You’ll then add a cup of warm water at a time, and let it come to a boil and then turn the heat off, to allow the rice to absorb. Every time the water gets absorbed, add in another cup until the rice is cooked. And do plenty of stirring. This takes about 30 minutes, I’d say. Turn on some music, put on a cute apron, and enjoy being in your kitchen! Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com Once the rice is almost fully cooked, stir in the peas and pepper. Take your shrimp and snuggle (yes, snuggle) it into the rice. Pop it into your oven at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until the shrimp is fully cooked through. And then dinner is served! The risotto style way of cooking the rice provides a creamy texture, and the whole dish is exotic and flavorful. We enjoyed the leftovers for many nights.

Shrimp Baked in Green Curry Coconut Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com

5.0 from 1 reviews
Skillet Coconut Curry Shrimp Bake
 
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Wild rice is simmered with vegetables, spices, and coconut milk before adding in shrimp and tossing it all in the oven together. Put this to your repetoire of exotic one pot wonders!
Author:
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 cup wild rice, uncooked
  • ½ onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 1-inch knob ginger, grated
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 3 tbsp green curry paste
  • ½ cup peas
  • ½ red pepper, diced
  • 1½ dozen shrimp
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Warm water on the side
  • Juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
  1. In a large cast iron skillet, cook the onions, garlic and ginger in a little olive olive
  2. While that is cooking, in a plastic bag, mix your uncooked shrimp with 2 tbsp of olive oil and a little salt and pepper, and place in the fridge to marinate
  3. Once translucent, add the wild rice, coconut milk, and green curry paste. Stir well to distribute the curry
  4. Turn the stove on high to allow the coconut milk to boil, and once boiling is met, turn on low to simmer
  5. Stir frequently until all of the coconut milk has been absorbed
  6. Once absorbed, add in a cup of warm water and repeat the boiling/simmer process above until all water is absorbed again. Repeat until rice is almost fully cooked through. This will probably take a half hour
  7. Once rice is almost cooked, stir in the peas and pepper
  8. Turn your oven on to 375 degrees F
  9. Take your shrimp and nestle it into the rice dish
  10. Put the skillet in the oven and bake for 20 mins. The shrimp should be pink and cooked through
  11. Stir in lemon juice and serve!

If you like this, you’ll love: Healthier Red Beans and Rice

Healthier Red Beans and Rice | danicaliforniacooks.com

One-Pot Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod

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This tomato and broth-based seafood stew needs only one pot to simmer the vegetables, herbs, shrimp and cod! One-Pot Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod | danicaliforniacooks.com A couple of summers ago, my family and I met in Seattle with pretty much just enough workout clothes for the week and many Cliff bars. We rented fancy bikes and strapped everything to them, and set off for a week long journey throughout the San Juan islands. Every day we biked between 30-50 miles around the islands, taking ferries when we needed to cross water. It was the hardest thing I've ever done because there was not ONE flat road and we were either wheezing our way up a hill or sailing down one. My dad at one point was like "wow Dani you're really sweating back there all the way in the back" and I just go "no, Dad I'm actually crying". True story. 1002444_10151744063947277_1499210754_n 994222_10151747960967277_553466561_n Dinner at the end of each night felt so WORTH it and so NEEDED to refuel. I grew to look forward to one specific thing that is extremely common across the Pacific Northwest - cioppino (pronounched chip-peeno). It's the Italian version of the bouillabaise (another totally unpronounceable word - youtube helps). A tomato and broth based soup filled to the brim with different seafoods and fresh herbs. It's warming, flavorful, and keeps you interested with lots of different fishes, seafoods and vegetables in each bowl. I was also dairy and gluten free at the time, and it satisfied those requirements too. It seemed complicated - like only a restaurant could make it - but I stumbled across one of Giada's recipes and it looked relatively easy. So I modified it and came up with the BEST dish that was so EASY. Oh man. I can't wait to share this with you. Easiest Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod | danicaliforniacooks.com Don't you love a good bundle of farmers market produce? Not all of this went into the cioppino, but it was pretty just the same. The great thing about this recipe is that it all takes place in one pot, and you don't need to simmer it for that long to develop delicious flavor. First, chop your onions, garlic, and slice your fennel. Sweat those out in your pot before adding the white wine and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Then you add your stock, tomatoes, fresh herbs (thyme and basil) and the seafood comes last. The variety of seafood I have found in cioppino is endless - salmon, cod, questionable white fish, scallops, prawns, calamari, etc. Today I kept it easy and used frozen shrimp and frozen cod. It dethawed in the soup itself and dinner was brought together in a matter of minutes. Easiest Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod | danicaliforniacooks.com My photographer may have caught me sneaking a few samples of this as I served it up with some more fresh herbs on top. My taste testers proclaimed it one of my best dishes! I served it with a kale salad and crusty kalamata olive bread. Don't shy away from this recipe because "seafood stew" sounds complicated. It's really just like making any other soup - just tastes 10 million times better. This is also an awesome recipe for all of you gluten free pescetarians out there! (Just tried to autocorrect pescetarian to proletarian...nice try, wordpress). Easiest Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod | danicaliforniacooks.com
One-Pot Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod
 
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This tomato-based stew only needs one-pot to simmer the herbs, vegetables and seafood to perfection. A weeknight take on the Italian classic! Adapted from Giada Laurentiis.
Author:
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 large fennel bulbs, sliced
  • 1 white onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • ¾ cup white wine
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • 1 can whole unpeeled tomatoes, drained and chopped
  • 1 quart vegetable stock
  • ½ cup packed chopped fresh basil
  • 4 tbsp fresh thyme, leaves pulled off the stem
  • 2-3 cups peeled and devined shrimp
  • 2 filets of cod, cut into thirds
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
Instructions
  1. In a large pot, sweat out the onions, garlic, and fennel in some olive oil over medium heat
  2. Once translucent, add the white wine and bring to a boil for several minutes
  3. Add the tomato paste and stock and let simmer on medium for 4 minutes or so
  4. Add the seafood and the herbs, simmer on medium until seafood is cooked through, about 15 mins
  5. Let simmer on low for several hours or serve immediately with crusty bread

Easiest Cioppino with Shrimp and Cod | danicaliforniacooks.com