My Compliments to the Chef

For the past few weeks my family has been ready to lend a helping hand in my temporary confinement.  Staying off of a fractured ankle has been my goal and I do believe it is helping to heal a very inconvenient  injury.  One of those who has lightened my load is my son-in-law Jim.  Jim is a natural born cook.

As he tells the story he and my daughter were in Savannah, Georgia over Thanksgiving holidays.  They found that good restaurants were hard to find.  They did however locate a Greek restaurant on the waterfront called The Olympia Cafe.  From the evening that they dined there I have become the beneficiary of a delightful dish called "Shrimp Scampi".  I was aware that Jim knew what to do to enhance the flavor of anything edible but he outdid himself on this treat.  His rendering of that recipe is what I am pleased to share with you now.  Bear in mind that the seasoning is proportional to your taste.

In his own words:

While they didn't give us the recipe, this recipe captures the taste of their dish. You know the way I cook, I really don't measure anything, but really do it by appearance and taste, but this is approximately what I did on Monday.

1. 1lb of shrimp, after peeling shrimp dust them with Cajun Season (about 3/4 - 1 tablespoon of Cajun Seasoning). As you dust the shrimp with the Cajun Seasoning keep tossing shrimp by hand to make sure the seasoning is equally distributed on all of the shrimp.

2. 1 - 8 oz can of petite diced tomatoes

3. 1 Large tablespoon of crushed garlic

4. 1 healthy dash of Italian Seasoning to taste. (about 1/4 tablespoon )

5. 3 to 4 tablespoon of butter or a combination of butter and olive oil.

Peel shrimp, and season shrimp with Cajun Seasoning. Put tomatoes, garlic, butter and Italian Seasoning in wok. Heat until it is a slow boil. At this point taste the tomato sauce and add any additional garlic, Italian Seasoning or pepper to personal taste. Once the mixture has simmered for a few minutes, turn up heat to high, add shrimp and stir. Cook shrimp just until they just turn pink, it should be 1 or 2 minutes. Be careful not to overcook shrimp or it will be tough. Remember the shrimp will continue to cook after it is removed from the heat, so you just want the shrimp to turn pink.

Spoon over pasta and salivate.

You can add onions and/or white wine to recipe, if you have that available. The white wine will make the sauce a little lighter and give it a subtle little something extra.

 

Jim does not eat wheat so he brought for me a baguette which topped off the tastiest meal ever!

 

I just hope that when (if) I get to heaven they have shrimp and Jim will be there to prepare this dish.  If not then I have already had a little taste of heaven.