I Feel the Need...the Need for Speed

I feel the need for speed in the kitchen on nearly a daily basis. Let's just say that I am counting down the days until school is out for the summer and my kids' activities dwindle to merely weekly tennis lessons. Life has been so incredibly busy!

Between one kid's soccer practices and games, and the other kid's academic obligations, and tennis and church activities for both, we are on the run almost every evening and all weekend long. I have never been one of those people who desired cute stickers and signs on the back of my car, but I'll just say that I finally understand where those ladies sporting a "Mom's Taxi" sign on the back windows of their assorted SUVs and minivans are coming from.

I came across a great recipe recently which my family loved, and it took a total of 20 minutes to cook from start to finish, and is inherently gluten free. I think this one has earned a spot in my permanent quick-recipe repertoire.

*****

Shrimp Scampi with Asparagus and Brown Rice

1 pound uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pound of asparagus
4 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup white wine
salt/pepper to taste
Two cups of cooked brown rice

In large skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Prepare asparagus by snapping off the ends, and then cut into 1" pieces. Add to melted butter. Press garlic into skillet using a garlic press, and stir to mix with asparagus. Check shrimp to ensure that all tails are removed and add to skillet. Saute until shrimp is cooked through. Add additional white wine; increase heat to medium-high until wine begins to bubble. Reduce heat and add additional 2 tbsp. of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve over cooked brown rice.

*****

Some notes:

Always, always, always buy uncooked shrimp. It may be tempting to buy the pre-cooked, but it will not taste as good and they will get tough. Shrimp take hardly any time at all to cook and they are much tastier if you start them raw. Also, purchase shrimp that have already been peeled and deveined, because peeling takes a ton of time, and deveining is gross.

If you are not into cooking with wine, try about 1/8 of a cup of fresh lemon juice instead. You just need some acidity for the dish and that would do the trick.

I use Birdseye Steamfresh rice, and it doesn't get any easier than that. I know that microwaving something in plastic packaging gives a lot of people pause. It gave me pause, as a matter of fact, until I looked it up and found that Birdseye does not use any chemicals known to be potentially harmful to humans in their microwavable packaging, including Bisphenol-A. I am all about being speedy in the kitchen, and that includes generating as few dishes and pots and pans as possible, because I love to cook, but I absolutely hate to clean up afterward, so the Birdseye rice helps keep my dish count to a minimum.

There's no reason to cook anything, speedy or not, if it doesn't taste great, and this recipe really delivered. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.