Cook Whatcha Got Challenge, Day 5

Personal Chefs cook from the Pantry continues still.

This has been a great challenge. My freezer is empty of what should have been discarded. I am in the middle of cleaning and organizing the pantry. I have eaten really well this week without shopping until today. I needed some produce, eggs, and after tomorrow, I will be cleaned out of protein to eat this week, so I bought some chicken. Nothing went in the pantry or freezer though. I am seeing how much food I waste by either buying too much or storing it improperly. Time for me to practice what I preach to my personal chef clients!  And it has been great to see my personal chef community take on this challenge and come up with some really creative meals. At the end of the post I will list some blogs where you can read about this.

Tonights dinner was a salad even though it is really not salad weather. It is still quite blustery here in Santa Cruz, not cold but wet! But, I received an excellent recipe in my email box last week and I had enough of the ingredients on hand to make a riff on Lynn Rosetto Casper’s Pineapple and Winter Greens Salad with Warm Chili-Coconut Milk Dressing. Sticking closer to the recipe would have been better. Having peanuts would have been better, but they are off my diet for now. Napa cabbage as Lynn calls for would have been better than arugula. I will make it again. The sauce is lovely!  Here is my version.

Shrimp with Greens and Pineapple with warm chili coconut milk dressing

a big handful of greens/lettuce

2 celery stalks

1 roasted red pepper

1/2 lb peeled and deveined shrimp

1/2 c diced fresh pineapple ( use canned if you have to)

1/2 can coconut milk

1 tsp. fish sauce

1 T chopped ginger

2 cloves minced garlic

1 T good chili powder ( I used Rancho Gordo’s new mexican chili pwdr) or more to taste

Arrange the greens and other vegetables on a plate, along with the pineapple. In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk, fish sauce, and herbs and spices. Bring to a simmer and add the shrimp. Cook until pink and firm. While still hot, place shrimp on the salad and drizzle/pour the sauce over the salad. 

Simple. Healthy. Good. The shrimp came from the freezer. The red pepper was from a jar taken from the pantry earlier in the week, as was the coconut milk. Everything else except the greens which I bought today, I had on hand. 

Check out these personal chef buddies who are blogging about the challenge and are delightful to read on any day.

Tami  of Dine in Diva

Patti Anastasia 

Amy from Eats! a personal chef service

MaryBeth Brinkerhoff of For Goodness Taste

From Ladle to Crave in Newport

Martha of Simply Delicious