Mediterranean cooking night--a Healthy Start to the New Year!

Since I have had some free time this month (no school) I have been able to be a bit more mindful about what I am putting into my body. I have heard so many good things about the Mediterranean diet and so I thought I would test it out. My partner is very interested in cooking and learning about other culture's diets, so he picked up this book at Half Price Books:

Since the Mediterranean diet is rich in a variety of seafood, I thought a good place to begin would be with the Italian Shrimp Skewers. Pretty safe. With all of the different kinds of fish and shellfish recipes introduced in the cookbook, I thought it would be good insurance for my first stab at this cooking style.

I decided to couple the Italian Shrimp Skewers with the Halloumi and Grape Salad. (I saw the fried cheese on the salad and was sold!) No but really, I thought it would be a perfect side, sticking to the lightness of the shrimp, but also adding an element of rich and substantial flavor. Plus if you are a cheese lover you can't go wrong here!

Both the shrimp and the salad are SUPER easy to prepare. Really with the salad it is just finding the cheese (call ahead to your grocer to make sure it is there), and with the shrimp you just need an hour or so to let it sit and marinate.

HALLOUMI AND GRAPE SALAD
In Eastern Europe, firm, salty halloumi cheese is often served fried for breakfast or supper. Feta cheese makes a good substitute in this recipe.

FOR THE DRESSING:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 TBSP chopped fresh thyme (or dill...I used thyme)

FOR THE SALAD:
5 oz. mixed salad greens (1 bag)
3 oz. seedless green grapes
3 oz. seedless red grapes
9 oz. halloumi cheese (the packet came in 8.8 oz. so I just went with that)
3 TBSP olive oil
Thyme leaves (or dill) to garnish

SERVES 4

1. To make the dressing, combine the olive oil, lemon juice and sugar. Season. Stir in the thyme (or dill) and set aside.

2. Toss together the salad greens and the green and red grapes, then transfer to a large serving plate.

3. Thinly slice the cheese. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the cheese and saute briefly until turning golden on the underside. Turn the cheese with a spatula and cook the other side.


(Jay may have overdone them according to the recipe, but it still tasted phenomenal!)

4. Arrange the cheese on the salad. Pour on the dressing and garnish with thyme (or dill). (We just put the cheese pieces in a bowl and like croutons, added as much cheese as we wanted on our own salads).

So simple, but so good!

ITALIAN SHRIMP SKEWERS
Simple and delicious mouthfuls from the Amalfi Coast

2 pounds raw shrimp, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
3 TBSP vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup very fine dry bread crumbs (I used Italian since it made sense with
the name and I couldn't find anything else)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
salt and ground black pepper to taste
lemon wedges, to serve

SERVES 4 (Note about serving size: When I made it, I halved the above written recipe and it yielded 48 pieces of shrimp, 8 skewers with 6 pieces of shrimp each, for Jay and I halving this recipe still yielded 4 servings for us, we each ate 2 skewers for dinner and each had 2 more leftover for lunch).

1. Slit the shrimp down their backs and remove the dark vein (I bought the deveined kind so I was fortunate to save some time here). Rinse in cold water and pat dry.

2. Put the olive oil and vegetable oil in a large bowl and add the shrimp, mixing them to coat evenly. Add the bread crumbs, garlic, and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Toss the shrimp thoroughly to give them an even coating of bread crumbs. Cover and let marinate for at least an hour.

3. Thread the shrimp onto four metal or wooden skewers (for us this was actually 8 wooden skewers for the half recipe), curling them up as you do so, so that the tail is skewered in the middle.

4. Preheat the broiler. Place the skewers in the broiler pan (cookie sheet) and cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until the bread crumbs are golden. Serve with lemon wedges.

NUM NUM NUM NUM...you are finished!


Italian Shrimp Skewers


Up Close of the Halloumi Salad


Forgot to add the lemon wedges for garnish


I can't get enough angles of this meal!

Really, I cannot stress enough the simplicity of this meal, and as you can see in the photos, for how simple it is to make, it sure cleans up well and makes for a good presentation. If you have any other questions about this recipe, let me know.

To have your own copy of this cookbook (and I only would suggest that you buy it if you really like ALL kinds of seafood--including squid), click here. I highly recommend buying a USED copy of this book to lessen the environmental impact of your purchase.