Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Shrimp Jambalaya

Shrimp, sausage and just a touch of hot sauce. What's not to like?

# Shrimp Jambalaya

America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking

8.0 ounces andouille sausage
1.0 whole onion
1.0 stalk celery
1.0 whole red bell pepper
5.0 cloves garlic
1.0 pound shrimp (deveined)
14.5 oz tomatoes (diced)
1.0 tbsp vegetable oil
1.5 cups white rice
1.0 tsp salt
0.5 tsp thyme
8.0 oz clam juice
1.5 cups chicken broth
2.0 tbsp parsley

1 - Slice the sausage into 1/4-inch-thick rounds.
2 - Peel the skin and any tough outer layers from the onion.
3 - Mince the onion into 1/8-inch or smaller pieces.
4 - Cut the celery rib lengthwise into thin strips.
5 - Cut the strips crosswise into small pieces.
6 - Trim a 1/2 inch from the top and bottom of the pepper, including the stem.
7 - Slice the pepper from top to bottom into several pieces that will sit flat on the cutting board.
8 - Trim the white ribs on the interior of each piece and remove any remaining seeds.
9 - Cut the pepper into strips and then chop fine.
10 - Use the side of a chef's knife to tap the clove. The skin should loosen enough to remove by hand.
11 - Once the garlic has been peeled, use a garlic press to mince it.
12 - Remove the shells from the shrimp.
13 - Drain the canned tomatoes into a fine-mesh strainer set over a large measuring cup or bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup of the juice.
14 - Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat until shimmering.
15 - Add the sausage and cook until lightly browned, about three minutes.
16 - Put the sausage on a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving the fat in the pot.
17 - Add the onion, celery and bell pepper to the fat in the pot and return the to medium heat.
18 - Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the vegetables are softened, about five minutes.
19 - Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.
20 - Stir in the rice, salt and thyme and cook for one minute.
21 - Stir in the tomatoes, the reserved tomato juice, clam juice, broth and the browned sausage.
22 - Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits.
23 - Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
24 - Scatter the shrimp over the rice and cook, covered, until the rice is tender and the shrimp have cooked through, about five minutes.
25 - Stir in the parsley before serving.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

I SOMEHOW MADE HIM PRETTIER.

#tearsofthekingdom

Dude. DUDE.

More. MORE.

Quarterly Enchargening.

Pelia's not mischevious grandma. She's crime grandma. And I love her.

#StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds

This really hits hard today....

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal:

I actually got all my meals AND a bread made today. Gonna pay for it tomorrow, I think, but, it got done.

# Spaghetti Peperoncino

Personal Trainer: Cooking
13.0 servings

1.3125 pounds spaghetti
12.0 cloves garlic
6.0 whole red chili peppers
salt
3.0 tbsps olive oil (for finishing)
3.0 tsp parsley
0.6666666666666666 cups olive oil

1 - First, peel the garlic.
2 - Use a wooden spoon to crush the garlic.
3 - Remove the seeds from the red chilies.
4 - Pour the olive oil into the frying pan.
5 - Add the crushed garlic, and place the pan over moderate heat, tilting it slightly.
6 - When the garlic starts to steam and small bubbles appear, reduce to low heat.
7 - Gently sauté the garlic until it turns a golden brown.
8 - Tear the red chilies into small pieces, add them to the frying pan, and turn off the heat.
9 - Stir in the finely chopped Italian parsley and take the frying pan off the stove.
10 - Fill the saucepan with plenty of water and bring it to a boil.
11 - Add salt to the water, adding just under two teaspoons of salt for every quart of water you're boiling.
12 - Add the dried spaghetti, leaning it against the sides of the pan. Reduce to moderate heat.
13 - Keep the water at a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Refer to the cooking time given on the packaging of the spaghetti.
14 - Transfer 3/4 cups of the pasta water listed to the small bowl.
15 - To see if the spaghetti is ready, cut a piece with your thumbnail. If it's a little firm in the center, it's ready.
16 - Turn off the heat and use the sieve to drain off the water from the spaghetti.
17 - Put the frying pan with the garlic and chili in it back on the stove.
18 - Add a third of the pasta water you saved to the frying pan and heat over moderate heat.
19 - Move the pan back and forth a little on the stove so the oil and water mix fully.
20 - Add the rest of the cooking water you saved, half at a time. Mix it in while moving the pan back and forth.
21 - Add the spaghetti to the drying pan and stir it in briskly with the other ingredients.
22 - Season by stirring in salt to taste and turn off the heat.
23 - Drizzle some of the extra-virgn olive oil over the spaghetti.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

This Week's Bread: Yeah it's the struan bread again. It's cheap and simple and good.

#cooking #thisweeksmeals

Thunderstorms are rare out here, but we got another round on Thursday. Nothing like the thunder boomers we get back home, but any thunderstorm is a good thunderstorm to me....

They're here. THEY'RE HERE.

This bag of Ranier Cherries did not last the night.

It is my life's one true wish to buy one of these fireworks cases and set it on fire.

So, I've heard some rumblings about this week's Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. And I know I'm in for a wild ride, when one of the first things you see is....

Microsoft Windows 1.01 running Write:

So, I've decided, the Burger Kink Texas Double Whopper is the closest thing to a whataburger I've had out here, and is pretty damned tasty to boot.

Yes, I know I wrote Burger Kink. It's a typo, but I'm leaving it in for your imaginations.

Finally, the pile of dishes and messy kitchen from two weeks of flu and two weeks of a pinched nerve is DONE. I'm so happy given the pinched nerve had not gone away (but has gotten better), and if I can just keep up with the kitchen, it shouldn't result in weeks of working while I can to clean it.

"Witness the blood moon's rise. When its red glow shines upon the land the aimless spirits of slain monsters return to flesh. Just as they did in a war long past. The world is threatened once again."

"Listen, roomie, laundry isn't gonna do itself."

#Tearsofthekingdom

2023: You're laid off.
Jenn: Okay, not a problem. I'll get some creative work done while I wait on interviews.
2023: Like hell you will....

Jenn, you cook so much awesome food. Where'd you learn all that?

I am 15 minutes into Strange New Worlds, and I'm ready to rename this to The Commander Pelia Hour. Carol Kane is this show already playing a character type I've NEVER seen in Star Trek before: The michevious grandma.