If you were to poke around my kitchen right now, you’d see a lot of jars and bottles containing all sorts of liquids and other curiosities. There’s the large jar of vinegar that’s steeping with orange peels (for a natural, orange-scented all-purpose cleaner), a small container of vodka with zested citron peel for a test batch of limoncello, and a giant bottle that holds my first, and possibly failed, attempt at making kombucha.
These endeavors aren’t for the inpatient or the overly tidy. Not only do I have to wait a week or two, but all of these experiments are taking up almost every horizontal surface of the kitchen.
So it sure is nice to throw a simple, healthy and, most importantly, quick meal to the mix. There’s nothing quite like immediate gratification.
This shrimp and asparagus stir fry, which is flavored with shallots, turmeric, and cayenne, can be thrown together in less than 20 minutes. Perfect for those in a hurry. And because you only need one-skillet to cook everything, it’ll be a snap to clean up and get your kitchen back in order. Unless of course you’ve got some vinegar/limoncello/kombucha experiments going on like I do…
Burmese Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry
Yield: 4 servings
Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
* 3/4 pound medium or large shrimp, peeled and deveined
* 3 teaspoons fish sauce, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 Tablespoon oil
* 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
* 1-1/4 pounds asparagus, woody ends trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces on the diagonal
* 2 teaspoons gluten-free soy sauce, tamari or Bragg’s liquid aminos
* 2-3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
Directions:
In a large bowl combine the shrimp in 2 teaspoons of the fish sauce, 1/4 teaspoon of the turmeric, and the salt. Let marinate for 15 minutes.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the remaining turmeric, the cayenne pepper and the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until the shallots have softened. Add the asparagus, the remaining teaspoon of fish sauce, and the soy sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, until the asparagus have begun to soften.
Add the shrimp and cook, stirring frequently, until the shrimp have turned pink and are cooked through, approximately 2-3 minutes.
Top with cilantro and serve hot.
It’s very much peasant food, created from very simple ingredients, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If you’re looking for something excessively rich and indulgent, this isn’t the soup for you. (But I would encourage you to try this terrific 
Ahhh… the first time I’d tasted Nutella. I remember it very clearly (the taste anyways… the rest is sort of hazy, as you’ll see). I was young, around ten years old perhaps? We’d just picked up my oldest sister, who’d just returned from a trip to Europe (Austria? Germany?), from the airport.
Twenty years (and many, many Nutella crepes) later, the magic has, if not disappeared, certainly diminished. I recently bought a three pack from Sam’s Club and had a hard time getting through it. If Nutella and I were in a relationship I would have told him, “it’s not you, it’s me. I’ve changed. I want more.”
I made them once exactly as written in the original recipe (very, very good), but make some edits for the second batch to make them a little less salty and a bit crunchier. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of peanut butter caramel goodness to coat each and every Chex piece.
You might want to save these for a day when you know when you’ll be having company or kids over (or not… I won’t judge). Because I promise you that these will disappear shockingly fast. It’s sort of like having two dozen Twix or Take 5 candy bars out and unwrapped. Totally dangerous.
