Shrimp Linguini? Nope! Colcannon!

On the way home from work tonight, I was mulling over the possibilities for dinner. My original thought was shrimp linguini, which is one of my go-to dinners. I always have raw shell-on shrimp in the freezer (when they go on sale I buy a LOT), and the rest of the ingredients are kitchen staples. I'll just post the recipe now so I don't forget later on. This is more a technique than a recipe; the ingredients are very much to taste and quantities are approximate, so feel free to add more or less of anything. I tend to make enough for dinner and leftovers.

Shrimp Linguini (for two people, with leftovers)
12-20 shrimp, raw, shell-on, thawed (quantity depends more on shrimp size and personal preference than anything else)
Olive oil or butter
5-9 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled, roughly chopped
red pepper flakes
white wine (NOT "cooking wine" - that stuff is naaaasty)
juice of one lemon (and zest if you feel like it and your lemon's not old and wrinkled like mine usually are)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb - 3/4 linguini

Start water for the linguini (heavily salt when it comes to a boil). Shell the shrimp completely, including the tails, and put the peels into a small saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil, then simmer while you start the garlic and shrimp. Melt butter or heat olive oil in a skillet, add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and shrimp. Add the linguini to the boiling water. Saute until the shrimp get a bit of color on the outside, but don't cook them all the way through. Take out the shrimp and set aside. Deglaze the pan with some white wine (1/4 - 1/2 cup is good), scraping the bits off the bottom, then strain the shrimp stock into the wine. Let this simmer until the linguini is just short of done (it will finish cooking in the sauce), then put the linguini into the sauce, using tongs to get the pasta all covered. Add the shrimp and lemon juice as well, and cook until the pasta is done. Add salt and pepper to taste, and a bit of chopped fresh parsley is great as well.

Now, this is what I was going to do until I realized that 1) no lemons and 2) I still had leftover potatoes and carrots from the corned beef. The corned beef was finished off as hash this last weekend, but I'm not about to let the potatoes go to waste. So, I made . . .

Colcannon! It's normally a side dish, but I'm eating it alone, with a salad and an egg on the side for protein, and, of course, a pint of Murphy's stout (I prefer it to Guinness).
Probably about 1-2 lbs leftover cooked potatoes, taken out of the corned beef broth
There were about 10 baby carrots in there, too.
I mashed up the potatoes and chopped up the carrots, then chopped 1/2 small head of cabbage, put the cabbage into the broth, and microwaved it for 5 minutes to get it partially cooked. Strained the cabbage, then added it and a heaping spoonful of leftover horseradish sauce to the mix, tasted for salting and peppering, then put it in an 8" square glass casserole dish, grated a healthy amount of sharp cheddar onto the top, then into a 350 oven for about 30 minutes.

I really like the horseradish in this - it adds an extra dimension of flavor while also helping me use up the leftover sauce. I may have a little more on the side as well!

Ham and White Bean Leftover Soup

We had an absolutely fabulous New Year party this year; I made tons of canapes and we had a cocktail party. I promise to post about that soon, though I forgot to take pictures of all the food, so the descriptions are taking a bit longer to write up.

In the meantime, how about some more soup? This time, it's a recipe using leftovers from the fridge helped by stuff I keep on hand all the time. From the pantry. I'm like Sandra Lee, but without the sagging boobs and seasoning packets! We had a bunch of leftover ham from one Christmas dinner, chunks of onion and red bell pepper from some fajita beef skewers from New Year's (they had been touched with raw beef so they had to be cooked), the normal mug o'bacon fat from breakfast bacon and half a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that, well, tasted like white grape juice *shudder*.

Here's the ingredient list:
Spoonful of bacon fat (or use your favorite fat)
Approximately 1/2 onion, chopped
Approximately 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed and rough chopped
1 carrot, chopped
pinch red pepper flakes
Approximately 1/2 bottle white wine (or use less and supplement with stock)
Around 2 cups water (I didn't have any stock on hand)
Approximately 1/2 lb ham, diced
1 can white beans (I used Cannellini beans)
Pepper (there was enough salt with the beans and ham)
Pinch of dried thyme

I sauteed the onion, garlic, pepper, pepper flakes, and carrot in the bacon fat until soft and just beginning to take on color, then threw in the wine, let it reduce to about half, then added the ham and water. I let this simmer for probably 10 minutes, mostly to get some of the ham flavor into the liquid, since I didn't have any stock. I added the beans, which I only drained of about half their liquid, fresh ground pepper, and the thyme, then let it simmer until the liquid was thickened, about 10 more minutes. We ate it with leftover bread from New Year's, which was already sliced and had been intended for Bruschetta, so it was perfect for sopping up the broth. We also had some leftover olives and Blue Cheese Ball.

It actually turned out pretty well for a last-minute quick soup, so I was happy!