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Friday, April 9, 2010

Family Friday Feast - Thai Asparagus-Shrimp

Tonight, we were hanging together as a family all prepared to watch the much Jack-anticipated episode of Ghost Hunters Alcatraz in preparation for our trip to San Francisco in May.  Jack is a new-comer to Ghost Hunters and I imagine this will scare the pants off him...but, he is going to be 12 in 2 short months, so I'm allowing this.  We wrestled with what to have for dinner...chinese take-out, pizza...nada, we're tired of our limited options.  I suggested that Joe have some Father/Son time with Jack on the Wii and I'd whip something up for dinner.

The result was a spicy-hot, nutty shrimp, asparagus Thai inspired dish.  My friend Laura brought a wonderful Thai Aparagus salad to our Easter celebration and this creation was completely inspired by her dish!

I had asparagus on hand and always have a bag of frozen shrimp and I knew I had cellophane noodles that Joe purchased at an Asian grocery longer ago than I'm willing to admit.  I thought if I could recreate something similar to the salad Laura brought to Easter and served it over cellophane noodles, it just might be a new favorite!  Armed with my new, lovely, heart shaped measuring spoons that Christy sent to me, I was ready to cook!

Thai Asparagus-Shrimp over Cellophane Noodles

1 bag frozen shrimp, thawed, peeled, deveined
2 bundles fresh aparagus
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t powdered ginger
1/2 t sesame oil
1 T Thai fish sauce
3-4 T peanut butter
handful of basil, chopped for garnish
1 bag cellophane noodles


1.  Chop asparagus into bite size pieces and steam for 4 minutes or so, then throw it into a colander.

2.  Place cellophane noodles into boiling water for 5 minutes or until translucent, then put them in a colander and rinse with cold water.

3.  In a wok or a skillet, heat 2T oil along with the sesame oil.  Once it is very hot, add the garlic, ginger, and the fish sauce.  Sautee for a minute or so.

4.  Add the shrimp to the wok or skillet along with many tablespoons of the chili garlic sauce.  Saute until the shrimp are pink.

5.  Add 3 T of peanut butter to the sauteed shrimp mixture and stir it in well.

6.  Add asparagus to the shrimp and mix well.

7.  Place the cellophane noodles on a plate, top with the shrimp-asparagus mixture and garnish with chopped basil.

This dish was sooooo delicious!  My family enjoyed the spicyness and this was seriously HOT. The last minute addition of the peanut butter was P-perfect, the cellophane noodles that had been hanging around in my kitchen pantry were also a perfect complement to the fabulous spicy hot, sweat inducing shrimp and asparagus.  Truly a Thai inspired dinner!

I'm looking forward to our trip to San Francisco...chinatown is calling me to purchase a great wok while I'm visiting!

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