Camarones a la Barbara

So, I won a cooking contest at work.  Engineered by our Marketing Director, the idea was to send a winner on to a city-wide contest, to be held later this summer, called  "Cooking Up Justice".   My dish, "Camarones a la Barbara" kept company with a bevy of delicious entries from my colleagues.  Oh, they were so delicious.  Penne a la vodka, Patitsio, Chile, Coconut Cake, Quiche, Coffee Cake, and on and on, I forget them all!     One of the judges was Chef Lepke, who has  been a contestant on "Chopped".  I don't get cable, so I have never watched the show, but anyway... 

Here's my basic recipe.

Camarones a la Barbara

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
butter and olive oil for saute
3 tablespoons spices or herbs of your choice.  I used a combination of cumin, tumeric, ginger, paprika.
salt and pepper to taste
6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 cup tomatoes with juice (canned are fine)

Warm butter and olive oil, then saute garlic until golden.  Put in shrimp.  Cook on medium high for a short period.  Take shrimp out, and put in a bowl.  Put other ingredients in and reduce the sauce.  Return shrimp to warm, then serve over pasta, rice, or with bread.  That's it!

Pizza Rustica

This is pizza with three cheeses. Provolone, mozzarella, and grated parmesan. I made the dough using regular flour, as well as some of this wonderful grain blend from King Arthur. My mom and dad gave me a gift certificate for King Arthur for my birthday so I got a bunch of things from there. I learned my recipe for Pizza in the 1980s, and have it in my head. I riff on it from a recipe published in Cosmopolitan Magazine (of all places!). 1 cup water, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 T yeast, 3 cups flour (I riff on the flour with whatever). Also, for the oil, I used tonight the oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I also added 1 tablespoon oregano in the dough. This is so easy. I got the pepperoni from a store in the Quakertown Farmers' Market - The "Q MART"!