Date Night Dinners - Sausage, Shrimp, Cauliflower And More

10/24/2014 tringel 0 Comments

It has officially been a month since I moved into my new place, and I have really begun to settle in. And by settle in, I mean I enjoy laying on the floor watching repeat episodes of my favorite shows on DVD sans furniture and cable. I have also gotten almost everything unpacked and put away, except for that one room that has collected the piles of random stuff I still have to sort through. You know the room. It isn't used much.




But in all seriousness, with everything much more organized, including my lately scattered brain, Brenden and I thought it was the perfect night to jazz up our date night dinners again and try a few new recipes. This week, to my surprise, was a huge success. The recipes have definitely made it to our favorites list. Brenden and I had a great idea to make ourselves a cookbook with all the successful recipes we try. As a designer, I would be designing it and then we would print and bind it and have something great that we made together and use repeatedly together. Well, while I don't foresee a date in the near future for the designing to happen, the recipes have been slowly pilling up, and after tasting our dishes last night, these were quickly added to the stack.


I know you are curious now; what are the recipes I have been raving about? Well we combined three. I told you, we went crazy this week. But they all worked so well together. We made a chorizo sausage, shrimp and veggie sauté with cauliflower wraps. And if I haven't made my point already, they were really, really good. Especially the wraps.




We have tried cauliflower pizza numerous times and quite like it. We even posted our most successful version here, and it was quite the favorite among you guys. I knew it could be even better though, so I kept exploring recipes and tips. Recently, I stumbled upon something different. Cauliflower wraps. They had the same basic idea as cauliflower pizza, except they were thinner, had less ingredients, and they replaced wraps, you know like tortilla shells, instead of pizza dough. I showed Brenden and we had to try it.


The directions seemed simple but described the process with a lot of detailed, which was good. And I think the tips from this recipe will help us make our future caulk-pizzas even better. I was very nervous that these would not turn out; that they would fall apart or taste like nothing, but I was 100% wrong.

I shredded the cauliflower a bit longer in the food processor then usual (instead of being shredded just enough to look like rice, I continued until it almost looked like cauli-dust) and I think that really did the trick. I transformed the cauliflower into more of a dough consistency from a vegetable. The wraps held nicely, although Brenden's held better then mine because he spread his thinner - so don't be afraid of spreading the wrap too thin. The flavor was just right. It had the perfect amount of seasoning to pump of the flavor of bland cauliflower and the wrap really balanced out spiciness of the other part of our meal. I already told Brenden we are making these wraps all the time, my mouth waters when I think about the breakfast wrap I have planned with these.


Don't think the cauliflower was the only star of the night. The filling was just as great. It was a five star, co-star kind of night. We found this shrimp, sausage and veggie recipe and thought it would be both tasty and filling while still meeting Brenden's no carb requirement. We were even advententuous enough to make our own marinade for the shrimp (since the original recipe used pre-glazed shrimp), and I am glad we did. It was so simple and so delicious. I knew the mixture was going to be good as soon as the smells started to fill the room.

We used a chorizo chicken sausage and a honey chipotle marinade for the shrimp. The flavors coated the vegetable that were added to the dish and the sweet and spicy elements balanced each other out perfectly. There was still a definite kick to the dish, but the lingering aftertaste of the sweet honey allowed my mouth to take another bite. On top of that, the added cauliflower wrap also helped to balance out the spice, just as bread or rice would have done. Seriously, I could go on and on about how fantastic this dish was, but I will end here for you sake. Lucky for me I have leftovers, or I would be making it again tonight.

Cauliflower Wraps
Recipe adapted from empoweredsustenance.com, Cauliflower Wraps

Ingredients

• 1 small head cauliflower
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp basil and thyme

Directions

1. Break the cauliflower into small florets and place into a food processor.
2. Pulse the cauliflower until they look like crumbs and somewhat stick together.
3. Place the processed cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8-minutes, partially covered.
4. Remove cauliflower from the microwave and pour into the center of a clean kitchen towel to cool.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. Once the cauliflower is cooled enough to handle, wrap the towel around the cauliflower and squeeze as much excess water out a possible. Tip: when you think you have squeezed all of the water our, transfer to a dry towel and repeat the process.
7. Return the cauliflower to a dry bowl and mix in the eggs and seasoning with your hands, almost like you are kneading bread.
8. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and divide the cauliflower mixture between the two sheets, placing a ball in the middle of each.
9. With a spatula, press down on the cauliflower so that it forms a thin circular layer. Note: keep the wraps compacts, there should be no parchment paper showing through the mixture in any area of the wrap.
10. Bake for about 17 until the 'dough' begins turn golden and the wrap id dry and pliable.
11. Gently remove the wraps from the parchment paper and place on a wire rack to cool so the bottom does not become soggy. When cool enough, enjoy with a dip or filling of your choice. Recommendation: fill with the chorizo sausage and chipotle shrimp sauté feature below.

Chorizo Sausage and Chipotle Shrimp Sauté
Recipe adapted from womansday.com, Smoky Shrimp and Chorizo and eatandrelish.com, Honey Chipotle Grilled Shrimp Skewers...

Ingredients

• 6 oz chorizo chicken sausage
• 1 lb shrimp, deveined, peeled, and thawed
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
• 2 Tbsp adobo sauce
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped

Directions

• In a large skillet, sear the chicken sausage around the outside. Once seared, remove, cut into small slice and return to the pan on medium heat to cook through fully.
• Add the onion and green pepper to cook with the sausage.
• While the chicken sausage is cooking, combine the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, olive oil, and honey in a medium bowl to create a marinade.
• Coat the shrimp in the marinade you just made for 10-15 minutes.
• Once the sausage is cooked through and the onion and green pepper are tender, add the corn and black beans, turning the heat to medium-low.
• In a separate, medium skillet on medium heat, cook the shrimp with marinade for about 5-7 minutes, or until cooked fully (they will turn white/pink).
• Once the shrimp are cooked through, pour into the sausage and veggie skillet, coating everything with the marinade from the shrimp.
• Remove the dish from the heat, and serve. Recommended with the cauliflower wrap featured above or rice.