Garlic shrimp and espinacas con garbanzos

Two nicely paried dishes for a great dinner!  

The shrimp recipe is page 169 of Smitten Keepers.  [recipe to follow].

Espinacas con garbanzos recipe is here (we made a few changes, so the as-cooked version is below).

shrimp recipe (as we cooked it)

14 large shrimp with shell on (7 each).  I thawed and soaked them in milk for 30 min, then rinsed.

Toss thawed shrimp in 3 Tbsp white wine (we used Josh pinot grigio) and season with salt and pepper.

Heat on med-high (6 out of 10 on our burner), 3-4 Tbsp butter (cut into 1 Tbsp pats) in large skillet.

Add 4-6 cloves chopped garlic

Add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Pour in shrimp + wine mixture.

Cook 5 minutes, flipping at 2.5 min  [ really not longer! if needed add a little more wine or water at the end to prevent garlic from browning too much ]

Turn off the heat, pour over juice from 1/2 lemon.  Finish with chopped flat leaf parsley.

Serve immediately with crusty bread.

So good!

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Espinacas con Garbanzo

Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil over low heat (2 out of 10 for us).  Add 1/4 - 1/2 onion finely chopped.  Cook 4-5 min until a few are starting to gold around the edges.  Add 4 chopped garlic cloves and cook 3-4 min longer.  We want almost everything to be lightly (not darkly) golden.  

Optionally, add 1 heaping tsp tomato paste in the last 2 min.

Add 1/2 cup tomato puree (we use canned TJ), 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, 1/8 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp cumin, and salt to taste (at least 1/2 tsp).  Stir everything together and add 1 cans worth rinsed and drained chickpeas.  If there's not enough liquid, add a splash of pinot grigio or broth or water until it's the right consistency for you.  We really liked it with the wine this time around.  Simmer a few minutes.

Add a few big handfuls of fresh spinach (~2 cups) and stir until they shrink.  If making before the shrimp dish, wait to add the spinach until the shrimp is off.

 

Serve right away.  Feel free to keep adding small amounts of liquid to get the consistency right.