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 (7 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

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