When I was pregnant with my daughter, one of my close friends from high school told me that another friend from high school was also pregnant at the same time. I hadn’t spoken to Tameka since high school graduation, but I texted her, finding out our daughters were due a week apart. Tameka and I have texted each other for about 4 years now - through midnight feedings and addictions to HBO dramas. Years later from our high school days, we have so much in common - including a love for cooking. She introduced me to Darius Williams and convinced me to buy this cookbook. She's also cooking some of the recipes today alongside me (albeit from Georgia!) - her pics are below.
Darius is a self made cooking mogul - selling cookbooks, pans, air fryers, and pound cakes online. He posts amazing looking videos online and has a great attitude toward life, self confidence, and “the haters”. It’s still too hot to fry anything inside, and I have a long standing love of eating dip for dinner (I even created a holiday, “Dipapalooza,” celebrated on Christmas Eve where you just make a variety of dips and watch Die Hard...but I digress), so taking his appetizer recipe for shrimp stuffed essentially with spinach artichoke dip was a no-brainer.
Ingredients: [Note: I doubled this so the cream cheese didn’t “go to waste” and made a container of dip to eat later]
Filling:
4oz cream cheese
1 c. frozen spinach, drained
½ c. finely diced artichoke hearts [I used marinated - the ones in the jar]
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ c. parmesan cheese
½ TB garlic powder
[Juliet’s additions: 1 TB dijon mustard and 1 TB lemon juice]
1 LB jumbo shrimp
Topping:
2 c. Panko breadcrumbs
2 TB butter, melted
2 TB fresh parsley, chopped
[Juliet’s additions: 2 cloves garlic, pressed and I had to sub half cornflake crumbs as I was low on Panko]
Preheat the oven to 375F.
In a Cuisinart, throw all the filling ingredients and pulse until mixed and well chopped. [Recipe has you do this by hand, but I’m lazy and I didn’t bring the cream cheese to room temp first...oops!]
Cut the shrimp deeply lengthwise, but don’t cut through completely. The shrimp should still be in one piece. Stuff as much filling as desired into each shrimp. [Note: I didn’t do this as my shrimp seemed too small - I fanned the shrimp in a baking ramekin, smeared some of the filling on top, then topped with breadcrumbs]
Mix together the breadcrumbs, melted butter, and chopped parsley [Plus the garlic if using] in a separate bowl.
Top each shrimp with the breadcrumb mixture and arrange on a sheet tray. Roast until the topping is golden brown and the shrimp have cooked through [this is not helpful Darius! I baked for about 12 minutes]. Serve warm. I added Ina’s lemon pasta and some garlic bread.
If you like spinach artichoke dip, these shrimp are for you. It paired really well with the lemon pasta, leading me to believe that the shrimp needed more lemon or lemon zest. I was watching Barefoot Contessa with my daughter while cooking this, so I "turned up the volume" on the filling with some of the parts of my favorite artichoke dip (that features in Dipapalooza if you get an invite). The dish was simple, but delicious. Would I make it on the regular? No. But it was still a fun Sunday meal.
Rating: Great
Here are Tameka's pics from making Red Beans and Rice, Green Beans with Roasted Potatoes, and Roast Chicken - she gives the book a 10/10!
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