Changing Out a Favorite

My daughter likes the homemade French dressing that I make, but today she requested that I 'turn up the volume' on this recipe by changing out some ingredients to create a sweeter dressing. I immediately knew that I could make a Honey French Dressing that she would be sure to love.

The ingredients for this new recipe are white wine vinegar, catsup, honey, sugar (not pictured), canola oil, paprika, ground mustard, onion, kosher salt and garlic.

First I measured out 1 cup of catsup, 1/2 cup white wine vinegar, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon ground mustard, 2 teaspoons grated onion and 1 grated garlic clove.

Then I slowly poured 1 cup canola oil in while I briskly whisked the mixture.

After getting the daughter's blessing for this new recipe, it was bottled and refrigerated. Not bad for 15 minutes work.

And Now, Back to the Food

We interrupt autumn for a word about food. Besides walking and driving around while admiring the beautiful fall colors, I have actually found my way into the kitchen to cook. This was last night's easy, yet satisfying dinner:

I decided that a salad with shrimp sounded good, so I got to work.

Here we have homemade French dressing, a red onion, Romaine lettuce, meat rub, shell-on shrimp (26-30 in a pound), celery and mozzarella cheese.

Assemble the salad as usual and set aside.

Bonus recipe: French Dressing

1 cup catsup

1 cup salad oil

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon dry mustard

2 teaspoon finely grated onion

Blend all ingredients together. Chill before serving. Yield: 2 ½ cups.

If the shrimp is frozen, place in a bowl with cold water. After a few minutes the shrimp will begin to thaw enough to easily de-shell. I opted to remove not only the shell, but also the tails before cooking. The shells and tails were then put into a freezer bag so I can make a shrimp stock later.

Pat the shrimp dry.

Sprinkle some of the meat rub on the shrimp and toss to coat.

You can use any meat rub or barbecue rub that has both a bit of heat (from chilies) and sweetness (from brown sugar) in it.

Briefly saute the shrimp in a bit of oil over medium-high heat. The shrimp only need to cook a couple of minutes on each side. Do not overcook!



And dinner is served. Truthfully, the most labor intensive part of this entire meal was in cutting and cleaning the lettuce. Now, how hard can that be?

The spicy/sweet shrimp paired with the cool, crisp lettuce, the bite of the red onion, the creamy mozzarella and the tangy French dressing make for one delicious meal.