Shrimp Kung Pao Noodles

Photo: Delish

There's a new Target on the Upper East Side, and the prices are ideal. Recently I bought a 1 pound bag of large frozen shrimp (30 shrimp) on sale for $7.49, then tweaked a Delish recipe to eat it. I make substitutions of similar ingredients I don't stock in my cupboard. At times I also add extra ingredients I like, such as celery and broccoli. Lately I am the Queen of making fresh one pan meals from scratch as the clean up is a breeze.👑 

Many people love food delivery services like HelloFresh™ or Plated™, but I think if you have access to a supermarket, you are paying a huge markup on meal kits for ingredients you can easily buy yourself for much, much less. For the cost, the service should come with a chef, which it does not! But after paying the 100% markup for the food, you still have to come home to cook the meal yourself. It's cheaper to buy a cookbook. So here is my one pan dish for 2:

Shrimp Kung Pao Noodles

Ingredients:

This is the Target shrimp. Looks good, right?

8 oz spaghetti
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon ginger, diced (If you don't have fresh ginger, use dried ginger … less of it though.)
8 oz shrimp
salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
1 cup chopped broccoli (I toss in whatever vegetables I think I need to eat on a particular day: spinach, carrots, even frozen mixed or green beans I need to get rid of, etc. Chunks of vegetables are good in this dish.)
2 garlic cloves, minced (or dried garlic)
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup water
1 small chicken bouillon
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon vinegar (I use cider)
1/3 cup broken up peanuts

Directions:

1) Cook spaghetti according to directions on the box (7 minutes for al dente), drain and set aside.

2) In a large skillet, heat the sesame oil. Sautè the onion and ginger for one minute.

3) Toss in the shrimp, salt and pepper and sautè for 3 minutes. Remove from the pan. (If the frozen shrimp is already cooked, put it aside for step #6. Don't cook it for 3 minutes.)

4) Next toss the olive oil in the pan, heat and sautè the bell peppers, broccoli and celery until they are soft. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the flour. Add the water and chicken bouillon, red pepper flakes, Sriracha and cider vinegar. Stir, incorporate and simmer for 1 - 2 minutes.

5) Sprinkle in dried parsley and cilantro flakes.

6) Toss back in the cooked spaghetti, shrimp and peanuts. Heat the ingredients (including the shrimp) if necessary before plating it.

Makes 2 servings. Double the recipe to use the full pound of shrimp for 4 servings.

Now you are a one pot meal Queen also!👑


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