A Swede in the kitchen

At home, we have huge cruise liners going between Sweden & Finland. It is a little “tacky” to go on these boats, but everybody does it. We go to buy tax-free alcohol and candy. One usually goes on a 24-hour one or a shorter day trip.

A big thing with these boats or should I call them by their real names, cruise liners, is to go and eat the buffet. There are a couple of “sittings” and you need to plan it well. I love this buffet because they have tons of shrimp.

I have a system for it though. One should not eat any bread, potatoes, meatballs, hotdogs or other simple and filling food. The key is to go for the Swedish shrimp, smoked salmon, caviar and stuff like that. Like my head “buffet eating” coach (mother) would say, “Potatoes I can eat at home…”.

One can eat a lot of shrimp in one sitting. It is all about not feeling any shame that the other passengers will get less (You snooze you lose.)  After all, it is their choice to eat ribs, potatoes and meatballs…

When I come home to Sweden, I eat shrimp and seafood almost for every meal. Can’t get enough of it. It tastes different for some reason. Fresher and cleaner. It might just be my imagination though.

If I had to choose between lobster & shrimp, I would choose shrimp every time.

Here is a recipe of a shrimp dish I make all the time. I just start the marinade when I get home from work and have dinner ready in 20 minutes. Fast and furious.

Grilled Shrimp with Quinoa rice.

Serves 4.

1 1/2-2 lb uncooked shrimp. Any kind.

1/2 c. of quinoa.

1/2 c. of rice. (I prefer Basmati rice but any kind is fine)

2 c. water.

1 stock cube. I use chicken stock.

1/2 bunch of cilantro. Chopped up well.

1 lime.

2 tbsp. Mirin.

2 tbsp. Soy sauce (low sodium if possible)

1/2 – 1 fresh hot pepper (optional)

Directions;

Put the uncooked rice & quinoa together in a fine meshed sieve and rinse very well. (If you only have a regular sift, just rinse the rice since the quinoa will slip through the holes in the sift.)

Boil up 2 c. of water with the stock cube.

When the water is boiling add the rice and quinoa. Take down the heat to very low. Boil for about 20 min. or untIl ready. Scrape with a fork when ready to let it “air out” and mix well.

Add the Mirin, Soy sauce, the zest from the lime, the lime juice, finely sliced pepper & chopped cilantro. Add the shrimp into mixture. Let marinate for 20 minutes. You could also make this a little ahead and let marinate for a couple of hours.

When the rice is ready, heat up a grill pan or a regular skillet on high heat, (make sure the fan is on since the grill pan usually is a little smoky to use.)

Take all the shrimps from the marinade and put them in the grill pan. Grill a minute or two on each side. They are ready when they are all pink and feel firm to touch.

Serve right away with the quinoa rice.

You can make a dipping sauce with the same kind of ingredients as you used for the marinade. (Note- Don’t use the marinade you just used since it had fresh uncooked shrimp in there.)

Enjoy!!