We are not fans of Costco’s vegetables. They seem always to be on the verge of rotting. But we are big fans of their frozen seafood. We buy scallops, large shrimp, and Atlantic Cod from them. The other day we bought some scallops and thought that a good accompaniment for scallops would be asparagus. Of course at Costco, you can only buy a huge bag of asparagus. We used about half of it with the scallops, so we had quite a bit left over and we wanted to use it up before it went bad. We had some frozen shrimp, so we made a Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry.
In our new house here in Medford our stove has a large high-powered gas burner which is perfect for doing wok cooking. Finally, I have a decent heat source to properly do stir fry. So I am motivated to do it more often. Here is the recipe I used.
Get everything ready ahead of time because this goes quick. Quick tip: peel ginger with a spoon. Just scrape off the skin, works great!
We served this with white rice.
| Author: Jim Kirkley
Serves: 2 |
Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry |
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon, sesame seeds
1/2 pound, large shrimp – peeled, deveined
1 1/2 teaspoons, cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon, crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon, soy sauce
2 tablespoons, seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons, Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine) or dry sherry
2 tablespoons, vegetable oil – divided
6 scallions – ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces on the diagonal
1 piece, ginger – (2 inch) peeled, thinly sliced crosswise
1 pound, asparagus – woody ends snapped off, cut into 1-inch pieces on the diagonal
white rice
METHOD
- Toss shrimp, cornstarch, red pepper flakes, and 1 Tbsp. soy sauce in a medium bowl.
- Stir vinegar and wine in a small bowl.
- Have all your other ingredients prepped and ready to go.
- Heat a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Add sesame seeds and toast until light brown. Careful they can burn quickly.
- Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in same skillet or wok over high heat. When oil is shimmering, add scallions and ginger and cook, tossing, until scallions are browned and softened, about 2 minutes. Add asparagus and cook, tossing often, until asparagus is bright green and crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer asparagus mixture to another medium bowl.
- Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. oil in same skillet over high. When oil is shimmering again, add shrimp mixture and arrange in a single layer in skillet. Cook, undisturbed, until shrimp are pink around the edges and first side is golden, about 1 minute. Toss and continue to cook until shrimp are opaque all the way through, about a minute or two longer. Pour in wine mixture and asparagus mixture and cook, tossing briskly, until sauce is thickened and all ingredients are coated, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and taste, then season with more salt, if desired.
The nice crust on the shrimp is due to a very hot wok
