Yummy Dinner

Spending so much time on a boat really requires that we think about feeding the crew a little more than  peanut butter and jelly. So, much of my pre-boat time is spent reading lots of recipes and plotting out menus. Then, once onboard, I end up shuffling things around. The most important part of boat life is flexibility in all things. That certainly includes menu planning.

Take tonight as a good example. I had planned on having a nice tortellini and shrimp salad one of the days we were underway in warm weather. Well, I never got around to that on the planned day. We ended up eating leftovers that day. So, that tortellini- all nice and fresh- was sitting around taking up refrigerator space.

That brings us to tonight here in Beaufort, South Carolina. It's cold. It's windy. In fact, it is 63 degrees out there. We are staying nice and warm here because we have the really nice enclosure. But, it certainly wasn't cold tortellini salad night! Time to improvise.

After a quick web search, I had the basics of an interesting dish. Betty Crocker's website offered up a recipe using medium shrimp sautéed in butter with the tortellini and a little basil. But, surely I can do better than that. So, I started on my riff...

First off, I'm on a boat. I don't like recipes that end up with too much left over stuff - especially smelly stuff like shrimp shells. So, when I planned for this trip, I purchased a bag of salad shrimp - already cooked and peeled. Quick and easy, right! Let's be honest here. After a long day on the water, I am in no mood to start cooking a big dinner with lots of dishes to do afterwards. That's no fun for anyone. We just want to kick back and relax. So, I want a simple yet tasty dish. Here's what I did.

I cooked the tortellini. Meanwhile, I rinsed the shrimp in cold water. I moved them from the colander to a bowl. I drained the cooked tortellini in the colander. I added butter to the pan. I sautéed those little shrimp with half an onion (chopped up of course). I added some Black Box Chardonnay. I tossed back in those tortellini, and I added one half cup of Parmesan cheese. Yummy!

Meanwhile, Peggy put together a scrumptious salad. It had romaine, spinach, craisins, almonds, golden raisins, and celery. Boy, was it yummy. Take a look.

Everyone really enjoyed this dinner. So, I will add it to my list of dishes that are keepers.