What You Should Have Eaten #32

Italian-Style Garlic Shrimp with Cherry Tomatoes and Thin Spaghetti

Tonight’s drink is a Texas Rancher. It was originally supposed to be a Mermaid, but at first I didn’t realize that there was a difference between orange bitters (which I have) and bitter orange (which I don’t have). Looks like I need to figure out what bitter orange is.

The two vermouths in this drink take away any tang that the grapefruit juice might provide. Sad, ‘cause I was looking forward to a little tang. It’s not bad, though. Not great, but not bad. I’d maybe use a bit less vermouth and pump up the gin and grapefruit juice. I’m not sure what the maraschino is doing in there.

I’ve only got 12 oz. of cherry tomatoes and not an entire pint. I hope that’s not going to make a big difference. The cherry tomatoes at my local Kroger Marketplace carry pint-sized grape tomatoes, but not cherry tomatoes.

I’m using my sweet white vermouth instead of the dry I’ve got just because I’ve got more sweet and the recipe doesn’t say which is better.

I was extremely disappointed when I learned that the produce section was out of “fresh” basil, and it looks like I’m out of the dry stuff. I guess I’ll substitute a bit of Italian seasoning and see what happens. Next year I need to start a small herb garden.

Small list of ingredients and a small recipe usually means an easy time in the kitchen. I hope that holds true for tonight. I’ve got my sister bringing over a loaf of frozen garlic bread, and I think that’ll round out the dinner quite nicely.

I went into this knowing the kids wouldn’t eat the spaghetti with anything in it, so I held out some of the noodles for them and topped it with some parmesan cheese. That’s how they like it.

Well, I thought the dinner was edible, but it wasn’t anything great. I cooked the shrimp too long, so they were tough, and when you get down to it, it’s just spaghetti. My favorite part was the loaf of Pepperidge Farm garlic bread that my sister brought over.