Shrimp Lasagna Rolls

I decided to make these shrimp lasagna rolls early in the day this week so I could actually get a chance to photograph them. I think I have mentioned it before but I try to get a decent picture of the things I cook and in order to do that I need light...lots of natural light! However in winter time I lose it by 4PM:(

I was happy to be able to get a good shot of these but honestly didn't get to eat much of it myself. I had been cooking all day, plus snacking on bread and butter the entire afternoon...can anyone else say no to fresh french bread and soft butter...I sure can't. Well, by the time dinner rolled around, I was actually not hungry and only had 2 bites of this. However, my husband had 3 rolls and said they were very good. I added a simple salad which seemed to work perfectly to round out this meal.

Ingredients
1 lb lasagna noodles
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 (15 oz) containers whole-milk ricotta (I used part-skim)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 cups marinara sauce, store-bought or homemade (I used homemade)
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (I used 2% pre-shredded)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the pasta and partially cook until tender but still firm to the bite, about 6-8 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Add the shrimp and garlic to the pan and saute until shrimp are cooked, about 4 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool. Coarsely chop the cooled shrimp and place in a bowl with 2 cups ricotta cheese, the Parmesan cheese, eggs, basil, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the nutmeg. Stir to combine.

In another bowl, combine the marinara sauce with remaining 1 cup ricotta and stir to combine.

To make lasagna, cover the bottom of a 9 x 13" baking dish with 1 cup marinara mixture. Lay 4 noodles flat on a dry work surface. Spread about 1/4 cup shrimp mixture evenly over each noodle. Roll up and place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat twice more to make 12 lasagna rolls.

Source: Giada de Laurentiis, Everyday Italian

Cantaloupe, Red Onion and Walnut Salad

This delicious salad comes from Giada de Laurentiis' cookbook, Giada's Kitchen. I loved the combination of the fresh citursy dressing, crunchy walnuts and sweet melon. I made it for lunch last week and it was a nice change of pace from my regular lettuce,tomato, cucumber with vinaigrette salad.

As for the rest of the cookbook, I really wanted to love it. Flipping through it, there are so many wonderful looking recipes. Plus, many are lighter in fat than her regular fare which I appreciated. However, I had really mixed results with two other recipes I tried (orzo stuffed peppers & pasta with mini meatballs). They weren't bad just kind of bland. I'm not giving up on this cookbook though. The salad was great and I'm sure there are other gems in there.

Ingredients:
Orange Vinaigrette
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp raspberry vinegar
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Salad
1 (3lb) cantaloupe, cut into cubes
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups arugula (I used herb mix salad)
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

To make the vinaigrette, combine the orange juice, lemon juice and raspberry vinegar in a small bowl. Slowly add the oil and whisk till smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To make the salad, combine the rest of the ingredients and pour vinaigrette on top. Gently toss to combine.

Cookbooks!

Since my celeb chef stalking sessions, I have not opened one of the cookbooks that I purchased and had signed. Truth be told, I was more interested in meeting Paula, Alton, Giada and the Deen brothers than I was in their latest cookbook. However, I do now have 4 new cookbooks and my plan for this week is to try one recipe from each book. So check back to see what I cook up this week!

Giada de Laurentiis Book Signing

This past Saturday, I got to meet Giada de Laurentiis at the Metro Cooking and Entertaining show in Washington DC at the Convention Center.

My husband and both kids were supposed to join me but my husband decided to go home at the last moment with my daughter because she was getting cranky and really needed a nap. It was a good thing too because this was definitely a grown up event. They had advertised a kid's area but it was really lame and I found myself soon wishing my son had gone home too.

He did do OK for most of it. He walked around, sampled a bunch of food and enjoyed a ridiculously expensive smoothie. After about an hour and a half of this we needed something else to do. So, I decided to get our book signing wristbands and wait for Giada. Amazingly, he occupied himself with a small book for the next 45 minutes. Then, Giada showed up and we only had a short (10-15 min) wait for our turn to meet her. However, by this time, my son had had it! He was tired of waiting and bored. He started really acting up....I was so close but now had an impeding melt down on my hands...damn!

When it was our turn, amazingly my son did a complete 360. He ran right up and started shouting "Giada! Giada!"...it was pretty funny and everyone in the room, Giada included, started laughing. She chatted with him a bit and as we were leaving my son turns to her and says "ciao bella!" (he learned that from our sitter who knows some Italian)...Giada quickly said "ciao bello" back. It was such a great little moment and for that reason alone, I was happy my son stayed with me for the show.

Here are some more pictures from our day.

Isn't she lovely...

Chatting it up with Giada.

Not the most flattering picture of us but we were all laughing at my son.

A view of the DC Convention Center. This was taken at 4:30PM and it had cleared out quite a bit.Earlier in the day it was packed!!
So, I think that is the end of my celebrity chef stalking opportunities for the time being. However, I would love to meet Ina and Emeril some day. How about you? What celeb chef would you like to meet?