Shrimp and Shiitake stir-fry

Sunday night at the concert, we ran into The Lint Queen and Ms. H and their significant others, and I had my first inkling that someone might be reading this blog other than Jenorama. I think Ms. H's comment was something like "I thought I was a pretty darn good cook until I saw the out-of-everything mac'n'cheese...did you have to go milk the cow?"

Which is soooo not the point! I was kind of hoping to impart my heck-try-it-it's only food philosophy, not make anyone feel daunted. Anyway, she was kidding and we've decided we'll do a cook-together gathering soon, which should be fun. And yummy.

Another thing the ladies had to offer was advice on the alcohol (and cheese and chocolate) issues I had been having, which was...gastro-esophogeal reflux disorder (GERD). Helooooo, Pepcid AC! Yes, I know, I should see my doctor.

I haven't been cooking much this week, but tonight put together a shrimp stir-fry that turned out very, very nicely. Hub's comment upon first taste was "what kind of butter did you use?" None, of course (who uses butter in a stir-fry?) but somehow the combination of the mushrooms and the sesame oil created both the mouth-feel and taste of a very rich butter sauce. Odd.

I know this seems like a long ingredient list, but this is the kind of stuff I keep in my pantry, in case the stir-fry mania strikes.

1 cup short grain brown rice, cooked according to package directions. If you don't have a rice cooker, get one!
1 lb shrimp (I tend to buy 2 lb bags of frozen easy-peel shrimp)
1/4 lb snow peas
1 small head bok choy
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms
3-4 cloves garlic
1 knob fresh ginger or 1 T ground ginger
Juice of 1 lime
2 T Thai fish sauce or soy sauce
1 T chili-garlic sauce
1 T sesame oil
2 T rice vinegar
peanut oil

Mise bowls!

1. Start defrosting the shrimp, if it's frozen.
   
2. Get the rice started. Expect it to require about 45 minutes, if not a bit longer.
   
3. Wash the snow peas, snip the ends off, transfer to a mise bowl.
4. Brush any dirt from the shiitake's, remove the stems and slice the heads into strips, put in a mise bowl.
5. Slice the bok choy widthwise, put it into a salad spinner, wash and spin dry.
6. Mince the garlic and ginger and put in a small bowl.
7. Add the lime juice, fish sauce, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil and rice vinegar to the bowl, and whisk with a fork.
8. Shell and de-vein the shrimp.
9. When the rice is done or almost done, heat the wok. When it is quite hot, add 1-2 T peanut oil...really not much.
10. Very carefully add the shrimp (since it's wet, it's likely to splatter) and stir-fry for about 1 minute, just until barely pink.
11. Add the mushrooms, stir-fry for about 30 seconds
12. Add the snow peas and bok choy, stir-fry for about 30 seconds
13. Add the sauce, stir completely and then cover the wok. Let steam for about 3 minutes.