Honestly, if you said to me, "Have a good day, today." I would honestly spin it and wonder why today? Why not tomorrow? Did I do something wrong to not receive these greetings tomorrow? It's just one of those days. I can't do anything right. I beat myself up, mentally. More than anyone else would, I'm sure. It's just... one of THOSE days.
*sigh*
I hate these days.
I managed to burn the crap out of my pinkie while making this...it's just one of THOSE days. Something about putting the frying pan in the oven that just eludes me and I completely forget the handle gets hot. I need those silicone sleeves that I can put on the handle right after taking it out of the oven so I don't forget it's hot and try to grab the handle. This is not the first time. Nor will it probably be the last.
*sigh*
Thankfully, this meal was FABULOUS! Seriously. Even S said it was totally delish and would have face planted in it all had he not had to share with me and my lunch fetish. *snort*
You have no idea how ecstatic I was that this dish came together BETTER than I had hoped. Especially since I heard, "Blue cheese macaroni?" a few times tonight. Oh ye of little faith. Heh. *I* didn't really have faith in this dish. No, that's not something you want to read from a food blogger, but I'm sure I'm not the only one to think it. As an added bonus, I forgot to bring my notebook home with the recipe I'd written for the sauce. Yup. Had to start from scratch on my research and notes. *sigh* One of THOSE days.
The sight of this automatically makes me drool, don't you? Yes, those are bay leaves. If you haven't cooked your shrimp with bay leaves, try it. It's different, yes, but it's delicious. I learned about that at Wegmans once. We sat at their seafood counter and had shrimp cooked with bay leaves. FAB-ulous. Seriously. Try it!! I even put some leaves in the water when I boil them, too. It's one of those, "What IS that flavor!?" that people won't quite be able to pinpoint.
The sauce smelled good. No, I didn't taste it. Yes yes, I know. BAD BAD foodie. Wing sauce and all that salt just really doesn't like me. LOVE the taste of it, but I feel like I've eaten a salt lick when I'm finished. Then the mass hydration has to commence. Just not pretty. Which really sucks, cause I LOVE wings.
Anyway.
I DID taste the macaroni and cheese. I mean who can resist that? I'm watching the cream heat the cheese and thinking, "That's just not gonna thicken. Hmm..." In goes some goat cheese. Still just not quite thick enough. Then out comes the cream cheese. PERFECT! S stirred and stirred and then let it sit. It was just the right amount of creaminess. Then I tasted it!! HOLY WOW! That mac and cheese was exactly....EXACTLY how I had hoped it would taste. I wanted the tang and the blue cheese flavor with just enough creamy. That's exactly what I got.
This was kind of a resurrection meal for me. I've had more fails than successes lately; more non-hoor worthy than hoor worthy. This one has redeemed me. It truly is delicious. S said so. And he wouldn't say so just because I made it. He's not that way....AT ALL!
So, thanks for sticking with me and all my insecurities lately. I've been kind of quiet on the recipe front from all the failures and even had a, "What the H am I doing? I suck. This is a waste of time, effort, food, you name it. I CAN'T run with the big dogs. I'm just wasting my time." moment this week. I'm just gonna keep plugging along and not worry about it. If S loves it, that's good enough for me. He's the only one that I really need to please. Oh, and those are roasted carrots in the veggie column. I was going for the whole, wings, blue cheese sauce and carrot sticks type thing.
Roasted Buffalo Shrimp with Blue Cheese Macaroni
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds extra large shrimp
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce (Frank's Red Hot)
- 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni
- 1 cup half and half
- 4 ounces blue cheese
- 4 ounces goat cheese
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 3 whole bay leaves, crushed
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Combine butter, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, celery seed, oregano, paprika, and liquid smoke in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add garlic and bay leaves. Saute until garlic begins to turn fragrant and brown. Add shrimp and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice and then add the sauce. Toss the shrimp to coat and bake in the oven 7 to 10 minutes or until the shrimp are firm and cooked through.
- Cook pasta according to pasta directions. Return pan to heat and combine half and half, blue cheese, goat cheese, and cream cheese. Heat until melted. Toss with the macaroni and let set a few minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Remove shrimp from oven and serve with macaroni.
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