Think On It

Black pepper shrimps with cabbage

February 28th, 2007

Yesterday my Umbrian neighbor gave me this. It looked like a rose to me. A rose is a rose… unless it isn’t.

Here Julianna made this dish and blogged it!
Today I made this dietetic dish from one fourth of it. This is cavolo verza, more or less I think Savoy cabbage. Considering that Savoia is a part of Italy and the family from which the king came, it is odd that they don’t use that name … cavolo di Savoia. But they don’t. Having eaten this now, I think I would have preferred the plain, white cabbage, which is called cavolo capuccio, or hooded cabbage. This, however, is what I had today.

For one person you need:

about 1/4 of a cabbage, sliced as thinly as you can slice with a knife
about 1/4 of a red pepper or capsicum or peperone, which are all the same thing, julienned
1 clove of garlic, sliced thinly
8 ounces of small, peeled shrimp

Prepare the ingredients before cooking, because this takes mere moments. Heat about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, not olive oil, in a wok. Toss in the garlic, the pepper and the cabbage and add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt, a good pinch. Stir and fry briefly, until the cabbage loses the raw taste but is still quite crunchy. Add the shrimp and toss again until they are just pinked up. Generously grind coarse black pepper over it, stir in and plate the dish. It takes quite a lot of pepper to taste peppery over the sweet blend of cabbage and shrimp.

And here, my friends, it is!

As always, click on the photo to enlarge it.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized, Food, Italy, Dieting

3 Comments Add your own

1. Lynnegh | March 1st, 2007 at 5:20 am

It reads yummy, it looks REALLY yummy, gotta try it!

I was distraught yesterday to learn that my favorite produce market, a shabby-chic open air place on the corner on the way to the (chain) grocery store, has gone out of business! I spoke with the owners as they were packing up the last of the display stands and they said they thought the new owners would be opening up another produce market. One can hope…
2. Judith | March 1st, 2007 at 7:06 am

I hate to hear that.
We have a covered market open 6 days a week with a number of vendors. They’ve adopted a policy of not posting almost any prices, which is against the law. “You can ask” is what everybody says, but what about the tourists? The newcomer expats? When they are packed?
One time I asked for a celery root that had a sign under it with a price and was charged a different price. “That price is for the chick peas underneath,” I was told.
I’ve started a campaign to make them have at least a chalkboard with accurate prices on it. It may not help tourists who don’t know the Italian for the items, but it will help the elderly who have to watch their pennies and are embarrassed by that and everybody when they are busy.
Even the fish stand does this. They have maybe 6 prices for 15 kinds of fish, once even Maine lobster at €57 a kilo. Imagine someone buying that and discovering they’ve just spent their whole week’s budget!
3. Julianna | March 2nd, 2007 at 6:52 am

OOO! This looks like something to try with Ammar. 100% halal!