Frozen Dinner Fix Up

Tonight's dinner - shrimp with orange sauce and jasmine rice - took only 15 minutes to fix thanks to frozen food shortcuts.

I started with the jasmine rice since it cooks in about 10 minutes and needs to stand for about five minutes after it comes off the heat. I like the longer cooking rice, though I do have some quick rice in the pantry for days when I'm really in a hurry. Jasmine rice has a slightly sweet flavor and aroma that really appeals to me and the guys. In addition, it is slightly sticky, so it is a good choice for sushi rolls. (The boy has decided he likes raw fish after eating several kinds of sushi at a friend's house. The husband, on the other hand, refers to it as bait and walks away. I like some sushi rolls - being particularly partial to ahi tuna - though I must admit I stick to the tame side with mostly veggies and rice. To that end I bought some wrappers and rolled jasmine rice, thin slices of avocado, and crisp-tender asparagus tips. A little bit of pepper and a squeeze of lemon made a refreshingly lovely snack.)

The best place I've found to buy interesting is rice is Super Target. The store has nearly half a grocery aisle dedicated to rice from across the globe, and package sizes vary considerably so it is easy to buy just a little of something to try.

While the rice cooked I tossed a package of frozen breaded shrimp into the oven. The SeaPac brand, which is tender and uses whole shrimp, takes about 12 minutes to cook. Meanwhile, I made orange sauce to give the whole thing a little interest, though I will make a few changes the next time around, because I started with a basic lemon sauce but didn't tweak it enough. Here's the starter recipe (which makes a really nice lemony sauce for chicken or shrimp):
Lemon Sauce
1.5 cups water
.5 cup lemon juice (fresh is great, but concentrate works well, too)
3 T. brown sugar
3 T. honey
3 T. cornstarch
2 t. instant chicken bouillon
1 t. minced ginger (the pre-minced jar works well, but I've also used powdered)

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens and turns glossy.

So, tonight I substituted orange juice for the lemon juice, left out the honey and bouillon, but added extra ginger and chipotle sauce for a little heat. The sauce was tasty, but not as good as I had hoped. Next time, I will probably omit the water altogether and use just o.j. for the liquid. In addition, a good deal more heat is needed to balance out the sweetness, so extra minced ginger, some garlic, and good glop of chipotle sauce are in order. (Of course, if you have some small hot chilies on hand, that might be good, too.)

When the shrimp comes out of the oven, toss it with the sauce to give it a nice glaze and spoon it over the steaming rice. Some frozen Asian veggies would stretch this out and make it seem more like a full meal as opposed to an entree lacking side dishes. All in all, though, it was a good dinner requiring very little time, effort, or clean up.