Shrimp and Asparagus Stir Fry

I took this straight from Rocco Dispirito's "Now Eat This". I love stirfry, and since I will never ever be able to make it taste as good as my dad's, I rely on recipes from the experts. It's nice to see this low-sodium version!


Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-fry


Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 medium Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
1 large bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut on the diagonal, 1 in pieces
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup Rockin' Asian Stir Fry Sauce

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil.

1. Heat a large nonstick saute pan over high heat. When the pan is hot, add the sesame oil. Add the onion and asparagus, and stir-fry until the vegetables are almost tender, about 6 minutes.

2.Season the shrimp with salt and pepper to taste, and add them to the pan. Cook for a

about 3 minutes, stirring often. Add the stirfry sauce. When the shrimp are cooked through and he sauce is hot (about 2 minutes), stir in the basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste, if desired, and serve.

Personal note: I added a cup of chopped broccoli and served it over rice! Yum! Can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Rockin' Asian Stir Fry Sauce

I am a chinese food junkie. At some point in my life, I ate it so often that I decided to give it up for Lent! Since then, I have recovered from the addiction, and now just really love it. I am always looking for good recipes, but they all are high in fat or sodium. I recently bought "Now Eat This" by Rocco Dispirito and found this sauce recipe. I just made it, and it's so fantastic I had to share! It's about half the fat, calories and sodium of anything in my fridge! The only things I had to change in this recipe was using "low salt" instead of low sugar ketchup... it's what I had in the house! I also used low sodium chicken stock (not broth), since again, it's what I normally cook with.

Makes 1 3/4 cups (28~ 1 Tablepoon servings)

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 bunch scallions (whites and greens) chopped fine
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3/4 c low fat, low sodium chicken broth
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup reduced-sugar ketchup
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat a large nonstick saute pan over high heat. When the pan is hot, add the seame oil. Add the ginger, garlic, and scallions, and sautee, stirring often, until very fragrant, about 2 minutes

2. Meanwhile, place the cornstarch in a medium bowl. Add the soy sauce, chicken broth, rice vinegar, and ketchup, and whisk to blend [side note: I personally recommend doing this step first-in order to keep an eye on the onions so they don't burn]

3. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the saute pan and bring the sauce to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, whisking constantly, until the sauce has thickened, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, if desired. [I added about 1/4 tsp of pepper, no salt]

4. Store the sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. [or package up 1/4c servings and pass them to your neighbors like I intend to do!]

 Personal note: If you are confused about the serving size, remember this sauce is made to FLAVOR your stirfry, not cook in it. Add it once your meat the veggies are cooked!