It’s been a marvelous summer, full of changes, excitement, and entertaining. And now, I’m pooped. As I looked forward to Labor Day Weekend, I had only one thing on my mind: rest. I didn’t want to invite everyone we know over. Our only real “plan” was to go to our neighbors’ annual harvest party on Saturday night, and that just required walking across the yard. Which I could handle.

But on Friday night, I just wanted to stay home, indoors, with my family. I planned a little “date” with my husband after the baby went to sleep, but in keeping with my “I’m not gonna do diddly” mission for the weekend, I needed something nice to eat that wouldn’t require a lot of time in the kitchen for me.

Real “dates” often cost us upward of $100, after you factor in cocktails, dinner, more cocktails, and maybe a show or a movie. I really wanted a “nice” date for us, even at home, but I didn’t want to spend that kind of jack. We so often talk about wanting sushi but so rarely splurge on it, that I decided we could have a sushi appetizer, and I put a $20 budget on it. For $20, you can get an order of gyoza, a spicy tuna roll, and four pieces of nigiri. And yes, for us, that is just an appetizer. Shaddup.

I figured we’d have our sushi and then retire to the basement for a movie, and then we’d need something else later, and I didn’t think frozen pizza really fit my “fancy home date night” theme. So I purchased some good cheese and crackers and a bag of frozen shrimp. The only cooking I had to do, then, was the shrimp, and seeing as shrimps take about four minutes to cook, I figured I could handle it.

My mother-in-law gave me some fancy oils and vinegars for my birthday, from this cool joint in Zona Rosa called Heavenly Olive Oils and Vinegars, and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to try out the Sicilian Lemon White Balsamic. If you don’t have this particular specialty vinegar (why would you?) you can just substitute another vinegar – maybe apple cider and a few squeezes of fresh lemon. But I recommend a trip to Zona Rosa to check this stuff out. It really is a unique and special thing. Plus, I’d like to bathe in good balsamic vinegar. I can just drink it straight.

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For the special home-date-on-a-budget shrimp, then, get a pound of medium sized shrimp – I think mine were about a 30 count, thaw them, and remove the tails.

I cooked mine in a little olive oil and a little butter, because everything is better with butter.

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Once I had my pan over medium heat and butter melted, I tossed in the shrimp and about two tablespoons of the lemon balsamic. I also gave it a liberal toss of kosher salt and cracked black pepper. I had a mix of spices in my cabinet that we’d used for an olive oil bread dip, and I thought they’d work well here since my shrimp sort of had an Italian thing going on. It’s nice to keep this mix on hand to toss out with olive oil for dipping, or to season sauces or even throw on a salad for extra kick.

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Italian Spice Mix
1 T dried rosemary
1 T dried basil
1 T dried oregano
1/2 T dried thyme
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 T dried parsley
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cracked black pepper

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So I tossed a teaspoon of that mix in with the shrimp, and let them cook for 2 minutes on one side. Then I turned them, sprinkled with herbs again, and let them finish cooking. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Rubbery shrimp are worse than overcooked steak or scallops even. Big mistake. You know when they’re done when they start to curl up and you don’t see any translucent parts anymore, but you don’t have to wait for them to curl up very tight or turn bright orange.

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Put the shrimp in a pretty bowl, toss in another tablespoon of balsamic and a tiny bit of the cooking liquid (it’s BUTTER, people), and sprinkle a bit more of the herbs on top. Cover, and refrigerate at least half an hour or until they’re cool, and serve. Ta da! Fancy snack in under ten minutes!

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Mr. Meat and Potatoes loved them and really thought that balsamic brought a whole new mojo to the party. I think my whole “fancy home date” cost about $40, and that included the Redbox movie rental. We are so sophisticated, we can’t even stand ourselves.

Ingredients

1 lb medium sized shrimp, thawed
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
4 T good vinegar (lemon white balsamic recommended), divided
4 tsp Italian spice mix, divided
salt and pepper

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