Shrimp with Bacon and Collards – What’s On Your Plate?

Welcome to What’s On Your Plate?!

What’s on Your Plate? is designed to be a conversation amongst good eaters.

Tell us about a recent meal. Did it meet with rave reviews? Or did it bomb? What side dishes did you pair with the star of the show? Did you try a new ingredient? Find the groceries at great prices?

Share what’s on your plate!

Each week a featured foodie* will share his or her plate and then the rest of us will get a chance to link up our own posts or share in the comments what good cheap eats we’ve been enjoying.

What’s on Heather’s Plate?

I’m a stay-at-home, home schooling mom with a love for entertaining and cooking. I’ve made it my mission to spend $10 or less on dinners for our family of four. It is my goal to decrease our food expenses while still maintaining healthy eating…and let’s just face it we want it to taste good too!

This past week I dared to venture over into the seafood aisle. I confess I had been avoiding it, for a few reasons. One was a slight concern over the quality of seafood that might be coming out of the gulf after the BP oil spill; and two, I was still under the impression that there would be a residual price hike because of the above mentioned BP
oil spill.

Being on a tight food budget and the author of a blog with a word like “Less” in it, I lately had been sticking to my tried and true frugal proteins: chicken, ground beef, cheaper cuts of steak….you get the idea.

I was pleasantly surprised as I wandered over to the seafood counter of my local grocery store to find beautiful shrimp for $4.99 a pound! In my neck of the woods that’s a great price. I was also pleased to find after some research that the FDA has been performing rigorous tests on seafood coming out of the gulf and to date has deemed it, “safe to eat.”

Having purchased my pound of shrimp, I headed home to make a great recipe that utilizes a popular southern staple…collard greens. If you’ve never had an opportunity to cook collard greens for yourself, give this recipe a try. They were so tender and delicious and the tomatoes and shrimp were a great compliment to them.

To make it a truly southern dish we topped it off with some of my homemade hot pepper vinegar for a little kick! It was great to be eating shrimp again, one of our favorite foods, and to give some support to our Gulf Shore shrimpers.

Shrimp with Bacon and Collards

adapted from Everyday Food
Serves 4

1 cup long grain rice
4 slices bacon, thinly sliced crosswise
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 14 oz. can plain diced tomatoes
1 10 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel)
1 bunch collard greens, center ribs removed and sliced clockwise
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut in half
course salt and ground pepper
optional: pepper vinegar or hot-pepper sauce such as Tabasco, for serving

In a small saucepan cook rice according to package directions until tender. Fluff rice with a fork. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook bacon stirring occasionally over medium heat until browned and crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Add garlic and onion to bacon drippings sautéing until onion is soft,
approximately 5 minutes. Add in tomatoes (do not drain) and collards; season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until collards are tender and have reduced down, approximately 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a medium size bowl, wipe skillet clean.

In skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and add shrimp. Season with salt and pepper and cook, undisturbed for approximately 2 minutes. Add collard mixture back to skillet and cook until shrimp are opaque throughout, another 2-4 minutes. Spoon mixture over rice and top with bacon. Add a few dashes of pepper vinegar or hot sauce for a great southern dish!

This recipe was found here: http://goodcheapeats.com/2010/09/shrimp-with-bacon-and-collards-whats-on-your-plate/
© Copyright 2012 Good Cheap Eats. All Rights Reserved.

Join Heather as she posts the gourmet meals her family enjoys on a mac and cheese budget at Gourmet Meals for Less.

What’s on YOUR Plate?

Share with us a recent meal you prepared. Either link it up below or tell us about it in the comments. Please make sure that you link to www.goodcheapeats.com in your post so others know where the dinner party is.

And don’t forget to pop around and visit the other good eaters participating today. I’m sure you will be inspired to make all sorts of Good Cheap Eats at your house.