Vanilla Coconut Shrimp

ingredients

1/ 4 cup olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
12 shitake mushrooms, sliced, stems removed
1 red bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 14 1/2 oz coconut milk
2 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I had a bit under this amount — 10 large shrimp total — worked fine)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
cooked rice or pasta

1
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the shallots, garlic, mushrooms and belle pepper (it’s a lady pepper!). Cook about 5 minutes and then add the wine and vanilla bean. Bring to a simmer ad reduce the wine by half — about 7-8 minutes.
2
Next, add the broth, coconut milk, ginger, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer again and reduce sauce by half — about 8-10 minutes.
3
Th shrimp goes in next. Turn it once while cooking, for a total of about 8 minutes.
4
Also, don’t forget to cook your pasta or rice. Hey — what’s this in my pasta water? Oh, it’s a Stash lemon & ginger herbal tea bag for a little extra flavor.
5
Serve the shrimp and coconut-vanilla sauce over the pasta (or rice) and top with the basil. Pop your movie in and pour some wine.
6
We found that yelling out, “I’m not drinking any fucking merlot,” periodically throughout the movie (especially during suspenseful moments) is much fun — and we were drinking a sauvignon blanc so it was factual as well.
7
Both jwa and I were pleasantly surprised by how well the vanilla and coconut milk came together. This was a very good meal made even better by a simple yet delightful dessert of vanilla frozen yogurt, peaches and port.