Shrimp Fried Rice

Every time I come across this recipe in my giant folder, I see pictures of giant, succulent shrimp and nearly drool.  There's a second shrimp recipe for an easy paella that warrants a similar response.  So using my noggin for once, I bought a two pound bag of shrimp at the grocery store this week.  I can now report on Shrimp Fried Rice, originally shared in Every Day with Rachael Ray.  The paella will follow next week.

Shrimp Fried Rice

2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
One 8-oz bag sugar snap peas, trimmed
Salt and pepper
1/2 bunch scallions (3 to 4), green and white portions thinly sliced separately
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 large eggs, beaten
One 10-oz bag frozen peas and carrots, thawed

1.  In a medium saucepan, bring the rice and 2 cups of water to a boil; lower the heat, cover and simmer until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.  Let stand, covered for 5 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, heat 3 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the shrimp and cook for 2 minutes.  Stir in snap peas, season with salt and pepper and cook until the shrimp are opaque, about 1 minute.  Transfer to a large bowl.

3.  Place the skillet over medium-high heat and add the remaining oil, the scallion whites and garlic.  Cook, stirring, until the garlic sizzles, about 30 seconds.  Stir the rice, season with salt and pepper and spread into an even layer.  Cook until slightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes.  Stir and cook 3 to 4 minutes more, watching the heat of your pan so that the rice doesn't burn.  Push the rice to one side of the pan; add the eggs, season with salt and cook, scrambling, until set, 1 to 2 minutes.  Stir the eggs into the rice, then add the shrimp mixture, peas and carrots and scallion greens and cook, stirring, until heated through.

The Verdict:  Shrimp, peas, eggs and rice together are a winning combination in my book.  And while the dish is simple and tasty, there's nothing really amazing about it.  It's shrimp, peas, eggs and rice.

One nice part of this dish is the addition of the fresh sugar snap peas.  I don't generally cook with them, so they were a crunchy and sweet extra.  Our son has never eaten them and was really excited about the texture.  "Oooooh," he cried out, "Crunchy!"

I love soy sauce, salty junk food condiment that it is, and added it to my plate after cooking.  If you do, too, you might want to consider cutting back the amount of salt you add while cooking this dish.  You might want to consider cutting it back anyway; at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite after copping to loving soy sauce, it seemed like there was a lot of added salt.

So we thought it was good, but not great.  Really, I like "my" recipe for fried rice better (wherever it originally came from) and think you'd be happier to just add shrimp to that.  But keep the sugar snap peas.  Those were fun and delicious.