Christmas Eve Dinner

So this was not so much a complete GFCF meal as one of my traditions is to make my husband a big old meat lasagna. Works out OK as I don't eat the meat either!

To add to it, I made "Stuffed Shrimp" and one of my favorite spinach dishes.

Stuffed Shrimp


We cheaped out and bought smaller shrimp, so I just layered them in a baking dish and put the filling on top. They were still really good!

Ingredients

1 cup chopped mushrooms (about 1/4 pound)
3 tablespoons minced onion
2 tablespoons minced celery ribs
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
3 tablespoons Earth Balance
1/2 pound scallops, chopped, or lump crabmeat, picked over
1/2 cup chicken broth
32 Ritz crackers (about two thirds of a 12-ounce package), crushed into coarse crumbs - I used almond meal because I was out of gluten free bread crumbs, and it was quite yummy!

18 jumbo shrimp (about 2 pounds), shelled, leaving tail and connecting shell segment intact
2 tablespoons Earth Balance

Garnish: chopped fresh parsley leaves
Accompaniment: lemon wedges

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. and butter a large baking dish.


In a large heavy skillet cook mushrooms, onion, celery, garlic, and parsley in EB over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated. Add scallops or crabmeat and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, 3 minutes. Stir in broth and cracker crumbs and remove skillet from heat.

Butterfly shrimp by cutting lengthwise along inside curve, almost completely through. Split open shrimp and devein. Mound about 2 tablespoons stuffing onto each shrimp, pressing gently, and put shrimp, stuffed sides up, in baking dish. Melt EB and drizzle over shrimp. Sprinkle shrimp with paprika and bake 20 minutes, or until stuffing is golden.

Garnish shrimp with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.


Roman Spinach

Ingredients

* 3 tablespoons raisins (black or golden, smallest available)
* 4 bunches spinach, bunches washed at least twice but not dried, trimmed of stems (2 1/2 pounds untrimmed)
* 1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
* 5 medium garlic cloves, peeled and well crushed
* 4 tablespoons pine nuts
* 1 pinch salt (big pinch)
* fresh black pepper (6-7 grindings)

Directions

1.
Put the raisins in a small bowl with enough warm water to cover. Soak for about 15 minutes and set aside.
2.
Put the wet spinach in a frying pan large enough to hold it all and cook over a high flame until it collapses and turns dark green, stirring constantly. Transfer the spinach to a colander and set aside. If the frying pan is wet, dry it with a paper towel.
3.
Pour olive oil into the frying pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and brown it, being careful it doesn't burn. Remove and discard. Take the raisins from the water, squeeze as dry as possible and add them to the oil with the pine nuts. Turn the heat down to medium and cook until the nuts turn a golden color. Be careful because the nuts can burn easily.
4.
Return spinach to the pan, stir with a fork and add salt and pepper, to taste. Mix all ingredients and continue cooking for about a minute. You may add additional olive oil if desired.

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