New recipe: Roasted Shrimp With Peppers and Lemon (over white rice)

It's one of my goals this year to teach myself to cook and build a collection of recipes with which I am comfortable. One of my favorite sources is Real Simple and that is where I found this one. I tried this on a night I was eating alone, since Jed doesn't like any seafood -- he asked me what I made for dinner when he got home because he could smell it though! This recipe was really easy -- especially since I used frozen, cooked, peeled and de-veined shrimp from the supermarket -- and I would make it again. The one thing I would change is thawing the shrimp first and cutting the tail shells off so you can just eat the dish as a whole without worrying about shell.

I made a half portion since it was just me eating it (I had leftovers for lunch), but the recipe as is serves four.

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme (I sprinkled some in from a bottle)
• 4 scallions, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 pound frozen large peeled and deveined shrimp, thawed
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, toss the bell pepper, lemon, thyme, scallions, crushed red pepper, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. 

3. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet (reserving the bowl).

4. Add the shrimp to the bowl and toss with the paprika, the remaining tablespoon of oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. 

5. Nestle the shrimp in the bell peppers on the baking sheet (I seemed to have a lot of shrimp for the amount of vegetables, so they weren't exactly "nestled").

6. Roast until the shrimp are cooked through and the bell peppers are tender, 10 to 12 minutes (I increased the time to 20 minutes since the shrimp were frozen). While the shrimp is roasting, cook the rice according to box directions. Serve over the rice.

Doesn't it look yummy?? I will warn you, the tiny bit of crushed red pepper and the scallions really added some punch to this dish; it was spicy, but not overbearingly so.