Shrimp de Provence and Cooking Reality

July 14-15th Tonight I made shrimp seasoned with Herb DE Provence, garlic salt and butter. My mother-in-law introduced me to this spice (herb DE. . .), and it takes everything I have not to put it on my cereal in the morning. It's basically an all-star lineup of herbs we use everyday, but when put together it goes great on just about everything you cook. The only place I can find it is at the Fresh Market, and it is a little pricey. A little goes a long way, however, and you will love it on chicken breasts sauteed in a pan. I took about a half a pound of cooked shrimp with the tail on and poured about a tbs of olive oil on it with a couple shakes of garlic salt and Herb DE Provence, plus a dash of pepper. You can do this with uncooked shrimp fine, just add to the cooking time. Heat up about 1.5 tbs of butter and a tsp of olive oil and add one clove of garlic once heated. Let that sizzle away for about a minute then add the shrimp. Since the shrimp is cooked, just heat through, it only takes about 2 minutes. While it is cooking, squeeze a lemon over the shrimp, which will add to the sauce. Once the shrimp is done, take it out and let the sauce behind simmer until it develops a little thickness. For my sides, I made rice in my rice cooker. Instead of cooking it in water, I use chicken broth, it makes a difference. I also heated up those glazed slow cooked carrots I made this past weekend (see previous posts). It made for a nice savory/sweet combination on the plate. You have probably noticed a pattern with parsley as a garnish. I do this with just about anything I cook, it really adds to the plate and parsley is pretty cheap. So if you are cooking for someone, throw some on top of your plate for extra presentation. On to the nonsense. . . There are two reality cooking shows that I watch on a regular basis. One is Top Chef on Bravo and the other is Hell's Kitchen on FOX. Top Chef shows real chefs trying to make culinary creations for some of the best cooks in the world. The other shows former Steak N' Shake employees trying to cook gourmet food while a crazy man screams obscenities at them. Both are highly entertaining, but at the end of the day you learn two things. The winner of the the Top Chef competition is going to have their own restaurant, and dining there will be a culinary experience. The winner of Hell's Kitchen will take over the reigns of a Ramsey owned restaurant in Vegas, and more than likely be fired for poisoning a crowd of people. I like Gordon Ramsey, I think he is a very entertaining and talented chef, yet he has become a sort of caricature of TV cooks. His other show on the BBC is actually really good, until they brought it to American television. Kitchen Nightmares was a show featuring Ramsey trying to rebuild a fledgling restaurant. In the American version, the people he was trying to help were all too bullish and knew that they were on television, therefore, they acted like dicks. But the BBC version actually shows real people, with real struggles, and a sincere Ramsey trying to help them through it. Yes, Top Chef can be pretentious and the judges are really annoying. Especially the supermodel who has no idea how to cook gourmet food, yet thinks she has the culinary IQ to judge real chefs food. She did come out with her own cookbook, I think she had no choice. Anyway, the moral of this rant is watch Top Chef to learn some technique and watch Hell's Kitchen to find out what restaurant to avoid when in Vegas. Sorry Gordon.