20 Minutes and Very Little Effort Can Get You This

If you like to eat well on weeknights like I do, make friends with shellfish and canned tomatoes. Shrimp, for example, only takes about 5-6 minutes to cook from raw, or 2-3 minutes to heat when pre-cooked, frozen and thawed. One key thing about frozen seafood (and pretty much all meat) is the thawing process. When you look at a package and it says "For best results thaw in the refrigerator overnight" they ain't kidding. When meat, especially fish, is frozen, small ice particles form between the meat fibres. If exposed to room temperature, or worse still, the defrost feature on your microwave the ice particles burst quickly, tearing the meat fibres, and thus making the meat tough. So when it comes to thawing, I always advocate following package directions.

The great thing about canned tomatoes, other than the fact that you don't have to worry about them rotting up your counter, is that they're picked and canned when they're ripe, thus when they have the highest nutrition content from the soil, unlike fresh tomatoes, which are picked with they're still green and left to ripen via oxygen on the way to your grocer. Always good to have a few of these on-hand, of course accompanied by a few cans of tomato paste.

SPICY SHRIMP-TOMATO STEW

3 tbsp olive oil; 2 shallots chopped; 2 cloves garlic chopped; 1/2 red (or your favourite) Chile, ribs and seeds out and chopped; 1 bay leaf; 1 sprig thyme; 1 14oz can diced tomatoes; 1 tbsp tomato paste; two big handfuls cooked de-veined peel-off tail-off shrimp; 1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock; S&P; dried basil; Parmesan

Heat olive oil to light smoke and add shallots and chile, sauté for a few seconds and add garlic. Just when you notice the garlic starting to brown, add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir. Then add the wine or chicken stock (or half and half) and toss in the bay leaf and thyme, bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook for about 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat. Season to taste and garnish with dried basil and Parmesan.