Zucchini with Rice and Shrimp

Name: Zucchini with Rice and Shrimp Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Rice 200 g; Water about 2 cups (twice the amount of rice) (400 ml); Zucchini 1; Shrimp 30 (about 350 g); Boiling water to cover the shrimp; Garlic 1 head; Onion 1; Carrot 1; Olive oil 3 tbsp; Dry white wine about 1/3 cup (65 ml); Spices: salt, black peppercorns, ginger, nutmeg to taste; Basil leaves to taste

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45 mins

I read somewhere that many great and famous people gave their names to well-known dishes. Count Stroganov, for example, was the first to cook beef in a sauce that took its creator’s name: beef Stroganoff.

The famous chef of the Paris restaurant Hermitage, Lucien Olivier, immortalized his name in the beloved Olivier salad. The great composer Giacomo Puccini gave his name to the well-known chicken and mushroom salad through his opera Tosca (the stress falls on the “o”, by the way, in case you didn’t know). And what about Rossini’s insanely complex and elaborate recipes?

Recipes outlive their creators by centuries. Beef Stroganoff, Tosca salad, zucchini with rice, Pozharsky cutlets…

The famous adventurer and seducer Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt, also left his mark on culinary history. He authored many culinary masterpieces, one of which is a “zucchini and shrimp appetizer”.

I decided to take Casanova’s recipe as a base, combine zucchini and shrimp, and add vegetables and rice. The “Rice with Vegetables” recipe also made its own adjustments to the new dish. And so I made an original dish: rice with zucchini.

By the way, zucchini is very low in calories, which matters a lot to many people. Stuffed zucchini, for example, is always tasty and doesn’t weigh down any diet.

Soon there will be plenty of young zucchini, so you will be able to make this successful dish often.

More with zucchini

Zucchini Risotto with Parmesan

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Couscous with Vegetables

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Shrimp and Zucchini Pasta in Cream Sauce

30 min

Juicy Steamed Vegetables: Broccoli, Carrots and Zucchini

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Zucchini Boats with Bacon Baked under a Cheese Crust

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Ingredients

2 servings

Rice 200 g
Water about 2 cups (twice the amount of rice) (400 ml)
Zucchini 1
Shrimp 30 (about 350 g)
Boiling water to cover the shrimp
Garlic 1 head
Onion 1
Carrot 1
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Dry white wine about 1/3 cup (65 ml)
Spices: salt, black peppercorns, ginger, nutmeg to taste
Basil leaves to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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How to prepare the shrimp and rice

For the seafood you can use either a mix of different sea creatures, a seafood cocktail, or plain shrimp. It is best to choose shrimp that are not the smallest. In case you don’t know, the labeling on shrimp, both packaged and loose, tells you how many frozen shrimp there are per 1 kg. For example, if it says “90/120”, there will be 90-120 pieces in 1 kg. For this dish it is better to take shrimp of size “70/90”, and then 30 shrimp will weigh about 350 grams. That is quite enough for a dish for two, or for an appetizer served with shrimp sauce.
Thaw and peel the shrimp. Pour boiling water over them and leave until fully thawed. Then drain the water and peel the shrimp: separate the head from the body and remove the shell from the tail. Only the meaty tails should remain.
Cook fluffy rice. Long-grain varieties such as basmati and parboiled work best. As usual, use two cups of water (400 ml) per cup of rice and cook over low heat with the lid on until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.
I wouldn’t recommend rice mixes. Unpolished rice usually takes longer to cook and needs more water.

How to simmer the vegetables with the zucchini

Fry the onion until soft. In a frying pan over medium heat, heat 3 tbsp of olive oil until it is hot. When the oil is hot, fry the onion, cut into half rings.
Add the coarsely chopped, peeled carrot and the unpeeled garlic cloves.
Add the spices. I recommend grinding salt, black peppercorns, ginger and nutmeg in a mortar, all to your taste. But don’t add too many spices, as they are very aromatic. Fry everything over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in about a third of a cup of dry white wine (200 ml). Simmer with the lid on over low heat for 15 minutes, until all the liquid has evaporated and the carrot is soft.
Cut the zucchini into cubes, add it to the vegetables and simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes. Young zucchini doesn’t need peeling. This is enough time for the zucchini to reach the right texture without overcooking.

How to combine it with the shrimp and rice

Add the peeled shrimp to the vegetables. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, no longer, because the shrimp are already cooked and extra cooking will make them rubbery.
Add finely chopped basil and stir.
After 2-3 minutes, add the cooked fluffy rice.
Stir the zucchini with the rice and leave covered over the lowest heat for 5 minutes, so the rice with zucchini steams through and heats up.