Orange-Basil Shrimp

After making a particularly delicious batch of sangria, I found myself with half an orange left over. And thus, all the inspiration necessary for one of my favorite simple recipes.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 navel orange

- 1 cube frozen basil / or 1 tsp. minced basil

- 2 handfuls / 25 tiny shrimp (precooked)

- 1 tsp sugar

1. Squeeze the juice out of the navel orange into a small skillet or saucepan on medium-low heat. I let a few chunks of orange float in there as well, so I could squish them down with a ladle later to release more of the liquid.

2. Mix in the basil with the orange nectar.

3. After the basil and orange have mixed thoroughly and the mixture is bubbling slightly, add the shrimp.

4. Zest the orange peel over the mix of orange nectar, basil, and shrimp. Let the mix simmer for a few minutes.

5. Don't let the liquid boil off. When the basil and orange mixture have coated the shrimp, carefully remove only the shrimp into a bowl. Add the sugar to the simmering liquid, and wait just a few seconds for the caramelization to complete.

6. Spoon the caramelized orange-basil glaze over the shrimp.

Island of Paradise Salad

Mangoes are the most perfect fruit on the planet. Being math nerds and food-obsessed, my boyfriend and I once created a scatterplot depicting the fruit kingdom, rated on the x-axis for their deliciousness, and on the y-axis for the ease of eating the fruit in question.

Though we may have disagreed on exactly where mangoes lie in the supremacy of fruit, my experiences eating them in the homeland put them squarely at the top of any such list.

As such, I decided to reuse the concept of the mango-pineapple mixture atop a new platform.

- mango chunks (1 cup)

- pineapple chunks (1 cup)

- strawberries (1 cup or 5 hearty red-fellas)

- spinach (2 handfuls)

- gorgonzola cheese (1-2 tablespoons)

- cinnamon-chipotle pineapple glaze

1. Dice the mango and pineapple into similar sized cubes.

2. Slice the strawberries lengthwise, about a quarter of an inch thick.

3. Mix all the fruit and spinach together.

4. Sprinkle gorgonzola on top, generously.

5. Spoon the cinnamon-chipotle pineapple glaze on top -- and get a napkin. It's going to be a delicious mess all over your face.