Roasted broccoli and shrimp

Last night I wanted to make something yummy for dinner without resorting to a trip to the store. I had broccoli, radishes, asparagus and celery in the fridge and all manner of protein in the freezer. Browsing the usual food blogs I like (Orangette, Pioneer Woman, 101 Cookbooks) for inspiration, I was eventually led to a recipe for roasted broccoli and shrimp by Melissa Clark.

As usual, I tweaked it to make it my own. The asparagus wasn't going to get any better sitting in the fridge and it is particularly good when roasted in the oven, so that was getting added in addition to the broccoli. Point is, a lot of vegetables respond well to roasting. And this recipe could not be easier. It's probably 30 minutes start to finish (including prep work), and wham! - you've got dinner on the table for your family.

I dug out a half empty bag of very large frozen shrimp from Costco from the freezer and utterly disregarded the sinister warning that tells you that it's improper to run cool water over your shrimp (they call it 'force thawing') to thaw them, because I didn't take them out in any sort of time to thaw in the fridge. I grabbed the other ingredients and got going.

Roasted green veg and shrimp (by Melissa Clark via the Wednesday Chef with tweaks by the skigirl)

1.5 lb broccoli cut into florets (don't throw out the stems! Peel them with a vegetable peeler and cut into chunks)
1 lb asparagus
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1.5 tsp kosher salt
black pepper to taste
1/4-1/2 tsp chili powder
Zest of 1 large lemon, lemon cut into slices after zesting
1 lb large shrimp (peeled and deveined)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons oil, spices, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes. Rinse out the bowl then combine shrimp, asparagus, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and additional pepper. Add shrimp and asparagus to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and getting color on its edges, about 10 minutes. Squeeze lemon juice over everything, add any additional seasoning you think it may need and serve with additional lemon wedges.

I served this with hulled barley that I cooked in chicken broth (takes about 30 minutes), but any grain or rice would work well here. In addition (as is so common in our household) we had some obscenely buttery garlic bread made with a loaf from the local bakery. All in all, this was a ridiculously easy recipe that took virtually no time to put together with a very satisfying result!