Shrimp

Next to salt and pepper, cumin seems to be the spice that's appearing in most of my dishes these days. This shrimp dish comes courtesy of How to Cook Everything and is extremely simple ("the simplest and best shrimp dish," the name of the recipe, is certainly appropriate)--shrimp, olive oil, slivered garlic, cumin, paprika, and parsley. The recipe calls for a bit more oil than I'm used to cooking with--even with a "healthier" oil, I feel guilty using any more than a smallish amount--but the oil proved to be the key ingredient in this recipe, magically absorbing and smoothly combining all the flavors from the other ingredients and keeping the shrimp tender. It's so tasty (and again, easy) that I'm once again finding myself amazed by Mark Bittman. With almost no chopping or measuring, I'm excited to have a great dish that I can make on short notice without planning (at least if I keep shrimp on hand).