Tonight John is making a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen, shrimp scampi. In our house we have a division of labor when it comes to cooking. John is in charge of all red meat, poultry, fish, and shellfish. I am in charge of all things vegetable. Of course this does not mean the we do not help each other out with components of each other’s dishes. John is an expert garlic peeler and chopper-upper and I have been known to brown meat. My assignment for tonight is toasting bread and preparing green beans.

Shrimp scampi with Frenched green beans

John makes a stock out of the shrimp shells to use in the sauce. He simmers the shrimp briefly and sets them aside while he makes the garlic sauce. I chop up the parsley. The green beans are a sticking point between us. John does not mind big honking green beans but I find them unpalatable. My mom always Frenched our green beans which is to cut them longitudinally and take the string off the string bean. I have a gadget that does just that. So I made big green beans for John and I have the thin ones in the picture for myself.

Dinner is yummy and the bread is especially good at soaking up the sauce.