A Couple Good Recipes and Lots of Fun

Hosting Pokeno at my house turned out great. Good food, good friends and lots of laughs!
A few of the girls:

I ended up winning quite a bit! All the prizes had to be homemade, so I ended up with Banana Bread, Banana Pudding, Monkey Bread, and an adorable embroidered dish towel and apron!

I made Ina Garten's Roasted Shrimp Salad for one of the salads. It is my go to recipe for shrimp salad!

Roasted Shrimp Salad

• 2 1/2 pounds (12 to 15 count) shrimp
• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup good mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 2 tablespoons small-diced
• 1 tablespoon good white wine vinegar
  
• red onion

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and devein the shrimp . Place them on a sheet pan with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss together. Spread the shrimp on one layer and roast for 6 to 8 minutes, just until pink, firm and cooked through. Allow to cool for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayo, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. When the shrimp are cool, add them to the sauce and toss. Add the dill, capers, and red onion and toss well. The flavors will improve if you allow the salad to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Otherwise, chill and serve at room temperature.

And, I made Ina's Tiramisu for dessert. Everyone loved it, even though I had to tweek it a bit!

Tiramisu

• 6 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup good dark rum, divided
• 1 1/2 cups brewed espresso, divided
• 16 to 17 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 30 Italian ladyfingers, or savoiardi
• Bittersweet chocolate, shaved or grated
• Confectioners' sugar, optional

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed for about 5 minutes, or until very thick and light yellow. Lower the speed to medium and add 1/4 cup rum, 1/4 cup espresso, and the mascarpone. Whisk until smooth.

Combine the remaining 1/4 cup rum and 1 1/4 cups espresso in a shallow bowl. Dip 1 side of each ladyfinger in the espresso/rum mixture and line the bottom of a 9 by 12 by 2-inch dish. Pour half the espresso cream mixture evenly on top. Dip 1 side of the remaining ladyfingers in the espresso/rum mixture and place them in a second layer in the dish. Pour the rest of the espresso cream over the top. Smooth the top and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. Shave or grate some chocolate over the top before serving. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.