mediterranean diet: healthy menu meal plan #82
sea shells by the seashore, aka a friendship reignited
Shrimp and I have not always been pals. In fact, until I arrived in Spain I hadn’t eaten shrimp since I was 24.
The reason I stopped? A really scary experience with an entrée at a fancy Los Angeles restaurant that ended up with me being rushed to the ER at UCLA.
The reason I started up again? My friend, María José San Roman, acclaimed Michelin and Repsol chef, wanted me to sample a new creation and I just couldn’t say no. I figured if there was anywhere in the world that was safe for me to get reacquainted with shrimp, it was at her famed restaurant.
Plus it looked so innocent. A single, almost translucent, gorgeous red shrimp from the Mediterranean waters of nearby Dénia, delicately sauced with an emulsion of extra virgin olive oil and the reduced juice from the shrimp.
One bite reignited a friendship and I’ve been enjoying fresh shrimp straight out of the Mediterranean ever since. Not to mention, benefitting from one of the healthiest proteins of the Mediterranean diet.
what makes it work
The Mediterranean diet’s emphasis on seafood several times a week isn’t just about fish. Shellfish count too, and they carry their own distinct nutritional profile.
Shellfish — shrimp, mussels, clams, prawns — are among the most nutrient-dense proteins in the Mediterranean diet and among the most underused in home kitchens outside of the Mediterranean itself.
Partly because they are more difficult to source and partly because they are often a more expensive option. But when you can get them, they are well worth adding to your everyday diet.
Shrimp are especially lean. A single serving delivers around 32 grams of protein for fewer than 100 calories from the protein alone, with virtually no fat even though they taste incredibly rich.
They’re also a solid source of iodine — important to thyroid function and often missing from everyday diets — along with selenium, vitamin B12, phosphorus, and a meaningful amount of omega-3 fatty acids.
With about 100 fresh fish and seafood vendors at my local mercado, I’m blessed. So in our kitchen, shellfish show up constantly. Steamed mussels for a quick lunch — one of the simplest and most satisfying things you can make in under ten minutes. Clam spaghetti on a weeknight when I want something that feels elegant but takes almost no effort. A spontaneous Sunday shrimp lunch aka a “pile-up accident” from one of last month’s Notes.
The clam spaghetti recipe was featured back in Healthy Menu Meal Plan #12. George likes it so much that it’s on repeat every couple of weeks and remains one of our favorites in the archive.
Shrimp, though, is the most flexible of the group. Grilled, sautéed, baked, in pasta, in rice, in a salad — it adapts to almost anything.
what to do with them
This week’s featured recipe is a garlicky shrimp pasta that comes together in minutes and tastes like something you’d order at a chiringuito (beach shack restaurant) along the playa. The secret is in the shells.
The first time I made this dish, I’d picked up a kilo of whole fresh shrimp at the market that morning — heads on, shells on, the way they’re sold here.
I almost asked the fishmonger to clean them for me. I’m glad I didn’t.
Because what happens when you take those shells and heads, cook them in a little olive oil for five minutes, and strain the result is one of the most intensely flavored stocks you will ever make. Orange-red, deeply savory, and completely free — made from something most people throw straight in the garbage.
That stock is what makes this dish.
the secret sauce
The pasta starts with the stock. Reserve the shells and heads when you clean the shrimp — or better yet, watch the short clip below where I show my trick for trimming them quickly with kitchen scissors. It’s faster than it looks and the payoff is totally worth it.
Once the stock is made and strained, the rest moves quickly. The garlic paste — pounded in a mortar with sea salt and two Maggi cubes — is worth a word.
Maggi is not a Mediterranean pantry staple. Invented in Switzerland, it’s pretty popular in many parts of the world, but I use it rarely. In this dish though, it’s a small cube of magic. It adds a deep umami backbone that amplifies the shrimp flavor in a way that’s hard to explain until you taste it. If you can source it, don’t skip it.
a note about today’s menu
The rest of the day is built light and seasonal — breakfast, two snacks, and a simple dinner — so that the shrimp pasta can carry the afternoon the way a good lunch should.
Your full menu PDF is just below, along with three bonus recipes from the archives — one weeknight simple, one for company, one for fun — and the complete day’s menu with shopping list.
If you’re already a paid subscriber — thank you. Every issue exists because you’re here.
If you’ve been reading the free issues and wondering what’s waiting on the other side — recipes, full menus, shopping lists, the archive — this is a good week to find out.
Your full menu PDF is just below, along with three bonus salmon recipes from the archives to make sure you have what it takes to follow the whole day — one breakfast, one snack, one dinner — and the complete day’s menu with shopping list.
But right now, it’s time to pull up a chair, grab a glass or cup, and join me in my Mediterranean kitchen.
The stock is ready. The mortar and pestle are waiting to work their magic. The shrimp are all set to join in.
