In this unprecedented time of fear and uncertainty, I have not only slowed down on cooking, I have decided to not even use my bone china. I have used (with my husband’s curious enthusiasm) paper plates and napkins. Well, that’s not entirely true; I still use cloth napkins… I just can’t find the energy and lust for cooking worth doing the dishes it takes usually. Call it situational depression. I call it being just plain tired. So, I have decided to still cook, for real – for real – once a week. With china and all.

That being said… This was not a hard dish. And much like taking a shower, putting on makeup, painting your nails, making the bed… Finding a reason to break out the china, use the sterling, drink from the crystal – it’s as much a help to mental health as the walk you take hand-in-hand, reassuring yourselves it’s going to be okay – can possibly get.

I don’t need to tell you how important this time is to stay in-love with life. And cooking is part of that for me. Like I said, this was easy and took almost no clean-up. I could have put this on paper plates, sure.

But today, I’m not throwing in the towel.

It’s a blue and white towel from Williams Sonoma, and this pandemic has taken enough from me.

You Will Need:

• Shrimp (frozen or raw)
• Parmesan (however you prefer to get it, we used grated)
• Salt (we use pink Himalayan salt)
• Herbs de Provence (found in dried seasonings isle)
• Lemons (we used fresh lemons, you can buy already bottled lemon juice if easier)
• Garlic (we used minced garlic)
• Butter

Go ahead and prep your shrimp if it’s frozen. Place them in a bowl with cold water and let soak, then drain.

In a bowl, place your salt, herbs de provence, butter and garlic. Basically, use the amount that you feel would work for the amount of shrimp you’re cooking. You need to have enough to cover the shrimp as well as having a sauce. I had eight shrimp left, four per person. Stick in the microwave for 30 secs (stir, and make sure the butter has melted).

Take your lemons and grate the lemon zest into a separate dish or bowl.

Then, cut the lemons and squeeze them into the bowl with seasonings and melted butter.

Place some of the mixture in the bottom of the cooking vessel and then place your shrimp.

Top with more of your liquid.

Wash your hands and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Top the shrimp dish with the cheese of choice (again, we used grated parmesan).

Cook for 15 minutes and plate, top with some of the lemon zest. Use the sauce over the shrimp like a shrimp scampi. Oh wait… it is a shrimp scampi. Made simply. With 20 mins total time, and during a quarantine.

Take that, 2020.

Below, you will find the table-setting for this meal: Dishes are from Worcester. Glasses are Waterford. Silver is heirloom. Napkins are Pier 1. Cooking pot is from Bravoli.