Dinner in Minutes: Provencal sauce makes one-pot meal

Fresh shrimp in a light Provencal sauce is one of celebrity chef Jacques Pepin’s creations I tasted on a cruise.

With a restaurant named after him on the Oceania Marina, Pepin told me that he wanted to serve bistro-style food.

“I like to return to classic French-bistro style food that is hard to find now,” he says, “good food, fresh ingredients.”

All you need is a little rice to go with his one-pot recipe. Simply heat a package of microwave brown rice according to package instructions. Measure out 1 1/2 cups rice (reserve the rest for another use), and mix in 2 teaspoons olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Divide into two servings.

This meal contains 542 calories with 29 percent of calories from fat.

Jacques Pepin’s Shrimp Provencal

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 plum tomatoes, diced (2 cups)

1/4 cup dry white wine

3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 sprig fresh or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 sprig fresh or 1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 bay leaf

Salt

Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until transparent, about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and cook another minute without browning. Add tomatoes and cook until they release their juice, 4 to 5 minutes. Add wine and simmer 1 minute; do not let it cook dry.

Place shrimp over vegetables and add thyme, marjoram and bay leaf. Lower heat to medium and cover with a lid. Simmer (do not boil) 2 minutes; turn shrimp over and simmer 1 minute.

Remove bay leaf and thyme and marjoram sprigs, if using. Sprinkle with salt to taste. Serve over brown rice.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition per serving: 322 calories (29 percent from fat), 10.3 grams fat (1.6 grams saturated, 5.5 grams monounsaturated), 258 milligrams cholesterol, 36.9 grams protein, 15.4 grams carbohydrates, 3.3 grams fiber, 266 milligrams sodium.