Marco Polo Shrimp

This is another one of my mother's quick dinner recipes that I always loved. She called it Shrimp Cantonese but I decided to rename it because it uses Italian salad dressing instead of soy sauce. Marco Polo was an Italian explorer who traveled the Silk Road. He brought noodles back to Italy which became pasta. So I named this Marco Polo shrimp because of the Italian dressing and the Chinese influence of stir fry, water chestnuts, and rice- an Italian/Chinese fusion! If you have frozen shrimp in your freezer, this is a quick dinner to throw together. The flavor from the zesty Italian dressing is delicious and somehow make sit taste even better the next day as leftovers. Optional: throw in some frozen peas at step 3.


12 cooked jumbo shrimp cut in half or 24 medium size shrimp (add more if you wish)
2 cups cooked rice, brown or white
1large red bell pepper
1/2 large green pepper
1/2 large yellow bell pepper
1 large onion
1 can sliced or diced water chestnuts, drained
1/3 cup bottled Zesty Italian salad dressing
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice peppers and onions into strips. Saute in salad dressing until slightly soft.
2. Add shrimp and water chestnuts and saute with veggies for one minute.
3. Add rice and stir into mixture thoroughly on low heat. Add a splash of additional salad dressing if needed. Continue stirring and heating for 2-3 more minutes.

This recipe feeds 4.