In Praise of Shrimp

Although there is a season for catching shrimp, thankfully there is no season for eating them.

First let me quote the bumper sticker you see around the coast: “Friends don’t let friends buy imported shrimp.”

It is not just a taste issue; it is a way of life issue. As Asia continues to flood the market with their tasteless, frozen, and cheap product, more and more of our local shrimpers are put out of business. So always remember to buy the shrimp from local waters.

Your best bet is to prepare your shrimp the same day it was caught. You don’t necessarily have to eat it - I’ve got shrimp in my freezer right now that was caught last fall. I froze it the same day it was caught. Once thawed it smells and tastes just as sweet and fresh as when it was fresh. Catching shrimp is a topic for the fall when bait shrimping is in season and my son-in-law is heaving his eight foot net over baited poles. For now we will talk about cooking shrimp and eating them.

Growing up in New Orleans, the shrimp we ate came boiled, peeled and served with a cocktail sauce or better yet with a remoulade sauce. There are some great remoulade sauce recipes, but my favorites are from Commander’s Palace restaurant and Galatoire’s restaurant, both in New Orleans. My father would disagree with me, but I give the nod to Commander’s. There are two Commander’s cookbooks, and while I have and use them both, the recipe I like is from the first one.  If you can’t find it, email me and I’ll send it along.

The other typical way of eating shrimp in New Orleans is Shrimp Creole. My favorite recipe for that is from the previously mentioned Plantation Cookbook. I like to jazz it up a little bit by adding diced andouille sausage to the recipe.

Then you have the fad that took off a while back of shrimp and grits. I think some restaurant in Charleston started this craze but it has been around in low country kitchens for ever. There are a million recipes for the stuff, but my hands down favorite is in Charleston Receipts and is called “Breakfast Shrimp” from a recipe by Emily Whaley. Now I adored Emily Whaley, as did anyone who was lucky enough to know her. Her recipe calls for small shrimp (which we call creek shrimp). Those little shrimp are hard to find fresh, and even if you could, they are a pain in the neck to peel.  So just use medium shrimp.

Now I want to talk about what I think is the most versatile way of cooking shrimp.  You can also find this recipe in the first Commander’s Palace cookbook: “Shrimp and Fettuccini”.

What I like about this recipe is you can take what I call the guts of the dish and then make any number of changes to it. I’ve cooked it a million times and I’m not sure I’ve cooked it the same way twice.

OK here are what I call the guts:

Cook two cups of fettuccini (I confess I never know how many noodles to fix so I always fix too much).

One pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined. ***IMPORTANT*** as you peel the shrimp, put the shells in a medium saucepan. Once the shrimp is peeled, add half a chopped onion and a bay leaf to the saucepan and add enough water to cover (at least two cups). Bring this to a boil and reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Pour through a fine mesh strainer and you should have a cup or two or shrimp stock. Set it aside. (What you don’t use freezes well).

One cup of bell pepper diced

Two cups of diced onion

One clove of garlic diced.

½ a cup of chopped green onion (green part only)

Two tablespoons of chopped parsley

Two tablespoons of butter placed in the freezer.

In a twelve inch skillet, heat two tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoon of butter.

Sautee the bell pepper and onion until the onion is translucent.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant but NOT brown.

Add the shrimp and stir briefly to mix with the vegetables.

Add about a cup of shrimp stock and green onions and increase the heat allowing the shrimp to poach. DO NOT OVERCOOK as the shrimp will get tough.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the parsley then stir in the butter from the freezer creating a creamy sauce.

Add the pasta to the pan, stir and serve.

Now. Back up. The guts end before you add the shrimp.

You may want to add diced tomato (just the meat not the juice)

You may want to add diced tasso ham or andouille sausage.

Better yet….go back to the beginning and instead of olive oil use bacon grease! (Now we’re talking!)

Or..before adding the shrimp, add the stock and cook down to a tablespoon and then add a ½ cup of white wine or, better still, champagne to poach the shrimp (champagne really is overlooked as a substitute for white wine. The flavor is markedly different).

Consider adding chopped basil when you add the pasta.

Whatever you add or don’t add, this is a lighter and more flavorful dish than shrimp and grits.

OK. What am I pouring with this?

It is hard to think of shrimp this time of year without a cool crisp rose’. But thinking white wine a perfect accompaniment would be a nice white burgundy. The chardonnay’s from Burgundy are so different from the oaky/vanilla chardonnay disasters from California. Burgundy’s are built for food. They don’t overwhelm. So when you think of white wine and food, think Burgundy.