Shrimp Etouffe

And All That Jazz



I was fortunate enough to attend the Newport Jazz Festival three times with friends. The first year it rained for most of the three days - storming on occasion - and we sat in our lawn chairs hooded in various rain gear. Whenever we got up our seats got wet so we spent three ways with wet bottoms even when we managed to keep from getting soaked elsewhere - but the music was good.

The second year it was sunny all three days with temperatures soaring into the 90s. There wasn't a breeze to be felt during the day so we roasted and then burned. That year we failed to make reservations soon enough to stay in town so we had to fight traffic every morning - but the music was good.

I make my own version of dirty rice that isn't quite so dirty because it can be hard to find the chicken livers it calls for.

The last time I went we had some rain, but not too much and no storms. We had some sun as well, but the rain kept things from getting too hot. And the music was still good.

I brought picnic lunches a number of times, but providing lunch for half a dozen people for three days was too much so we inevitably ended up eating at the various food vendors and one of these was where I first had shrimp étouffé. Although I've had (and made) better étouffé since then it was the best food at the festival.

Étouffé means "smothered" and it's rice that gets smothered. Plain white rice is common as is dirty rice. I make my own version of dirty rice that isn't quite so dirty because it can be hard to find the chicken livers it calls for.

Shrimp Étouffé
Serves 6.

2 pounds shrimp — head and shell on if possible*
1/3 c vegetable oil or lard
1/3 c flour
1 lg green bell pepper — 1/4" dice
1 lg yellow onion — peeled and cut into 1/4" dice
2 stalks celery — 1/4" dice
3 cloves garlic — minced
Creole seasoning to taste
Salt to taste
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
3 - 4 c shrimp stock
4 c not-so-dirty rice (see below)

:
Add oil to a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour. Cook, stirring frequently, until roux is a deep mahogany brown. Be careful not to splatter yourself — roux is often referred to as Cajun Napalm.

When roux is well-browned, reduce heat to medium and stir in bell pepper, onion, and celery and sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of Creole Seasoning. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent burning, for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in tomatoes and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add shrimp stock and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add shrimp and cook five minutes or until shrimp is just barely done. Serve over rice.

Not-So-Dirty Rice
Serves 6.

3 c white, long-grain rice
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 sm yellow onion — finely chopped
1/2 sm green pepper — finely chopped
1/2 sm stalk celery — finely chopped
1 1/2 c chicken stock or broth
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add chopped vegetables and cook, stirring frequently for five minutes. Add rice and continue cooking and stirring until rice is slightly golden and smells aromatic. Add chicken stock, 1 1/2 cups water, salt.

*Note: This should produce enough heads and shells to make the stock. You can also substitute chicken stock, fish stock, or use 3 - 4 bottles of clam juice.

Try Shrimp Etouffe with...
Fried Okra
Curried Plantains
Bread Pudding

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | shrimp | creole | main dish

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SG Archive:Shrimp Fra Diavolo

The Devil's Shrimp



I eat a fair bit of shrimp. It's relatively cheap, freezes well (so it's easy to keep around in the freezer), and cooks quickly and in addition to other people's recipes I've developed a number of my own recipes using it. For example, I make a Shrimp Ravioli with a shrimp sauce that is really good, and I developed a Low-Country Soufflé that borrows from the ravioli.

And there are traditional dishes such Shrimp and Grits, Shrimp Gumbo, and plain old shrimp boiled in beer for peel-and-eat. All delicious and easy. I've even substituted shrimp for crab in crab cakes (really good).

Although thawing in hot water can be dangerous, in this case the shrimp thaws so quickly (30 minutes or less) and is cooked immediately — so I don't think there's a serious risk.

Shrimp, or Lobster, Fra Diavolo is an Italian/American dish. It's origins aren't clear - at least my research hasn't turned up anything convincing. Diavolo refers to the bit of red pepper added to the dish that gives it a mild kick. It's usually served over pasta, often linguini, fettuccini, or spaghetti. If I'm making it at the last minute (and my shrimp is frozen) I'll dump it in a zip-lock bag and immerse it in hot water to thaw. Although thawing in hot water can be dangerous, in this case the shrimp thaws so quickly (30 minutes or less) and is cooked immediately — so I don't think there's a serious risk.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo
Serves 4.

1 lb shrimp — peeled
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1 sm onion — diced
2 cloves garlic — sliced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 c white wine
1 c diced tomatoes
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Toss shrimp with salt and red pepper and allow to sit a few minutes. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add shrimp and cook about 1 minute per side. Reserve shrimp on a plate. Saute onion I oil until translucent. Add garlic and oregano and cook another minute. Add wine and reduce by half. Add tomatoes and heat thoroughly. Add shrimp and cook another minute. Serve immediately over pasta garnished with parsley.

Try Shrimp Fra Diavolo with...
Green Beans with Anchovies
Glazed Carrots with Lemon and Mint
Pear/Raisin Pie

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | shrimp | pasta | main dish

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Shrimp Stock

I make a point of always buying shrimp with the shells on — and the heads too, if possible. Then before cooking the shrimp I remove the heads, peel the shrimp, and freeze the heads and shells in a ziplock bag. When the bag is full I make shrimp stock. I use the stock for Shrimp Étouffé, Shrimp Gumbo, and Shrimp Bisque (and as the basis for the sauce for my Shrimp Ravioli).

Shrimp Stock
Makes 3 1/2 cups.

1 gal. bag of shrimp heads, shells, and tails
1 stalk celery with leaves — broken into 5 or 6 pieces
1 md yellow onion — peeled and quartered
1 lg carrot — cut into 5 or 6 pieces
1 cup white wine
2 bay leaves
1 lemon — cut into slices

Heat oven to 350F.

Spread shells, heads, and tails on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes.

Scoop shrimp heads, shells, and tails into a large pot. Add remaining stock ingredients and 3 cups water. Place pot over high heat and just bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 45 minutes. (You may need to reduce heat further to prevent boiling — so watch the pot.) Strain out solids and discard. Use the stock as desired or freeze it.

Use shrimp stock with...
Shrimp Bisque
Gumbo

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | shrimp stock

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Shrimp Recipes

The Shrimp Collection



When I was a kid here in Knoxville seafood was somewhat of a rarity, but every now and then someone would bring a truckload of fresh shrimp up from the Gulf coast and sell it out of the back of the truck. When this happened my mother would often buy four or five pounds, boil it in beer, and we'd have a shrimp picnic on the living room floor with newspapers spread out to catch the shells as we peeled and ate it.

I'm not sure when I last had peel and eat shrimp, but it's been a long time. These days I'm more likely to make one the recipes included below.

Cajun Barbequed Shrimp:
These shrimp aren't really barbequed - they aren't even grilled, they're actually sautéed in a skillet with onion, bell pepper, and some Cajun Seasoning. But despite this identity confusion they're mighty good and easy to make.

Grilled Shrimp: I was living in Egypt the first time I had grilled shrimp -- or prawns, actually. I was 17 and had invited an older woman (she was 18) out to dinner. I don't recall the occasion, but there almost certainly was one because dating was rare -- we American's tended to do things in groups. But somehow I'd gotten the nerve up to ask Colleen out and to my amazement she accepted.

Jerked Shrimp: Knoxville now has a fish store and twice a week a truck delivers fresh fish from the Gulf. I can even get crayfish there in season as well as fresh oysters and clams, but I still generally buy frozen shrimp at the supermarket. Shrimp freezes well and thaws quickly so I like keeping it around. This recipe features lime and a Caribbean spice mixture.

Shrimp & Crab Curry: This is a dish my mother came up with and instead of serving over rice or dal she scooped it into puff pastry shells. The result was not only delicious but visually appealing making for a elegant meal.

Shrimp & Grits: Shrimp plays a particularly big roll in the Carolina Low-country, with Charleston Receipts offering dishes such as Breakfast Shrimp, half a dozen shrimp pies, and Shrimp Stuffed in Bell Peppers. Oddly enough, the shrimp dish I think of as most typically Low Country doesn't appear: Shrimp and Grits. This causes me to wonder if, despite the dish's fame, it's a relatively recent invention.

Shrimp Soufflé: This recipe was inspired by Shrimp & Grits. I figured I'd make an ordinary soufflé (using goat cheese) and then make a shrimp sauce like that used in shrimp and grits. The dish was absolutely delicious and I've made it several times since then.

Shrimp Cakes: The flavor appeared from nowhere — literally. I was trying to decide what to fix for supper, flipping through magazines, when suddenly I tasted a shrimp cake. I'd never had a shrimp cake before. Never even thought of shrimp cakes. But out of the blue I could taste the shrimp, cayenne, a bit of thyme, a hint of lime, an unidentifiable sweetness.

Shrimp Ravioli: I've had an Atlas pasta roller for a number if years, but making pasta by hand with a hand-cranked machine requires three hands so I didn't make it often. Then I got a pasta roller for my KA stand mixer and making pasta got a lot easier.The ravioli are stuffed with minced shrimp, ricotto, and Italian herbs and topped with a shrimp sauce. I like making large ravioli (about 4 inches square).

Shrimp Gumbo: This gumbo uses a chocolate-brown roux and, in addition to shrimp, includes Andouille and chicken. The recipe is based on a gumbo I had in a restaurant named Celestin's Caribbean Restaurant in Sacramento, California. They offer a large selection of gumbos but this was my favorite.

Shrimp Bisque: Bisques are the queens of soup. Luscious, rich, subtle, and smooth, they fill your mouth with the essence of whatever ingredient they're based on. Lobster bisque is the queen of queens, but given the price of lobster it would take me years to collect enough shells to make lobster stock, so in the seafood category shrimp is my fallback.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | shrimp

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Paella

Spanish Evening



We'd spent the day at the Alhambra in Grenada. It had been a rainy day, but in many ways that added to the beauty of the palace by lending the architecture's sunny exuberance a hint of melancholy. A bright smile put on to hide the aches and pains of 700 years of history. The patter of rain on flag stones accenting the gurgling of water in the building's fountains and streams.

Around 2:00 we returned to our van and headed back our villa in the south, stopping to buy some ham, bread, and cheese for lunch. Around dusk the sky finally began to clear highlighting the puddles left by the rain with colors of rose and orange. We reached the coast just after dark, too tired to cook so we decided to stop somewhere and get paella.

The rain added to the beauty of the palace by lending the architecture's sunny exuberance a hint of melancholy.

We'd been in Spain for a week and a half and had yet to order this most famous of Spanish dishes so we looked for a likely café as we drove along the coast toward home. Eventually we found a place and parked the van. The evening was somewhat chilly with a breeze blowing in from the Mediterranean, but not really cold. The sort of weather that makes a hearty meal all the more appealing.

Sadly, we chose the wrong restaurant. We ordered two different paellas and both were greasy and the flavor one-dimensional. I don't even remember what they were, only the disappointment. If that had been the only paella I ever ate I'd never have eaten it again.

Fortunately I'd had good paella both prior to that experience and since then. Dishes filled with the smoky flavor of sausage and paprika or briny taste of the sea. Tender chicken surrounded by creamy rice and blessed with a kiss of saffron. Flavors made round by the sweetness of ripe bell pepper and peas. Made well, paella is seriously good.

Paella
Serves 8.

4 c chicken stock
5 - 6 strands saffron
1/2 lb chorizo — cut into 1/4" rounds
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts — cut into 1" cubes
1 tsp Spanish paprika
salt and pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1 lg onion — peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper — diced
3 cloves garlic — sliced
1 c white wine
1 c short grain rice (ideally Spanish Bomba)
1/2 can diced tomatoes (15oz can) — drained
1 1/2 c frozen peas
1/2 lb shrimp — peeled

Heat oven to 325F.

Bring chicken stock to a vigorous simmer and add saffron.

Heat oil in a large, covered sauté pan over medium high heat. Brown chorizo and reserve. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika. Brown in pan on all sides and reserve with sausage.

Reduce heat to medium and saute onion and red pepper until translucent, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and continue cooking for one minute. Add rice and cook for another three minutes, stirring frequently.

Add tomatoes, chicken, and sausage to pan. Stir in wine and stock and bring to a vigorous simmer. Cover and place on center rack in oven. Cook until most, but not all, of the liquid is absorbed — about 30 minutes. Add shrimp and peas, re-cover, and continue cooking another 10 minutes.

Try Paella with...
Cece Fritos
Beets Dijonaise
Key Lime Mousse

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | chicken | spain | shrimp | rice

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Paisano: Jerked Shrimp

Being a Jerk



I spent two years in Eugene, Oregon — within 100 miles of the Pacific coast — and there was only one place in town where I could buy genuinely fresh fish, everywhere else it was frozen or previously frozen. But at least there was a place. I also spent three years in Nashua, New Hampshire, which was also within 100 miles of the coast. I never found fresh fish in Nashua. Then I spent two years in Sacramento, California. Yup, 100 miles from the coast and, yup, no fresh fish that I could find.

But here in Knoxville, Tennessee — almost 1000 miles from the nearest coast — I can buy fresh fish. Although the fish market does sell some frozen fish, mostly the seafood is fresh and straight from the Gulf of Mexico. They send a truck down to Mobile, Alabama twice a week to buy straight off the boats and haul it back up here. They opened a new store near me recently and, because I was teaching a class on cooking fish, I stopped in to see what they had.

Here in Knoxville, Tennessee — almost 1000 miles from the nearest coast — I can buy fresh fish.

I planned on concentrating on techniques so the menu I posted began with broiled tilapia with arugula pesto, then salmon in parchment, followed by poached snapper with a lemon cream sauce, and lastly grilled tuna with Romesco. But the store also had some gorgeous jumbo shrimp — so I bought a couple of pounds.

The menu posted for the class said nothing about shrimp, but in keeping with the philosophy of, "give them more than they expect" I always like to toss in an appetizer that I can feed the class almost immediately. In this case I decided to give them jerked shrimp as a starter. And while I was planning on jerking some shrimp I decided to make a jerk of, I mean for, myself.

Jerked Shrimp
Serves 4 as a main course.

1 1/2 lb jumbo shrimp — shelled
1 lg lime — juiced (2 - 3 tbsp)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp Herbes de Provence
Seasoning:
3 tbsp hot paprika
3 tbsp garlic powder
3 tsp ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less, depending on preferred spice level)
1 tbsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Thoroughly mix all seasoning ingredients. You'll have more than you need, but it keeps well.

Place shrimp in a large zippered plastic bag. Add lime juice and 1 1/2 tablespoons of seasoning. Toss to mix and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and not more than 2.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add butter and swirl to melt. Dump shrimp and juice into skillet and add Herbes de Provence. Cook about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Serve immediately.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | paisano | shrimp | seafood | main dish

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Paisano: Yogurt/Sumac Chicken

Strange Spice



I've no doubt given the impression that when I get together with the Paisano all we do is cook, but that's not true, sometimes we let other people cook.

I was attending a conference in San Francisco back in 1993 and gave Paisano a call in case he was going to be in the area. He was and invited me to a party. Microsoft happened to be having a party that same night for conference attendees, but I'd been to those parties before - free beer, wine, unbelievably bad pizza, and drunken geeks. It was an easy choice to make. The party was in Berkley but that and directions were all the old man would tell me.

One particular chicken dish caught my attention with a flavor I simply couldn't place

I'd rented a car because I was planning a side trip down to Monterrey over the weekend so around 7:00 I headed over the bridge to Berkley and after a couple of wrong turns I found the place.

Aside from a couple of other Euro-types like Paisano and myself, the rest of the guests (and the hosts) were middle-eastern. My friend knew I'd lived in Egypt for a year and thought I'd fit right in and, in fact, I did. There were people there from Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and I don’t know where else. They were all either students, grad students, or professors at UCB and the party was one in series that had been taking place every month or two for six years.

The food was awesome, but one particular chicken dish caught my attention with a flavor I simply couldn't place. So I started asking around and eventually found a young woman named FohzAn. It turned out the flavor was sumac, a deep red powder made from the sumac tree's berries. It's lemony in flavor, but instead of sour it seems slightly musty to me, which is what threw me. I also learned the chicken had been marinated in a mixture of yogurt, garlic, and sumac. I didn't get a recipe, though, and the dish eventually slipped my mind. Then I received a review copy of Zov: Recipes and Memories from the Heart by Zov Karamardian and flipping through it I found a recipe that took me back to that evening in Berkley. Zov's version is based on an Indian recipe, but it's close to what I remember, and note, I've tweaked the recipe a bit.

Sumac-Coated Chicken Kebab
Serves 4.
(Adpated from Zov: Recipes and Memories from the Heart)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1"x1" pieces
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup finely-chopped mint
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. sumac
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Thoroughly combine all ingredients in a zippered storage bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours, turning and remixing 4 to 6 times while marinating.

Build a medium hot fire in your grill. Divide chicken pieces among 4 skewers. (Note: I can no longer use a grill, so I used my grill pan over medium-high heat.)

Grill kebabs for about 3 minutes per side over a fire or 5 minutes per side on a grill pan for a total of 12 or 20 minutes respectively. Serve garnished with mint chiffonade and lemon wedges. I served them on couscous with a salad on the side.

I'll be posting a review of Zov's book in the near future (after I've had time to check out a few more recipes), but I can tell you now that she has a passion for food and cooking that equals my own -- and her book is gorgeous.

Paisano is a fictional character created for my column on Gather.com and the events related here are a mixture of truth and fiction, The food, however, is real.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | seafood | shrimp | jerk

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Barbequed Shrimp

Misnomer



If there ever was a bad idea it would be barbequing shrimp. Shrimp are a delicate meat that will overcook in 15 seconds. Barbeque, on the other hand, is the application of smoke and low heat for a long time. The closest you could get to actually barbequing shrimp is blowing cigar smoke at them for an hour or two — which probably wouldn't taste particularly good and would be boring. Nevertheless, Cajun barbequed shrimp are delicious: they just aren't really barbequed.

They're also Mediterranean.

When I tell folks I'm a chef the standard question is, "What's your favorite food?" To which my answer is, "Which is your favorite child?" I love food in general, but what they're really asking is what do I cook at home. To that my answer is Mediterranean cuisine, which elicits the next query among folks who know food, "What do you call Mediterranean?"

I then wax rhapsodic about rosemary and thyme, pasta and fish, olive oil and lemon. I talk about how the common ingredients are treated differently on the northern (European) and southern (African) coasts. And if the questioner is perspicacious I end up in New Orleans and the Caribbean.

If you think about it these cuisines bear a great resemblance to (and were strongly influenced by) southern European and African cuisines. Although Caribbean and Cajun/Creole food tends to include the most distinctive New World ingredient, capsicum peppers, the other ingredients and the cooking techniques definitely show the Old World roots.

So barbequed shrimp, which are sautéed in butter with onions, peppers, and seasoned with thyme, garlic, and assorted ground peppers are, to my mind, essentially Mediterranean in character. And they're certainly not barbequed.

I shelled and seasoned some shrimp with Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning and some dried thyme and let them sit for about an hour. Next I sautéed the shrimp until not-quite done in a lot of butter and spooned them out onto a plate, leaving the butter behind.

Diced onions and green bell peppers went into the pan until translucent, then a clove of minced garlic. I finished the dish by adding a bit of white wine and some clam juice which I reduced a bit before stirring in a tad of arrowroot for thickening and then returning the shrimp to finish cooking along with a healthy dash of Tobasco sauce..

I served the shrimp on a bed of Basmati rice spiked with more of the Chachere seasoning, Very good — and spicy.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | barbequed shrimp | shrimp | seafood | cajun-creole

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Shrimp Curry

Mellow Yellow



I don't know why I don't cook with curry powder more often. I'm love the flavor and it's a surprisingly flexible seasoning that can even work in desserts. Perhaps it's because the odor can linger for a day or two and smells far better in the evening when you're hungry than in the morning when you've just gotten up. Or perhaps it's because anytime you use it it's an in-your-face flavor. But for whatever reason it's not a regular component of my cooking.

Last weekend I had lunch with my parents and my mother made a quick shrimp and crab curry that I really liked. In fact, it was so quick and easy I had to make it myself a few days later just to fix the idea in my mind.

You could serve this with the usual rice, but my mother served it in puff pastry shells and they contributed a lot to the flavor and added a touch of elegance to the meal.

Shrimp Curry
Serves 4.

1/2 lb cooked salad shrimp
1/2 c canned crab
1/2 ea md. onion, minced
2 c coconut milk
4 ea scallions, cut into short lengths
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp butter
1/2 ea lemon, juiced
salt to taste
Madras curry powder to taste

Cook four puff pastry shells according to package.

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium low heat, add onion and cook until translucent. Add flour and about a tablespoon of curry powder and cook, stirring constantly, for about three minutes. Add coconut milk and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Add lemon juice, shrimp, crab, some of the crab juice, about half the scallions, and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings. Spoon into pastry shells and garnish with remaining scallions.

There's no need to use lump crab, it's best if the crab is evenly distributed throughout more as a flavoring than an ingredient.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin weeks | seriously good | shrimp | currry | shrimp+curry | seafood

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Shrimp & Grits

Low-country Luscious



The group I refer to as my "cooking buddies" has been getting together every other year since 1994 for a Cooks' Bash. The first was held in Charleston, South Carolina where I had my first sushi and, to everyone's great amusement, wasabi. I still haven't lived down The Wasabi Event.

In addition to sushi, I had the pleasure of introducing a friend from the Pacific Northwest to a Southern breakfast of eggs, grits, country ham, and biscuits. One night we had a Low Country clambake which mostly involved oysters and Frogmort Stew. The traditional cuisine is similar to Creole cooking, heavy on fish, rice, potent spices, and the Trinity of onion, celery, and bell pepper.

I had the pleasure of introducing a friend from the Pacific Northwest to a Southern breakfast of eggs, grits, country ham, and biscuits.

Shrimp plays a particularly big roll, with Charleston Receipts offering dishes such as Breakfast Shrimp, half a dozen shrimp pies, and Shrimp Stuffed in Bell Peppers. Oddly enough, the shrimp dish I think of as most typically Low Country doesn't appear: Shrimp and Grits. This causes me to wonder if, despite the dish's fame, it's a relatively recent invention.

There's a restaurant here in Knoxville, Chesapeake's, that sometimes offers a particularly good version as a special. I've been meaning to make it myself for quite awhile, but it wasn't until last week, when the local paper posted a recipe that looked good, that I finally got around to doing so. The published recipe is by Louis Osteen and he serves it at Louis's at Pawleys on Pawleys Island. I tweaked the recipe to meet my needs, but also because the amount of liquid called for seemed excessive and would have more resembled a thick shrimp soup than shrimp smothered in a sauce.

I also, completely ignored the recipe for grits because it called for quick grits, but again required too much liquid. I suspect these are typos in the recipe. Instead, I did use quick grits, but I followed the package directions to make 2 cups and added about 3 tablespoons of butter.

Shrimp for Shrimp & Grits
Adapted from the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Serves 4.

1 lb medium shrimp — peeled
3 tbsp butter
4 slices smoked bacon
2/3 c chopped onions
1/4 c chopped celery
1/4 c chopped green bell pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried thyme or 1 sprig fresh
1 bay leaf
1/3 c white wine or vermouth
3 tbsp flour
2 c clam juice (shrimp stock is better if you have it)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 c heavy cream
hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Make the grits.

In a non stick skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat and cook shrimp for about 2 minutes per side. Set aside, the shrimp should be slightly under-cooked.

In a large sauté pan cook the bacon until crisp over medium heat. Drain bacon but reserve grease in pan. Add onions, celery, and pepper and sau té until softened. Add garlic, thyme, and bay and cook 1 minute more. Increase heat to high, add white wine, and cook until evaporated. Reduce heat to medium and sprinkle with flour, mix thoroughly and cook, stirring frequently with a spatula for 3 minutes and scraping the bottom to prevent burning. Add clam juice and tomato paste and whisk vigorously to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer and stir in cream. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Add shrimp and cook another 2 minutes. Serve spooned over grits.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin weeks | seriously good | shrimp and grits | shrimp | seafood | low country

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Shrimp Ravioli

Will Cook for Writing



I wrote my first article for publication in 1989. The topic was a computer program I'd written and I was astounded when it was accepted for publication. So I wrote another article and it too was promptly accepted. This was back in the hay-day of programming magazines and there were lots of them around.

During the next six years I published three to five articles a year and began speaking at conferences, which meant writing papers for them. Then I was offered a job as Senior Editor at Windows Tech Journal and began writing a bi-monthly, and then monthly, editorial in addition to a couple of articles a year. The amount of writing I've done since then has fluctuated, but writing became how I identified myself.

You can say this for ready-mixes - the next generation isn't going to have any trouble making pies exactly like mother used to make. ~ Earl Wilson

In 2003 the last magazine I edited (and computer magazine I wrote for) closed down and left me bereft of a writing outlet — so I started Seriously Good (a reference to a search for great food and not a statement about either the food's or writing's excellence.)

At first I didn’t post a lot, partially because writing reminded me I was out of work and didn't have an inkling of what to do about it. But eventually I found a groove mostly creating new recipes and writing about it and SG became a cherished part of my day as I focused on efforts to build a professional life around food and cooking.

Then in January of this year things suddenly took off. I sold a few gift certificates for Christmas, I picked up a couple of new clients, cooking classes took off, and I picked up a weekly column, semi-monthly column, and sold three free-lance pieces. Whew!

But the work has come at the expense of this blog. This beloved and dependable friend. This past weekend I decided I needed to cook something specifically for it. Casting about for ideas I settled on homemade ravioli, but what to fill it with?

I had some shrimp and ricotta left over from a client's meal and with a little thought, came up with this. It's packed with shrimp flavor, nicely tweaked with an Italian herb mix and hot Hungarian paprika. It is Seriously Good.

Basic Pasta
Makes about 1/2 pound

1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
2 ea eggs

Place flour in a food processor. With motor running add eggs. Dough should quickly form a ball. If dough is too dry, add water a teaspoon at a time to running machine. If dough is too wet, add additional flour a tablespoon at a time and then process. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until ready to roll out – at least half an hour.

Set pasta rollers on widest setting and flatten dough enough to go through rollers. Fold dough in thirds, horizontally and roll again with a seamed edge first. Repeat four more times. This process kneads the dough and develops the glutin giving the pasta a toothiness.

Reduce roller setting by one and roll dough through. Repeat ruducing setting and rolling pasta through until desired setting is reached. Note 1: when the dough becomes too long to handle comnfortably, cut in half and finish rolling out each half. Note 2: If pasta begins to stick to rollers lightly dust with flour.

Shrimp Ravioli
Serves 4.

1/2 lb fresh pasta

Shrimp:
1 lb shrimp — shelled and coarsley chopped
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp hot Hungarian paprika
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
2 tbsps olive oil
2 lg cloves garlic, large — peeled and minced
2 tsp unsalted butter
Filling:
1/4 c ricotta cheese
1/4 c greated parmesan cheese
1 ea egg — beaten
Sauce:
1 lg clove garlic — finely minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 c shrimp stock (or clam juice)
1/2 c white wine
1/2 c heavy cream
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
3 tbsp minced fresh chives

Shrimp:
Pat shrimp dry and season with salt and paprika. Allow to sit for 30 minutes. In a 12" skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 cloves garlic over medium heat for 1 minute. Add shrimp, and saute until just cooked — about 1 minute per side. Add butter and toss to coat. Allow to cool. Finely chop shrimp in a food processor or blender, devide shrimp into two equal portions.

Filling:
Thoroughly combine 1/2 shrimp, ricotta, parmesan, and egg. Chill for at least 1/2 hour.

Roll out pasta, but not too thin — it has to be strong enough to hold the filling. Cut a strip in half lenthwise (each strip should be about 3 inches wide). Place heaping teaspoons of the filling on one strip, separated by about one inch. Brush edges of strip and between mounds of filling with water. Carefully lay the second strip over the top and press edges and between mounds to seal. Note: try to include as little air in each sealed packet as possible. Trim the edges and cut each mound into separate ravioli. Gently crimp edges with a fork. Place on a lightly floured platter or baking sheet and refrigerate. Repeat for other strip of dough. Allow ravioli to chill for 30 minutes before cooking.

Sauce:
In a 12" skillet, heat garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil over low heat until fragrant and translucent — about 1 minute. Add tomato paste, salt, cayenne, and white wine increase heat to medium. Cook until reduced by half. Add stock and cook until reduced by half.

Stir in remaining minced shrimp and cream. Simmer gently until cream is slightly reduced — stirring steadily to prevent curdling.

Cook pasta for about two minutes in vigorously boiling, salted water. Spoon sauce over the top and garnish with minced chives.

Technorati: Food | recipe | shrimp | pasta | ravioli

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