Shrimply Delicious

In northern Wisconsin, where I spent the first 18 years of my life and where I return for a month each summer, there is no shortage of good fish in the area’s hundreds of lakes—perch, walleye, bass, northern. 

And if you don’t want to personally catch those fish, you can dine on an array of them at any good local restaurant, especially if you partake of the sacrament of the Friday night fish fry.  (Look for a future post!)

But despite all those tempting fish in the water or on the plate, at an early age I fell in love with the very un-local seafood—shrimp.

When our parents braved the challenge of taking five young children out for dinner, invariably most of us would order fried shrimp which was then, as it often is today, one of the most expensive entrées on the menu.

Those six or seven shrimp would come out glistening from their hot oil bath and resting next to a bed of French fries.  The requisite cocktail sauce came in a small metal dish (none of those plastic sushi-soy sauce containers).  I loved the taste of those shrimp so much that I always chewed and swallowed the crunchy tails, and I still do.

Later when I was paying for my own restaurant dinners, my eyes and saliva glands always gravitated towards dishes with shrimp:  shrimp cocktail, shrimp fajitas, shrimp pad Thai, shrimp scampi, shrimp fried rice.

And now, decades later, I live in shrimp nirvana! Because shrimp are local to south Louisiana, Cajun and Creole cuisines abound with shrimp dishes:  shrimp bisque, shrimp gumbo, shrimp remoulade, barbecue shrimp, stuffed shrimp, shrimp étoufée.

And, Shrimp Creole—shrimp in a  rich and spicy tomato sauce served over rice.  Below are two Shrimp Creole recipes—a fast one and a slow one.  The heat of both can be adjusted with hot sauce, preferably Crystal,which has more of a tomato-vinegar taste, or Tabasco, which is more "pure heat."

For either recipe I try to buy wild-caught shrimp.  Unfrozen and unpeeled have the most flavor, but they do require more prep time.  I usually buy 31-40 count (pieces per pound) shrimp so there are more bites per mouthful. 

Speedy Shrimp Creole

Source:  original recipe

Yield:  2 servings

Ingredients:

1-2 T. olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

½ green pepper, chopped

1 can Rotel Original® tomatoes, undrained

2 c. water to start

1 T. tomato paste*

½  tsp. oregano

½  tsp. thyme

Tabasco or other hot sauce, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled & deveined

*I always freeze leftover tomato paste in tablespoon dollops on a baking sheet and then store those in a freezer bag in the freezer to add to recipes such as this.

Process:

Heat the oil in a large frying pan on medium heat.  Add the onion, celery and green pepper, and sauté until soft.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, water and seasonings.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes, adding more water if necessary.  Add the shrimp and cook until the shrimp are opaque.  Serve with cooked rice.

Slow Shrimp Creole

This recipe takes a while—allow at least two hours.  But the result has, as they say in “chef speak,” depth of flavor.  So many south Louisiana recipes begin with the instructions “First, you start with a roux” that many of them don’t even bother to explain how you make a roux.  It’s not a complicated process—just non-stop, vigilant stirring.  

I know there are jarred store-bought roux mixes that people say are very good, but there is something rewarding, almost therapeutic, about stirring the roux constantly for about a half-hour to get that wonderful, nutty base.

Source:  adapted from an old clipping from The Advocate (Baton Rouge newspaper)

Yield:  10 generous servings

Onions, bell pepper, and celery:  the  "holy trinity" of Cajun cuisine

Ingredients:

½ c. flour

½ c. oil

2 c. chopped onions

1 c. chopped celery

½ c. chopped green pepper

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 (14-oz.) cans stewed tomatoes, undrained

5-6 c. water

1 T. Crystal Hot Sauce

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

 2 t. salt (instead of the salt and peppers I used 2 tsp. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning)

¼ t. red pepper

½ t. black pepper

½ t. oregano

½ t. thyme

2 ½ t. sugar

2 lbs. peeled raw medium-size shrimp (I sometimes use 3 lbs.)

2 T. chopped parsley

2 T. chopped green onion tops

Process:

(Be sure to chop the vegetables before you start the roux.)  Make a roux of flour and oil. (Translation for Yankees:  Combine the flour and oil in a large, heavy pot.  Stir constantly over low heat, about 25 minutes for this recipe.)  

When the roux is browned to a dark caramel color, add onions, celery, bell pepper, and garlic and cook until soft, stirring to prevent sticking and to coat the vegetables evenly with the roux.  Add tomatoes and tomato paste.  Mix well and cook about 5 minutes.  Then add 5 cups water.  Let simmer for 5 minutes then add seasonings and sugar.  Stir and taste.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Add shrimp and cook until opaque.  Add parsley and green onion tops and cook for about 5 minutes. Serve over rice.