Often people overcook shrimp or are afraid to try to cook it. Overcooked anything is usually awful. Shrimp and scallops can bounce like rubber balls when overcooked in a sauté, or get terribly chewy on a barbecue or when done on a grill. Since shrimp typically is not an inexpensive item, why not make sure you prepare it properly? Cooked properly, you will enjoy every bite.
Just don’t overcook it. Remember that as with most foods, cooking continues after removing it from the heat source.
How do you not overcook shrimp that is already cooked? For starters forget about the microwave.
Let’s start with ghee. Called by any other name it’s really just clarified butter. Most people make their ghee using salt butter, but when you only have sweet butter, just prepare your ghee the same way. It’s ready in minutes and can be used right away and/or kept for several days, even unrefrigerated. Makes a great camping or travel cooking companion.
The idea is to warm the butter through. You aren’t cooking the butter. And simply remove the milk solids. Some people strain it through clean, never before used cheesecloth, but I prefer to just pour off the liquid or scoop it out with a large metal serving spoon, leaving the milk solids behind. Ideally use a stainless steel pan. The ghee will keep for ages unrefrigerated and cooking with it, since it has a higher smoke point than regular butter, is truly a gift.
Don’t throw away the milk solids. They are good for topping veggies or pasta dishes or to add to cream sauces, among other uses.
Note: A skillet with higher sides will allow steam to help cook or warm its contents and sometimes you want that; a skillet with low sides lets the steam escape and creates a different cooking environment.
Choose your pots and pans carefully. Each kitchen should have more than one of each, and several sizes – each has a use. You can cook remarkable dishes using any old tin pan. But if you want ideal results, choose specifics. They are designed with a purpose in mind. As you progress in your cooking skills, over time, you will learn to notice the difference such small attention makes.
To prepare the frozen shrimp:
Start by putting enough ghee in a hot skillet with higher sides, to just barely coat the pan. You just want a slippery surface, in this case. Not a ghee flood. The smoke point is very high, like good oil. Ghee does not burn easily, but it will if you don’t watch. Throw it out and start again if you find the ghee has burned or turned dark brown. Simply carefully wipe out the skillet completely using a paper towel and start again.
When the ghee is very hot, lift the skillet from the heat source and add the already cooked, barely thawed, still cold frozen shrimp. Tails on is fine.
Shake the skillet a little so all the pre-cooked frozen, thawed shrimp, in one layer, get a little ghee on. You have turned off the heat but now put the hot pan back on the still-hot burner.
Watch the shrimp carefully for just a few minutes. You just want to heat it through. Remember the shrimp is already cooked. As it is heating, sprinkle generously with garlic salt and ground sweet paprika. Use high quality pepper and add plenty. Shake the pan to coat the warmed shrimp. No need to add salt. The shrimp is already plenty salty.
Remove the shrimp from the skillet, using a slotted spoon. Deglaze with your favourite spirits: a generous half cup. Pernod, or dry white wine, or cognac. Or an extra special treat: deglaze with Chartreuse monk bitters. Let the alcohol burn off until nearly completely vaporized. I use a piece of folded paper towel at this point, to stick any bits of shell and keep the sauce completely shell-free. A few bits of the tail shells sometimes disengage from the shrimp while warming in the hot ghee.
Add a cup of half and half cream to the very hot skillet. Bring to a slow gentle boil. Scald the cream and let reduce slightly. Stir into the thickened cream a half teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Stir in two tablespoons of WildlyDelicious Applewood Hickory Smoke barbecue sauce.
If you have made my spectacular leftover tomato barbecue sauce, this is an ideal use for it.
You might want to add a little sambol tomato sauce to my tomato barbecue sauce because it is a little milder than with the WildlyDelicious Applewood sauce. You could also use my tomato butter if you have some on hand; the sauce will be different, a little sweet, but still wonderful.
Return the warmed shrimp to the sauce. Stir to coat. Using a rubber spatula so you don’t waste a drop, put the shrimp and the sauce into a glass warming dish. Serve immediately or refrigerate to serve cold later.
Decide how you will serve it. Do not reheat in the sauce. If cold, then just serve cold, or even at room temperature. Each method of serving is different but equally delicious. This is a simple, amazing dish that you will make regularly.
Either way, when ready to eat, sprinkle a chiffonade of fresh basil over top.
The cream sauce leaves a nice sated oil covering in your mouth. The mix of the garlic salt, paprika, plenty of great fragrant pepper, Dijon and the smoky barbecue sauce creates the most amazing combination.
Of course you could sauté uncooked fresh, never frozen shrimp in ghee and proceed with the ghee sauce as well. As with my other recipe for shrimp cooked in their shells, you can “pot” this ghee shrimp as well. The ghee cream will firm up but remain soft and is delectable as an everyday treat. If you have leftover sauce, use it on your favourite gnocchi or pasta. And serve with any kind of seafood.
A frosted glass of cool Winzertanz pairs well with this, as does my old standby, French pink champagne-like, crackling rose Royal de Neuville.
Preparation takes no time at all and there are dozens of ways to serve. Or just eat it all, by yourself, as finger food, with a large napkin to catch the drips, as a TV movie night treat. Mop up sauce with toasted crustless ordinary bread triangle pieces.
It’s wonderful with plain instant one-minute basmati rice or with zucchini slivered to look like spaghetti. Try the warmed pre-cooked, frozen shrimp as a mix with large al dente pasta seashells. It’s a really special treat no matter which way you choose to eat it. Incredibly delicious. So very melt in your mouth rich.
ALTERNATE: If you really want to get creative, pull the tails off the sauced shrimp. Toss the whole thing into your kitchen machine and pulse. Add whole eggs and a little cream until you get a thick pourable paste, sort of like a very thick pancake batter. Butter ramekins and place a cooked lobster claw or a piece of cooked crab claw meat, or even a sautéed sea scallop, in each.
Fill with the shrimp cream paste, just three-quarters full. Place the ramekins in a bain marie pan in a medium heat oven until the sauce congeals. Empty each ramekin upside down on a pretty plate and drizzle with a little ghee, or serve in a tiny ghee puddle. Decorate each plate with a sprig of fresh basil leaves and a lemon curl. Add a vine of crunchy frozen, green sweet seedless grapes and enjoy.
You can also make ghee cream shrimp quenelles and poach very carefully. Remember, everything is already cooked. You are just heating it through. A perfect seafood accompaniment alongside seared large sea scallops, with homemade gnocchi.
© From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks
The working title for Carolyne’s Gourmet Recipes cookbook is From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen: A Canadian Contessa Cooks. This kitchen-friendly doyenne has been honoured and referred to as the grande dame of executive real estate in her market area during her 35-year career. She taught gourmet cooking in the mid-70s and wrote a weekly newspaper cooking column, long before gourmet was popular as it is today. Her ebook, Gourmet Cooking – at Home with Carolyne is available here for $5.99 US. Email Carolyne. Scroll down to the comments at each recipe column. Carolyne often adds complimentary “From Lady Ralston’s Kitchen” additional recipes in the Recipes for Realtors Comments section at REM.
