Tag Archive for: Shrimp

It had never occurred to me to make shrimp cocktail at home. It is one of those things that you buy prepared for a quick and easy appetizer or meal that requires little to no prep. A sale on some shell-on shrimp and a request by Ali changed my mind. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this was and the result was pretty great. This is really just like making one of my favorite things to make: stock. The shrimp ended up very tender and flavorful. This is one I may have to play with a little more and try out making cocktail sauce as well. We used the 365 brand sauce from Whole Foods. It was fine, I would give it a solid C, but there are better jarred options out there. One of the surprising parts of this recipe for me was the lovely stock created by draining the boiling liquid. That will be in the freezer ready for something fun soon! We served these with a lovely salad and some garlic toast. Overall, a satisfying and healthy meal!

Kelly

Shrimp Cocktail

10 cups cold water

1 large onion, halved

2 carrots, quartered

2 stalks of celery

1 head garlic, halved

1 lemon, halved

1/2 bunch parsley

5 sprigs fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 pound medium or large shrimp, in the shell, split & deveined, rinsed

Cocktail Sauce

Lemon wedges

Put the water, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, lemon, parsley, thyme, salt and bay leaves in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat.

(Ok, so we were missing a few veggies, so I spiced things up a bit with some dried herbs.) Lower the heat to a simmer, set a cover on top slightly ajar, and cook for 10 to 30 minutes until fragrant. Drop the shrimp into the liquid and turn off the heat after 10 seconds.

Cook the shrimp, stirring occasionally, until they curl and turn pink, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes for medium shrimp, 3 minutes for large ones. Drain and cool to room temperature. Peel the shrimp leaving the tails on. Refrigerate if not serving right away.

To serve put the cocktail sauce in a medium bowl and surround with the shrimp, or loop the shrimp over the edge of an individual cocktail glass and top with the sauce. Garnish with the lemon and serve.

P.S. Those are my grandmother’s shrimp cocktail glasses, yep just for this dish. I love that the vintage glassware still gets used in the family!

I have been taking a bit of a break and enjoying the holidays at home with the fam. Our white Christmas got the better of me and I am nursing a bit of a cold. In honor of my NC State Wolfpack winning their bowl game last night (and my need for comfort food) I thought I would share a Southern treat with you today–Shrimp & Grits. Outside of the South, grits are a bit understood, but I promise this recipe will make a convert out of anyone. The key is to get the right ingredients and a little bit of patience, what you will get is creamy goodness perfect for cold winter. I hope you are enjoying your holiday season!

Kelly


Shrimp and Grits

For the Grits:

1 Cup Stone-Ground Grits

4 Cups Water (plus a little if needed)

2 Tablespoons Butter

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Small Grating of Nutmeg

Dash of Tabasco

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

½ Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

For the Shrimp:

1 Pound Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined

6 Slices Bacon

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Cups White Mushrooms, Sliced

1 Bunch Scallions, Sliced

1 Clove Garlic, Pressed

Juice from 1 Lemon

¼ Cup Vermouth (or White Wine)

Dash of Tabasco

2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, Chopped

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Pour the grits into a large bowl and cover with cold water. Skim off the chaff as it floats to the surface.

Stir the grits and skim again until all the chaff has been removed. Drain the grits in a sieve.

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add salt and slowly stir in the grits.

Cook at a simmer, stirring frequently, until the grits are done, about 40 minutes. Add more water about ½ cup at a time if they are not quite getting tender. They should be quite thick and creamy. Remove the grits from the heat and stir in the butter, cheese and spices. Serve immediately or keep warm over a double boiler for 30 minutes.

While the grits are cooking, prepare the shrimp. Rinse the shrimp and pat dry. Dice the bacon and fry in a large skillet until browned. Drain on paper towels.

Pour off the excess fat, leaving a couple tablespoons to cook the shrimp. Add olive oil if you need additional fat. Heat over medium-high heat, add the shrimp and cook until they begin to color, turning once. Remove then add the mushrooms and sauté, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with the scallions and garlic.

Then add the bacon and shrimp back. Add the lemon juice and Vermouth to deglaze the pan. Allow to simmer about 1 minute then add Tabasco, parsley, salt and pepper.

Serve shrimp over the cheese grits.

Enjoy!

We are in the middle of a cold snap here in Colorado and I have been craving comfort food. There are so many ways that you can do comfort food, but I was looking to change things up a bit. So, I thought maybe risotto would be a good start; I have made this Orange Risotto before and loved it. When I saw shrimp was on sale, I thought I would do a complementary orange glazed shrimp. I love how this came out spicy and sweet with tons of flavor. It really complemented the risotto perfectly, though it could easily go with lots of fresh veggies or rice. (I know many people oppose serving dairy with seafood, but I liked this combination, you could always leave the cheese out of the risotto in this case.) There are lots of options for this one, but it was FAST and super tasty!

Kelly

Orange Glazed Shrimp

1 Pound Shrimp, Peeled and Deveined

1 Cup fresh squeezed orange juice

2 Cloves Garlic thinly sliced

2 Tablespoons Shallots, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon Meat Magic (you could substitute your favorite seasoning salt, but I love this one)

Cayenne

Splash Vermouth

Salt & Pepper

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

 

Heat 1 Tablespoon butter and 1 T olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook until lightly browned around the edges.

Make sure the shrimp are clean and dry, then add them to the pan.

Cook about 1 minute on each side sprinkling with meat magic on both sides, then remove from the pan.

Add vermouth to deglaze scraping the drippings off the bottom. Then add orange juice seasoned with remaining spices.

Simmer to reduce for about 5 min. Add final tablespoon of butter and salt and pepper; incorporate when the sauce coats the back of a spoon, add the shrimp and toss in the sauce.

Allow to cook another 2 minutes. Serve over orange risotto (or rice and veggies).

Vacationing in Aspen, we came across some beautiful Olathe sweet corn. Our Colorado corn can be really good at the end of summer. Lazy day rummaging through my hosts’ cookbook collection I found a side dish to try. Only thing was that we wanted a main dish. The recipe (from Gourmet) admonished the reader not to try to improve it . Hmmph. A challenge. What we ended up with was nothing like the original. I decided to use our favorite way to spice up something bland; marinate it in hot sauce. We didn’t have Franks Wing Sauce that day and we used an exotic Hawaiian hot sauce, though I can’t remember the name. Franks always works though. I tried it again when I got home and it was still great.
Summer Shrimp

1lb shrimp.
4 ears corn
Basil and or mint
Scallions
1-2 Large Tomatoes
Franks Wing Sauce (regular)
Butter
Salt
Pepper

Peel the shrimp if necessary. Pour ¼ c. Franks Wing Sauce in a bowl. Add shrimp. Set aside to let marinate while preparing the rest.

Remove the corn from the ears. A bundt pan helps here putting the corn in the circle and scrape down so the kernals fall into the pan.

Melt 1T butter in a frying pan, add 1T olive oil.

Drain the shrimp, leaving the residual sauce on. Saute shrimp until pink and curled, about 2 minutes. Sometimes the shrimp will exude liquid. If that happens reduce the sauce or drain again.

Remove shrimp to a plate and set aside. Melt one more Tablespoon of butter to the shrimp pan, now empty. Add corn and sauté for 2 minutes, or till warm. Add the reserved shrimp and chopped tomatoes. Pepper generously and salt with celtic salt.

Remove from heat and tear basil and mint on top and serve.

It’s super fresh this way. But a little bacon would be nice…

Mary