Revised Shrimp Scampi recipe, Trez version

Shrimp Scampi. Trez version

After comments about the cooking time for shrimp regarding my last post, I felt I needed to revisit the recipe, which, admittedly, I had not made in a long time, to really figure out how long the shrimp needed to cook. 

I bought a pound of jumbo shrimp….which for us, was 21 shrimp. I used scissors with long pointy blades to cut through the back of the shrimp and remove the sand vein.  Then I left the shells on.

Cooking the shrimp in the shells add a lot of flavor to the meat, and they protect it from quickly overcooking. Besides, sitting around a table peeling and eating shrimp is a party right there.

I have a heavy cast iron pan that I bought the first year I was working after college. Mine is rectangular, but you can use a cast iron frying pan. The point is, you want to be able to put the pan under the broiler, and the cast iron will allow you to do that.

Place the shrimp in the pan…touching but not crowded. You can dip them in the butter sauce first, but after the shrimps are in the pan, pour the rest of the sauce over. 

Place the pan under the broiler. Keep an eye on them. When the shrimp shells have just started to turn black on their edges. Remove the pan from the oven. Turn the shrimp over and cook them again, just until the shells start to turn black. The number of minutes will depend on your stove.

Here’s what I learned about the sauce that is imparting that delicious garlic flavor: This olive oil/garlic/butter/lemon juice sauce is cooking the shrimp. But it has enough liquid to keep the shells soft to make them easy enough to peel off. You can plate the shrimp. By letting the shrimp cool just long enough so you don’t burn your fingers, the shells will come off easily.

Here are the ingredients for one pound of shrimp:

1 pound jumbo shrimp

4 large cloves of garlic

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

½ cup butter

½ cup olive oil

3 Tbsp chopped parsley

4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Enjoy!

Zaytinya's Shrimp with Dill

Zaytinya’s Shrimp With Dill 
(Garides me anitho)

When we lived in Virginia, my absolute favorite restaurant was Zaytinya in DC at 701 9th St NW. It was a real treat and one I sorely miss. Given that Charleston is a real foody paradise, that is high praise. Zaytinya offers an innovative mezze menu inspired by Turkish, Greek and Lebanese cuisines, under the direction of renowned chef José Andrés*, served up in a sleek and modern setting. The small plates are meant to be shared. My favorite was the Shrimp with Dill. I am pretty crafty at replicating recipes and that is what you will see here. Make sure your dill is the freshest you can get.  (PS, if you google this under Recipe Sleuth Mike Isabella, you can find the restaurant version. Mine is much the same, except he uses a whole lot of pepper and prepared mustard instead of seeds.)

Shrimp with Lemon, Dill and Mustard

3 shallots, chopped fine

½ c fruity olive oil 

1 Tbsp mustard seed ground fine in a mortar and pestle, or a small processor
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Juice from 2 lemons

1 tsp salt
White pepper to taste
2 Tbsp butter

1 package fresh dill, chopped (reserve some for garnish)

Simmer shallots in olive oil until soft. 

Add mustard seed, cook briefly.

Add the shrimp. Cook just until cooked through. Add lemon juice and salt. Add the butter to melt. Add dill, cook briefly, stirring.

Serve with rice. Garnish with a little chopped fresh dill.

*José Ramón Andrés Puerta is a Spanish-American chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. He is often credited with bringing the small plates dining concept to America.

Grilled Shrimp Scampi--Style

Grilled Shrimp Scampi-Style

This recipe is from a Time Life book called Great Dinners from Life, written by Eleanor Graves in 1969. As stated in the foreword, “This book is for people who like to have friends in to dinner. It is also a book for people who, every once in a while, are willing to put a little extra effort into cooking those dinners—provided that they know the results are going to be worth it.  

“In Venice, the true scampi are traditionally grilled in their shell, and purists add only a little sunflower-seed oil and butter, and scorn any other seasoning. In the U.S. when jumbo shrimp take the place of scampi, the sauce is a heady one, flavored with parsley, lemon juice and a lot of garlic.”

You will need big shrimp, less than 15 shrimp to a pound. Above all, they must still have their shells on, or you will have an entirely different dish*.

For six people:

36 jumbo shrimp

6 cloves of garlic

2 tsp salt

¾ cup butter

¾ cup olive oil

¼ cup minced parsley

4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

Parsley sprigs for garnish

Preheat broiler. Use a sharp knife or scissors to split the raw unshelled shrimp lengthwise, almost to the tail, leaving all the feet on, and the shell intact*. Remove the sand veins and pat the shrimp dry.

Crush the garlic, combine with salt. Melt butter and stir in garlic, salt, oil, parsley, lemon juice and pepper.

Holding the shrimp by the tails, dip them one at a time into the butter mixture. Arrange in a single layer in one or two baking dishes—flesh side up. Don’t crowd them. They may look droopy while raw, but they will curl and “stand” better as they cook. Stir butter sauce and spoon over shrimp. Graves says to broil for 15 minutes six inches from the heat. Shrimp in the shell will take longer that shelled shrimp, but this may be too long depending on your broiler. I checked several sources and the amount of time varies widely.  I'd say you need to keep an eye on them and when the shells start to darken, test one. 

Serve with plenty of sauce. Garnish with parsley sprigs. 

So, hands down… if you make this like Graves says, the shrimp will taste amazing (truly, some of the best I have ever tasted.) Problem is, when the shrimp are straight out of the broiler, they will burn your fingers when your try to peel them. And they will be messy for the guests. If you can wait a bit for them to cool somewhat, and your guests are okay with getting their fingers messy, then go for it.

I have made this recipe many times. It is definitely worth it. I have made some minor modifications:

*My work-around is to peel the shrimp, but leave the tails on. I take the shrimp shells and boil them in melted butter and oil for as long as I have time for. Then strain to remove the shells. The essence of the shrimp shells is imparted into the butter. I think the taste is considerably better if you cook the shrimp in the shells, but it makes for a messier dinner party.  But sometimes that is part of the fun.

A Great Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Roasted Pecans

This is a particularly good chicken salad recipe. It tastes even better the second day.

1# cooked chicken breast, cubed. You can also use a whole rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Just skin it first.

• 2 sticks celery, chopped
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup pecans, toasted, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup mayo
• 1 tsp Worcestershire
• 1-1/2 tsp cider vinegar
• a little sugar
• salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for a while to combine flavors.