Posts tagged shrimps
On the thumb – Green bean salad mimosa with herb-butter shrimp tartines
Oct 25th
Sur le pouce – Salade de haricots verts mimosa et tartines de crevettes au beurre d’herbes
Sur le pouce, is literally translated by “on the thumb”, je mange sur le pouce, or I eat on the thumb, which means eating fast. It originated in the XIX century when workers didn’t have time to eat, they cut a piece of bread with a knife, and eating it using their thumbs.
Today two things made me happy and brightened up my day, this quick lunch sur le pouce (even though I used a fork!) and my new lamp (created by Shmulik Krampf, an extremely talented Israeli Artist who blows glass they way they do it in Murano, Italy). What do my lamp and this meal have in common? well they’re both colorful, vibrant and make me feel alive.
Sometimes when I come back from the gym, I don’t have time to cook for myself, so I eat snacks…and today I decided to not eat snacks and indulge myself…but still having a limited time, I had to make something quick. It all took me 20 minutes, which I think it’s almost like fast food.
Why do we call this mimosa? Mimosa refers to devil eggs, we call them “oeufs mimosa“, so here since we have boiled eggs, we can call them mimosa. I am not sure if “we” can, but I do.
Asparagus can be used if you don’t have green beans, it’s as delicious, and you can use scallops instead of the shrimps. Garlic, herb, butter those ingredients are a perfect match with seafood.
Ingredients for 2
For the green beans
- 250 g fine green beans
- 2 eggs, hard boiled and grated
- 2 tbs capers, rinced and chopped
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1/2 tomato, seeds removed, and diced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
For the shrimps tartine (3 toasts each)
- 18 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1/4 ts paprika
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- 1 tsp dill, chopped
- 1 tsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp butter
- 6 slices baguettes, or country bread, toasted
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the green beans
Bring a large pot to a boil with water. Cook grean beans for about 5-7 minutes until tender but still a little crunchy. Drain, and place in a container filled with iced water. Set aside.
Prepare the vinaigrette, mixing the capers, scallion, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Drain green beans, place on a plate. Add grated eggs, tomatoes, then pour vinaigrette on top.
For the shrimps tartines
Add paprika to the shrimps, and coat well. Add salt and pepper.
Mix butter, garlic and herbs with a fork and form an homogenous paste. In a pan melt butter/herbs slowly, then add shrimps. Cook at medium temperature until the shrimps are cooked but still juicy.
Toast bread slices. Place three shrimps on top of each tartine, and pour some butter/garlic mixture on top.
Serve with green bean salad on the side.
The great seaweed – Spirulina tagliatelle with vegetables, shiitake, shrimps and sea spaghetti
Jun 30th
Tagliatelles à la spiruline aux légumes, shiitake, spaghetti de mer et crevettes
I have been quite excited today, I managed to prepare this colorful pasta dish and my parents really liked it. I was not expecting such a reaction from two traditional Italians eating a pasta dish that has nothing to do with Italian flavors. I went shopping to La Vie Saine which is a healthy and organic supermarket with lots of unusual products, and I just wanted to see what those green tagliatelle tasted like. Their color comes from the Spirulina which, in the US is mainly a seaweed used as a dietary tablet supplement. Spirulina is very high in protein much more than any type of legume.
In addition to the spirulina tagliatelle, I used a specific seaweed, mainly found in Brittany coast (Roscoff area) called Himanthalia Elongata and has a very high vitamin C content. Unlike most other seaweed, it’s not produced in Japan. It’s basically a brown seaweed that has the form of big button where long stems start their ramification.
I really loved this pasta, it’s colorful and absolutely delicious. Now I am curious to see if it’s available in the US. Upon my return, I will start my spirulina pasta hunting! I am always excited to see the new trends in France, even though you still have a traditional cuisine, new trends are arising and I noticed that la cuisine aux algues (seaweed cooking) is getting quite popular. Of course, not among the traditional eaters, but among adventurous eaters, interested in a new and healthy cuisine.
Ingredients for 4
- 1 tsp ginger, grated
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 350 g spirulina tagliatelle
- 2 carrots, sliced lengthwise in a ribbon
- 1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise in ribbons
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, diced
- Sea spaghetti seaweed
- 1/3 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup shrimps
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a pan, heat olive oil. Add garlic and ginger. Stir and add shiitake, cook for about minutes, then add the rest of vegetables. Let the zucchini soften but do not overcook or they’ll break.
Soak sea spaghetti in cold water for about 15 minutes, then boil them in water for another 15 minutes or until they get soft. Drain and set aside.
Add sea spaghetti to the vegetables and stir. Add shrimps and broth, salt and pepper.
Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and add to the pan of vegetables. Stir well and serve.
I heard it’s from Nice – Polenta and shrimp soup
Dec 14th
On dit que ca vient de Nice – Soupe de crevettes et polenta
I wish I could take the credit for this amazing soup, but unfortunately I cannot. I did change proportions of some ingredients but that’s the extent of my contribution to the recipe. One day going through my thick Mediterranean cookbook, my attention got caught by this interesting and colorful soup. The creator being Daniel Ettlinger, a famous French chef, originally from Alsace (as his name sounds very Alsatian), but settled down in Nice most probably for its smoother climate. He also worked in Milan so, Italy has contributed to his culinary influences. Winters are rough in Alsace-Lorraine and most people are attracted to move to the Southern part of France just to enjoy the Mediterranean climate.
Of course, polenta is definitely an Italian ingredient, most regions of Northern Italy consume it on a regular basis, but many dishes from Nice do use it too. Nice being not too far from the Italian border, many similarities are found in the local cuisines of the towns close to the border.
I never really used polenta in a soup, and I was a little curious about the texture of the soup. I thought the polenta would absorb the liquid and turn it into a thick texture. It did, but you just have to add broth or water, and adjust the consistency.
I loved this soup and will make it again. In the original recipe, Daniel Ettlinger added fried onion rings. He cut onions very thinly, toss them in flour and deep fried them, they were added at the end on top of the soup, but I decided to leave them out.
You can use paprika, piment d’espelette or hot chili. Since I just ran out of piment d’espelette, I used paprika. Paprika is definitely an essential ingredient and should not be left out.
Ingredients for 4
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped roughly
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 1/4 cup (or 50 g) medium grind polenta
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 20 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1 pinch paprika
- piment d’espelette
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pot, add onion and saute until golden brown. Add polenta and stir for about 5 minutes until the polenta has browned. Add vegetable stock and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. If by the end of cooking time, the soup gets too thick, add more broth.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillt, and saute shrimps until cooked on both sides. Add garlic and scallions. Add paprika and/or piment d’espelette.
Arrange shrimps in a bowl, and pour polenta-broth mixture on top. Add a drop of olive oil.
Light Sunday treat – Spicy shrimps on a bed cauliflower mash
Nov 7th
Légères gourmandises du dimanche – Crevettes épicées sur lit de chou fleur
San Francisco has been under the rain today, and it might be a sign that fall is very much around, warning you that more rainy days are on their way.
Even though, it’s not Thanksgiving yet, I am already thinking about the Thanksgiving dinner menu…I think this year, there will be many appetizers like this one. I am simply in love with simple and flavorful bites that “mettent en appétit” (open your appetite) and can be enjoyed with a fresh glass of Champagne. I noticed many of my friends don’t like cauliflower, I am not sure if its the texture or the taste, so sometimes I just play with cauliflower and try to serve it in various forms and textures.
Of course, you can substitute cauliflower with other ingredients, such as avocado, carrots, etc…I served this a few times with an avocado purée and it was simply delightful.
If you don’t want to serve this in a spoon, you can serve it in a small plate, add one extra tbs of cauliflower mash, and add four shrimps. That would be sufficient as an appetizer and you really don’t have to spend hours cooking. This is a fairly simple dish to prepare and no one needs to know that it takes only a few minutes for the whole dish to be ready.
The only little trick about using small spoons, is that you need to pay attention to small details, and make sure your presentation is clean and tidy. All the ingredients being cut in tiny pieces, they need to be well put together in a regular order.
Ingredients for 10 spoons
- 1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 tbs olive oil
- hot spicy habanero sauce or tabasco sauce
- salt and pepper
- 10 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1/4 tbs paprika
- 1/2 tsp mild curry powder
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- salt and pepper
- 1 tsp olive oil
- dill for decoration
Preparation
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add cauliflower and cook until soft. Drain, place in a mixing container and mash with a potato masher, leaving small pieces. Add habanero sauce, olive oil , salt and pepper. Mix well all ingredients and keep warm.
In a container, combine shrimps, curry and paprika powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil in a pan and saute shrimps.
Place 1 tbs of cauliflower in each spoon. Top it with one shrimp and a little sprig of dill.
An Asian twist – Coconut crêpes stuffed with shrimps, wood ear mushrooms and spinach
Sep 18th
Un petit air asiatique – Crêpes à la noix de coco farcies aux crevettes, champignons noirs et épinards
What I love most about those crêpes is the color, and no it’s not a corn pancake, the deep yellow color comes from turmeric. I ate something similar at a friend’s house from Cambodia a long time ago, except that pork and crab were replacing the shrimps. I also wanted to use the rice flour and wood ear mushrooms I had bought and that I never use. So I decided to give it a try…crêpes with an Asian twist. I think those crêpe have more than an Asian twist.
The crêpe batter tends to be on the soft side, so you need to cook each side really well, until almost crunchy. I used a combination of brown rice and Khorasan wheat flours which even though does contain gluten, is easier to digest than regular flour and has a higher protein content.
You can find fresh wood ear mushrooms at the Asian market, I used the dry kind. I would have used shitakee if I had some, but the wood ear mushrooms were perfectly fine, beside, since I cook with shiitake a lot, I figured those mushrooms would be a little more original. They’re firm with a thick skin and interesting texture resembling jelly. Their texture has a crunchy bite which I find very pleasant.
For the stuffing, you can certainly use what you like, the crepes have a subtle coconut flavor, so ground meat would also work.
Ingredients for about 5-6 small crêpes
For the batter
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) brown rice flour
- 1.41 oz (or 40 g) khorasan wheat flour
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 3/4 cup water
- salt
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
For the filling
- 1.5 cup wood ear mushrooms, soaked and finely cut
- 24 medium sized shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbs fish sauce
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 cup cooked spinach
- 2 scallions, chopped
Preparation
For the batter
Mix flours together, then add egg, water, coconut milk, turmeric and salt. Mix well to obtain a smooth batter. If too thick add a little water. Let it rest for about 30 min.
For the filling
Soak mushrooms in hot water until they become soft, about 30-45 minutes. Cut in small strips. Set aside.
Marinate mushrooms strips with shrimps, fish sauce, sugar, garlic for about one hour.
Saute spinach in 1 garlic clove chopped and olive oil.
Heat olive oil in a wok, add mushrooms and shrimp mixture and saute until shrimps are cooked and liquid has evaporated.
Start making crêpes. Using a small pan of about 12 cm diameter, add some batter and proceed as you would make regular crêpes, spreading the batter all over the pan. Let it cook until one side of the crêpe, has become golden brown and crunchy. Add some of the filling on one half of the crêpe, add spinach and scallions. Fold the other half on top and let it cook for a few more minutes.
Remove from the pan and serve with mint and lettuce leaves.
Nice to meet you Mexico! – Stuffed avocado with shrimp and octopus cocktail
Aug 24th
Encatada de conocerte México! – Coctel de camarónes y pulpo
Not that I am starting to deviate into Mexican cuisine, but since I just got back from Cabos San Lucas last night, I wanted to pursue my Mexican and seafood adventures with this refreshing and delicious cocktail. The abundance of avocado, seafood, lime and hot peppers is what I loved most about Mexican cuisine. I knew the traditional Mexican dishes you get in California, such as quesadilla, tacos, burritos and fajitas, but never really explored further their more delicate and fragrant cuisine.
So this small and easy dish was inspired by what I discovered in a small restaurant in La Paz right in front of the ocean, a beautiful and fresh octopus cocktail served in a glass. In France, we do use avocado shell to serve avocado based appetizers, the only problem is that you need a large haas avocado or you won’t be able to fit a lot of the stuffing. You can of course use a large cocktail glass to serve this, or two avocado halves per person.
I had never been to Mexico before this trip just because usually during the summer vacation I go back home. For many reasons, I could not go home this year. So I had to find a place close by where I felt I was completely “dépaysée” (away from my natural environment) and recharge my batteries.
Los Cabos, in Baja might not be the typical Mexican city but I loved it. You can find Starbucks and Costco which I thought were somehow out of place, selling American fruits to the locals at outrageous prices. We get Mexican mangos and they get American peaches.
La Paz was a lot more Mexican than Cabos and a lot cheaper too. The warmth and hospitality of the locals, the cuisine, the burning sun, the ocean and everything else that makes Baja very special. That long and narrow peninsula has so many wonderful assets ;its where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez, where the desert meets green plains, where you can relax and pamper yourself in the amazing spas, or get more adventurous and drive along the coasts and discover tiny and colorful Mexican villages.
The beach… I am not really a beach maniac, and did not lay down to get a tan, but even with a 100 sun block and in the shade, you get burnt…I was lucky enough to not have a bikini incident, so everything was perfect.
I have never met people so adorable and hospitable, people would go out of their way to help you with a genuine desire to do so and sincere smile. I will be back!
Now that I am back to real life, I will have to catch up with everyone and see what’s cooking and what everyone has been up to during this last month. I apologize for being such a terrible “supporter”, but I will get back in touch with everyone very soon.
Ingredients for 4
- 4 ripe avocados, cut in half
- 1 lemon
- 12 medium size shrimps, deshelled
- 150 g cooked octopus, cut in small pieces
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs lime juice
- zest of 1 lime
- 1 tbs mixed herbs (cilantro, chives, tarragon, etc…)
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1 tsp red onion, chopped
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook octopus for a few hours in salted boiling water. Let it cool and cut in small pieces. Saute shrimps in olive oil and add to the octopus.
Cut avocado in halves, using a teaspoon, scoop some of its flesh, leaving about 5 mm of avocado on the shell. Cut the scooped avocado in small pieces. Coat the avocado halves with lemon juice to prevent them from darkening.
In a mixing container, add all other ingredients and mix well.
Mix diced avocado with seafood, and pour vinaigrette on mixture. Spoon into the avocado halves. Decorate with lime slice and serve.
A thought for Boby – Mâche salad with shrimps on corn purée and truffle oil
Aug 6th
Une pensée pour Boby – Salade de Mâche aux crevettes sur purée de maïs et huile de truffe
Don’t you guys love truffles? I grew up eating them, since my father himself grew up in Italy in a region producing lots of truffles, so when he moved to France he brought with him a dog called Boby, whom he trained to smell truffles and find them. Boby died when I was about 10 and it was the only dog we had. My father has always been a truffle “hunter”, wild mushroom “picker” and unfortunately a bird hunter too (which I hate) and anytime I go home, I have to argue with him about this. In France, there are unfortunately lots of hunters (in Italy too, to the point where there are barely any wild birds left). The argument of hunters is, oh well they are destroying the crops of the farmers (talking about the wild boars), well they don’t realize that humans have invaded all animal habitat and have left no space for animals to live.
My dad’s aunt, in Italy used a pig to find those rare mushrooms, so did most people in the countryside. I remember after days of truffles hunting with Boby, my dad would come home with bags filled with them…and of course, my mom would make tagliatelle with a ragu and truffle sauce. Now the ones I bought were not as good as the ones I am used to eating, they barely had flavor, so if you can find great truffles, you’ll be the lucky one. Truffe means truffle in French, but it also means the nose of the dog. Yes, every dog has a truffe…I am wondering if it has to do with his sense of smell finding truffles.
I love the sweetness and creaminess of the corn combined with the shrimps, then the truffle adds such an elegant and refined final touch. It’ s a little unconventional salad due to the corn purée, but all the elements work perfectly well together.
Ingredients for 4
- 16 shrimps
- 1 large black truffle
- 2 cups mâche salad
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the corn purée
- 1/2 lb fresh corn
- 2 tbs heavy cream
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- salt and pepper
For the truffle vinaigrette
- 3 cl truffle oil
- Sherry vinegar
- fleur de sel
Preparation
In a pot, combine corn, cream and broth and bring to a boil, let it cook slowly for about 10 minutes until the liquid has evaporated, adjust with salt and pepper. Blend in a mixer, and pass through a sieve to obtain a smooth cream. Keep warm and set aside.
Saute shrimps in olive oil, salt and pepper until cooked.
Prepare the vinaigrette by combining truffle oil and sherry vinegar gradually.
Place corn in the middle of a plate, top it with the shrimps, shave some truffle on top of the shrimps. Sprinkle with the vinaigrette and fleur de sel, then decorate with the salad sprinkled with additional vinaigrette.
Salad or not salad? – Salad of grain medley with cannellini, shrimps, artichokes in a herb-lemon dressing
Jul 12th
Salade ou pas salade? – Salade tiède de céréales et mélange aux haricots blancs, crevettes, artichauts, vinaigrette aux citron et herbes
Lately I have not been too well, that’s why I haven’t been posting any recipe on a regular basis like I used to, and my desire and energy for cooking has gone down, hopefully it will pick up at some point. I have no motivation for sitting in front of my computer either, but I sincerely miss everyone, people I met through this blog have been incredibly supportive, kind and generous. Thanks so much for anyone who reads my blogs and leaves genuine comments, they mean a lot to me. I apologize if I have had a difficult time to catch up with everyone, I have had very low energy level and some health issues, but hopefully will get back to my regular routine soon.
I started writing this recipe about three weeks ago and never managed to finish it, it took me forever…so here it is after such a long time. This salad is composed with a well balanced mixture of grains, vegetables, and proteins, such a nutritious and flavorful dish.
I call this a salad since it has a dressing but it can be called anything you like, and can be consumed lukewarm or cold. The particularity of this dish is that I mixed eight varieties of grains and seeds such as brown rice, oats, lentils, pumpkin seeds, etc… for a mixed variety of textures. Maybe you’ll think this look more like a bird meal to you than a gourmet salad. It is definitely questionable, but after you taste it, you will think bird ingredients can taste incredibly tasty.
The grains have been enhanced with vegetables, and seafood which complement the grains quite well. This is nothing complicated, you just need various grains in your pantry.
Ingredients for 2-3
- 200 g of mixed grains such as:
- brown rice
- wheat flakes
- sorghum rice
- buckwheat
- pearl barley
- black rice
- pearl rice
- red lentil
- 1 tbs roasted pumpkin seeds
- 10 large shrimps
- 4 medium artichokes
- 3 tbs dry white wine
- 70 g cannellini beans cooked (either dried or canned)
Ingredients for the herb-lemon vinaigrette
- 3 tbs avocado oil
- juice of one lemon
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp tarragon, chopped
- 1 tsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp chives, chopped
- 1 tbs red onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- one pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Mix all grains together and steam them. You can steam them the same way you would steam rice, even if there are many varities of grains, some of them cook a little faster than others but it does not make a big difference cooking them all together. You can use a rice cooker or use the regular technique using a simple pot.
Trim artichokes, removing the hard leaves around, and cutting off the top of the artichoke. Cut in quarters and place in a container filled with water and lemon juice to prevent the artichokes from darkening.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add 1 garlic clove, then drain artichokes and add to the pan, stir for a few minutes, coating the artichokes with garlic and oil, then add wine, salt and pepper. Stir well. Cover with a lid and cook at medium heat until artichokes are tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
Saute shrimps in olive oil, add salt and pepper and set aside.
In a large container, mix steamed grains with artichokes, cannellini beans, shrimps, pumpkin seeds. Pour vinaigrette on top by mixing all ingredients together. Stir well and serve. You can serve at room temperature or cold.
The well dressed shrimps – Shrimps wrapped in soba with pomegranate chili dipping sauce
Jun 18th
Les crevettes bien habillées – Crevettes enroulées de nouilles soba et sauce pimentée à la grenade
Well here I am again with shrimps…when we cook we all find our inspiration from different sources, it can be our moms, grandmothers, books, chefs, travels, anything. For this particular recipe, I inspired myself from one of Alain Ducasse’s recipes that I twisted around quite a bit, but I kept his idea of wrapping the soba around the shrimps. Isn’t this a great idea? What I love about Alain Ducasse or Christophe Megel is that they mastered the art (it truly is an art) of blending contemporary influences with classical cuisine which awaken all your senses into a taste bud ecstasy.
At first, I thought it sounded strange, borderline unappealing, then after looking at it, and reading the recipe a little longer, I realized that this would be an amazing little appetizer. I made my own dipping sauce with pomegranate, chilis and garlic, and I could not get enough of those shrimps. Now, the original recipe deep fries the shrimps, I somehow refuse to deep fry anything, you can do it, if you want but I have a little “mental blockage” with fried food, so the devil did not manage to make me deep fried this, even if Alain does. Désolée Alain, je n’aime pas la friture! I am sure he would understand!
What I love about this recipe is its composition of textures and flavors.
The soba get a very pleasant crunchy bite due to the batter where ice cubes have been added at end of the process, they melted in the mixture, it helped make the batter light therefore give a particular crunchiness to the soba. There is a feast going on in your palate at first bite, and it’s such an exciting sensation!
Ingredients for about 10 shrimps
- 10 shrimps, deveined
- 2.11 oz (or 60 g) regular soba or green tea soba
- 1/3 cup (or 75 g) cornstarch
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup (or 100 g) flour
- 1/3 cup (or 75 g) water
- 1/3 (or 75 g) cup ice cubes
- salt and pepper
For the pomegranate-chili dipping sauce
- 1/2 cup pure unsweetened pomegranate juice
- 2 tbs pomegranate glaze
- 1 tbs honey
- 2 tbs rice vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 chili, finely diced
- salt
Preparation
Bring a pot of water to a boil, add soba, cook for a few minutes until still a little crunchy, then remove from heat, drain and place in chilled water. Let cool, drain and set aside.
Dip shrimps in corn starch.
In a mixing bowl, mix egg with flour and water, stir well. Add ice cubes and keep stirring until they dissolve.
Dip soba in batter, remove excess batter and wrap around the shrimps.
Heat olive oil in a pan (enough to get 2 mm of oil in the pan), then add shrimps, let them brown on all surfaces. When cooked removefrom pan, and pat dry with a paper towel to remove excess oil. Serve hot with dipping sauce.
For the dipping sauce
Mix all ingredients together except the garlic and chili and cook for a few minutes until the honey is dissolved and the sauce has a little reduced. Let it cool, then add chili and garlic.
For French mother’s day – Sauté shrimps with cardamom and blackberry coulis
Jun 1st
Pour la fête des mères – Crevettes sautées à la cardamome et au coulis de mûres
I have felt the whole day as if today was Sunday…what a “tête en l’air” (head in the air) that would translate into air-headed, I do not have that particular reputation but today it really felt like a Sunday to me, the energy in the streets, the pace, just the overall feeling did not seem like the beginning of the week. Three day weekends are so rare in the US, that when it happens, you get confused.
Yesterday was Mother’s day in France and this would have been the type of dish I would have prepared my mom, she would have been intrigued and skeptical to see a blackberry next to a shrimp, but I’m quite sure she would have loved the flavor.
Even though French cuisine does not often traditionally combines sweet and savory flavors, there are indeed many recipes that do combine fruits in savory dishes. Some fruits such as berries are combined with game, I do like to associate them to seafood once in a while, you know for those particular days when you have one of those cravings…
Now when you look at the title, that might seem odd to you, shrimps and blackberries, well if you decide you ever want to try it out, you will definitely realize that the flavors are matching in a very harmonious symphony and this dish is something has a refined and subtle touch to it.
I love those types of quick dishes that look like they have been taking forever to prepare…this dish fits the express category and is a perfect choice when you want to impress your guests with a chic touch.
For a long time, I have been reluctant to add sugar to some savory dishes, just because I had a more traditional culinary background where sugar was an ingredients mainly used in desserts. I love berries of all kinds, and the first time I saw blackberries in the US, I was amazed by their huge size, they are just BIG (like everything else in the US)…nonetheless delicious. Now I only buy the big kinds, if they’re small I don’t even look at them!
Ingredients for 4 (20 shrimps)
- 20 large shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 5.29 oz (or 150 g) blackberries
- 5 cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed
- Szechuan pepper
- Fleur de sel
- 0.88 oz (or 25 g) balsamic vinegar
- 0.70 oz (or 20 g) salted butter
- 0.70 oz (or 20 g) sugar
- 3/8 cups (or 50 cl) water
- mint leaves, finely chopped
Preparation
Dissolve sugar with water and bring to a boil. Add blackberries, stir carefully, remove from the stove and blend the mixture with a immersion blender. Pass the coulis through a sieve to remove the seeds. Keep aside.
Crush cardamom seeds (the seeds inside the pods) with a mortar and set aside. When the
In a pan, saute shrimps in butter, add salt and Szechuan pepper, then add cardamom seeds. Remove shrimps from the pan, and keep them warm. Deglaze pan with vinegar, and reduce to a half. Add blackberry coulis and let it reduce for 1 or 2 minutes.
Place some coulis in a plate, add shrimps in the middle, and sprinkle with mint.
