What can you do with Frozen Cooked Shrimp?

  First of all, let me start out by saying that our grocery stores here in N.C. seem to always have "frozen bags of shrimp" on sale as a buy one get one free. Sometimes it's raw frozen and other times it's cooked frozen. I guess that is because we are not on the coastal side. I have only one store here that has a reputable seafood department, and that would be Harris Teeter which is somewhat comparable to Whole Foods. I wish I had  a Whole Foods Market close by or a Trader Joe's! My only other options are Food Lion, Super WalMart and Carly C's. I put them in order of preference here with Carly C's being my least favorite!

  That being said, I had two bags of frozen cooked shrimp sitting in the freezer. I was craving seafood and I didn't feel like running out to the store. So in my quest for a recipe, I found a tasty sounding dish in my cookbook collection: Pol Martin's Supreme Cuisine 1993. Tasty Pepper Shrimp. *(More on him later). I figured it sounded so spicy that the shrimp didn't really have to be raw to absorb all of that heat and flavor. Alas, I was right! This is a very different type of intense heat. And I am a moderate heat girl. Let me just suffice it to say that my lips were tingly and on fire. Now without further ado, I will move on.

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves, pureed
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
2 tbsp butter
3/4 lb fresh mushrooms, cleaned and cut in 3 sections (I was out and omitted them)
2 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 lbs fresh shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/3 shrimp stock (recipe to follow); or, you could purchase some really good organic shrimp stock.
2 tbsp beurre manie' (recipe to follow)
salt to taste


Shrimp stock recipe:

2 cups water
shells from shrimp, salt and pepper to taste.
Pour water into saucepan. Add shells from shrimp and season. Boil 15 minutes then strain liquid to use in this recipe.


Beurre Manie' (Kneaded Butter)

5 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
Blend butter with flour to make beurre manie' then set aside to use in this recipe.

"Beurre manié (French "kneaded butter") By kneading the flour and butter together, the flour particles are coated in butter. When the beurre manié is whisked into a hot or warm liquid, the butter melts, releasing the flour particles without creating lumps."

Directions

1.Grind the garlic, peppers, thyme and oregano together in a mortar; or if you don't have a mortar, you can use a coffee grinder or even the back of a wooden spoon.

2.Heat butter in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Add spice mixture and cook 1 minute. (This will allow the oils of the spices to be released which will enhance the depth of flavor in the dish.)

3.Add mushrooms and green onions. Season with salt, stir and cook 4 minutes.

4.Add shrimp and cook 3 minutes. Stir once during cooking. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.

5.Increase heat to high and pour in shrimp stock. Bring to boil and cook 2 minutes. Wisk in buerre manie'.

6.Return shrimp to pan and cook 1 minute over low heat. Serve over your choice of rice, pasta or even garlic mashed potatoes. Also, french bread toasted with garlic butter and a green salad goes nicely with this dish as well.

The only changes, sustitutions and eliminations to mine was:

1) Cooked instead of raw fresh shrimp-although fresh would be best

2) Elimination of mushrooms-didn't have any on hand, will use next time

3) Seafood stock out of a box-no shells on cooked shrimp

  All in all this was still a very tasty dish and Michael just LOVED it as there are no foods hot or spicy enough for him. I guess that comes from being in the restaurant business.

*Chef POl Martin was born in France and was the host of the show "The Art of Cooking" produced by Champlain Productions out of Montreal. Airing locally, before airing nationally on CTV for one season. Original airdates were 1974-1978. Among his many cookbooks are: Chef Pol Martin's Favorite Recipes 1985, Easy Cooking for Today 1988, Outdoor Cooking and Grilling Fish 1989, Love at First Bite 1990, Easy Cooking II 1990,A Guide to Modern American Cooking 1993, and Supreme Cuisine 1993. There are far too many to list here. I found my copy at a used bookstore and fell in love with the many, beautifully illustrated pictures and the step by step instructions. Also the fact that all of the ingredients are fresh and nothing comes out of a tin can. You will find no condensed canned soups here!

Michael and Carla