Super Shrimp Platter

My son, George, served  a shrimp platter at his daughter's recent Communion party.  They were sublimely perfumed and delicious ... the best I have ever had ... and I've eaten a lot of shrimp in my lifetime.  They were so good that I had to document his recipe.  So here it is:

Take two pounds of uncooked shell-on shrimp (of whatever size your budget will permit ... and, if you can find them, never frozen ... but, if frozen, defrost them first in the refrigerator overnight) and de-shell/de-vein them ... leaving the tail shells on if you wish.

Bring to a boil a copious amount of well-salted water.  Add a few nice bay leaves, a tablespoon of mustard seeds, and a tablespoon of peppercorns.  Then add the cleaned (and briefly rinsed) shrimp.  Bring the water back to a boil and boil briefly (about two minutes) making sure all the shrimp have turned pink.  Drain out all the water and place the shrimp in a large freezer bag with lots of ice (crushed, if possible).  Put this in the refrigerator while you make the cocktail sauce.

To make the cocktail sauce:  In a small bowl place 1/2 cup of Heinz ketchup, a tablespoon of good-quality prepared horseradish, a few squirts of Worcester sauce, the juice of half a lemon, and the zest from this same half lemon (this ingredient is important).

Serve the cold shrimp nestled on lots of cracked ice on a large platter (or platters) with the cocktail sauce centered thereon.  Add a garnish of watercress or finely-chopped iceberg lettuce if you are of a mind.  Enjoy with some ice-cold beer (and invite me).

Navy Bean Soup

A few weeks back, at the Commons Lunch in Little Compton, Rhode Island, I had a steaming bowl of delicious navy bean soup. I’ve kept thinking about how good it was and how I wanted to reproduce it for my family. I came very close last night so I thought I would share this success.

Rinse well a package of dried navy beans and then place them in a pot of cold water. Bring this pot to a rolling boil and boil for two minutes and then turn off the heat, cover, and let it stand for a hour.

In a much bigger soup pot sweat, in about two tablespoons of good olive oil, one finely-chopped onion, two finely-chopped stalks of celery, two cleaned and finely-chopped carrots and a hand full of finely-chopped parsley. If you have some left over ham use it, but I bought a bone-in ham steak and cut it into pieces. Add the ham (and bone) to the soup pot along with 6 peppercorns and 6 allspice berries and about a good two quarts of water. No salt yet! Start boiling this mixture and, when the beans are ready, add them along with their soaking liquid. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for a good two hours.

Next take a 15.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes and, after chopping up the tomatoes, add it to the soup. Now, add salt to taste (less than a teaspoon). If need be, retrieve the ham pieces and mince them finer. Remove the bone, but add the marrow and the minced ham back to the pot.  Re-cover and simmer for another half hour.

Serve with crusty bread and butter. (Even my wife loved this soup and she hates beans.)

Beefy Stew

I made a beef stew last night and it turned out so well I thought I would share it. I found 1½ pounds of sirloin beef on sale so I decided to greet our change to autumn weather with a hearty meal. You can use round steak or even chuck steak for this recipe but cut it up in pieces about 1 inch square. (I think that supermarkets sell you beef stew pieces that are too big to cook and eat easily … and need to be at least halved.  Cooks Illustrated magazine recommends sirloin steak tips for beef stew.)

Dice one large onion and sauté it in a few tablespoons of olive oil. (Bacon grease would also be good.) Use a Le Creuset pot if available, otherwise, a cast iron one. Add a few chopped up garlic cloves and cook till transparent. Salt and pepper the meat well and brown it along with the onions and garlic. Next add a small package of mushrooms, cleaned and halved. Now clean and chop three carrots, two celery stalks (with leaves). Add them. After things are well amalgamated add a bouquet garni (I used a teaspoon of powdered bouquet garni from Penzey’s Spices. See here), one bay leaf, a half teaspoon of dried thyme, two tablespoons of chopped parsley, three squirts of Lea and Perrins, five peppercorns, five allspice berries, a third bottle of Bogle old-vine zinfandel, and a container of good beef stock (Emeril’s was good). Bring up to a simmer. Halve 7 or 8 baby Yukon Gold potatoes and add them. Mix well with a fork a heaping tablespoon of flour with an equal amount of softened butter and stir well into the pot. Continue simmering this concoction on the back of the stove for at least one hour (two is better). Then remove the bay leaf (and bouquet garni, if not powered) and adjust the seasoning. Serve with the remaining bottle of Bogel’s zinfandel and a crusty baguette. Enjoy!

Now, when done, if it is still light out, go out and rake some leaves.

New England Boiled Dinner

This is a great autumn dinner and it is so simple as to be embarrassing. My German grandparents used to call this a New England boiled dinner, but, since it doesn’t include corned beef or cabbage, I think it must be a variation on an old German dish. (Actually, it was called "supper" since it was often served by my grandmother on Sunday around 2 PM.  "Dinner" was a more modest meal served later that day ... often just a big apple turnover.)

First get a nice loin of pork (about 3 or 4 pounds) and rinse it well. Place it in a large pot (such as Le Creuset) of cold water and add about 5 allspice berries, 5 black peppercorns, and a bay leaf or two (a dried Polish mushroom or two would also be good). Cover and bring up to a rolling simmer. (Do not hard boil, it toughens the pork.) Cook on low heat, covered for about an hour before you add two or three packages of sauerkraut and four large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters. If you are so inclined you might also add a few small peeled onions and cleaned and quartered carrots (not necessary though). Cook another half hour uncovered so that the moisture levels are adjusted downward. Finally add about 6 good quality hot dogs or knockwurst, recover the pot and steam them for another 15 minutes. (I like them to crack open.)

Serves 4 to 6 people. May I suggest that a serving might consist of 3 or 4 potato pieces which are then fork-mashed and buttered and peppered. Then cover with sauerkraut, a good piece of pork loin (should be falling-apart tender), and a hot dog or knockwurst. Add some good German or Polish mustard, some crusty seeded rye bread, and crack a cold German beer. Enjoy!