taste and texture and the glory of garnish

Shrimp Creole Italiano-Americano

I was looking around at shrimp creole recipes yesterday, but just wasn't really in the mood for that flavor. I was in the mood for my flavor! Well, the day ran long, and I ordered pizza. Then today, I figured out how to take Emeril's shrimp creole recipe and wreck it into my own thing. 

Here's most of the ingredients:

Here's the shrimp. I don't have the photographic equipment to make raw shrimp not look disgusting. 

The little shrimp misters sat in a nice ice bath, doused with a liberal amount of sea salt, waiting to be rendered pink. 

So. I cooked about 6 ounces of no nitrate-added bacon. I'm into that now. 

Then added a chopped green pepper, two small thinly sliced onions, and 3 smashed garlic cloves. 

While that was humming along just below medium heat, I used two tsp butter, and 1 tsp olive oil, and 1 smashed garlic clove to season my rice pot. Then I added one cup of converted rice, stirred it til it sizzled, added 2 1/4 cups hot water, brought it to boil, put the lid on, turned it to simmer. 

What I'm trying to say is, I made rice. Use a tight-fitting lid and do not lift it until the rice is done. You can set a timer. I just listen to it, and when it sounds like all the water's gone, I turn it off but leave the lid on until I'm ready for it. 

I did say this was Italian-American. It's a sort of intuition thing.

Okay, then to the saute pan: two cans diced tomatoes (drain one) a couple dashes of southwest chipotle seasoning (or use something similar,) some hearty shakes of dried Italian seasoning, a spoonful of sugar, a couple dashes of salt. 

And two hearty splashes of vermouth. 

This cooks for about 15 minutes, then the rice is done. Then I added about 1.5 lbs of shrimp, peeled, deveined, tail-on. You can take the tails off. I didn't want to. They cook for about 5 minutes in the sauce. Then add 1/4-1/2 cups of heavy cream, stir around for a minute. 

Then you have this:

and this:

molto delizioso. 

Six Months Later...The Kitchen is Open

Wow. Got all involved in moving, then overwhelmed by the new school routine, and so much else to keep up on! But we've been here for four months now, it's time to get back to my true love. Tonight I'm making a sort of shrimp creole and I'm going to share it here. First, some grainy pictures of my new kitchen. 

No, wait. First, you should read about the changes. I've made seven categories, and I folded the funny "Glory of Garnish" page into this one. Those posts are marked "Vintage Advertising" and "Vintage Cookbooks." There will be more. 

Okay now, grainy kitchen photos. :-)

I know, it's dark. I just liked the picture. My new kitchen is smaller, but I like it much better. The floor is wood instead of vinyl, much cooler and easier to clean, and everything is new and nicely at hand. There is no question of any of it ever having to not work quite right, of worrying about water damage from a badly installed dishwasher and leaky sink, or of racks falling out of the refrigerator, or the microwave starting to loosen from the wall, or a landlord who isn't exactly who or what he says he is. 

I also don't have young ladies floating through, wanting to cook at all hours of the night. I deeply miss those young ladies, but not their chaotic energy. 

You know about the Fly Lady? She helps people with home organization. She is manic about two things; scrubbing your sink every morning, and wearing shoes in the house. I am also manic about two things (well, at least two;) scrubbing the sink every morning and NOT wearing shoes in the house. I have nothing to do with her because of that. I loathe seeing people wear shoes in the house. But these sinks are nice to scrub. Even though you can tell in the photo that they needed some scrubbing at that moment.

Here is the area to the right of the sink. 

Here's the view from there to the left. There's actually a tremendous amount of light in this area of the house, but the kitchen can be dark. My only real complaint about it is the terrible lighting. I gotta get to that. 

This is the view from the long countertop where I do most of the food preparation. They brought the PS3 upstairs yesterday to play Modern Warfare 3, but usually I can watch (listen to) an old movie while I cook.

And here is my baking/mixing area. The cabinets above my mixer have all my baking ingredients, and the bowls and pans are beneath it. :-)

I'll be back later with shrimp creole-esque deliciousness. If you have never seen my homage to old food photography and advertising, click on the vintage categories for some fun.