Cilantro Shrimp

This cilantro shrimp recipe comes from one of my favorite restaurants in Park City.

I read about it in a local cookbook called Park City--A Taste Of Past & Present. Our local supermarket sells great frozen Caribbean shrimp in 2 pound bags that are handy to keep in the freezer and great to have when you want to whip up a quick and simple meal. I just made this sauce recently and made a few changes from the original.

The original recipe called for 4 tablespoons of butter and the addition of white wine, but after making it and experimenting a bit, I found that my family and I preferred it with a bit more butter and with no white wine. Feel free to deglaze the pan with white wine, if you'd like, but know that it isn't a necessary step to have a really tasty meal. I hope you enjoy it.

Cilantro Shrimp from 350 Main
Serves 4-6

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup finely diced onions
• 1/4 cup finely diced celery
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 cup fish stock or clam juice
• 3 tablespoons minced cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 pounds of shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Easy prep for this one. Dice the onions and celery, mince the garlic and cilantro, peel and devein the shrimp and you are ready to go. Check out my article on peeling and deveing shrimp here.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and garlic along with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat until softened, stirring often.

When the vegetables have softened, add the flour, cooking and stirring for about 3 minutes, or until the flour-butter paste is a light golden brown. What you have just made is called a roux, or a mixture of cooked fat and flour. Normally a roux is not made with vegetables in it at the beginning, but to me, this is a great way to add flavor.

Whisk in the cold stock or clam juice. Make sure the liquid is cold. The rule for roux is to add cold liquid to a hot roux or hot liquid to a cold roux, otherwise, your sauce will be lumpy.

When well blended, add the cilantro and taste for seasoning. Add a pinch more salt and/or pepper, if necessary.

Cook for 3 minutes. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more fish stock or clam juice.

Add the shrimp. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until sauce is thick and flavors are blended.

Add lime juice just before serving.

Serve over rice or pasta, and garnish each serving with a some fresh cilantro.

RG'S TIP:

1. The first time I made this, I didn't have fish stock or clam juice so I used the shrimp shells in a cup of water and cooked it down to 3/4 cup. It worked just fine but not as well as fish stock or clam juice.

Enjoy

To learn more about making a roux, click here. To learn more about cilantro, check this out. If you want a good sources for fish stock, here you are.

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