A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [105]
1½ pounds large shrimp in the shell
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) butter, melted (see Tip above)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 large garlic clove, finely minced
1 large bay leaf, crumbled
¾ teaspoon crumbled dried leaf rosemary
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon crumbled dried leaf basil
¼ teaspoon crumbled dried leaf oregano
¼ teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
1. Wash the shrimp well in cool water, drain well, pat dry on paper toweling, and spread in a large, shallow, nonreactive baking pan (I use a 13 × 9 × 2-inch ovenproof glass baking dish).
2. Mix all remaining ingredients, pour over the shrimp, toss well, then cover and marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or better yet, overnight. About 20 minutes before you’re ready to bake the shrimp, preheat the oven to 325° F.
3. Toss the shrimp well in the marinade, slide the pan onto the middle oven shelf, and bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Toss the shrimp well again in the marinade and bake 5 to 10 minutes longer or just until the shrimp are pink and cooked through—don’t overcook or the shrimp will be tough.
4. Serve the unshelled shrimp hot or at room temperature with crusty French or Italian bread to sop up the marinade and with a bowl to catch the shrimp shells. Note: If you shell and devein the cooked shrimp, they can be served as an appetizer: Simply spear them on toothpicks and put the marinade out as a dip.
CURRIED SHRIMP AND CHICKEN
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS
Here’s a southern classic reinvented by Elizabeth Terry, for years the creative force behind Elizabeth on 37th, by some accounts Savannah’s finest restaurant. With the help of husband Michael, who abandoned law to lend a hand, Terry opened Elizabeth back in 1981. Eleven years later, she’d made Food & Wine’s list of America’s Top 25 Restaurants—a first, surely, for a self-taught chef. Craig Claiborne, the powerful New York Times food columnist, came, ate, and raved in private and in print. I myself was so impressed by Elizabeth’s magic that I wrote about her twice: for Food & Wine back in the late ’80s, and then again just a few years ago for More magazine. The recipe below is adapted from one that accompanied my Food & Wine article (a different version appears in Terry’s cookbook, Savannah Seasons: Food and Stories from Elizabeth on 37th, with whimsical art by Elizabeth’s older daughter, Alexis). Both recipes are new spins on Country Captain and both are brilliant; for me, however, my adaptation is easier. After twenty years behind the stove, Terry has left the kitchen, moved to California, and become a potter. Here, too, she is a virtuoso.
1 cup converted rice
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons finely minced fresh ginger
1½ teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)
2 cups cold water
1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut crosswise and on the bias into strips 1½ inches wide
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 medium Granny Smith apples (about ¾ pound), cored and cut into ½-inch dice (do not peel)
1 medium yellow onion, moderately coarsely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and moderately coarsely chopped
One 14-ounce can plum tomatoes, drained well and coarsely chopped
2½ tablespoons dried currants plumped in 2 tablespoons hot water
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
¾ cup rich chicken broth or stock
1½ pounds medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
½ cup lightly toasted coarsely chopped pecans (about 10 minutes in a 350° F. oven)
1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Lightly coat a shallow 2½-quart flameproof casserole with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Combine the rice, curry powder, ginger, orange zest, half the salt,