Saveur Cooks Authentic American - Editors Of Cook's Illustrated Magazine [28]
1 loaf crusty French bread, for serving
Serves 4
1. Put the shrimp and Creole seasoning into a bowl and toss to coat; set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Add the oil and garlic to the skillet and cook until the garlic is golden, about 1 minute. Add the rosemary and cook for 2–3 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook, flipping once, until they start to turn pink, about 30 seconds. Transfer the shrimp to a large plate and set aside. Add the beer, hot sauce, Worcestershire, and lemon juice to the skillet and stir well. Cook, stirring, until thickened, 7–8 minutes.
3. Remove the skillet from the heat and whisk in the butter, a few pieces at a time (the sauce will start to thicken). Return the shrimp to the skillet and toss to coat. Return the skillet to medium heat and cook until the shrimp are cooked through, 2–3 minutes. Transfer the shrimp and sauce to 4 plates. Serve with chunks of crusty bread.
Let the Good Times Roll
There’s no place I’d rather be on a Sunday morning than Commander’s Palace in New Orleans’ Garden District, with a milk punch in hand and a plate of eggs Sardou, BBQ shrimp, or redfish Lyonnaise on the way. A brass band ambles from room to room, silverware clanks, conversation bubbles forth. In the foyer, Ella Brennan, the matriarch of the family that has run this restaurant for the past four decades, is holding court and telling stories. Her niece, Lally, escorts guests to the bar—which happens to be in the kitchen. No one does restaurants like the Brennans, and no restaurant in that family’s expanding empire, which includes a dozen or so bistros, steak houses, and cafés in New Orleans and other cities across the South, is a more exuberant example of the manifold glories of dining in the Crescent City than Commander’s Palace. It is formal, but good fun. The fare is traditional—a marriage of elegant, European-inflected Creole dishes with more rustic Cajun ones—with just enough whimsy to keep it interesting. With flaming table-side desserts like bananas Foster (a dish Miss Ella invented on the fly one night back in the 1960s at the family’s restaurant, Brennan’s), Commander’s distinguishes itself from other temples of New Orleans gastronomy by embracing the city’s joie de vivre.
—Dana Bowen
Stuffies
They’ve got a way with shellfish in Rhode Island, a state that surely has more roadside clam shacks per capita than any other. An all-time Ocean State favorite is stuffed quahogs—the biggest of the Atlantic hardshell clams—affectionately known as stuffies. The garlicky linguiça sausage in the stuffing is a legacy of Rhode Island’s Portuguese immigrants. (Pictured, a Rhode Island clam fisherman in the 1940s.)
15 slices white sandwich bread
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
¾ lb. linguiça (Portuguese sausage), minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, minced
1 small yellow onion, minced
1 small green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and minced
2¼ cups chopped clam meat, preferably quahogs
¾ cup clam juice or strained clam liquor
6 tbsp. minced flat-leaf parsley
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1½ tbsp. Tabasco
1½ tbsp. Worcestershire
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
16 empty large quahog half shells Paprika, to taste Lemon wedges, for serving
Serves 6–8
1. Heat the oven to 275°F. Pulse the bread in a food processor into fine crumbs. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake, tossing often, until dried, 15–20 minutes; set aside.
2. Raise the oven heat to 425°F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, garlic, celery, onions, and peppers and cook until soft, 12–15 minutes. Add the clams, clam juice, parsley, lemon juice, Tabasco, and Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the butter. Add the bread crumbs and salt and pepper; stir.
3. Divide the stuffing between the shells and place on a baking sheet. Bake until browned, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika and serve with lemon wedges.
Clam Varieties
With their sweet, briny flavor, clams