Roast your shrimp cocktail
You'll never go back
Hello! How are you? Hope you’re well!
I don’t know about you, but lately the state of the world is making it feel like I’m being forced to watch a show that I’d prefer not to. And I can’t turn it off. I guess it’s not all terrible; sometimes there’s a plot twist I didn’t see coming. But for the most part, I’m ready to watch something else, to change the channel, so to speak.
Still, it’s a good exercise in staying positive and looking for silver linings. We will all become better people from this experience! Right? Right?!?
“Girl dinner”
I have mixed feelings about the term “girl dinner”. It sounds mildly sexist and dismissive, when it’s truly a wonderful way to eat. Whatever. I can look past titles and labels. It’s really just a more structured, elevated way of snacking, and calling it dinner.
That said, I had a pretty perfect girl dinner this week. I’d been meaning to try this recipe from the great Melissa Clark of the New York Times for ages, and I finally did and it’s definitely going into the rotation. It’s more of a method than an actual recipe: roast the shrimp for a shrimp cocktail instead of steaming or boiling them. Genius! The shrimp comes out juicy and full of flavor; there’s no rubbery-ness that boiled shrimp often has. I’ll never make shrimp cocktail any other way.
This isn’t really anything new. Ina Garten has a similar recipe. What I loved about Melissa’s recipe, though, was her recipe for the sauce, which is similar to a French rémoulade. You can adjust the recipe however you want to, but it’s basically a combination of mayonnaise, horseradish, lemon juice, a squirt of ketchup, capers, herbs like parsley, chives and/or scallions, and some paprika if you have it. You can add salt and pepper to taste, but be careful with the salt since there are already some salty elements (like the capers) in there.
A tweak to make it your own (and get your raw veg in)
Here’s how I made the recipe a little different: I ate the shrimp wrapped in lettuce, this lettuce specifically, but obviously any lettuce will do. You could add some cucumber slices, or even sliced radish. The possibilities are endless, but you really don’t need much with this delicious sauce and perfect, juicy, roasted shrimp.
You could use a different sauce, I suppose, though I’m not sure this would be as good with a cocktail-type sauce. Some variation of ranch dressing would work; basically any sauce that’s creamy. Instead of mayo, you could use yogurt or sour cream. You could even buy the sauce instead of making it, and eat it as is, or doctor it a bit with fresh herbs or hot sauce or a squeeze of lemon. There are so many options.
That’s all for this week. Again, thank you for being here and thank you for your emails and notes, letting me know you appreciate my random musings and (often strong) opinions about food. Shout out this week to Susanna & Steve in Rhode Island, who made the Italian penicillin soup from last week and sent me a photo! Love you guys! Love that you made the soup!
See you next week!
xxMolly