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Shrimp for When You’re in the Mood, and When You’re Not

Having driven home from the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., I was hungry for my own food although the crab dinner at Mo’s in Baltimore and the brunch at Café Shirley were both delicious.

I don’t want to get into how many people were at the march (seemed like millions as opposed to how many were at the inaugural). And we weren’t really marching, but rather inching along. Still, I was exhausted. The first day home I wanted nothing to eat, but two days later I wanted shrimp. I found a pound of Bomster’s shrimp in the freezer. I wasn’t sure what recipe I would use, but decided on scampi.

Here are two recipes, one with tons of garlic and another for a shrimp curry in case you are just not in the mood for tons of garlic.

Shrimp Scampi

Yield: 4 servings

1 pound (more or less) ravioli or linguine

1 to 1 ½ pounds uncooked extra-large (16-20 per pound) shrimp

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

15 to 20 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (I use a little food processor)

1 ½ cups good white wine

2 to 3 fresh tomatoes, chopped (optional)

1 heaping teaspoon cornstarch or potato starch combined with ¼ cup of white wine

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add salt.

Peel and devein shrimp, and set aside.

Pour olive oil into a large skillet. When oil is fairly hot, add garlic and cook at medium until it is translucent. Pour wine and cook for about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and cook until pink on both sides. Add chopped tomatoes, if using, and heat. Add cornstarch and wine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add butter and stir. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In the meantime, cook ravioli or linguine al dente; drain. Add to sauce and toss. Serve immediately.

Shrimp Curry

From The Ultimate Shrimp Book by Bruce Weinstein (Morrow, New York, 2002)

Yield: serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, minced

2 tablespoons curry powder

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk, warmed

1 tart apple, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

1 pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add onions and celery and cook stirring often, until onion is soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in curry powder; stir for 30 seconds then whisk in flour for another 30 seconds, until it is not stark white.

Reduce heat to medium and slowly whisk in warm milk. White constantly until mixtures comes to a simmer and thickens, about 2 minutes. Add apple and reduce heat to low. Simmer until apple is tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes.

Add shrimp and cook, stirring often, until pink and firm, about 3 minutes. Stir in nutmeg, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve immediately, possibly on jasmine rice.