Those of us who love to cook and to feed people know the Eatin’ Season is coming. From Thanksgiving through the Super Bowl, it’s show time for us. I’m going to kick things off with a new-to-me dish that began with a recipe from The Border Cookbook, by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. The Jamisons don’t get a whole lot of acclaim for their work compared to the Food TV-type folks, but they certainly write cookbooks with lots of good recipes. One of my basic meatloaf recipes comes from another of their books.
As usual, I ended up with something a little different, and that’s okay. The result was extremely tasty, something I’d probably eat with a spoon if calories didn’t count. For the shrimp, I went to Bob’s Seafood and asked Barbara for a pound of whatever shrimp was the least expensive. "What are you making?" she asked, and when I told her it was a dip, she hauled out a bag of frozen, shelled and deveined shrimp. "Try these," she said. "I know they’re frozen, but they’re really good."
I tried something different when I cooked them after they thawed. Instead of using a huge pot of boiling water, I used only enough water to cover them, added a wee bit of Zatarain’s Concentrated Crab & Shrimp Boil–maybe half a teaspoon; it’s really strong–and when the liquid came to a boil, dropped in the shrimp. I cooked them three minutes after it came back to a boil, and let them cool in the cooking liquid. I saved the cooking liquid, too, and froze it, marked "spicy shrimp stock." For the goat cheese, I used Chavrie, from Schnucks. And the cilantro? I’ve started putting it in water, like a kid’s fistful of dandelions, covering it loosely with a plastic bag and refrigerating it, instead of just putting it in the produce drawer. Stays fresh about three times longer.
Variations On a Theme From Puerto Penasco Shrimp Spread
1 lb. cooked and peeled shrimp
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
4 oz soft goat cheese, room temperature
3 Tbs. minced fresh cilantro
3 Tbs. fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt to taste
Dump about half the shrimp, the cheeses, cilantro, lime juice, pepper and Worcestershire sauce in a food processor. Whizz it until smooth. You’ll need to stop and scrape the sides a couple of times. Taste it, see if it needs anything. If it seems too thick, add more lime juice, a little of the spicy shrimp stock, or just milk or plain yogurt. Add the rest of the shrimp and pulse the mixture several times. You want a little of the shrimp texture in it still.
Turn the mixture out into a bowl, check the seasoning one last time. Re-season if needed, and chill, covered.
Makes about 3 cups.
The Jamisons add finely diced jicama after they take it out of the processor, which would give some crunch. I served it with thick, stubby pretzels, and other folks spread it on wheat crackers.
The 'Eatin' Season' -- for sure! The cilantro tip is a good one, I use it for basil too. Some times the top shelf of the frig looks like a flower shop!
Posted by: Alanna | October 21, 2007 at 07:06 AM