SHRIMP SALE! (Part 2)
Well, last night was the wildly successful Thai Shrimp Risotto. Since I had set myself an awfully high bar, I wanted to travel somewhere NOT in Asia or Italy for tonight's dinner.
I had just seen a post by the extraordinary Emily Nunn (The Comfort Food Diaries) extolling the virtues of Romesco... and was reminded how much I love it!
So, off to Spain!
First, make your favorite Romesco sauce.
What do you mean you don’t have a favorite Romesco recipe up your sleeve?!?!?
OK, purists are going to go for me, but my Romesco is sort of an abstract blueprint, not set in stone. You can check almost anywhere on the internet for recipes, but here’s what I did...
I charred three Havasu peppers from our garden (any red pepper works) and cleaned them. Don't wash them, just wipe the skin off.
I chopped them, and added them to the food processor, along with 3 garlic cloves, 1/4 C toasted almonds, some parsley, a splash of sherry vinegar, half a hot pepper, some tomato paste, and salt and pepper. I processed this until fairly smooth, and then started adding EVOO to the running processor. Other recipes may add fresh tomatoes and onions and water, but I thought this was pretty wonderful... so I stopped.
For some reason, we didn’t want rice, but a starch seemed necessary. I made a quick batch of orzo.
Now to the shrimp. I surprised my crustacean-loving North Carolinian with an old favorite of his that I’d never made before... I fried the shrimp!!
Just a simple batter: egg, flour, salt, pepper, and a drop of milk. 350° oil... about 3 minutes of frying... drain... sprinkle with salt.
Hot bowl
Scoop of orzo
Racing stripe of Romesco
Ring o' shrimp
Shower of minced parsley
Guess what? That bar may have been high... but I cleared it!!!