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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds medium-to-large shrimp, in their shells
- Salt and ground black pepper
- Pinch cayenne
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium or 1 large chopped onion
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 large or 3 plum tomatoes, chopped, with juice
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh marjoram or oregano, plus a few leaves for garnish
- 1 pound pasta, preferably fresh
Details
Servings 4
Adapted from dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com
Preparation
Step 1
To make the stock, take shrimp shells, cover them in water -- you can add aromatics like carrots and onions, but it\'s hardly necessary -- bring to a boil, simmer for a few minutes, and drain. When you are done you have essence of shrimp, a broth of a very high order, the perfect liquid for seafood risottos, stews, soups . . . and this sauce.
1. Shell the shrimp; boil shells with just enough water to cover, a large pinch of salt, a grinding of pepper and a pinch of cayenne. Simmer 10 minutes, then drain, reserving liquid (discard shells). Bring a pot of water to boil for pasta and salt it.
2. Meanwhile, finely chop about a third of the shrimp. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; a minute later add onion and carrot, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are quite soft, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, herb and chopped shrimp, and cook, still over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes begin to break down. Add stock from shrimp shells and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is no longer soupy but still moist.
3. When sauce is almost done, cook pasta. When pasta has about 5 minutes to go, stir whole shrimp into sauce. Serve pasta with sauce and shrimp, garnished with a few leaves of marjoram or oregano.
Mixx
when i make shrimp stock, i always wonder should i use the heads or shouldn’t i?
I use the heads when I make shrimp stock. This recipe sounds marvelous…can’t wait to try it. I like the idea of chopping up part of the shrimp and incorporating in the sauce, then adding the whole shrimp.
Food folks, don’t kill me for asking, but is it possible to make shrimp stock using the headless shells from frozen shrimp? (I know fresh shrimp with heads are better, but I’m on a budget and additionally, the fishmonger nearest to me has sold me some unreliable wares–i.e., bad clams–in the past.)
Just barely thaw the shrimp enough to slide them out of the shells. Put shells in a pot and almost cover with water. Bring to a boil and them simmer for about 45 minutes to extract the flavor. It is a quick and easy stock!
I want to make this but please tell me how much stock should there be in this recipe? Also, carrots do taste a bit off with seafood,, could something else be substitued?
And Mara, I did put their heads in the broth — the French always sell the whole shrimp — these were biologique (organic) from Madagascar — although occasionally I trimmed their whiskers so they wouldn’t hang too far over the side of the pot.
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