Bronzed Shrimp Creole
- ½ cup long-grain brown rice
- ½ cup long-grain white rice
- 1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, clarified
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon onion flakes
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- ¾ teaspoon dried leaf basil, crumbled
- ¾ teaspoon dried leaf thyme, crumbled
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 24 large shrimp (about 1 pound), shelled and deveined
- 3 cups Creole Sauce
- 1 pound medium shrimp, shelled, deveined, and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 4 medium scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (garnish)
Instructions:
It’s a long-winded recipe, to be sure, but it’s well worth the time and effort.
- Cook the brown rice, then the white rice by package directions; set both aside.
- Meanwhile, combine the clarified butter, garlic, lemon juice, onion flakes, Worcestershire sauce, salt, hot red pepper sauce, paprika, basil, thyme, and white pepper in a large nonreactive bowl. Add the large shrimp, toss well, and set aside to marinate.
- Place the Creole Sauce in a medium-size saucepan, add the shrimp pieces, and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes or until the shrimp are cooked through. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
- Fluff the brown rice, then the white rice. Lightly oil a ½-cup ramekin; fill one side of it with brown rice and the other side with white rice. Pack firmly, then invert in the middle of a heated dinner plate. Repeat three times and set the four plates aside.
- Heat a well-seasoned large iron skillet over moderately high heat for 1½ to 2 minutes or until very hot. Lift six of the large shrimp from the marinade, letting the excess drain off. Add to the skillet and “bronze” by sautéing 1 to 1½ minutes on each side or just until done; transfer to a large heated plate. Bronze the remaining shrimp in batches the same way and add to the plate.
- When ready to serve, spoon ¾ cup of the Creole Sauce–shrimp mixture around the hillock of rice on each dinner plate, arrange six of the bronzed shrimp artfully on top, then garnish with a scattering of the sliced scallions.