Nouveau Creole-Italian Shrimp Dish

Shrimp a la Nage 'Barbecue,' Baby Potatoes, Baby Artichokes, Rosemary

Of the two great cuisines of South Louisiana, this dish typifies Creole.  I'm here defining Creole as New Orleans fusion, big city cuisine, classical European-inflected elegance.  Specifically, this calls to mind the tradition of Italian cooking in New Orleans.  After all, the first Italian and Sicilian immigrants that came to the US in the 19th century came to Louisiana.

This dish is a spin on BBQ shrimp the way they do it at Pascal's Manale on Napoleon Ave.  However, I lightened the sauce, added some actual vegetables, and serve it in the broth.

For the broth:
Shell 2# of shrimp
Saute the shells with olive oil
Pour 2 beers over the shells and add 1 lemon, cut in half, 1 head of garlic, cut in half, and 2 branches of rosemary.
Add a whole stick of butter to this mess.
Add water to cover, about an ounce of worcestershire, and season to taste with Slap Ya Mama shrimp boil and salt.  The broth is actually eaten with a spoon, so go easy on the boil, watch the spicy.

Simmer this 35 minutes and strain.  You will want to press the shells in the strainer.

Trim and halve 1 dozen baby artichokes.  Cook these in the flavorful shrimp-beer-butter broth.  When they are tender, strain and let them hang out in the cooler.

Add 1 pound of baby potatoes to the broth.  Simmer until they are just tender and then let them soak up the broth's flavors while they cool.  They are like little sponges.  Remove them when the broth is cool.

Ok, so now you have:
1) 2# raw shrimp
2) 24 little pieces of shrimp and rosemary-flavored baby artichoke
3) 1# of little tiny shrimp and rosemary-flavored potatoes
4) An amazing shrimp/artichoke/butter/garlic/rosemary/worcestershire/beer broth

Heat the broth back to a boil, rewarm the veg in the broth, correct the seasoning (with lemon, worcestershire, Slap ya Mama boil, and salt, as needed) and poach the shrimp.  When the shrimp are cooked, sprinkle the whole thing with a tiny amount of chopped rosemary and ladle into bowls.


D, D's mom, Lynn and her girlfriend Alisha, and I, had this for dinner the other night and it was great.