A simple shrimp dish that comes together quickly
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- January 5, 2024
- 901
With my rebelling stomach finally crying “uncle,” I threw out the last of the leftover ham at the start of the New Year holiday weekend. Six days of ham and cheese sandwiches, ham and eggs, and plain warmed-up ham and mustard were enough for anybody.
We intentionally picked up a quite small ham to cook for Christmas dinner, knowing leftovers get short attention at our house, but it went on and on in endless tacky encores.
I used to look forward to the ham pot pie we’d make to use up the leftover ham and all that cooking broth, redolent of beer and brown sugar. Having eaten our fill of ham for the big dinner, none of us has the heart to start over again cooking another heavy meal.
When making this year’s cheese ball, it didn’t seem possible we’d still be trying to polish it off a week later, and I didn’t think I’d ever polish off Thanksgiving’s cranberry sauce. Enough leftovers already.
The week between Christmas and New Year’s, even with a resumed work schedule, is an odd one. It’s a time of having a belly full of too much bread and cheese, tripping over scattered Christmas toys, forgetting to pick up batteries at the store, and trying to remember what day it is, a lazy week looking for something good to binge on TV, sorting out thank-you notes, wrapping up in the new soft throw and trying to get a handle on the overspending that comes with the holidays.
By now we can settle in for the sloshy, gray winter months, which is fine by me as I much prefer chillier weather to being sweaty. There are soups to make and things to braise and roast. There’s no need to worry about heating up the house with a hot oven by baking things, so bread experiments go into high gear.
Before such heavier things get started, I like to take advantage of still-reduced prices on usually pricey things and make some lighter favorites to dispel all that bread and cheese. There’s no need to use the season of Epiphany to invite gout by keeping up the heavy, rich food.
This is a simple dish that comes together quickly and can serve as a first course or as a quick lunch or even a light snack when you’re staying up late with a good book, needing only a nice white wine to round it out.
Use any size shrimp you like, but the smaller they are, the more fussing you’ll have to do getting them peeled and cleaned. Save the shrimp shells to make a wonderful fish stock that can become the basis for chowders or étouffée. Freeze the shells for now and pull them out to toast in a pan before adding vegetables and aromatics to make the stock.
SHRIMP IN CREAM SAUCE
2 tablespoons canola or other vegetable oil
1 pound raw shrimp, 26-35 count, peeled and deveined
1 shallot, minced
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup heavy cream
Sprig of fresh thyme
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Heat a medium-sized sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, add the oil, then the shrimp. Leave the shrimp alone until the undersides of the shrimp begin to pink up, about 2 minutes. Flip them and cook another 2 minutes, then remove to a plate and set aside.
Add the shallot to the pan and cook until translucent, then add the white wine. Put in the thyme sprig and reduce the liquid by half. Add the mustard and stir until smooth, then the cream. Season with salt and pepper and reduce by half again. Remove most of the thyme, add the shrimp back in to warm and serve as a first course or appetizer.