Saturday, March 07, 2009

Killer Shrimp

Back when we had disposable income and late bedtimes, we used to have dinner at this place called "Killer Shrimp". There were three things on the menu: Shrimp in broth with bread, shrimp in broth with angel hair or shrimp in broth with rice. We always ordered it with bread only. The broth was spicy and pungent with rosemary. We had to peel the shrimp so our fingers got greasy and hot but we didn't care at all because the broth was so good, even if we had to wipe the sweat from our foreheads every now and then.

Last night I attempted a homemade version of Killer Shrimp. We didn't have bread so I served it over angel hair. It didn't have the same heat as the original but I couldn't make it too spicy or the boys wouldn't be able to eat it. I'll be tweaking it a bit over time but for a first attempt, it was pretty darn close.

Killer Shrimp
Bag of Frozen Shrimp, defrosted (I get the kind that's already peeled and deveined but not cooked)
1 T Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 C chicken stock
1/4 t rosemary
1/8 t basil
1/8 t thyme
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1 small lemon juiced
1 T fish sauce
2 T butter
Angel Hair Pasta

Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the shrimp in batches and cook until opaque - just a couple of minutes on each side. Remove to a bowl. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds, stir in the chicken broth and lemon juice, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Combine all the herbs in a mortar and pestle and crush together. Add the herbs to the pot and let simmer. Add the fish sauce then the shrimp with the accumulated juices. Swirl in the butter. Cook the angel hair according to package directions. To serve, pile the pasta in the bottom of a bowl, add some shrimp and a ladle of broth.

The next time I make this I want to have white wine to add to the broth and fish stock instead of chicken broth and fish sauce. And I would add more crushed red pepper if I wasn't serving this to the boys. I'm going to continue to tweak this and see if I can get it even closer to the original.

4 comments:

Mama Bear said...

mmmm, i remember the place all too well. a cold beer washed it down nicely. i did just bread only too.

is it really gone? i've been gone too long....

thanks for the stand-in recipe. i'll try it.

Anonymous said...

Sounds yummy!
Jen

Daria said...

I used to love eating there. So simple and yummy. Congrats for trying to duplicate...and bring back old memories.

Gigi said...

Oh, how I loved "Killer Shrimp" but I have to say, always spent the little extra to have the "already peeled" shrimp. (Having to peel off the little shrimp feet put me right off my feed). But...ohhhh, the french bread dipped in the broth, the delectable shrimp, almost too spicy, tiptoeing right up to the edge of painful, but never jumping. Oh how I miss it.