For many
years, our favorite appetizer at good Italian restaurants has been Sambuca
shrimp. After the last time, I decided we would have to try to make it. On that day, the restaurant (Babbo’s in
Manotick) was so busy, there was no way to ask for the recipe, so I did my best
to reconstruct it using a collection of recipe books and wading through
offerings on the web. When I thought we
had a good version, I tried it as the appetizer at our writing group’s annual
retreat when Erika Chase/Linda Wiken and I (MJ/Victoria Abbott) were in charge
of one dinner. Over the next two weeks, you
will get to see the recipes we used and you might figure out that we have fun.
So let’s
start off with:
Sambuca Shrimp
All you need is:
1 pound large shrimp peeled and deveined. Shrimp may
be fresh or thawed (and dried off)
|
3 tablespoons butter
|
2 cloves of garlic, finely
minced
|
1/3 cup whipping cream (35 %)
|
4 ounces Sambuca liqueur
Sea salt and ground pepper to
taste.
|
Serves four as an
appetizer. May be added to cooked rice
or pasta as a main dish.
All you do is:
Melt 2
tbsp of butter and mix well with minced garlic and whipping cream. Chill
until ready to use. At this point, you can marinate the shrimp in two ounces
of the Sambuca. Discard this marinade before cooking.
In a
cast-iron frying pan (if you’re lucky enough to have one!) melt one
tablespoon of butter. Sauté the shrimp
until just pink. Add additional two ounces of Sambuca and flambé. This is
great fun and it is nice if you have an audience, We had a bit of a hassle getting the shrimp
to flame, but poured some extra (!) Sambuca in the center and tried another
match. Perfect! Too bad the flame was
gone before we could take a photo.
Remove
from heat and add the cream mixture.
Return
to stove top and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add a bit of sea salt and ground
pepper if you want.
Serve
shrimp on individual small plates and pour cream sauce over. Our hostess, the mystery writer, Joan Boswell,
gets the first plate. She deserves it!
These
were a huge hit and that's a good thing. It appears we will be making them forever, as we now have a large
bottle of Sambuca. Here’s a cosmic
question: Why do the bottles of
specialty liquor or liqueurs always come in large bottles when all you need
is four ounces or even one tablespoon? Never mind. You're worth it!
Speaking of cosmic questions. How do you like our fedoras? They're our way of celebrating the count-down to The Hammett Hex. Probably Hammett is rolling in his grave, but we like them anyway. And now, (DRUM ROLL) here's the trailer for The Hammett Hex! Watch the trailer! Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter for book news, contests and fun. CLICK HERE FOR NEWSLETTER SIGNUP Happy summer reading, everyone! |
Love the fedoras! Can't wasit to try the shrimp! Thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you, Janette! Hope you like it. Hugs. MJ and Victoria
DeleteThanks for the post, and the recipe! And I'm sure the wonderful Mr. Hammett is actually thinking how spiffy you ladies look in your hats, but he might refer to you as dames (no offense, I hope!!!)! :-)
ReplyDeleteWe are dangerous dames, Nicole, and proud of it. Hope you like the recipe and thanks for coming by. Hugs. MJ and Victoria
DeleteWhat fun! This shrimp recipe is new to me but I cannot wait to try. I have fabulous friends coming to visit in the fall. I bet they'll love it!
ReplyDeleteLovely! It's perfect for fabulous friends and it's good for any time of year. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks, Krista. XO MJ and Victoria
DeleteI love shrimp! That is about all that I have been craving lately. Some day I will try this recipe, for sure! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elaine! I hope you like the results! Hugs, MJ and Victoria
DeleteThere is something green in that recipe?
ReplyDeleteOops! Yes, anonymous. We did give it a squirt of parsley from a tube. It's optional though. We usually make it without. But if parsley's your think you can add a tablespoon from a tube or fresh, whatever you have and whatever suits. A few chives would also be nice.
DeleteCheers. MJ aka Victoria
Shrimp...lovely and I have to try this...
ReplyDeleteMarilyn
Hope you like it, Marilyn! We plan to serve it to company, Hugs, MJ and Victoria
DeleteI love your fedoras. I'd like a proper black one, but between hat head and the south Florida heat, it hasn't happened...yet.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, hat head, the scourge of our lives. even so, MJ loves her black fedoras. Thanks for coming by, Libby! Hugs, MJ ad Victoria
Delete