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No Mess Nola Barbecue Shrimp.
(Nathan Hostler/Special to The Oregonian)
I fell in love with a dish called barbecue shrimp while visiting New Orleans and I've been craving it ever since. Barbecue shrimp is a misleading name, since the shrimp never see a moment on the grill (they are sautéed) and there is no barbecue sauce involved. Order the dish in Louisiana and you'll get a plate of juicy shrimp bathed in a rich, buttery sauce livened up with Worcestershire sauce.
Barbecue shrimp was invented in the 1950s by an Italian-American chef at the now-famous Pascale's Manale, but there's no history of why he named it what he did. There are now hundreds of restaurants in New Orleans serving the oddly misnamed entrée with their own variations, but they always include Worcestershire sauce, butter and shell-on shrimp.
Recipe included with this story:
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The shells make for messier eating than I like, especially on busy weeknights when hunger trumps fussy eating. I was originally tempted to substitute store-bought cleaned and shelled shrimp, but they cost an arm and a leg and I'd lose all the flavor the shells impart to the zesty sauce.
I use shell-on shrimp, but have devised a quick way to peel and clean the shrimp by snipping up their backs with a small, sharp pair of scissors so there's no messy peeling at the dinner table. To capture the flavor from the shells, I simmer them with aromatics and beer to make a quick, flavorful shellfish stock. I reduce the stock down until it is a rich, intensely flavorful sauce something like what I remember from that wonderful shrimp dinner in New Orleans.
To serve, I quickly sautée the shrimp and add them to the reduced sauce with a swirl of cold butter for a creamy finish. Add some white rice or creamy grits, and I'm back in the French Quarter in just one bite, no plane ticket required.
-- Ivy Manning is a Portland food writer and recipe developer, and the author of five cookbooks, including the forthcoming cookbook "Weeknight Vegetarian."