Food on Fridays: Shrimp in Garlic Cream Sauce

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Food on Fridays with Ann

I love eating fresh seafood on vacation in the Southeast along the Atlantic or Gulf coasts. Fresh shrimp, especially, is a treat.

Buying it here in our landlocked state is always bit of a letdown. It’s usually been frozen, causing it to lose flavor and texture; also, it’s overpriced.

But a few weeks ago I peered into one of the display cases in the seafood department at Kroger and spotted a package of shrimp that looked great. They looked like fresh shrimp I would buy on vacation from a little shack on the panhandle of Florida or near Beaufort, South Carolina, where shrimp boats motor through marshy waters dragging their nets for pink gold.

And they were on sale.

I placed the package in the cart and when I got home, tucked it in the freezer. These shrimp would be set aside for a special occasion.

Christmas Eve turned out to be the occasion. I decided to make a cream sauce with minced garlic and a diced shallot. Salt and pepper. Oil. Butter. Cream. White wine. Parmesan cheese.

That was all coming together nicely, but it needed something more, so I dug around in the pantry for a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil. After I added a few of those and spooned in some of the flavorful oil, I knew we were close.

I peeled the shrimp so we wouldn’t have to smell like shells before heading to the Christmas Eve service, and served the shrimp and sauce over pasta.

We were almost done eating before I realized I hadn’t snapped any photos, so this rather unappealing snapshot doesn’t show much of the sauce, but I was pleased with the dish.

I started with this recipe from the Food Network as my base and adapted it slightly.

Shrimp and Scallops in Garlic Cream Sauce

Source: Food Network

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 cloves shallots, chopped
• 2 cups white wine
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves, plus sprigs for garnish
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 pounds (20/30 count) sea scallops
• 1 1/2 pounds (16/20 count) shrimp peeled and deveined with tails left on
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds cooked pasta or rice, for an accompaniment
• 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Directions

In a large saute pan, heat 1/4 cup oil and cook garlic and shallot until translucent, about 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine, and add parsley, basil and thyme and let the liquid reduce by half. Using a fine strainer, strain the reduction into a clean saucepan and add the cream. Over low heat, let the sauce reduce to medium thickness. To the now empty saute pan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, saute scallops, cook until opaque and remove to a utility platter in a warm place. Then use the same pan to saute shrimp just until pink, and remove to the utility platter. Add cream sauce to saute pan to toss the drained pasta or rice with the cream sauce and seafood, reserving a few scallops and shrimp for the top. Transfer to a serving dish, and sprinkle with cheese, as garnish. Arrange shrimp and scallops on top and garnish with basil sprigs.

Don’t forget I added those sundried tomatoes, which provided a flavor boost that made all the difference.

For a few minutes on Christmas Eve, twirling the pasta around my fork and savoring those shrimp, I could almost smell the saltwater of the Gulf of Mexico and hear the gulls, laughing.

Photo of shrimp boat taken while on vacation last year.

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Photo credit: Images by Ann Kroeker. All rights reserved.

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