Daniel Galmiche’s French Brasserie Cookbook seemed like the ideal tool with which to finally conquer duck confit, one of the dishes I have neatly tucked into my “when I have time” folder. To me, duck confit is the epitome of French food: heavy on technique, time, fat and flavor. I imagined myself waking up early on a Sunday morning, weighing down a few duck legs until they released their juices, cooking them in their own rich fat, slathering them in sweet honey and then roasting them in a piping hot pan until their skin crisped and caramelized. Off to the store I went in search of a few fatty duck legs for my big French adventure. Except that my neighborhood store only had duck breasts and, much to my surprise, entire birds. Refusing to fold but determined not to waste any more gas, I called several other stores and received the same answer. More calls, same story. Looking at the calendar, I’d wasted days of valuable cooking time. If by some strange stroke of quack-filled luck I could track down a few duck legs in time for this post, finding 6 to 8 hours to follow Galmiche’s recipe for confit was out of the question. So I decided to make Sauteed Jumbo Shrimp With Chili and Garlic Butter.
A shrimp dish was the very antithesis of my big culinary quest: quick, easy and requiring ingredients that were readily available at the neighborhood market. Hey, if I couldn’t make a recipe that required a focus on the technique and time that characterized French cuisine, at least I could master fat and flavor. After all, the recipe called for an entire stick of butter.
The instructions were short and straightforward: Just saute the raw crustaceans in a generous amount of oil and butter, remove them from heat, add even more butter to the pan, toss in chiles, garlic and fresh parsley, then return the shrimp to the pan just long enough to coat with the pungent sauce and a squeeze of fresh lime.
The result was as simple and delicious as promised, yet the editor in me would have loved a tad more description. For instance, a small handful of parsley is different for me than it is for you. Exactly which kind of red chile are we talking about here? And, at the very least, how many people does this dish serve? But the recipe reminded the food-lover in me of the way cooking – yes, even French cooking – should be: prepared quickly and made with fresh ingredients that are lying around the house.
The finished dish could have used a bit more lime juice and a bit less butter, but those who are used to cooking with a great European butter like Plugra will love the wonderful richness it lends to the sauce. Feel free to add more shrimp to this recipe since there was enough garlicky butter sauce to bathe at least another six. Or you could just do what I did: Grab a loaf of crusty French bread, sop up all that sauce and bask in the rustic French meal you just created (remarkably, in less than 10 minutes).
Sauteed Jumbo Shrimp with Chili and Garlic Butter
Courtesy of Daniel Galmiche
Approximately 2 servings
8 jumbo or 24 small shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 Tbsp. olive oil
6 Tbsp. butter
1 red chile, seeded and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed with the flat edge of a knife or your hand and finely chopped
1 small handful flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
Juice and zest of 1 lime
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Wash the shrimp and dry them on paper towels.
• Warm the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. When the butter is foaming, throw in the shrimp and saute 4 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.
• Add the remaining butter, chile, garlic and parsley to the skillet. When the butter is foaming, put the shrimp back in the pan and toss 1 to 2 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste, add a few drops of lime juice and sprinkle with the lime zest, then serve immediately. Simple and delicious.
What dish do you consider the epitome of French cuisine and why? Tell us in the comments section below for a chance to win a copy French Brasserie Cookbook. We’ll announce the winner in next week’s By the Book column. And now, we’d like to congratulate Stephanie, whose comment on last week’s By the Book has won her a copy of Lunch in Provence by Rachel McKenna and Jean-André Charial. Stephanie, keep an eye out for an email from the Sauce crew.
This article appears in April 2013.