Date I made this recipe:
February 28, 2017 – Fat Tuesday and the start of Mardi Gras!
Breakfast at
Brennan's® and Dinner, Too by Pip, Jimmy and Ted Brennan,
Proprietors
Published by Brennan's Inc.
ISBN: 0-9639819-0-0; © 1994
Purchased at Barnes and Noble (Used), Roseville , MN
Recipe: Shrimp Creole – p. 159
Ah, Mardi Gras! Every
year, it arrives before we know it, kicking off the Lenten season with one big
party in the Big Easy (and your "Little Easy's," i.e. other southern
cities that celebrate Mardi Gras). After
using this cookbook, I realized that I am going to have to beef up my
"Mardi Gras" cookbook collection as supplies are getting low.
This cookbook, Breakfast
at Brennan's – and Dinner, Too!, is from one of the leading restaurant
families in New Orleans ,
the Brennan family. Starting in 1946,
various Brennan family members started creating some of New Orleans 's most beloved restaurants (and
food) and are still going strong today.
The first of these restaurants – Brennan's
– kicked off the restaurant boom, but they are also known for the restaurant, Commander's Palace, from which notable
chefs Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme got their starts.
Like many restaurant families, the Brennan's have had their
share of controversies, starting with the contentious 1974 departure of (aunt)
Ella Brennan from her family's restaurant group. She left Brennan's
to manage Commander's Palace and
never looked back until 2014 when she returned Brennan's for a visit. Wow—that
was a long-lasting family feud although I do believe it ended with that visit. Ella
made a name for herself at Commander's
Palace and is the subject of a 2016 documentary about her life and her
loves – New Orleans
and food.
This book though, is about the restaurant run by Ella's
nephews, Pip, Jimmy and Ted Brennan.
Their father, and Ella's brother, Owen, gave the family its start in the
business and after Ella's departure, they took over running Brennan's.
Although I've been to New
Orleans twice in my life, I have never been inside either
restaurant although I would love to some day, particularly Brennan's. Brennan's interior has been much
discussed and is much-photographed as it is classic south: soothing green and pink abound and I love it.
Even the exterior is pink! Although the interior has been redone from time to
time, the private party room remains the same and you can't beat classic design
like that. Locally, Murray Murray
family wanted to upgrade, but still. At
any rate, some of you may consider Brennan's
interior downright gaudy in which case, please leave the reservation lines open
for someone like me who would appreciate, nay, bask in it! (I am an old soul.)
At any rate, when it came time to find my Mardis Gras meal,
I didn't have to look too far and honestly, could have probably cooked my way
through the entire book (save for the frog leg's) but time was of the essence
(hmm...Emeril's "Essence?") and so I selected a New Orleans's
classic, "Shrimp Creole." And
you can't go wrong with Shrimp Creole but I tell you, you can also "go
right" by this dish and make it up the day before you are going to eat it
to let the flavors really settle in. I
enjoyed the dish "fresh," but I really enjoyed it the next day.
Another reason to make it up and let it settle in is that it
calls for 2 tablespoons paprika which is an awful lot, but it brings unique
flavor to this dish that I liked. If you
are around my age (late 50's), you grew up during an era when paprika was
something you sprinkled on a plate of lettuce that was topped with a canned
peach half and cottage cheese to make a fancy salad. Back then, paprika was used to add color to a
dish rather than as a flavor-enhancing spice.
To be honest with you, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that much
paprika but finally ended on the side of "She likes it, hey 'Mikey!'" (1972 Life
Cereal commercial).
In addition to the paprika, the recipe's other spices
include cayenne pepper (naturally—this is New Orleans we are talking about),
white pepper and Italian seasoning which again, only added to the flavor
profile...and now I'm sounding like the judges on Chopped!
And as always, no god-fearing New Orleans ' [Creole] cook would ever
consider making a dish like this without the "Holy Trinity" i.e. you
green pepper, onion, and celery, which is why they are pretty much the first
ingredients on the list right after butter – ha!
Now should you for some reason (allergy, dislike – other) decide
shrimp is not your thing, you should be able to find something equally
delicious in this cookbook as it supplies you with a wide-range of
options. Here are the Table of Contents
categories:
- Appetizers
- Soups
- Sauces
- Salads
- Salad Dressings
- Breakfast
- Entrees
- Side Dishes
- Desserts
- Drinks
Note though, that many dishes in this cookbook are heavy on
seafood, especially shrimp and oysters, even some of the breakfast dishes. And unlike other parts of the country, salad
dressings are almost as important as the salad itself; this holds true for
sauces as well. Then there's the drink menu and you should know that Brennan's drink menu is almost as famous
as the restaurant itself. My personal
preference though, for making a meal is to make an entree and that's why I went
with the Shrimp Creole but feel free
to roam about the cabin.
All right then, so Mardi Gras is underway, Lent is underway
and the whole thing will come full circle on Easter Sunday, April 16th
when it's time for ham. Meanwhile, this
dish makes a great and tasty entree for those of you observing a Lenten
meatless Friday so have at it and enjoy!
Shrimp Creole – 8
servings
½ cup (1 stick) butter
1 ½ cups chopped green bell pepper
1 ½ cups chopped onion
1 ½ cups chopped celery
1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
¼ cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons paprika
1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 ½ cups chicken stock or water
1 cup tomato juice (Ann's
Note: I cheated. I did not want to stock up on tomato juice
just for this dish so I pureed some of the tomatoes this recipe uses and added
that juice to the mixture.)
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes
1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ teaspoons salt
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of white pepper
1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons water
3 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
4 cups white rice (Ann's
Note: cooked white rice, made
however you want to.)
Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the bell
pepper, onion, celery, and garlic until tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, and
Italian seasoning and cook an additional 3 minutes. Add 1 ½ cups chicken stock or water, tomato
juice, tomatoes, Worcestershire, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and white
pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil,
then reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
In a small bowl, blend the cornstarch with 4 tablespoons
water until smooth. Gradually add the
cornstarch to the shrimp sauce, stirring constantly, until the sauce
thickens. Add the shrimp and parsley to
the sauce and bring mixture to a boil.
Lower the heat and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes until the shrimp are cooked
through; do not overcook.
Serve the Shrimp Creole over cooked rice. Pasta can be substituted for rice.
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