Added: 11/27/2005 |
Cooking shrimp - Let your imagination work!I think it will not be useless to look up the meaning of the word "shrimp" in the dictionary before cooking shrimp. According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary shrimp is "a small edible shelfish found mainly in the sea. It becomes pink when boiled." As you see nothing is complicated.
How does shrimp look like? Shrimp has firm, mild, sweet-tasting flesh in tail and body. In general, cold-water shrimp are smaller and more succulent (they grow more slowly). Shrimp shells will change their color when cooked. And as we know from the dictionary they will change their color for pink.
If cooking shrimp is your first experience note that shrimp is marketed in many forms: shelled or unshelled, raw or cooked, and fresh or frozen. Raw shrimp should smell of ocean, with no hint of ammonia. Cooked, shelled shrimp should be plump and firm. Fresh, uncooked shrimp should be cleaned under cool water and drained. Cooking shrimp will be easier for you if you buy it unshelled.
"What is cooked shrimp?", you will ask me. OK. Boiled shrimps, grilled shrimps, fried shrimps, stuffed shrimps, and wrapped shrimps. That is what I know about cooking shrimp. The recipes of cooking shrimp are abundant. Shrimps may be served with spinach pasta, cream, rice, dill, fennel, feta, vermicelli, cheese, and different sauces, e.g. peanut sauce. Besides, shrimps may be served with very tasteful ingredients.
I will advise you the following two ways of cooking shrimp.
One is the easiest way of cooking shrimp - boiled shrimp. You will need 2lbs of unpeeled fresh shrimp, 6 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon of basil,1 tablespoon of oregano or dill, 1 tablespoon of white or black pepper.
Add all ingredients together on medium high heat. Make sure you are adding shrimp to cold water, this allows the shrimp to cook slowly as the water heats up. The shrimp is much more tender when cooked slowly. When shrimp comes to a boil let boil 1 minute and remove from heat and drain. Do not over cook shrimp, it will be tough if you do. Serve it with favorite sauce.
Dill, feta, and fennel add pleasant flavor to shrimp. For 8 servings you will need 1 cup sliced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, 4 tablespoons oil reserved, 2 tablespoons of garlic minced, 4 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, halved and thinly sliced crosswise. (about 61/2 cups), 3 lbs of uncooked large or jumbo fresh gulf shrimp. Peeled, deveined, tails left intact or not do whatever you like best. 3 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill. 1 to 1 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese.
Heat 4 tablespoons oil from sun-dried tomatoes in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fennel: saute for 3 minutes. Add sun-dried tomatoes and garlic and stir 1 minute. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and pepper to taste. Add fresh shrimp to skillet and cook until just opaque in center, about 1 minute per side. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with dill, then feta. Add more or less of any ingredient to your taste.
When cooking shrimp, let your imagination work!
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