Hot, Damned Hot!

Saturday 22/1/2005

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Diary and Notes

One of the advantages of writing this blog is that people send me recipes from different parts of the globe. Some of them I'll have a go at, particularaly the more weird and wonderful and today's little treat was just begging to be cooked once I read it. It was sent to me by a friend of a friend - Sheryll K Tummon (I hope she doesn't mind me giving her name out) and is something I had never heard of, nor would have ever concieved of making. It was posted to me when I was sending emails for suggestions as to what to make on curry night during this American food week and I can see why it might have been acceptable. The remoulade sauce in question is a dangerous concoction of every type of hot or spicy thing know to mankind. Some CS gas or Tabun nerve agent might have given it an extra kick, but I just wasn't feeling that daring.

The shrimp in remoulade sauce I made wasn't entirely to the recipe that was sent. Firstly I didn't have and cajun mustard and have never had any cajun mustard, I checked a few websites which recommended using Dijon if you can't get cajun so that's what I did. Also, the original recipe called for some fresh parsley but there was none to be found anywhere in Exeter (I went to two fruit and veg shops, Tesco's and Sainsbury's but everywhere had sold out, maybe others were planning shrimp in remoulade sauce as well). Also it was suggested that this is either served as a starter or a main course with some angel hair pasta. Once again I couldn't get angel hair pasta and had spaghetti instead. Also, her recipe called for onion tops, I don't know what she means by this but I used some spring onions and they seemed fine to me. I know Sheryll will be kicking herself for sending me the recipe and having me destroy it in this way, but what could I do? Apart from these minor amendments the thing I made was probably along the lines of Sheryll's plan.

One final note though, when I copied the email down I didn't write any quantities, just ingredients and a general plan of action. When I came to make the dish I may have over flavoured it somewhat. Plus I remember that I thought some fresh green chillis might be needed and added some of these to the sweating onions. As such, the dish I made was hot! It was one of the most fiery explosions of hot, I can remember making. The mustard and horseradish burned the nose, there was loads of pepper to let things linger and the chilli was enough to make a Tamil sweat. The only thing missing from the palette of fiery things was a load of ginger. However, don't add ginger to this, it just doesn't need it.

Oh and one last thing, when I was walking in to the University today to write my blog, I saw a cute little squirrely climbing a tree. If I had a net handy I could have caught him and had him for dinner. Grey squirrel used to be a staple of the deep South and as I'm having Elvis night tonight, it would have been just great. Never mind, I'll catch one before the end of the year, you'll see!


Cake Blog

Mississippi Mud Muffins: An invention of Sainsbury's no doubt but pretty tasty. I think they're better than the double choc-chip ones I had the other day.


Menu

Shrimp In Remoulade Sauce

Spaghetti


Ingredients

Sauce: Paprika, Mayonnaise, Cayenne Pepper, Lemon Juice, Sugar, Horseradish (bottled), Anchovy (mashed), Dijon Mustard, Ketchup,

Shrimp: Onion, Garlic, Celery, Chillis, Large Shrimp, Spring Onions, Pepper


Preparation

The original recipe described how to cook the shrimp in the first place (assuming they were fresh) mine were pre-cooked and chilled so this wasn't necessary. If you have some fresh ones plunge them in boiling water until pink, peel and devein.

Sauce: Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl.

Fry some choppoed onion, celery, chilli and minced garlic in a little oil until the onion is soft. Add the shrimp and cook for a minute longer, pour over the remoulade sauce and let this warm through, sprinkle on the spring onions and serve.





JCBorresen@gmail.com