Shrimp Creole is a traditional Creole dish: a mixture of African, French, and Spanish influences that come together to make magic. As with almost all of my favorite dishes, the Holy Trinity is the foundation of the recipe. In the south, we refer to a combination of onions, celery, and bell pepper as the Holy Trinity, or Trinity for short. Cayenne, tomatoes, and shrimp round out the recipe for this classic and crowd pleasing dish. I add tomato paste, extra seasoning, red pepper, rosé, and serve over jasmine rice to put my RC twist on this quintessential New Orleans dish. This was a crowd favorite, and now a fan favorite! I love getting messages and photos from folks who have prepared this dish for family and friends, much to their delight!

Holy Trinity : when you smell it sautéeing in butter, you will understand why.

I prefer fresh Gulf Shrimp, but any medium to large size deveined, peeled shrimp are perfect. Just make sure to pull the tails off before you add them to the pot.

SHRIMP CREOLE

Ingredients:

2 pounds raw, deveined, peeled shrimp, tails off

2 Large Onions

3 Ribs Celery

1 Medium Green Bell Pepper

1/2 Cup chopped green onions (for garnish)

1 pound fresh tomatoes (I like pearl tomatoes on the vine, but any will do!)

2 Tbs Minced Garlic

1 stick butter

1 tbs olive oil

1 regular size can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 crushed red pepper (or to taste, depending on how spicy you like it)

3-4 bay leaves

2 and 1/2 tsp tomato paste

2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp hot sauce (I like Tabasco or Louisiana Hot Sauce)

1 cup shrimp stock (or any seafood stock)

1/3 cup rosé wine (or white wine)

1 cup water

2 Tbs flour

Directions:

First, chop/dice all fresh vegetables. Next, melt your butter in large pot, then add olive oil and the Trinity and sauté until the vegetables are soft and a bit of caramelization is happening at the bottom of the pan (it should be a nice brown color, but lifts from the bottom when stirred). This should take around five to seven minutes on medium heat.

Next, add your diced fresh tomatoes to the pot and stir well. Add your minced garlic, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce at this time. Let cook for five to ten minutes and add he can of diced tomatoes (with juice) to the pot. Add all dry seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, bay leaves, red pepper, etc.) and stir well. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes until the sauce begins to bubble.

Min a separate dish, mix the flour and water and whisk. Add to the sauce and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the rosé and seafood stock. Stir.

While the sauce is cooking, rinse and pull the tails off of the shrimp. Add the shrimp to the sauce and cook until the shrimp are cooked through. They should be firm and pink. This should take around 6 minutes.

Serve over jasmine rice and garnish with chopped green onions. Enjoy!

With love,

RC

In the Kitchen with Reagan: Shrimp Creole