A quintessentially LA dish|that most LA of jazzmen.
Make sure you have everything assembled and ready to go before starting to cook.
You will need: bread. A French batard or similar, 1/4-1/2 loaf per person and a colander to serve it in. Some folks like butter.
Be sure to put out a large bowl for the empty shrimp shells, and lots of paper towels for the hands.
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Ingredients
Shrimp: 10 large shrimp per person.
Preferably fresh wild shrimp, size 31-35 or bigger, shell on. If you can get the pink North Carolina shrimp, they are the BEST. Second best are the pink Gulf shrimp. If you can get the shrimp with the head on, even better. But if you can’t get these things don’t despair. Even frozen shrimp will work. Wegman’s FYFGA shrimp from Belize are particularly good. In a pinch, you can use frozen, shell-off shrimp, but the dish will lack a certain je nais se quoi.
Small yellow onion: 1/2, diced (for better texture, lightly grind in a food processor)
Celery: 1 rib, diced
Garlic: 5 cloves, diced (minced jarred garlic is fine; use 1 Tbsp)
Butter: 1/4 lb (1 stick). Under no circumstances can you substitute margarine. If you really and truly are out of butter, use 1 cup olive oil.
Spices: All of these are crucial to the final dish. No subbing and no leaving them out or you will be disappointed.
Rosemary: 2 T dried or equivalent fresh
Thyme: 2 tsp dried
Fennel: 1 T, crushed. Use a mortar and pestle or run a knife over it
Celery seed: 2 tsp
Red pepper flakes, crushed: 2 tsp
Black pepper: 2 tsp
Salt: 2 tsp coarse salt
Broth
1.5 quarts chicken stock (you may sub good fish or shellfish stock for up to half of this)
Clam juice: 2 8 oz bottles or 16 oz homemade
Lemon: 1/2 of a lemon
Tomato paste: 3 oz (1/2 can)
White wine: 1 cup
Cooking
In a large flat pan, such as a Bialetti grande saute, melt the butter and saute the onion, garlic, and celery until soft and fragrant.
Add the broth ingredients: chicken (fish) stock, clam juice, tomato paste, and wine. Bring to a boil. Add the spices and lemon and reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the lemon. Simmer for another 15 minutes at a minimum.
10 minutes prior to serving, slice the bread thick, put it into a colander to serve (cover with a cloth to prevent drying).
5 minutes prior to serving, toss the shrimp into the broth and cook for 2 minutes or until pink and opaque.
Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon.
Ladle broth into rimmed soup bowls, then add 10 shrimp per person. Place onto a dinner plate to serve.
Eat the shrimp with your fingers. Dunk the bread into the broth. Not necessarily in that order.
This is how it’s served in LA. Some folks (generally tourists) will ask for this to be served over noodles or rice. Resist that temptation, whatever you do.
Don’t wear fancy clothes to eat it in.
And oh yeah: There is a special secret ingredient I have left out. I can’t tell you what it is or I’d have to shoot you. If you prepare these shrimp as directed above, you will have a very enjoyable meal. If you are from LA, it will be very close to something you may have experienced in a certain restaurant, but it won’t be exactly the same.
Red Hot Tomato 