Trust me, there are quite a few shrimp in there under the pickled vegetables! Serve as a wine nibble, appetizer, or as a main dish if you have something else to go with, like a green salad and these lemon beans.
For shrimp, buy frozen, preferably sustainably wild caught and still with their shell. (As you are peeling them, collect the shells and put them in a freezer bag to use for seafood paella broth. Or not.)
Assembly goes quickly, just cook the shrimp, deglaze the pan with a splash of wine, then warm the vegetables in the pickling liquid and pour over the shrimp. Refrigerate for a minimum of six hours to allow the flavors to develop. Serve as an appetizer adding a baguette, or a few salad greens if you wish. This dish improves through day three, so don’t fret if you have leftovers, it’s great to have for lunch.
Thank you to Dorie Greenspan for the original recipe, a sidebar to Sardine Escabeche in her wonderful book, Around My French Table. Many summers ago, I toted this dish to a Dîner en Blanc held in front of our library. The shrimp held their chill and complemented our picnic of terrine, salmon rillettes, cornichon and radishes, watercress soup, ratatouille, baguettes, cheese, and rosé! (Perhaps Valerie and I went a little overboard, but it sure was fun!)
Edited from original post, September 2015
Shrimp Escabeche
4–6 servings
Ingredients
- ½ cup olive oil, divided
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails intact wild-caught, Gulf coast
- 2 sprigs fresh herbs (dill or one of each rosemary and thyme) optional
- splash white wine if you have one open
- 1 fennel bulb, sliced thinly
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly on the diagonal (or a few baby carrots peeled and sliced lengthwise)
- 2 2 celery ribs, sliced thinly on the diagonal
- 1 onion, sliced spring onion if available
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced optional
- ¼ cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste or fresh garden tomato trimmings from making petits farcis or BLT
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt or sea salt
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
- ¼ teaspoon dried red chile flake (or two small dried red chiles)
Serve with sourdough and lemon wedges
Instructions
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Pour a couple tablespoons from the ½ cup of olive in into a large frying pan, warm over moderate heat, then add the shrimp and sauté until they just turn pink. Alternatively, poach the shrimp (see recipe on RiPE).
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Transfer shrimp to a ceramic or glass serving dish with 1–2-inch high sides. Add the herb sprigs.
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If you have a white wine open (rosé good too!), splash in a couple tablespoons to deglaze the pan, then add a couple tablespoons from the ½ cup of olive oil. Add the fennel, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic (optional). Cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
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Pour vinegar into the olive oil cup until level is at ½ cup (this will be about a quarter cup vinegar). Add tomato paste (or tomato bits) to the vegetables and stir for a minute, then pout in the olive oil and vinegar. Add salt, sugar, coriander seeds, and chile flake or chiles. Bring to simmer and cook 5 more minutes then pour over the shrimp and herbs in the serving dish. Cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours before serving, ideally overnight.
