Potted Shrimp

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Technically, my "week" of posts featuring recipes from the British Isles has gone more than a week because I haven't been posting as regularly as I'd like.  My apologies - I have a few more in the queue before I move on so bear with me.  Today is potted shrimp - traditionally it's shrimp preserved in a mace flavored butter and spread on toast.   I included this in my line-up because I thought "shrimp & butter?  How can you go wrong???"  After doing some research I used a NY Times recipe from 1987 as a base and put my own spin on it.  It's a throwback alright, likely because since the low fat craze this dish has fallen out of popularity in recent years.  At least here in the U.S.  It's a LOT of butter, I gotta say.  But if you are low carbing it, then it's a fun recipe to try out.  The recipe calls for small shrimp but I had large in the freezer and I just cut them up into thirds and it worked fine.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb unsalted butter

1 lb small shrimp, shelled

1 clove garlic, crushed but intact

1 tsp ground mace

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

2 Tbl fresh lemon juice

kosher salt to taste

In a heavy medium saucepan, gently melt the butter, skimming off any foam that rises to the top.  Add the garlic and spices and cook for 3 - 5 minutes so the flavors can meld.  Remove the crushed garlic and discard.  Add the shrimp and cook over low heat for several minutes until cooked through.  You are essentially poaching them in the butter and you want them tender so don't rush them and raise the heat.  When the shrimp are cooked through remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and salt to taste.  Ladle the shrimp into a large ramekin or dish and pour the melted butter over the top.  Refrigerate overnight and then bring it to room temp again before serving. Traditionally it's spread on toast which sounds delicious but since I can't have toast, I spread it on my flax crackers and it was quite tasty.  A little goes a long way though because it is very rich.  In all honesty, I didn't love it on the crackers as much as I loved it as a condiment on my cauliflower mash.  I call it a condiment because I really only used a couple of tablespoons.  It melted onto the mash into a delicious puddle of butter and briny shrimp broth that worked great with the sweetness of the cauliflower.  Like shrimp and grits, low carb style, it's how I'll be eating the rest of it for lunch today.  Truly awesome!