thoughtful consumption

Last night Chris and I ate well. We had shrimp poached in lemon cream sauce with handmade egg linguine; an arugula salad with toasted walnuts, goat cheese,  and muscadine vinaigrette dressing; and a bottle of Proseco.

The handmade pasta was a gift from my neighbor Lucy.

Read Lucy’s account of its creation here.

The shrimp, crème fraiche, garlic, arugula, and muscadines were from Farmers’ Fresh. The goat cheese was local, too, from Decimal Place Farm. Very nice stuff. The walnuts were from Planters via Amazon. The olive oil and Proseco were from Trader Joe’s. I think that’s about everything.

The shrimp is local if the Atlantic Coast is local. (Hey, it’s still Georgia, right?) I like it because it’s very good shrimp, and if Patricia at Farmers’ Fresh okayed it then it’s as sustainably harvested as it can be. She does her research and doesn’t like liars.

I buy the two pound bags and keep them in the freezer. They last a long time. I bought this bag three months ago, and we finished it last night. These last ones were as delicious as the first. I’ll land another bag at the Farmers’ Fresh store when I’m in Carrollton next week. (It’s a little cheaper at the store than ordering online.)

The bags have a zip-loc, so I can unzip and grab a few as needed.  Shrimp defrost quickly, so it’s easy to deal with them at the last minute. Just a few chopped up are perfect for fried rice, lo mein, or pad thai. It’s easier than defrosting and chopping chicken or meat – especially when you only need a little bit of protein. These shrimp do need peeling and cleaning, though.

Shrimp poached in lemon cream sauce

This is our favorite shrimp recipe. I’m not really sure where it came from; I kind of made it up. But that usually means I read something really close a while back and filed it in my unconscious.

Ingredients for three servings:

• clove of garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 oz crème fraiche
• 1-2 tsp of fresh lemon juice
• 12 shrimp, peeled and cleaned
• salt and pepper
• enough pasta to go around
• grated Parmesan

Directions

• If the shrimp are frozen, place them in a bowl of cool water on the counter. If you’re making pasta, set the water to boil now.
• Heat the olive oil over low-medium low. When it’s hot, add the garlic and let it cook until just brown (about 10 minutes). Then remove the garlic. You should probably start the pasta now.
• Add the crème fraiche and lemon juice. Stir and let it cook for a couple of minutes. If you need to peel and clean the shrimp, now’s the time. A little white wine wouldn’t go amiss here either. In the sauce, the cook, or both.
• Add the shrimp to the sauce and a little salt and pepper.

• When they turn a little pink after a few minutes, flip them over.

• Once the shrimp are pink on both sides, add the drained pasta and mix everything up.

• Top with Parmesan and more pepper.

The nice thing about this dish is the shrimp cook slowly, so there’s little chance of overdoing them.

This sauce also works with mushrooms. Tonight, I’ll use some local Shiitakes except I’ll cook the chopped mushrooms in the oil before adding the cream.

You could probably use sour cream or heavy cream instead of crème fraiche. But it wouldn’t be as tasty.