When I lived at home, my mother used to make a dish that I loved with shrimp and a cream sauce made from Campbell’s Cream of Shrimp soup served in puff pastry shells. A few years ago, I saw the soup in the store and decided to make it. Alas, either my palate or the soup had changed and I just found the dish bland and awful. But I recently made some lobster stock and thought I’d try again – making it from scratch. I found a recipe online and thought that it had promise. I made some changes – I used the lobster stock instead of the original chicken stock and I added some sherry. I also changed the method – the original recipe called for making the sauce and then pouring it over the raw shrimp and baking it. This seemed an odd choice, so I used shrimp I’d roasted (using Ina Garten’s method – recipe in the Fish section) and then just put the finished sauce and the shrimp together. I did link to the original recipe, though. I served this with rice and salad. Don’t forget the puff pastry shells!!!
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups lobster or shrimp stock
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoons paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds large shrimp, roasted (see recipe for Ina Garten’s roasted shrimp)
Puff pastry shells (1-2 per person)
Hot cooked noodles or rice
Recipe
Melt the butter over medium heat in a skillet. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in flour to make a light roux. Slowly add the stock, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened. Lower the heat to low and add the cream, parsley, paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix well and add the shrimp until everything is hot. Spoon into the shells and serve hot with buttered rice or noodles.