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05/21/08 |
                          
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Smoked Shrimp Gallette Yields 6-9 servings. 1 lb. 6/8 shrimp, raw with shells 1 lb. 21/25 shrimp, raw with shells 2 lb. russet potatoes 1/2 gal. heavy cream (you can ween out and go for milk if you want, but check out the notes) 3/4 c. asiago cheese, grated 1/2 c. crispy bacon, chopped 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns 1 ea. large white onion, quartered 1 ea. bay leaf wood chips for smoking salt & white pepper to taste Peel your russets and slice them ridiculously thin on your favorite slicing device. Me, I use a Benriner, but you can use a French mandoline if you like spending four times as much for the same functionality. Store your potato slices in water and continue on. Put a wok over medium-high heat and line the bottom with aluminum foil. Scatter some wood chips on the bottom for smoking (maybe a cup or two); you may add other ingredients if you want more flavor notes in your smoke. Lay the shrimp out in a single layer on a wire rack and place over the chips when they begin to smoke. Cover tightly and smoke for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until shrimp are cooked through. Peel the shrimp, placing the shells in a saucepot with the cream/milk, onion, peppercorns and bay leaf. Save the 6/8 shrimp for garnish, but chop the 21/25 shrimp into small bits. Combine the bacon with the chopped shrimp meat. Heat the cream mixture over medium to medium-low heat until it reaches a good simmer. Reduce the cream by 75% (that'll take a while; if you go too fast you'll burn the cream), then strain through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Season cream to taste with salt and white pepper. Lube up a 9x9-inch baking dish, sprinkle the bottom with 1/3 of the shrimp/bacon mix, 1/4 c. of the cheese, a bit of the cream, and make a layer with the potatoes. Repeat the layering once more, then finish with the cream/cheese/meats on top. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven until potatoes are fork-tender, I'm guessing about 30 minutes or so. Allow the gallette to rest for about 10 minutes before cutting. While it rests, put the 6/8 shrimp on a sheet pan and stick them in the oven to warm through. Cut the gallette into 6 or 9 pieces, garnishing each with one of the large shrimp and some chopped parsley. Good times.
Note from GG: This is probably one of my most involved and least tested recipes I've posted here. To be honest, this one is almost completely theoretical, though I have performed all these steps in separate dishes. The smoking is right on (though you might want to take the small shrimpies out around 7-10 minutes or so), I made the cream reduction at The Edgewater (it's almost...sweet), and everyone's made a gallette before, they just usually call it au gratin potatoes. The original genesis of this recipe was from a show with Ming Tsai, who was demonstrating how to smoke with tea leaves and rice. I did my smoking with alder wood chips, but you could use apple or mesquite or whatever you want. Anyway, I thought that the cream would make a really nice chowder base, and then I started thinking about other ways to serve chowder. This is more or less chowder in solid form, and I think it's kind of neat. I'll try and bust it out in the near future and let you all know how it turns out. I predict huge success. Unless... ...you use milk instead of cream. Because milk has a much lower fat content than heavy cream (4% vs. about 40%), when you cook with it at high temps, it breaks. I tried to do potato/apple galette for Christmas this year, and all I had on hand was whole milk. I did everything as I normally would when making the thing, but it came out of the oven completely broken (the fat had coagulated made a kind of cottage cheese). After asking a few of my chef friends what could have happened, they all agreed it was because of the milk. The work-around for this is by making a bechamel-esque cream sauce. Take 2 oz. (by weight) each of butter and flour and combine them in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk together until you get a nice blonde roux, then add your smoked shrimp milk. The extra binding power of the flour and the butter will keep your galette's sauce together, saving you from trying to explain why you--fancy cooker/cheffer that you are--totally borked an easy recipe like this.
This site was last updated 05/21/08 |
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