Shrimp Creole

Recipe by The View From the Great Island

Ella Brennan’s Shrimp Creole ~  a classic Creole/Cajun recipe from the heart of the South! Ella Brennan is synonymous with fine southern cooking, but she wasn’t born into privilege; she started from the ground up working odd jobs at her brother’s restaurant as a teenager during the Depression.  She didn’t stop until she and her family owned 12 award winning eating establishments across the south, among them the famous Commander’s Palace in New Orleans.  She is credited with bringing ‘haute’ or ‘nouvelle’ Creole cuisine into the spotlight and elevating it to a national prominence.  The Commander’s Palace became a training ground for many of the city’s best chefs, and  over the course of 65 years Ella Brennan and her restaurants have come to epitomize old style southern hospitality and down home comfort. The family packaged the Creole mystique and pushed it into the American mainstream. ‘Bananas Foster’ was invented during Miss Ella’s reign at Brennan’s; so was ‘Breakfast at Brennan’s’, the prototypical American brunch. Paul Prudhomme got his start at Commander’s Palace. The Brennans preserved a bastion of civility, where good eating is de rigueur, as much as telling long, vivid stories.* I’m not all that familiar with southern cooking, …

Ingredients

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter
• 1½ cups green bell pepper (chopped)
• 1½ cups onion (chopped)
• 1½ cups celery (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon garlic (finely chopped)
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1½ cups chicken stock or water
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 1 cup tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
• 1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• pinch of black pepper
• of cayenne pepper
• pinch of white pepper
• 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 tablespoon water
• ¼ cup Fresh chopped parsley
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and cleaned
• 4 cups cooked rice

Method

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan and cook the bell pepper, onion, celery, and garlic until tender, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, and Italian seasoning and cook an additional 3 minutes.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups chicken stock or water, tomato juice, tomatoes, Worcestershire, salt, black, cayenne and white pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. In a small bowl, blend the cornstarch with 4 tablespoons water until smooth. Gradually add the cornstarch to the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens.
5. Add the shrimp to the sauce and cook just until the shrimp turns opaque.
6. Serve over rice and sprinkle with parsley.

View the recipe instructions at The View From the Great Island