She stamped her feet and exclaimed with glee, “OMG…these take me back my childhood in the South France”. This is Katie, my best friend, whom was helping me cook tonight. She was referring to the shrimp tossed with garlic, sea salt and white wine.
This was my first foray into cooking shrimp. Normally, I’d be a New Yorker, and buy the pre-cooked shrimp. Instead, I wandered into the newly opened Foragers in Chelsea and asked if they sold shrimp. They came back with the uncooked shrimp (and a $24 price tag to boot). Too sheepish to return them, I convinced myself that being an Australian I must have shrimp cooking skills in my blood. I was just missing the ‘barbie’.
Fortunately it worked. But I had to play with it. You’ll need more salt than you think and the garlic makes a world of difference. But wow, I won’t go back to the pre-cooked shrimp anymore.
Katie prepared the rest of the ingredients – we used Kumato tomatoes, which are one of my favorites, particularly pre-season, and Persian cucumbers – so much nicer tasting than the continental cucumber.
You could add mango for a hint of Summer, but we kept it Spring-like and used avocado as a taste enhancer.