It's All Delicious

Our lowcountry shrimp are amazing! I know I bang on about this a lot, but the wild shrimp that trawl our waters are sweet and meaty yet tender. And these little babies were from our local Hilton Head waters, which makes me love them even more. There’s a hint of curry in these tartlets and they are dead easy to make. Great as an appetizer or paired with a salad (and glass of wine...of course) for a light lunch.

You definitely could make one large tart but if you did I would recommend roughly chopping the shrimp before spreading them over the bottom just to make cutting it in slices a little easier. Either way, you can’t go wrong with these classic flavors.

Serves 6 as an appetizer

Ingredients

30 shrimp, about 1-¼ lbs

1 small shallot, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

2/3 cups dry white wine

1-½ tablespoons curry powder

2/3-cup heavy cream

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 15oz package of pie crusts or make your own

Special equipment: 6 4-inch mini tart pans with removable bottoms

Clean, peel and devein the shrimp. Keep the tails on 6 of them for the tops of the tarts. Lightly poach shrimp for two minutes in boiling water, remove and plunge into an ice bath, drain and set aside.

Pour wine into a small saucepan, sprinkle curry powder over and whisk. Boil until reduced by half. Cool and set aside

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out pastry to ½ inch thickness. Cut out 6 circles from dough. The circles should be 2 inches larger than the tart pans. Line pans with dough, pressing into sides and bottom, prick shells all over. Chill for 20 minutes. Bake shells for 15 minutes, cool and set aside.

Whisk cream, egg, egg yolk, shallot, cilantro, and curry –flavored reduction together in a medium bowl.

Place 4 shrimp in each tart shell. Pour cream mixture over the shrimp, just to cover and then top each one with the remaining shrimp with the tails on. Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

It’s All Delicious Notes: Don’t initially over poach the shrimp – 2 minutes tops. They will continue cooking in the oven and you do not want to make them tough and unbearably chewy.