Рецепт Shrimp with Spicy Tomato Sauce and Strozzapreti
What
cook doesn’t love Shrimp? They are such
an obliging partner in the kitchen. They not only cook in all of three minutes
but they turn pink and opaque to tell you they’re done. They’re wildly popular—in fact they’re by far
the most popular of all seafoods in this country. Here they live up to their promise of speed
in a dish that pairs shrimp with a spicy tomato sauce, ribbons of fennel,
chiles that let you control the heat and Strozzapreti, one of my favorite
pastas of all time. And why is it a
favorite? Because it translates into
English as “Priest Choker”. Andrew
pointed out that Strozzapreti isn’t the backbone of the dish and that you could
substitute pretty much any tubular pasta from Gemelli to Rigatoni or Penne
Rigate. While that’s true, the writer in
me just couldn’t wait to dive into the story of Strozzapreti and so, in the
middle of last week’s Nor’Easter I trudged 6 blocks to the Supermarket. There,
in the specialty pasta section I found my Strozzapreti and the basis for this
post. But first off, let’s talk about
Shrimp which is a good news/bad news story if there ever was one.
If
you pay any attention to food press, you may have picked up on stories about
the worldwide state of Shrimp. In the US,
per person, we eat 4.1 lbs of shrimp a year.
It’s wildly versatile. You can
grill it, smoke it, boil it, sauté it, fry it or stew it. Wherever it’s available in countries from
South Africa to Denmark, you’ll find local recipes for Shrimp. It’s full of
protein—18 grams in a 3 ounce serving.
It’s sweet, fresh and firm. That’s
the good news.
The
bad news is the headlines about shrimp farms around the world. You’ll read
about everything from polluted waters and abusive labor practices to questionable
chemical preservatives. So I thought it might be helpful to give a brief guide
in buying shrimp.
If you live on the West,
East and Gulf Coast, you’re in luck.
Virtually everywhere else, shrimp is imported. 90 percent of our shrimp
is. Supermarkets tend to shove the
country of origin deep into the ice on the price per pound label to conceal their Chinese or Thai origins. Most shrimp there are farm-raised and that’s where
the red flags are raised.
Of
all the farmed shrimp brought into this country less than 2 percent is
inspected by the US Department of Agriculture.
So shrimp that have been treated with banned chemicals, anti-biotics,
and pesticides, to name a few, slip by.
Local wild-caught is always the way to go. This means on the West Coast
look for wild spot prawns. On the East
Coast, small, sweet cold water Maine Shrimp. And on the Gulf Coast, brown
shrimp and rock shrimp. In between, you will find virtually all shrimp have
been previously frozen. But shrimp freeze well—far better than most fish. And they tend to be frozen right after they’re
caught. In a restaurant in Indiana, I
was told its shrimp were ‘fresh frozen’--
An oxymoron for sure but an oddly accurate description of the process. But if
you must buy farmed shrimp, look for a label that reads “Best Aquaculture
Practices”. These are issued by a
non-profit group called the Aquaculture Certification Council. Emilia Romagna
Now about those Priest Chokers...Strozzopreti
is a traditional recipe of Romagna, the province northeast of Tuscany. Romagna is the culinary heart of Italy. Reggiano Parmigiano cheese, Parma Proscuitto
Hams, and the city of Bologna with its namesake Bolognese sauce all add to the
region’s reputation. Strozzapreti date
a very long time back. They are
mentioned in texts from the 14 th century. Romagna has a very long and complicated history
with the Roman Catholic Church. Romagna
was “given” to a 7th Century pope. This created a centuries-long
conflict which only ended in 1278 when it was
left to the reigning Pope. Precisely when the
Romagnoli
lost their tempers with the Church is unclear.
There were many rebellions against the Church led by powerful families. They were finally defeated by Pope Alexander
VI, better known to American television audiences as the Borgia Pope who
fathered Lucretia and nine other illegitimate children. But the animosity
lingered on and that’s where we come to Strozzapreti. Of course, there’s more
than one legend surrounding the pasta.
One goes back to the custom of the women of Romagna preparing this
particular pasta when their local parish priest came to call. Their anti-clerical
husbands, stereotyping the priests as heavy eaters, wished they would choke on
their pasta. A second version of the
story posits that the dish was offered to the priests who were so taken with
it, they ate too quickly, choking themselves, sometimes to death. And the third and final version is a far less
picturesque version. The pasta is shaped
like a clerical collar commonly call a Priest’s Choker. But there’s little or no question that the
name mirrors the long-standing animosity to the Church in both Tuscany and
Romagna. All
that being said, as long as you don’t eat this marvelous dish too fast, I doubt
you will choke on it. And I know you will love it. Here is the recipe:
Recipe for Shrimp with Spicy Tomato
Sauce and Strozzopreti. Serves
4. Takes no more than 30 minutes to make.
1 (28-ounce) can
whole peeled tomatoes, preferably Red Pack, drained
1/3 cup olive oil,
plus more for drizzling
1/2 medium fennel
bulb, fronds reserved, core removed, bulb thinly sliced
8 garlic cloves,
smashed
1 Serrano chile or
green chile of your choice, very thinly sliced, divided
1/4 cup dry white
wine
12 ounces
strozzapreti pasta
Kosher salt
1 pound shrimp peeled,
deveined, with tails left on for flavor.
2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
1. Set a fine-mesh sieve
over a medium bowl. Working over sieve, squeeze tomatoes to release juices and
break up flesh. Let tomatoes drain in sieve, collecting juices in bowl, until
ready to use.
2. Heat 1/3 cup oil in a
large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium. Cook fennel, garlic, and half
of chile, stirring often, until garlic is golden and fennel is starting to
brown around the edges, 5–8 minutes. Transfer fennel mixture with a slotted
spoon to a small bowl. 3. Increase heat to
high; cook drained tomatoes in same pot, stirring occasionally, until broken
down and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add wine, scraping up browned
bits, and cook until almost completely evaporated, about 1 minute. Add fennel
mixture and collected tomato juices, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring
occasionally, until slightly thickened, 5–10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta
in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until very al
dente, about 3 minutes less than package directions. 4. Using a spider or a
slotted spoon, transfer pasta to pot with sauce; add shrimp and 1/2 cup pasta
cooking liquid. Cook, tossing often, until pasta is al dente and coated in
sauce and shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Thin sauce with more
pasta cooking liquid if needed; season with salt. Remove from heat; add butter
and toss to combine. Season with more salt if needed. 5. Divide pasta among
bowls. Top with fennel fronds and remaining chile and drizzle with oil.