Ingredients:
1 lb. shrimp, 7-10 per lb., peeled and deveined, tails left on
1 head fennel
1 lemon
½ bunch flat leaf Italian parsley
7 sprigs mint
2 sprigs tarragon
2 sprigs dill
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed in water
2 cloves garlic
2 flat anchovies
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper for seasoning
Instructions:
Begin by filling a large bowl with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Then sprinkle a generous amount of salt onto the floating ice. This will be for dropping the hot poached shrimp into immediately after cooking.
For poaching liquid:
In a pot add two quarts water, 1/2 cup salt (preferably Kosher), and four sprigs of mint. Squeeze half of a lemon into the water and drop the squeezed half into the pot. Bring to a boil, drop all shrimp into the pot and turn heat down to medium. Let shrimp cook for three to four minutes, until just cooked through. You do not want the shrimp to cook so much that they curl up tightly and turn rubbery. Immediately remove shrimp from water and plunge into ice water bowl. This will shock the shrimp, and prevent any further cooking.
For salsa verde:
Make sure herbs are washed of all grit and dried thoroughly. Pick all herbs from stems, and finely chop them. Add them to a mixing bowl. Mince the garlic and anchovy as much as possible, turning it into a paste. Finely chop the capers. Add everything into the bowl with the herbs. Crack a generous amount of black pepper into the bowl. Begin to stir everything together with a spoon while pouring about 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil into the mix. The sauce is meant to be a bit oily. Almost like the consistency of a loose pesto sauce. Add salt to taste. Allow sauce to sit and get to know itself at room temperature for a few hours before serving.
For the salad:
Pick the frawns, (the delicate green dill like looking ferns), from the fennel stalks, rough chop them, and save. Discard the stalks. Cut the fennel in half the long way and cut out the tough stem from the bottom of both halves. Slice the fennel as thin as possible; a French or Japanese mandolin comes in very handy for this part. In a bowl toss the fennel, the remaining frawns, a healthy squeeze of lemon juice, a healthy tablespoon or two of the olive oil, and season with salt. On a salad plate add a pile of the fennel salad. place the cooled and dried shrimp around the border off the salad. Spoon on generous amounts of the salsa verde directly onto the shrimp, and serve. Serves two to three.
Created by Chef Sam Filloramo, Courtesy of Tropical Aquaculture Products, Inc.
