I still pinch myself every time I go into the grocery store, a farmer's market or roadside market at the accessibility of fresh seafood here on the east coast. Having grown up in the midwest I recall only one or two seafood markets within a 20 mile driving distance. Farmer's markets did not carry fresh oysters, live mussels or fresh lobsters. And while the grocery stores and Whole Foods carried fish and seafood, there were more fresh, previously frozen choices than fresh choices. Yes, I find that I am turning into a fresh fish and seafood snob of sorts. But I suppose there are worse things I could become.
After a long week at work and ending my day after 6 at night, I stopped in the grocery store and walked over to the seafood area to see what they had. When I saw that fresh shrimp was on sale for $7.99 a pound, I thought perfect, now I will make Shrimp Crostini over the weekend.
Why shrimp crostini? Well because the shrimp on sale were the 18-21 pieces per pound size so I knew I wasn't going to make shrimp scampi as the size would be too small. So along with the shrimp I picked up some fresh dill and a french baguette (the only two ingredients I knew I didn't have at the house).
I know I have shared my mayonnaise bias before but for the sake of redundancy please use Hellman's in this recipe. On the west coast it is labeled as the Best Food mayonnaise. Remember Miracle Whip is not mayonnaise. The cream cheese should be room temperature so that it mixes well with the mayonnaise and dijon mustard. I do take my cream cheese out the night before to ensure a perfect consistency. And yes all Dijon mustards are not same. I prefer the more flavorful, milder Maille Dijon mustard over the Grey Poupon for cooking or spreading on sandwiches.
It takes about three to four green onions to yield a half-cup of thinly sliced onions. I like cutting them on the diagonal as they make for a prettier presentation in food.
Fresh herbs are now available year round in the grocery stores. You will need to finely chop the dill first before measuring the 1 1/2 Tablespoons. Another redundant message here (hope most of you see redundancy as a good thing), but dried dill does not work as well in this recipe.
Before microplanes were available, I used to take a zester and/or peeler to remove the skin from the lemon and then try to get it to a grating consistency. Needless to say no matter how hard I tried, nothing compared to the grating quality of a microplane. If you are looking to buy another cooking tool, the microplane is pretty versatile and can be used for grating hard cheeses and chocolate.
When you have the onions cut, lemon grated, dill minced and shrimp coarsely chopped, add to the cream cheese, mayonnaise and mustard mixture. Once the mixture is stirred together, add a pinch or two of sea salt to taste and stir.
The denser the baguette, the better for making crostini. To prepare the crostini you first cut the baguette into approximately half-inch slices. Slicing on the diagonal makes for a beautiful presentation as well as making them easier to pick up to eat.
Lightly brush olive oil on one side of the baguette or lightly spray with oil olive. Place slices on two cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 5 to 6 minutes or until very lightly browned and crisp. Depending on your oven this could take slightly longer. If you go beyond 4 minutes, set the timer in minute intervals. You do not want to over crisp the crostini as it get another baking when the shrimp mixture is placed on top. The original Bon Appetit recipe called for broiling the sliced baguettes but I found I have more control over the coloring of the crostini if I just bake a high temperature.
Place a heaping tablespoon of the shrimp mixture on top of the baked baguettes. Return to the oven and bake at 350 for 8 to 12 minutes or until the mixture is lightly browned and warmed through. I know this is a range of minutes but where you place the cookie sheet in the oven (top, middle, bottom) affects the cooking time.
Remove from oven, place on a platter, top with a sprig of dill or parsley, and serve immediately. With each bite you will taste the layers of flavors. From the shrimp, to the dill, to the onion, to the lemon, to the detection of the sea salt, to the dijon mustard, to the crispness of the crostini, this is an appetizer you will want to make again and again.
Creamy Shrimp Crostini (slight adaption of the Creamy Shrimp Crostini recipe printed in Bon Appetit in January 1998)
Ingredients
1 8 ounce package of room temperature cream cheese
1/2 cup Hellman's mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons of Dijon mustard (prefer Maille)
1/2 cup green onions sliced thinly on the diagonal (green and white parts) - about 3 to 4 green onions
1 1/2 Tablespoons of freshly minced dill
1 teaspoon of freshly grated lemon peel
1 pound of shrimp (cooked, peeled, deveined and coarsely chopped)
pinch or two of sea salt
1 loaf of a french baguette, cut diagonally into approximately half-inch slices
Olive oil spray or olive oil
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees (F).
2. Lightly brush or spray one side of the sliced baguettes with olive oil. Arrange on 2 baking sheets. Bake until lightly toasted. Approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven. (You can cool these and store these in an airtight container if making them earlier in the day.)
3. You can use thawed frozen shrimp that is peeled and deveined or you can cook fresh shrimp. If you have raw shrimp, bring the water to a boil. Add shrimp and cook for approximately 4-5 minutes. Remove shrimp and immediately put in an ice bath to cool. Once cool, peel, devein and coarsely chop.
4. Combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard in a medium to large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until blended.
5. Mix in green onions, dill, lemon peel and chopped shrimp.
6. Season with a pinch or two of sea salt.
7. Spread a generous tablespoon of the shrimp mixter on top of each crostini. Bake at 550 for approximately 8 to 12 minutes or until mixture begins to brown lightly.
8. Top each crostini with snippets of dill or parsley (optional).
Note: You can skip the baking process and serve the shrimp mixture cold on top of your prepared bread.
Tools Needed: Measuring spoons, measuring cups, microplane, knife, baking sheets, bowls, parchment paper.
The availability of the fresh shrimp actually only served to justify a purchase I had made for myself earlier in the day. I generally don't leave the office to get lunch but I was driving from one location to another and decided to take ten minutes to stop in one of my favorite little gift stores for the singular purpose of rewarding myself for surviving a very stressful week at work. It took me less than a minute to see out of the corner of my eye a Mariposa platter, a silver textured birch inspired rectangular platter, sitting on the shelf. Whether the purchase was impulsive or not, I knew that was platter had to be the reward I was giving myself.
It just happened to work out that the early evening purchase of fresh shrimp at the grocery store gave me reason to put the platter to use this weekend. Being able to serve food to guests on a silver platter, well, how fun is that?
Cooking and entertaining has become a form of therapy to help to reduce the feelings of stress of life, of work. Now if I only found exercising as therapeutic. Maybe my next reward should be a purchase made at Lululemon.
