I haven’t been cooking lately. There’s been a lot of tears, lying on the couch for inordinate amounts of time, missing the sun, and the strawberry picking, not swimming in the river, or going for walks with my dog, but, no, not cooking. There was a birthday, and a bridal shower, but I hardly remember either in the haze of my pain medication. But, still, no cooking.
Some of you know I was in a car accident in 2008 that left me in chronic pain. A few of you know it’s been flaring up lately. And a poor precious bunch of you are around to take care of me. It sucks. There’s no way around it. I’m in it and, try as I might, I can’t do anything about it. So I haven’t cooked. But I’m taking steps to drastically change my life, to make my schedule bend around my pain, instead of trying to keep white-knuckling to do everything like a normal, healthy person would. I’m optimistic about that. I’m excited. Excited to be broken down, to finally accept that I can’t pretend pain doesn’t exist anymore, disabling me. Good things are going to come of this.
One of the most depressing things about not cooking is not having anything to talk to you guys about. I mean, there was this awesome get-well present.
But I haven’t done any cooking past pitting the cherries and apricots as I eat them.
And there was this salad, made with the best snap peas I’ve ever tasted, but that didn’t turn out to be anything special — particularly heart-breaking since I wanted so badly to showcase those peas.
Finally, to top off the extent of my cooking over the past few weeks, there was this shrimp dish. You could call it cooking, to simmer something on the stove top for five hours (even if it took less than five minutes of active prep time). But it didn’t feel like cooking.
The fact that is doesn’t feel like cooking, despite the wonderfully homey, lovingly cooked quality of the dish is probably a good thing, if you aren’t me, and you don’t want so desperately to be able to perform a recipe that has a long do-to-list, spending hours doing your thing in the kitchen.
The “five hour” part of this recipe is for the soffritto. You can do this the day (or week) before, and then the rest of the recipe would come together in about four minutes — maybe six if you need to shell the shrimp yourself. It’s a good example of how to cook for Anita’s Dinner on a Deadline project, where one of the key ways to keep down your weekday meal prep time is to have a well-stocked larder. This soffritto is a stand-by in my larder — the star of my larder, really. I use it for countless things beside this shrimp, including mixed in to plain pasta, or in this peperonata rustica. It’s beautiful, full of caramelized flavors, and has luscious, garlicky depth. Having this stuff around has made this painful time more manageable for me. And if it can cheer me up, then you can trust it’s special.
Shrimp with Soffritto
serves 2//soffritto adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc Cookbook
for the soffritto:
3 cups finely diced Spanish onion (about 1 pound)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 (28-oz) good-quality whole peeled tomatoes, drained, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
for the shrimp:
12 – 16 jumbo shrimp, shells and tails removed, deveined
4-6 tablespoons kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons butter
Combine the onions, oil, and a pinch of salt in a small dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot and set over medium heat. As soon as the oil begins to simmer, reduce the heat to low. The onions should stew slowly but eventually caramelize; adjust the heat as necessary so that the oil continues to bubble gently — never too vigorously. As the onions release their liquid, the oil will become cloudy, but once the moisture has evaporated, the oil will clear. Cook for about 2 ½ hours, of until the onions are a rich golden brown (a shade darker than golden raisins) and the oil is perfectly clear. Check often: if any of the onions caramelize against the sides of the pan, scrape them back into the oil.
Add the tomatoes to the caramelized onions and cook for another 2 ½ hours, or until the onions and tomatoes begin to fry in the oil: the onions and tomatoes will begin to fry in the oil and small bubbles will cover the surface. Gently stir the mixture. Turn off the heat, add a pinch of salt and the garlic, and left the soffrito begin to cool. (You can cool completely, cover, and save in the refrigerator until you want to use. The soffritto stays good for a couple of weeks.)
Meanwhile, mix together 4 cups of cold water and salt in a bowl, stirring to dissolve the salt. Add shrimp to the bowl and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Drain the shrimp, rise under cold water, and pat dry on paper towels. Sprinkle with pepper.
Melt the butter in a frying pan that will hold the shrimp in a single layer over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to foam, add the shrimp. Cook the shrimp for 2 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for 2 minutes on the other side, until the shrimp are browned and cooked through. Transfer the shrimp to a platter.
Ladle a few spoonfuls of soffritto over the shrimp and serve. (You will have a lot of leftover soffritto, but I don’t that’s a bad thing.)
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