sunday supper: shrimp, green beans, radish, hazelnuts, cilantro, red curry paste, champagne vinegar, lemon juice, creme fraiche.
This recipe is adapted from the great Boston chef Barbara Lynch’s wonderful book Stir.
The method involves prepping several different components seperately and then putting them all together in the last step. Here are the components that need to be prepared:
- Dressing: Whisk together a medium shallot (minced), a tablespoon red curry paste, and 1.5 tablespoons champagne or other white wine vinegar. Slowly drizzle and whisk in one half cup grapeseed oil. Whisk in a teaspoon of lemon juice and a quarter cup of creme fraiche. Season with salt to taste. Set the dressing aside if you’re using it soon, or refrigerate for up to a day or two.
- Nuts: Toast a half cup of hazelnuts in a 350˚F oven until lightly browned (about 10 minutes), shaking them around at least once. If the nuts have skins, roll them around in a clean dish towel to remove as much as possible. Roughly chop them and set them aside.
- Beans: Wash and trim a pound of green beans and blanch them in salted water until just tender. Immediately shock the beans in an ice bath. When they are cold, dry them and set them aside.
- Shrimp: Pell and devein a generous half pound of shrimp. Cup the shrimp in to 3 pieces each. Season with salt, and cook the shrimp in a non-stick skillet over high heat until pink and opaque. Remove the shrimp from the pan and allow to come to room temperature.
- The Rest: Thinly slice 2 or 3 radishes. Pick, wash, and dry 2 handfuls of cilantro leaves.
Now that you have all the components, put the beans, the shrimp, the nuts, and the radish in a bowl and toss with the dressing to generously coat. (You likely will not need all of the dressing.) Plate and top with cilantro.
