from Mark Clark.....

I learned how to prepare this dish, working nights as a chef at a restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Now, the secret to this dish, just like you’ve seen chef’s on TV, is to have everything ready before you even begin to cook. The whole cooking time is only about 8-10 minutes. This recipe is based on a single serving, so adjust for however many you’re serving. It is not recommended that you exceed 2 servings in one skillet. If serving more, you may want to go to a larger pot or use two skillets. Try it out first for just one or tow, practice makes perfect.

Again, most chefs do not measure, they just add till it looks right. So, excuse the terms, “handful’, “pinch”, or a “little bit”. That’s just how I cook. For example, you’ll need fresh grated parmesan cheese. When you grate it on a cutting board, don’t mash it down in a cup to get 1/2 cup. Leave it in a heap and grab a “handful”. Mashing it only makes it harder to dissolve into the sauce, thereby overcooking your shrimp. Leave it light and fluffy to dissolve quickly.

Now, some terms that might need explanations:

Lemon Zest. No this isn’t some kin of furniture polish! Lemon Zest is from the skin of a lemon. Grate a lemon on the smallest setting on your 4-sided grater. You only want the outside yellow part, no the bitter white part. You may need to grate a couple of lemons to get a few teaspoons. Use a fork, knife or brush to get it all from the grater. This can be done ahead of time and used “dried”. Do not use lemon juice as this may curdle your sauce. Or you could simply have cut up lemons and sprinkle after cooking.

Broccoli: Defrosted, frozen spears Mushrooms: Canned, drained Parmesan cheese: sold at Publix in a “wedge”. Do not use powdered or dried cheese. Capers: Ask if you can’t find them at Publix.

Just a couple of more notes before we begin. Typically, this dish was made in a thin sauce and served in a large bowl. Spoons were available to get the very last drop. However, if you like your sauce a little thicker, mix a little corn starch with some milk and add it just at the end.

The original recipe called for a 3 pepper seasoning. This is a mixture of equal parts of white, red and black pepper. The best substitute I’ve found is Tony Chaceres Creole Seasoning (again, sold at Publix in the spice section).

One last caution….we used industrial strength gas burners. When heating the olive oil and garlic, we added the shrimp and “flipped’ them in the skillet. This caused some oil to splash over onto the fire and produced a large POOF of flame 2 to 3 feet high! It was just a showy trick that we always did. Do not try this at home!

And now the recipe….