Cooking Irish can also be found at Pinterest and PETITCHEF.
When we lived in Ireland in the mid-eighties, curry was very popular in the British Isles. Everywhere we went from Wales, to Scotland, to England, to Ireland and Northern Ireland, there were curry dishes of all kinds especially on pub menus. So I am going to include some of the best shrimp curry recipes. I should have a shrimp curry taste testing for my family. My son Eli and I did that with chili one summer he was home from school--the University of South Florida in Tampa. It was great fun!
Eli is a great cook and has worked as a chef in Savannah, Georgia and Albany, New York. When I started the cooking lessons with my children, he loved it from the start. The first recipe he made--called chili concoction--was from a spiral cookbook given to me as a child by my Grandmother Abry: Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls published in 1957. I just loved that book, and Eli grew to love it too. I still have it and even use it on occasion when my grandchildren come to visit. [Update: Alas, I just parted with it. Eli wants to use it to cook with his son Cooper so I mailed it out to Colorado. Another generation of Abrys in the kitchen.] So that summer I went to the library--I love public libraries--and signed out a chili tome. It had hundreds of chili recipes. Every few days I would make a batch of a different version of chili, freeze a small container of each, and label with the specific name of the chili. Did we have chili that summer! The night before Eli left to go back to school, we had a sampling of all the chilies to see which we liked best. It is fun to share cooking and food with my son, and this was a really fun experiment. I think I will do a sampling dinner with all these shrimp curry recipes, but I will do this taste testing with my daughter Erin since she loves seafood, and Eli does not.
Now a bit about all those places where we had shrimp curry. We spent a day at Loch Lomond in Scotland. It is considered to be the most beautiful lake in the world, and it certainly is spectacular. It is very similar to Lake George, NY, but I really have to say I think Lake George is more breathtaking once you are north of the tourist areas and more into the Adirondacks Mountains. The lake itself is bluer, and with the white of the clouds, the blue sky, and the green of the evergreens covering the mountains, it presents such beauty, inspiration, tranquility, and color one can understand how Georgia O'Keefe was able to paint those incredible flowers there. Many people don't realize she painted her flowers at Lake George where she spent summers for many years before moving to New Mexico. Anne White, a local author, wrote a mystery novel about O'Keefe's flower paintings. It is interesting if you want to learn a bit about the area and O'Keefe's time there. I went to high school and college with Anne's daughter, Kate White, the current editor of Cosmopolitan.
Lake George was featured this summer as one of the Today's show's vacation destinations. Did you happen to see Meredith Viera and Ann Curry at The Sagamore in Bolton Landing? I mentioned The Sagamore in one of my posts on teas. I hope they had time to enjoy afternoon tea on the veranda. They also featured Sara Gore, another local who did a taped segment on the lake. Sara is anchor for Open House NYC on NBC 4 and anchor for LXTV First Look also on NBC 4. Her mother is my friend, Gail, and she was in the boat in the video. You looked great, Gail!! I had better stop; I am starting to sound like a marketing rep for the Lake George area, but I could go on and on. Thomas Jefferson wrote this on 31 May 1791: "
Loch Lomond could easily be the world's most famous fresh water lake and has been much written about, both in song and verse. The area is renowned for its beauty and offers picture postcard views around every corner. The Loch is crossed by the Highland Boundary Fault and exhibits the physical characteristics of both the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands. Some 200 species of birds and over 25% of Britain's wild plants have been recorded in the area. It is a great place to tour.
Another area that we visited was the Firth of Forth. Geologically, the Firth of Forth is a fjord formed by the Forth Glacier in the last glacial period of Britain. A firth is an estuary, and this particular firth is an estuary of the River Forth and flows into the North Sea. There are castles to tour, the Scottish Fisheries Museum and Seabird Center to visit, and beautiful sites and sights all along the firth. And I so like saying the Firth of Forth. It just rolls off my tongue. When I was a child at St. Mary's School in Hudson Falls, NY, I remember reading in a geography book the longest name of a town. It was in Wales, and there was a photograph of people standing behind the sign. I knew I wanted to visit there someday and have my picture taken too. So I dragged my children and parents to the town when we were touring the British Isles in April of 1985. They were none too pleased to say the least. It was like dragging them to Clifden in Connemara in Ireland because I had read about the isolated area in romance novels.
Eli and a piper at the Scottish border in April of 1985--I do love the sound of the bagpipe.
Another mailbox photo op--this time in Bangor, Wales
Eli and Erin at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales standing behind the famous tourist sign. Don't my children look happy?! Behind them is the restored Victorian railway station which contains a huge selection of woolens and craft items for sale.
Eli and his new friend "Bobby" in Stratford-upon-Avon in England
This particular curry recipe is one I altered somewhat from my favorite shrimp cookbook: The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Cookbook. There are so many great recipes in this little book, and I also love it since it reminds me of my son. He gave it to me as a Christmas present the year we went to see the movie together. Dinner and movie: that was something we always did together. What a great gift. Thanks again, Eli. Memories--the fabric of our lives.
Irish Creamy Shrimp Curry [Serves 4-6]
Ingredients:
2 lbs. of medium cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ cup of onion, minced 1⁄3 cup of butter
1⁄3 cup of flour
1 ½ tbsp. of curry powder
2 cups of chicken broth
1 ½ cups of light cream
1 ½ tsp. of sugar
½ tsp. of salt
¼ tsp. of ground ginger
¼ tsp. of paprika
Dash of ground nutmeg
1 tbsp. of dry sherry
1 tsp. of lemon juice
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
4 cups of cooked rice, hot [I like saffron, jasmine or Basmati rice]
½ cup of sliced toasted almonds
½ cup of raisins
½ cup toasted coconut
½ cup crumbled bacon
½ cup of green onions, chopped
Preparation:
In a large sauté pan cook the onion in the butter over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until tender. Reduce the heat to low, and add the flour and curry powder stirring until smooth. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add the chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, sherry, and cream; cook over medium-high heat stirring constantly until mixture is thickened. Stir in the sugar, salt, ginger, and lemon juice. Add the shrimp and cook just until heated through. Serve the shrimp over hot rice garnished with the toasted almonds, raisins, toasted coconut, bacon, and green onions.
[Curry is one of those spices that some people like with a heavy accent, and others with just a hint of curry. So adjust the amount of curry you use for this recipe according to your and/or your guests’ personal preference. Also add any garnishes you enjoy with a shrimp curry dish.]
When we lived in Ireland in the mid-eighties, curry was very popular in the British Isles. Everywhere we went from Wales, to Scotland, to England, to Ireland and Northern Ireland, there were curry dishes of all kinds especially on pub menus. So I am going to include some of the best shrimp curry recipes. I should have a shrimp curry taste testing for my family. My son Eli and I did that with chili one summer he was home from school--the University of South Florida in Tampa. It was great fun!
Eli is a great cook and has worked as a chef in Savannah, Georgia and Albany, New York. When I started the cooking lessons with my children, he loved it from the start. The first recipe he made--called chili concoction--was from a spiral cookbook given to me as a child by my Grandmother Abry: Betty Crocker's Cook Book for Boys and Girls published in 1957. I just loved that book, and Eli grew to love it too. I still have it and even use it on occasion when my grandchildren come to visit. [Update: Alas, I just parted with it. Eli wants to use it to cook with his son Cooper so I mailed it out to Colorado. Another generation of Abrys in the kitchen.] So that summer I went to the library--I love public libraries--and signed out a chili tome. It had hundreds of chili recipes. Every few days I would make a batch of a different version of chili, freeze a small container of each, and label with the specific name of the chili. Did we have chili that summer! The night before Eli left to go back to school, we had a sampling of all the chilies to see which we liked best. It is fun to share cooking and food with my son, and this was a really fun experiment. I think I will do a sampling dinner with all these shrimp curry recipes, but I will do this taste testing with my daughter Erin since she loves seafood, and Eli does not.
Now a bit about all those places where we had shrimp curry. We spent a day at Loch Lomond in Scotland. It is considered to be the most beautiful lake in the world, and it certainly is spectacular. It is very similar to Lake George, NY, but I really have to say I think Lake George is more breathtaking once you are north of the tourist areas and more into the Adirondacks Mountains. The lake itself is bluer, and with the white of the clouds, the blue sky, and the green of the evergreens covering the mountains, it presents such beauty, inspiration, tranquility, and color one can understand how Georgia O'Keefe was able to paint those incredible flowers there. Many people don't realize she painted her flowers at Lake George where she spent summers for many years before moving to New Mexico. Anne White, a local author, wrote a mystery novel about O'Keefe's flower paintings. It is interesting if you want to learn a bit about the area and O'Keefe's time there. I went to high school and college with Anne's daughter, Kate White, the current editor of Cosmopolitan.
Lake George was featured this summer as one of the Today's show's vacation destinations. Did you happen to see Meredith Viera and Ann Curry at The Sagamore in Bolton Landing? I mentioned The Sagamore in one of my posts on teas. I hope they had time to enjoy afternoon tea on the veranda. They also featured Sara Gore, another local who did a taped segment on the lake. Sara is anchor for Open House NYC on NBC 4 and anchor for LXTV First Look also on NBC 4. Her mother is my friend, Gail, and she was in the boat in the video. You looked great, Gail!! I had better stop; I am starting to sound like a marketing rep for the Lake George area, but I could go on and on. Thomas Jefferson wrote this on 31 May 1791: "
Loch Lomond has the largest surface area of fresh water in the United Kingdom. The lake [loch] is twenty-four miles long, five miles wide, and at its deepest point is some 600 feet deep. On the lake there are approximately 38 islands--some of them inhabited and one with a hotel, Inchmurrin."Lake George is without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw; formed by a contour of mountains into a basin... finely interspersed with islands, its water limpid as crystal, and the mountain sides covered with rich groves... down to the water-edge: here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony."
Loch Lomond could easily be the world's most famous fresh water lake and has been much written about, both in song and verse. The area is renowned for its beauty and offers picture postcard views around every corner. The Loch is crossed by the Highland Boundary Fault and exhibits the physical characteristics of both the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands. Some 200 species of birds and over 25% of Britain's wild plants have been recorded in the area. It is a great place to tour.
Another area that we visited was the Firth of Forth. Geologically, the Firth of Forth is a fjord formed by the Forth Glacier in the last glacial period of Britain. A firth is an estuary, and this particular firth is an estuary of the River Forth and flows into the North Sea. There are castles to tour, the Scottish Fisheries Museum and Seabird Center to visit, and beautiful sites and sights all along the firth. And I so like saying the Firth of Forth. It just rolls off my tongue. When I was a child at St. Mary's School in Hudson Falls, NY, I remember reading in a geography book the longest name of a town. It was in Wales, and there was a photograph of people standing behind the sign. I knew I wanted to visit there someday and have my picture taken too. So I dragged my children and parents to the town when we were touring the British Isles in April of 1985. They were none too pleased to say the least. It was like dragging them to Clifden in Connemara in Ireland because I had read about the isolated area in romance novels.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest town name in the world and means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave." Phew!! Thousands of visitors each year visit the small village of llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch made internationally famous through its tongue-twister of a name.
Another mailbox photo op--this time in Bangor, Wales
Eli and Erin at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, Wales standing behind the famous tourist sign. Don't my children look happy?! Behind them is the restored Victorian railway station which contains a huge selection of woolens and craft items for sale.
Eli and his new friend "Bobby" in Stratford-upon-Avon in England
This particular curry recipe is one I altered somewhat from my favorite shrimp cookbook: The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Cookbook. There are so many great recipes in this little book, and I also love it since it reminds me of my son. He gave it to me as a Christmas present the year we went to see the movie together. Dinner and movie: that was something we always did together. What a great gift. Thanks again, Eli. Memories--the fabric of our lives.
Irish Creamy Shrimp Curry [Serves 4-6]
Ingredients:
2 lbs. of medium cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ cup of onion, minced 1⁄3 cup of butter
1⁄3 cup of flour
1 ½ tbsp. of curry powder
2 cups of chicken broth
1 ½ cups of light cream
1 ½ tsp. of sugar
½ tsp. of salt
¼ tsp. of ground ginger
¼ tsp. of paprika
Dash of ground nutmeg
1 tbsp. of dry sherry
1 tsp. of lemon juice
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
4 cups of cooked rice, hot [I like saffron, jasmine or Basmati rice]
½ cup of sliced toasted almonds
½ cup of raisins
½ cup toasted coconut
½ cup crumbled bacon
½ cup of green onions, chopped
Preparation:
In a large sauté pan cook the onion in the butter over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until tender. Reduce the heat to low, and add the flour and curry powder stirring until smooth. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add the chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, sherry, and cream; cook over medium-high heat stirring constantly until mixture is thickened. Stir in the sugar, salt, ginger, and lemon juice. Add the shrimp and cook just until heated through. Serve the shrimp over hot rice garnished with the toasted almonds, raisins, toasted coconut, bacon, and green onions.
[Curry is one of those spices that some people like with a heavy accent, and others with just a hint of curry. So adjust the amount of curry you use for this recipe according to your and/or your guests’ personal preference. Also add any garnishes you enjoy with a shrimp curry dish.]
Love the recipe I thought it called for too many shrimps, but was just perfect..First time I used condiments. Wow! Added avocado cubes and lightly sweetened cranberries. The toasted nuts and coconut were awesome. I like to add peeled, thinly sliced and chopped apples, as well.
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