For My Mom

I love my mom. She has a gift for laughing at my jokes. She let’s me win occasionally at cribbage or dominos. She raised my brothers and I to ask questions. And she loves to cook. She’s good at it. I have a passion for food in large part because of her. 

Whenever we get together now, be it for a week, a weekend or even overnight, she has me (and/or my brother if he’s along) prepare a meal.  (My other brother is out of state and doesn’t visit as much, otherwise the same is asked of him.) All of us love to cook and we all take pride in our respective expertise. I admit however, that I probably fail the most. I’m not good at following directions; never have been. It’s not because I can’t. I am compelled to do things my way, just to see if I can. I make things up and fly by the seat of my pants. It’s an ego thing. When it works, I look like a freaking genius. When it doesn’t, I apologize all over the place and blame outside circumstances. My brother has rightly pointed out that my biggest cooking flaw is timing. In trying to control for that, I like reducing as many moving parts as is possible. One pot cooking, or casseroles are the easiest, followed by some kind of meat dish with mashed potatoes and a side salad of greens. Something easy. 

When I’m with family, I’m a little more experimental in flavors and technique. I try to make it all work, but maybe the timing is off or the flavors don’t quite come together. My mom is still kind, loving and forgiving. She still says how much she loves the dish, even if no one actually does.  She’s good for my ego.

I love my mom. 

This recipe worked really well. She loved it and wanted me to post it. I told her I would. As promised, here it is.

 Shrimp Pot Pie

2 sheets Puff Pastry

1 large Onion, small diced

3 large Carrots, small diced

3 Celery stalks, small slices

No one would fault you if you wanted to add some Garlic. 

3/4 cup chopped Mushrooms

2 lbs large Shrimp, shells off

1 cup White Wine

1 cup Heavy Cream

Bay Leaves

Thyme

Preheat oven to 400° 

I buy frozen puff pastry so I start thawing it out while I’m cutting up the vegetables. (If you make your own puff pastry I low key hate you. But I also admire you. Seriously though, stop it you show off.) 

In a deep skillet, on medium-high heat sauté the carrot for 3 minutes in a little olive oil. Add the onion and celery and sauté for another 3 minutes. Take the veggies out and set aside. 

Put the shrimp into the pan and spread them out so they are all on one layer. Sprinkle with dried thyme, or add sprigs if you are using fresh. Add the bay leaves. Cook for a couple of minutes and flip the shrimp. Cook for another minute (the shrimp should be slightly under cooked) and add the mushrooms. Turn the heat down to medium low-ish. Add the vegetables back into the pan. Season with salt and pepper. 

Pour in the white wine and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the sprigs of thyme and bay leaves. Pour in the cream and return to a simmer. 

While simmering, roll out your puff pastry following the package instructions. (If you made your own, screw you; you know what you’re doing. But also, I am impressed.) Turn off the heat on the stove—it’s good now. Flip your deep pie dish upside down on one sheet of pastry and cut a circle a little large than the size of the pie dish. With the other sheet of pastry, cover the bottom and sides of pie dish, and trim it, leaving enough to overlap the edge of the upcoming pastry “lid.”

When the shrimp and goodness filling has stopped bubbling, use a slotted spoon and start filling up the pie. When everything is separated out, pour some of the liquid over shrimp mix. I used about half. This is the “gravy” in the savory pie. Use as much as you like. 

Top the pie with its pastry lid and crimp the edges. Poke holes in the top and stick that pie into the hot oven, on the center rack.

Bake for 30-35 min or until the top is a deep browned color and the goo inside is bubbling. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Serve and eat. (Serves 8. Or 4 gluttons.)