Pickled Shrimp
from The New Southern Cook
The best salad I know is a
good mound of these atop fresh greens or avocado
slices. This is a revised version of the
excellent recipe in Hoppin' John's Lowcountry Cooking. There are two "secrets"
to this recipe: the quality of the olive oil and
the quantity of bay leaves.
On the coast of South
Carolina, where I live, many people grow bay. My
friend Billie Burn, author of Stirrin' the
Pots on Daufuskie, sends me her prunings
every year from her home on that barrier island.
Go to your natural foods store and buy bay leaves
in bulk. They'll be fresher and a lot less
expensive than those bottled ones in the grocery
store.
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| Sterilize a
quart jar and set aside. Combine the salt, oil,
lemon juice, mustard and celery seeds, and the
garlic and set aside. Place about 15 shrimp in
the jar, then put a layer of about 4 bay leaves.
Put a layer of onion slices, then continue making
similar layers until the jar is filled and all of
the ingredients are used. You will have to pack
the jar fairly tightly to get them to fit. You
may have to push down on the ingredients a
little. (I use a tall, narrow olive or capers
jar.) When the jar is
full, stir the oil mixture well and pour slowly
into the jar. Use a fork or a spatula to run down
the sides to release air bubbles and to make sure
the jar fills. If well packed, the jar will hold
all of the ingredients perfectly.
Put the lid on the jar and
turn it over to make sure everything is coated
with oil and that the air bubbles are out. Right
the jar, open it again, and push the ingredients
down again so that they are covered with a film
of oil.
Refrigerate for at least 24
hours before serving. When you remove shrimp from
the jar, be sure to use a clean fork, never a
finger. Before returning the jar to the
refrigerator, make sure the remaining ingredients
are covered with a film of oil and they will last
easily for 2 weeks, if you can keep out of them!
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