Companions for Very Rich Foods

[BadRabbit]

I am having a dinner party and my wife wants me to serve a dish I do with shrimp, sriracha, and cream. It's very delicious but almost oppressively rich so I'm at a loss as to what to serve with it. I was thinking maybe just salad with vinaigrette so there would be some acid to cut the heaviness.

What do you serve as a side when you are serving something that is heavy on the cream\butter?

[gfweb]

Whiskey?

Dish sounds tasty. What's the recipe?

[Alcuin]

I like a salad with vinaigrette with something like this, and a dry white wine with lots of acidity.

[AAQuesada]

Banchan or any pickled/fermented bites to cut through the fat

[ElsieD]

I second the recipe request.

[Lora]

I would also add a light soup to help fill the stomach, perhaps as a first course. Whenever I eat something rich and I am starving, I end up eating too much of it and hurting myself because it takes longer for something small and rich to register. You can make it a flavor that would complement the dish.

[djyee100]

- Serve it with pasta or another starch to moderate the richness and strong flavors. Think bread & butter, or macaroni & cheese.

- Serve it with wine to clear the palate between bites. That's what wine is for. (Among other things. ) Chardonnay is the classic pairing with cream sauce.

- Follow it with a green salad with vinaigrette to clear and refresh the palate. Sometimes I serve the green salad with a rich main dish, sometimes I serve it as a course that follows. Don't ask me why, but this time I feel a green salad that follows will taste better. Maybe because then the sriracha won't run interference with the herb-y greens flavors?

Edited May 5, 2011 by djyee100 (log)

[Katie Meadow]

Sriracha? Is your main very spicy and Asian style? A nice light Asian slaw with cabbage, julieneed daikon and/or green papaya (if you have access to it) cilantro, lime juice, etc. If your main isn't very spicy, then you could add some hot pepper flakes to the slaw to liven it up. Easy, clean, lots of texture.

[BadRabbit]

Whiskey?

Dish sounds tasty. What's the recipe?

Pete's Shrimp with Sriracha Cream Sauce over Toast Points

1.5 Lb Large Shrimp

1 Large Shallot (minced)

4 Cloves Garlic (minced)

1 Large Roasted Red Pepper

¼ cup Diced Sun-dried Tomatoes in Oil

8 oz Stemmed and Sliced Shiitakes

Half & Half or Heavy Cream

Butter

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Sriracha Pepper Sauce

Salt

Black Pepper

French Baguette

Toast some baguette slices cut on the bias.

Coat a sauté pan or saucepan with olive oil and butter, and sweat the shallot and diced red pepper on low heat. After several minutes, add the minced garlic and season with Kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, and Sriracha.

Once garlic has been cooked, pour the mixture into cup, add heavy cream and puree with immersion blender. Pour the mixture back into the pan and add diced sun dried tomatoes and additional cream if needed. Sautee mushrooms. Let the sauce reduce for approximately ten minutes on low heat adding mushrooms about halfway through. Sauce should coat the back of a spoon when it is ready.

Sautee shrimp in butter then toss with sauce. Pour over baguette toast points.

Somtimes I run the sauce through a chinois before I add the sundried tomatoes. Sometimes I leave it a bit chunky.

Edited May 5, 2011 by BadRabbit (log)

[gfweb]

Yum. How much Sriracha?

[BadRabbit]

Yum. How much Sriracha?

I start with a teaspoon or so and then make an adjustment to taste after I reduce the sauce. It really depends on my audience as to how hot I make it.

Edited May 5, 2011 by BadRabbit (log)

[Jenni]

I second the call for some kind of salad-y thing. Either Western style salad greens or an Asian style slaw as Katie recommends.

Incidentally, how much cream is in the recipe? I may have missed it but I don't think you gave a quantity.

[BadRabbit]

I second the call for some kind of salad-y thing. Either Western style salad greens or an Asian style slaw as Katie recommends.

Incidentally, how much cream is in the recipe? I may have missed it but I don't think you gave a quantity.

I didn't put it down because I've never actually measured. Probably a cup or so.

I just noticed that the May Bon Appetit has a recipe for a simple salad of shaved asparagus with parmesan and a lemon vinaigrette. That may just be the ticket here.

[nikkib]

i do a really nice courgette ribbon and spinach dish where you literally heat them in a pan for a minute with some chilli and lime juice when i do a shrimp gratin - and always a nice bottle of a good californian chardonnay or if i am feeling flush puligny montrachet....

[Kouign Aman]

Throw in some starchy bulk somewhere, as noted before.

Rice is nice. Perhaps just medium grain white rice cooked with lots of parsely.

Rolls work well too.

[Beebs]

Yum! That sounds delicious! I think I have everything so that's going on my dinner list this week.

As to something to accompany it, another vote on a dry white wine, or even dry sparkling or maybe rose.

[Shelby]

I like roasted asparagus with a balsamic vinegar drizzled on top to go with rich, creamy sauces.

[BadRabbit]

Throw in some starchy bulk somewhere, as noted before.

Rice is nice. Perhaps just medium grain white rice cooked with lots of parsely.

Rolls work well too.

I serve it on toasted french bread

[highchef]

The little young green beans, just blanched crispy, tossed with good olive oil, shallots, tarragon vineager and salt and pepper vinagrette. Serve cold or room temp. Yummmmm

Btw, I say tarragon, because it has a thing for seafood anyway, might as well encourage the relationship!

[ElsieD]

Can't wait to make this. I'm the proud owner of some gulf shrimp I got from a fish wholesaler and they are just lying about in my freezer looking to be put to good use. Usually, all you can find here are the farmed Asian shrimp and they give me the heebie-jeebies.

[Beebs]

Yum! That sounds delicious! I think I have everything so that's going on my dinner list this week.

As to something to accompany it, another vote on a dry white wine, or even dry sparkling or maybe rose.

Ok, so I made it for tonight's dinner, over pasta, and a bottle of vinho verde. DH loved it! Next time I will use more sriracha and sundried tomatoes. Too lazy to roast the peppers so just sauteed them.

Thanks for sharing your recipe, BadRabbit!

[BadRabbit]

Yum! That sounds delicious! I think I have everything so that's going on my dinner list this week.

As to something to accompany it, another vote on a dry white wine, or even dry sparkling or maybe rose.

Ok, so I made it for tonight's dinner, over pasta, and a bottle of vinho verde. DH loved it! Next time I will use more sriracha and sundried tomatoes. Too lazy to roast the peppers so just sauteed them.

Thanks for sharing your recipe, BadRabbit!

Glad you enjoyed it.

If I'm just cooking for my wife and I, I double the Sriracha I would put in otherwise because we both like it really hot.

Oddly enough, I've never tried it over pasta but I will in the future.