Canapés à l'Amiral

Canapés à l'Amiral
Recipe by Dana McCauley

I'm excited to be getting back to the Titanic Dinner project! Up next is the second of the two Hor d'oeuvres offered as part of the first course from the 1st class dinner menu on the Titanic (along with Oysters à la Russe).

These canapés are incredible and the shrimp butter is out of this world delicious. I made these for a potluck dinner party and they were gone in no time. I'm going to make this shrimp butter again and toss it in some angel hair pasta...how good does that sound? Each component of this dish can be prepared in advance and assembled at the last minute. Don't skip the dash a vanilla in shrimp butter, it is the secret to making these unforgettable.

Enjoy!

Makes 20 hors d’oeuvres

Ingredients:
1/2 thin baguette
1 teaspoon lime juice
10 small shrimp, halved lengthwise, cooked
Fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons fish roe

SHRIMP BUTTER
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz. shrimp in shell
1/4 cup brandy
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons. butter, softened
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Dash vanilla

Directions:

1. In skillet, heat oil over medium heat; add shallot and garlic; cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until softened.

2. Increase heat to high, add shrimp and sauté, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until shells are pink and flesh is opaque.

3. Transfer shrimp and vegetables to bowl of food processor. Return pan to stove and pour in brandy; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or until brandy is reduced to a glaze; scrape into shrimp mixture.

4. Puree shrimp mixture until finely chopped. Add cream cheese, butter, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and vanilla. Process until almost smooth. Press shrimp mixture through coarse sieve set over bowl; discard shells.

5. Slice baguette into 20 thin slices. Place on baking sheet and toast under broiler for 1 minute per side or until lightly golden. Reserve.

6. Drizzle lime juice over cooked shrimp halves; stir and reserve.

7. Place shrimp butter in piping bag fitted with star tube. Pipe shrimp butter onto toasts. Top with a cooked shrimp half and a parsley leaf. Top each canapé with an equal amount of fish roe.

7 comments:

Dana McCauley said...

Nicely done!

Peter M said...

Love to try these out...shrimp butter sounds sublime.

Bunny said...

They look absolutely stunning Paula.

Anonymous said...

This looks incredibly tasty. I have a question. Of the 8oz. shrimp, is it halved for the processor and then the topped? Or are the topped shrimp additional to the 8oz?

Dragon said...

The topped shrimp are in addition to the 8oz for the shrimp butter. :)

Nathan said...

I think the result is a lot better without cream cheese, using only lots of sweet (unsalted) butter.

I don't have a copy of the book you've been working from, but such an approach would be consistent with the way Escoffier and other authorities produced lobster and related (crawfish etc.) butters. They obviously didn't use food processors, either liquifying the butter and extracting flavors into it then cooling and/or crushing the shellfish with a mortar and pestle.

Unknown said...

why would you use shrimp with shells for shrimp butter? isn;t the shrimp butter supposed to be smooth?

 
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