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Spiced Potted Shrimp
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- Total Time
- 20 minutes, plus chilling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1½cups unsalted butter (3 sticks)
- 4anchovy fillets, chopped
- 2teaspoons fresh thyme or lemon thyme, minced, more for garnish
- ½teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼teaspoon plus ⅛ teaspoon mace (or nutmeg)
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼teaspoon ground black pepper
- Pinch cayenne
- Pinch celery seed
- 1pound peeled shrimp, cut into ¼-inch dice
- 1garlic clove, grated on a Microplane or minced
- Lemon wedges, for serving
- Tabasco, for serving
- Hot toast, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Let cook, skimming the foam off the top of the butter, until the white milk solids fall to the bottom of the pan. Carefully pour about half the clarified butter into a measuring cup with a spout and set aside. Leave remaining butter and all those milk solids in the skillet.
- Step 2
Add anchovy, thyme, lemon zest, mace, salt, pepper, cayenne and celery seed to skillet. Stir in shrimp and cook over medium heat until pink, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in garlic.
- Step 3
Divide shrimp among 8 ramekins, top with the remaining herbed butter from the skillet and chill until set, about 1 hour.
- Step 4
Pour reserved clarified butter on top and chill until set, about 15 minutes, or up to 5 days (or freeze for up to 1 month). Remove ramekins from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes to 1 hour before serving with lemon wedges, Tabasco and hot toast.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
PS: I use tiger shrimp when available. I retain the shrimp shells and brown them lightly (2 min) in a stick of butter. Strain the butter in a sieve lined in cheesecloth. When the butter has cooled I then add few drops of cognac and ground allspice, ground clove and piment d' espelette.....
Great dish, fairly quick to produce which is well suited for entertaining. I might try it with pasta, it is so full of favor.
I had a pinch of ground clove, ground allspice and piment d' espelette....few drops of cognac. Superb!
Traditionally, potted shrimp are sold in British supermarkets in tiny tubs, and are also popular food in good pubs. Best enjoyed on very thinly sliced whole-wheat toast, with just a spritz of fresh lemon juice. In Britain the tiniest, most tender shrimp are used whole, but I’ve never seen them sold in the US. Looking forward to giving this recipe a go!
Butter may remain solid at room temperature unless warmed
Loved this. Thanks Melissa. Made exactly as written, using shrimp recommended as 2nd most flavorful at Berkeley Bowl fish counter. (Made a broth wiith the shells that tasted great in miso soup later.) could have used a bit more spice at first, but flavor developed over a couple more days. Sweet batard was the perfect bread, dense cell structure, toasted evenly. Agree about needing more time to warm before serving.
Great dish, fairly quick to produce which is well suited for entertaining. I might try it with pasta, it is so full of favor.
Canned shrimp would work well.
Remarkably bland, despite increasing the seasonings.
PS: I use tiger shrimp when available. I retain the shrimp shells and brown them lightly (2 min) in a stick of butter. Strain the butter in a sieve lined in cheesecloth. When the butter has cooled I then add few drops of cognac and ground allspice, ground clove and piment d' espelette.....
I had a pinch of ground clove, ground allspice and piment d' espelette....few drops of cognac. Superb!
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