Da Beef wrote:My uncle is a fancy chef who quit the industry to sell insurance years ago...Ill post his recipe on here with some pics after it happens.
Went over there to make up a batch of De Jonghe last week and it turned out great. It tasted just like I remember.
Richard's Shrimp De JongheMakes six or seven seashells worth (five shrimp to a shell)
2 lbs shelled shrimp (bigger ones)
1 stalk of flat leaf parsley
1 clove of garlic (about 12-15 pieces in all)
1.5 cups of bread crumbs (fresh D'amatos preferred)
2 sticks of butter
1 cup dry sherry
salt pepper and red chili flakes
3/4 cup of shredded Parmesan
This was a really simple recipe and can be made a day ahead and placed in the refrigerator. He mentioned how some of the recipes from his old school cookbooks were ridiculous about the fact they wanted you to boil the shrimp beforehand and how even stupider it was that some said to leave the shrimp in the hot water to rest for 30 minutes. Skip the pre-cooking of the shrimp entirely. The shrimp came out perfectly cooked this way. Not everyone is going to have the seashells that he uses to cook the de jonghe on so mask sure to use something thats not deep.
Rip off the leaves from the parsley and throw in a cuisinart along with the garlic, butter, bread crumbs, sherry, salt, pepper and chili flakes and process until smooth.
The good stuff
Place 5 shrimp on each seashell and then cover them with the paste so that there are no air bubbles and it looks nice.
Ready to be placed in the oven
place the shells in a 450 oven and watch them carefully. I dont have an exact time but there done when the topping is nice and browned so keep an eye on them.
When out of the oven sprinkle with a bit of the Parmesan on top
Chicago, Chicago...
It really was good however my uncle had one complaint. Not enough BUTTER!!!! he said there wasn't enough juice on the bottom of some of the shells and he would use three sticks next time. I tended to agree. he also said that the paste turned out awfully green but something about the parsley still being wet from him washing sand off it.
Both his way and my original recipe Wisco style (above) were really good but they had a few differences. His may of not had enough butter and mine had no where near enough bread crumbs. I would add add more of each to each respective one next time.
I love a good de jonghe and had no idea it was that easy to make one. My uncle told me a story about how when I was maybe 7 or 8 he took me to White Castle and asked what I wanted and I asked if they had shrimp de jonghe...I wish.
Great for a holiday party because they can be made a day ahead and taken out of the fridge and placed in the oven the next day.