David’s Shrimp Fra Diabolo
David Rosengarten’s Shrimp Marinara
(serves 2 as a main course or 6 as an appetiser)
1 lb/450g large shrimp/king prawns, with shells on (and heads if you can find them!)
sea salt
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 tbsps olive oil
2 soup-size cans whole peeled tomatoes in juice
1/4 cup torn basil leaves
Peel (saving shells and heads but discarding legs) and devein shrimp. I like to devein them “deeply”: not a butterfly, but half-way there. Picks up sauce better.
Salt them liberally, and toss evenly with a tablespoon of garlic. Let sit for 1–2 hours.
Meanwhile, saute another tablespoon of garlic in 2 tbsps olive oil over medium heat. After 2 minutes, raise heat to medium-high and add the shrimp shells and heads, tossing well. Saute until the shells brown a little, 2–3 minutes.
Bring heat down to low. Grab 6 large tomatoes. One by one, squeeze each tomato in your hand directly over the pan of shells, squeezing firmly, letting all juice and tomato fragments fall into the saute pan. Each tomato should break into 5–6 “clumps” in your hand. Don’t wear a white shirt [he did!].
Add basil leaves to the mixture. Stir.
Let the tomato-shell mixture simmer for 2–3 minutes. Turn off heat and leave the pan on the stove, without heat, for an hour or two [I forgot to do this and it turned out wonderful, but probably you should do as he says].
When ready to cook, pick the shells and heads out of the shell-tomato mixture. Discard shells and heads.
Place 3 remaining tbsps olive oil in a new, medium-wide saute pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp. Stir-fry until the shrimp are almost cooked: pink, slightly translucent at center, about 2 minutes.
Add the tomato-basil sauce. Stir to blend well with the shrimp. Cook, stirring, for a minute more. Taste for seasoning and serve.
