• Yield: Dinner for 4 or 5
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Total: 35-40 minutes
  • Active: 20 minutes or so

Ingredients (8)

  • 2 lb. shrimp, cleaned
  • 2 beers – I prefer a Canadian lager
  • 4 Tb butter
  • 4 Tb flour
  • 4 C heavy cream
  • cayenne, salt & white pepper to taste
  • Fresh parsley if you like; the color perks up this very white dish
  • Hot crusty french bread

Instructions

  1. Pour the 2 beers into a heavy sauce pan, bring it to a boil and cook your shrimp in the beer till they’re pink and firm. Scoop out the shrimp and set them aside to cool as quickly as possible. Keep the beer over medium heat and reduce it to 1/2 to 3/4 cup. Don’t boil it dry!
  2. Pour your reduced beer into a bowl and set aside. Use a spatula to get it all! Rinse your pan and wipe it dry w/ a paper towel. Put the pan back on the fire and drop in your butter. When it melts add your flour and make a roux. Do not try to make a dark roux, keep the color light for this dish.
  3. When your roux’s cooked for a minute or two, pull the pan from the heat & whisk in the beer & cream. Put the pan back on med heat and bring to a boil. As the sauce thickens, season it with salt, white pepper and cayenne to taste.
  4. I let my sauce simmer uncovered on med-low while the bread is heating, wrapped in foil, in a 400 degree oven. 15 minutes or thereabout.
  5. Drop in the shrimp and let them heat through (doesn’t take more than a couple minutes), ladle into shallow bowls. Add fresh chopped parsley if you like & serve with the french fread and ice cold beer.