Shrimp de Jonghe - A Chicago Original

In 1892, the Belgian immigrant De Jonghe brothers began over three decades of culinary excellence in Chicago. They started with a restaurant opened for the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition and proceeded to create an iconic restaurant and hotel enterprise. (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-01-27/features/8501060043_1_henri-de-jonghe-hotel-manager-restaurant) One famous dish that they created was Shrimp De Jonghe. It is now served in many Chicago restaurants, as well as elsewhere.

I prepared this delicious dish for dinner with friends. The recipe I used is from Epicurious (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/shrimp-de-jonghe-105510) I later discovered that the original version and others have a couple of tablespoons of sherry, so I will add that next time.

The recipe serves 8, but the six of us finished it easily.

Ingredients

- 2 lbs large shrimp
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chervil(I had to use dried)
- pinch of dried thyme. crumbled
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 tablespoon minced onion
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butterm softened
- 1 & 1/2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
- pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- pinch of mace
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
(2 tablespoons dry sherry)

Directions

1. Cook the shrimp in a 4-quart pot of boiling salted water until cooked just through, about 1 & 1/2 minutes. Drain shrimp in a colander; then immediately transfer to large bowl of ice water to stop cooking. (To salt the water for boiling, use 1 tablespoon of salt.)

2. Preheat oven to 350°F.

3. Mash garlic to a paste with 1/4 teaspoon salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash garlic with salt using a large knife. Then stir together with fresh and dried herbs, shallot, onion, 1 & 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) of the butter, sherry, 1 cup of the bread crumbs, nutmeg, mace, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

4. Melt remaining q/w stick butter and stir together with remaining 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to make topping.

5.Arrange shrimp in 1 layer (slightly overlapping if necessary) in a buttered 3-quart flameproof grating dish or other wide, shallow ceramic baking dish. Over with herbed breadcrumb mixture. Then sprinkle with topping.

6. Bake in upper third of oven until golden, about 15 minutes. Then turn on broiler and boil until crumbs are golden brown, about 2 minutes. (Watch broiling very carefully because the crumbs can quickly burn.)