Name: Shellfish Briouats (Filo Pastries with Shrimp or Crabmeat)
Yield: Makes 30
Ingredients: 2 cloves garlic, minced; 3 tablespoons unsalted butter; 2 tablespoons each chopped fresh parsley and mint or cilantro; 2 pounds shelled shrimp or crabmeat; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; 1 tablespoon paprika; ¾ to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper; Peanut oil for deep frying; 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted; 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half; Salt and freshly ground pepper; 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest; 4 teaspoons (all-purpose) flour

Preparation info

Makes
30

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Mediterranean Kitchen

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 1998

About

These are wonderful as an appetizer and can be assembled a few hours ahead of time. I served these at a Leap Year dinner at the James Beard House, where they leaped right off the plates. You may want to try these with a little added grated fresh ginger and/or green onions or ground ginger and no onions.

Ingredients

2 pounds shelled shrimp or crabmeat
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2

Method

Poach the prawns in dry white wine or fish stock until just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes, then drain and coarsely chop. If using crabmeat, pick over the meat removing any shell or cartilage and break the meat into chunks.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add th