Paula Wolfert

Shrimp with Orange, Shallots, and Grilled Radicchio

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Preparation info

  • Difficulty

    Medium

  • Serves

    4

    for lunch or a first course

Appears in

top 1000The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen: Recipes for the Passionate Cook

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2003

  • About

Here’s a colorful dish of marinated shrimp served with a luscious fruity orange and shallot sauce, accompanied by a mound of burnished radicchio and a few drops of your best balsamic vinegar.

My recipe is based on a dish served at the restaurant Franco Rossi in Bologna. The chef confided his personal secret: a white paste composed of shallots ground with butter and olive oil to thicken the sauce.

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
  • ⅓ cup orange juice
  • ½ teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1¼ pounds large shrimp in the shell (about 2 dozen)
  • 1 large radicchio, preferably Treviso, cored and cut into eighths
  • A few drops of balsamic vinegar
  • 1 cup baby greens, for garnish

Method

  1. Early in the day, make the marinade. Gently heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet and add the chopped garlic, 3 tablespoons of the orange juice, the orange zest, 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
  2. Cream the butter with the shallots, remaining 1 teaspoon lemon juice, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
  3. About 1 hour before serving, marinate the shrimp in the orange juice mixture.
  4. Heat a ridged iron grill. Brush the chunks of radicchio with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and grill until all the surfaces are browned and the interiors are tender, about 5 minutes. Place the radicchio in a covered dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and keep warm.
  5. About 5 minutes before serving, in a heated skillet set over medium heat, sauté the shrimp and marinade, turning often, until they’re cooked and the marinade is reduced and syrupy, about 2 minutes. Add the shallot butter and cook, stirring, for 1 more minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and hold.
  6. Divide the shrimp and radicchio among serving plates. Pour the remaining orange juice, the balsamic vinegar, and 2 tablespoons water into the skillet. Quickly bring to a boil and reduce slightly Sprinkle each serving with the deglazed juices and top with a few baby greens. Serve at once.

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. Copyright © 2003 by Paula Wolfert. Photographs copyright © by Christopher Hirsheimer. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.