By Dana Jacobi

Today, thanks to the convenience and moderate prices at fast-food and family-style restaurants, many kids eat dinner out as frequently as they do at home. But in the seemingly antediluvian days when I was their age, eating out during the week was an occasion. 

I remember my favorite restaurant when I was a child was located near what is now Lincoln Center in New York City. A large restaurant specializing in fish, it was unique, like Disneyland.

One dining room, long and narrow, had portholes along each wall through which you saw fake fish swimming among coral, and an occasional flash of a mermaid's tail. In another room, the tables were set in wooden lifeboats made extra-wide to hold a proper, white tablecloth set-up.

Eating at such a restaurant, I thought, required being grown-up sophisticated, so I felt compelled to adventure beyond fish sticks to sample more exotic dishes.

Happily, what showed up was usually pleasing, whether it was shrimp scampi, dripping butter and reeking of garlic; slurpy cioppino, a stew of mixed fish and shellfish in an aromatic broth; or what, after one taste, became my most favorite dish, shrimp Creole. 

Served over fluffy rice, this tomato sauce-based dish felt like a worldlier version of Spanish rice, a popular dish made at home back then.

Creole cooks frequently use the trinity of onions, green bell peppers and celery, cooked together slowly in oil or butter until tender. The fiery and aromatic spices favored by Cajun cooks were not much known back then, and the mild seasonings this restaurant used were no doubt one reason I was so comfortable with my shrimp Creole.

Today, I make this dish to suit my grown-up taste for flavors that make my taste buds tingle.

To achieve this, I use a kick of chipotle chile pepper and add paprika, which deepens the flavor of the tomato sauce. I serve this shrimp Creole with long-grain brown rice rather than the traditional white rice for extra nutrition and fiber.

Smoking Shrimp Creole

1 tsp. canola oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small celery rib, thinly sliced
2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
1 can (14 oz.) crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. ground paprika
1/8-1/4 tsp. ground chipotle chili
3/4 lb. small or medium shrimp, shelled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cooked long-grain brown rice

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.  Saute the onion, pepper, celery and garlic until the onion is translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, paprika and chipotle chile.

Simmer the sauce, covered, until it is thick, 15 to 20 minutes, stirring it 2 or 3 times.

Add the shrimp and cook, uncovered, until they are pink and firm, 5 to 7 minutes, depending on their size.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve over cooked brown rice.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutritional information:
Per serving: calories, 280 calories; total fat, 6 g; saturated fat, less than 1 g; carbohydrate, 35 g; protein, 22 g; dietary fiber, 4 g; sodium, 263 mg.

Did you know?

Although small, shrimp are big in nutrients, including tryptophan, selenium, protein, vitamin D, vitamin B12, iron, phospherous, omega-3 fatty acids, among others.

Dana Jacobi is the author of The Joy of Soy and other healthy-eating cookbooks, and serves as recipe creator for the American Institute for Cancer Research's book, Stopping Cancer Before It Starts.

Source: American Institute for Cancer Research
Reference: Something Different

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