Classic English Curried Shrimp from Locke-Ober

A dish of classic English curried shrimp made with a classic English curry sauce and served with baked curried rice was a mainstay of the menu at Locke Ober, the elegant and late lamented Boston institution that was hidden down a footpath off Winter Street by the Common. It is a mild simple curry prototypical of the Fannie Farmer flavor profile prevalent nationwide when the dish first emerged from the Locke Ober kitchen, but even so a composition with a twist. ‘Curried rice’ does not often accompany a curry and this one adds another dimension to the preparation. Our versions are based somewhat loosely on ones from Boston’s Locke-Ober Café by Ned and Pam Bradford.

For the sauce:

• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• a peeled and chopped apple
• a chopped celery stalk or two
• a chopped onion
• 1 Tablespoon curry powder
• 3 Tablespoons flour (preferably Wondra)
• 2 cups hot chicken stock
• 2 oz light cream
• salt and pepper

For the curried rice:

• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• a diced onion
• 1 cup rice
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 oz tomato sauce
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon rice

For the curried shrimp:

• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• about 1 lb raw peeled shrimp
• ½ cup Sherry (Fino or Amontillado depending on how dry you like your Sherry)

1. Make the sauce by melting the 3 Tablespoons of butter over medium low heat in a heavy skillet.
2. Add the apple, celery and onion until they just soften, reducing the heat if necessary to prevent the onion browning.
3. Add the curry powder, stir it around for a couple of minutes, then stir in the flour until it loses its raw cast.
4. Slowly stir the stock into the mix until the sauce is smooth and thick, usually in about five to ten minutes.
5. Simmer the sauce, strain off the solids, then add the cream and seasonings.
6. Increase the heat to high, add the cream, bring the sauce just to a boil and immediately remove the heat from the burner to prevent the cream curdling, whisking as you do.
7. Keep the sauce warm.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

8. Melt the Tablespoon of butter in a heavy ovenproof skillet that has a cover over medium low heat, then stir in the onion and cook it until clear.
9. Add the rice, coat it with the onion butter, followed by the curry powder and tomato sauce, then the stock and salt.
10. Stir the elements of the dish together, cover the skillet and bake the rice until dry and tender, usually in about 20-25 minutes.
11. Keep the rice warm.
12. Melt the 4 Tablespoons butter in a heavy skillet over high heat, flash the shrimp until they just curl and turn pink, then pour the Sherry over the shrimp and reduce it by half.
13. Reduce the heat in turn to low, add about 1 cup of the curry sauce and simmer the shrimp for five minutes or so.
14. Serve the shrimp with the rice along with a pitcher of the remaining curry sauce and, as the Bradfords demand, “with the usual curry condiments,” which they do not identify.

Notes:

-This is a preparation that screams for modification. Our version, for example, uses twice the amount of apple, celery and onion in the sauce from the original recipe, and if you like a textured curry you need not discard them at Step 5.

-You also might substitute coconut milk for the cream at Step 6. If you do, eliminate the flour at Step 3, cut the amount of stock in half and add 1½ cups at the end of Step 4, then fear no curdle and cook the sauce a little longer to marry the coconut.

-Cayenne added at Step 3 or the outset of Step 12 would neither do harm nor impair the authentically English pedigree of the dish.

-A shower of sliced scallion greens just before service enhances any curry from the cuisine of any culture, including this English one.