OUR FAVORITE COCKTAIL (SPOILER: IT'S SHRIMP)
Plus the LUCKIEST Dish to Serve on New Year's Day
Happy ALMOST New Year to our W4D Friends! We are taking some much-needed time off, so please enjoy this week’s encore newsletter… To be completely honest, we still make both of these recipes every New Year, so it’s about as au currant as 2024! Wishing you a happy, healthy, and safe New Year!! xoxo
NEW YEAR’S EVE: BLOODY MARY SHRIMP COCKTAIL
EK: Are you one of those people who would love to have a Bloody Mary after—let’s say noon? Sometimes I crave a Bloody Mary even when it’s customary to have a “real” cocktail. So, what’s the next best thing to a Bloody Mary after 5 o’clock? A Grilled Shrimp Cocktail with Bloody Mary Cocktail Sauce. Think of all your favorite flavors from a Bloody, including the vodka, and you have my favorite cocktail sauce! And, it can be made up to a week in advance.
AU: You’re really speaking my love language here, Elizabeth. I am a sucker for a Bloody Mary (extra horseradish, por favor!) and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE a shrimp cocktail! I feel like people think there’s some “chefy magic” in making shrimp cocktail, but the truth is it couldn’t be simpler! I like to cook mine using sous vide—it all stays in the bag (while cooking & chilling) until it’s time to plate!
EK: I like to grill shell-on shrimp, ice them down, peel them and serve them with the sauce. If you prefer steaming your shrimp or even buying already prepared shrimp, do yourself a favor and make this sauce. It’s really easy and you may already have most of the ingredients in your fridge and pantry!
The key to great grilled shrimp is buying the biggest shrimp you can find that are still in the shell. The shell protects the delicate flesh and adds a lot of shrimpy goodness to the shrimp. I bought U-15 shrimp which are also sometimes referred to as “colossal.” U-15 means that there are “under” 15 shrimp in a pound. When you are looking at shrimp classifications, the lower the number, the larger the shrimp.
Grill them over a medium-high heat. You want them cook quickly and get some tale-tell grill marks, but not so quick that they overcook and get tough. If they are easy to peel, you’ve cooked them right. If the shell sticks to the shrimp and they are hard to peel, the chances are that you over-cooked them. If you do over-cook them, don’t worry just add more sauce and serve them cold—and remember for the next time!
EK: I love a great hotel or steakhouse shrimp cocktail and the texture of the cold shrimp is key. I’ve found that icing down the shrimp after they are cooked makes all the difference in the texture—this is not a step to skip.
GRILLED SHRIMP WITH BLOODY MARY COCKTAIL SAUCE
Update your classic shrimp cocktail with grilled shrimp and a homemade Bloody Mary Cocktail Sauce. This sweet and smoky, tart and tangy Bloody Mary sauce is so good you will want to drink it—or adopt it as both your house cocktail sauce and the mixer for your favorite eye opener. Rim your serving dish with celery salt before serving for a special presentation and that hint of celery.
6 Servings
Grilled Shrimp: see recipe below
BLOODY MARY COCKTAIL SAUCE:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup Heinz Chili sauce
2 small lemons, zested & juiced (3-4 Tablespoons of juice)
1 small lime, juiced (½ Tablespoon)
2 heaping Tablespoons prepared white horseradish (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons pureed chipotle in adobo (or more to taste)*
2 Tablespoons (1 ounce) vodka
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
Celery salt for rimming serving dish**
Make the cocktail sauce. In a non-reactive bowl, mix ketchup, chili sauce, lemon juice, zest, lime juice, horseradish, pureed chipotle, vodka, Worcestershire and garlic salt until well combined.
Taste and adjust seasonings. If you like a lot of horseradish, and chipotle, you may want to add more. Set aside. The sauce can be made and refrigerated in a glass mason jar up to one week in advance.
Serve sauce with the shrimp either in a large bowl for a crowd or in individual servings of 5 shrimp each.
Notes:
Chipotles come canned in adobo sauce. The easiest way to use them is to puree the whole can and store the mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Use a small amount to add a sweet, smoky heat to everything from this cocktail sauce to mayo, soups and stews—like Anthony’s New Year’s Day Soup below!!
AU: BREAKING NEWS! I found pre-chopped chipotles in adobo at my local Ralph’s grocery store, so if your store has ‘em, you can use those instead.
Rim a dish with celery salt before serving. To rim the dish, distribute a generous tablespoon of celery salt on a flat plate. Rub a cut lemon around the rim of your serving dish to moisten. While the rim is still wet, dip it in the celery salt and it will adhere.
GRILLED SHRIMP IN SHELL
I prefer grilling shell-on shrimp and peeling them once they have cooled. If you prefer grilling peeled and deveined shrimp, make sure to take them off the grill when they are pink and slightly undercooked or they will be tough.
Grilling Method: Direct/Medium-High Heat
1-2 pounds large shrimp, in shell about 25
2 Tablespoons olive oil
METHOD:
Preheat the grill according to instructions.
Place shrimp in a non-reactive bowl. Mix with olive oil until well coated. Place shrimp on the cooking grate directly over the heat deflector plate with the lid down. Grill until pink and almost cooked through, about 4-6 minutes, turning once halfway through the cooking time.
Remove from grill and place on a tray. You can serve the shrimp hot with the cocktail sauce or let them cool and serve them cold. Serve with the shell on or peeled. If cold is your preference, let the shrimp cool completely by topping with ice. Once they are cool, drain the excess water and refrigerate covered for 4-5 hours or up to 24 hours. Peel the shrimp and serve with chilled cocktail sauce.
Note: if you are grilling peeled and de-veined shrimp, they will take about 2 minutes less.
WHAT’S 4 DINNER?: NEW YEAR’S DAY SOUP
AU: I typically host a very small NYE gathering (I’m not one for crowds even when we’re not in the midst of a global pandemic), but I’ve always been more of a “day drinker” than a night owl (maybe it’s all those years working a morning show schedule). So it’s no surprise that I am more of a New Year’s DAY guy…
My ideal New Year’s Day consists of a very spicy bloody mary, some of my New Year’s Day soup, a killer cornbread slathered in salted butter, and friends dropping by to have a bite throughout the day. Nothing formal—everyone’s in sweats and there’s no set time. It’s a great way to eeeease into the new year. Baby steps. No one move too quickly. A cozy, relaxed vibe is KEY. This has been tradition in our house for quite some time, and it brings me so much joy.
Even though we may not be gathering this year, I do hope you’ll make the New Year’s Day soup (recipe below). It’s the perfect thing to make, because it sets you up for great things in the new year, AND WHO DOESN’T WANT THAT?! (Plus, it’s healthy-ish, too!). It has black-eyed peas for good luck, collard greens to bring you good fortune, and pork (in the form of ham), so you live “high on the hog” in 2022! Elizabeth is my Cornbread Queen, so be sure to do what she says to pair with the soup…
EK: Thank you Anthony! I am honored to be your Cornbread Queen. Cornbread is my ultimate comfort food. I make it pure and simple with lots of salted butter like Anthony, with Creamed Corn, like I did for a version we served at Hill Country BBQ Market—that’s the secret to it’s toothsome texture; Jalapeños & Cheddar when I serve it with gumbo or chili; and when I am feeling fancy, my bacon and onion version of a cornbread that a chef at Certified Angus Beef made for me a few years ago. It’s “fancy” because the bottom is a layer of bacon and onions and you invert the cornbread so that the bottom becomes the top as you see in the photograph. If this Vidalia Onion Cornbread recipe strikes your fancy, you can read about it and get it on my website. I personally think it sounds like the perfect cornbread for Anthony’s New Year’s Day Soup!
AU: That’s it for 2023—We are so excited to share more with you in 2024!
EK: Happy New Year!! May 2024 be the most delicious year yet… For all of us!