Ingredients
6 cups water
½ small onion, sliced
1 rib celery, halved
3 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ pounds large shrimp in the shell
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons dry sherry or wine
1 ½ cups French bread crumbs
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon minced shallot
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper and
Instructions
1. Put water, onion, celery, peppercorns, bay leaf, and salt into a large saucepan; heat to bail. Add shrimp cover; return to boil. Drain immediately. Cool shrimp slightly; peel. Place in large bowl. Add half of the melted butter and sherry; toss to mix.
2. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix remaining melted butter and bread crumbs in a small bowl. Stir in parsley shallots, garlic, paprika and red pepper.
3. Spoon half of the shrimp mixture into a buttered 1 ½-quart baking dish. Top with half of the bread crumbs. Top with remaining shrimp mixture. Top with remaining bread crumbs. Bake until crumbs are lightly browned about 10 minutes.
* Despite Chicago’s predominately steak and potatoes diet, the first dish created here to become popular around the country was with seafood. Shrimp de Jonghe was first served in De Jonghe Hotel on East Monroe Street. Before world war I. This simple but rich recipe is a close approximation of the original, developed by either owner Henri de Jonghe or his chef Emil Zehr.
Chicago Tribune May 22 2002