LOW COUNTRY SHRIMP BOIL, A LA COSTA DEL SOL

My son Daniel and his wife Eli, who recently moved into a big house near Atlanta, Georgia, enjoy big Sunday afternoon open house parties. The kitchen is the hub of the house. I think they chose the place especially for the kitchen with granite-topped center island.

Family and friends gather in the kitchen (it was raining outside) to peel and eat shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn. The tall kid in the blue t-shirt is my 13-year-old grandson, Lucas. He loves shrimp!

That’s where Daniel spreads the contents of an enormous pot of Low Country Boil—shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes cooked in a spicy broth. Guests gather around to peel and eat the shrimp. We had Low Country Shrimp boil twice while I was visiting, first for the day Spain lost to Russia in the World Cup (sadly) and again for the World Cup final, won by France (yay). I made Andalusian gazpacho for friends and family to sip while the great pot boiled.

Daniel lifts steaming basket out of the boiling pot.

Spread out on the kitchen's center island, shrimp boil is a hands-on feast.

Shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn--a meal in a pot.

The gazpacho gave me the idea to try a shrimp boil back here on the Costa del Sol. I had to make a few substitutions and adaptations. Without that huge pot with slotted basket (it came with a gas-fired ring for cooking on the deck), I couldn’t really prepare a boil for upwards of a dozen people in my kitchen. But, using my largest stainless-steel stock pot, I made a pretty good spread for four to six guests. Here’s how.

SHRIMP (gambas, langostinos, gambones, prawns). The ones we had in Georgia were raw, frozen, shells-on, no heads. They magically split open in boiling, making them super-easy to peel. In Spain, I bought frozen jumbo shrimp with shells and heads and removed the heads. Sorry to report, they did not split open—but hands-on shelling is part of the messy fun of this meal.

SAUSAGE. A typical low-country boil, depending on whose low country it is (Georgia, Carolina or Louisiana), contains smoked kielbasa sausage and/or spicy andouille. In Spain I chose chorizo picante, a spicy red chorizo that is made with smoked pimentón, and bockwurst, a smoked sausage. Slice the sausages before adding to the pot.

America in summer! Corn on the cob is a delight.

CORN. On the cob, Cut ears in half before adding to boil.

POTATOES. Use small red and yellow potatoes. They need to fully cook in the approximately 25 minutes of boiling.

SPICES AND HERBS. In Georgia we used packaged spice blends especially for shrimp and crab boils. There are various brands and mixes, usually with paprika, cayenne, garlic plus “spices.” The unnamed secret spices may include coriander, mustard, ginger, mace, allspice. Some, but not all, include salt and MSG. At my local market, I bought a spice blend for making gambas al pil pil (sizzling shrimp, also known as gambas al ajillo). It contains pimentón (paprika), salt, garlic, cayenne, parsley, bay, black pepper, thyme and cumin plus potenciador del sabor. Yes, “flavor enhancer” is MSG. If you like really spicy-hot flavors, add lots of the spice blend.

FLAVORINGS. Salt is essential. I suggest you taste the liquid after adding spices and salt. Add more if needed. Lemon, onion, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and beer are other suggested additions.

SERVING. Drain the ingredients (that’s where the perforated basket is useful—you just lift it out of the big pot). Otherwise, use a big colander. Indoors or outdoors, spread a table with newspaper and dump the shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausages out. Provide paper towels and bowls for shells and corn cobs. Icy-cold beer and Spanish cava go great with shrimp boil. Dipping sauce is optional.

At home on the Costa del Sol--a shrimp boil with a few substitutions. Dipping sauce is made by blending the cooked garlic cloves with mayonnaise, olive oil and lemon juice.  It's great with the potatoes and corn.

A la española-- shrimp boil with a side of gazpacho.

Andalusian gazpacho pairs perfectly with low country boil of shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn.

Low Country Shrimp Boil
Olla de Gambas y Salchichas

Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients for shrimp boil.

14-16 cups water
¾ cup beer
2 tablespoons coarse salt
3 tablespoons spice blend
1 lemon, quartered
2 bay leaves
2 pounds small potatoes
1 onion, quartered
1 head of garlic, top sliced off
1 pound sausages, sliced
3-4 ears of corn, halved
2 pounds raw shrimp without heads

Place water and beer in a large pot. Add salt, spice blend, lemon and bay leaves. Bring to a rolling boil. (Taste the liquid for salt and spice.) Add the potatoes, onion and garlic. Moderate heat so water continues to boil gently. Cook 8 minutes.

Add sausage. Keep water bubbling and cook 5 minutes.

Add corn. Cook 8 minutes.

Test the potatoes with a skewer to see if they are tender. If they’re ready, add shrimp. Cook 3 minutes. Remove pot from heat. Use a large colander to drain off water.

Serve the shrimp and other ingredients on a large platter or spread out on newspapers.

Another sauce that would go well with the shrimp boil, Romesco.
Recipe for gazpacho.
Recipe for Sizzling Shrimp (Pil Pil).

CORN, FROM ILLINOIS TO SPAIN

Sweet corn--not Illinois, but not bad.

You can take the girl out of Illinois, set her down in Spain beneath an olive tree, but you can’t take the CORN out of the girl. Corn is deep in my memory bank. Acres and acres of field corn growing all around the town where I grew up (yes, this is where high fructose corn syrup comes from). Grocery stores with heaps of sweet corn in the summer.  Best of all was Sunday dinner at Aunt Gail’s farm in southern Illinois with sweet corn picked from the garden to go with the fried chicken, green beans and sliced tomatoes. Uncle Gene said you could hear the corn growing and, on a quiet summer's evening, I would go stand among the tassels and listen. I was sure that murmur was the sound of corn pushing upwards.

The first few years in Spain, we tried growing sweet corn, getting family to send us seeds for Illini Chief Super Sweet, a hybrid developed in Illinois.  Our Spanish friends thought we were nuts. They swore corn was only to feed to hogs. Even when we gave them some to taste, they turned up their noses. The indignity, too, of eating it right off the cob!

Corn did not do well in the poor, sun-baked soil on our hillside in southern Spain and we gave up growing it. But, a few years down the pike, I discovered a local source for sweet corn. Inland, on the vega, the fertile plain, of Antequera, some Americans associated with an evangelical church in Torremolinos were growing the real stuff.

Guys peddled the corn at intersections on the main highway. Trips to the airport in the summer meant a stoplight purchase of corn.

The Antequera farm, now a rehab center (Asociación Real de Rehabilitación de Marginados), is still growing corn, now marketed in the big hypermarkets up and down the coast as King Corn, el Rey de Maiz.

While Spaniards have been willing to accept canned corn kernels as edible (indiscriminately tossed in mixed salad, I detest them), I’m guessing most are still not eating corn-on-the-cob.

Mostly I serve corn-on-the cob not so differently from back in my Illinois girlhood. Only, instead of butter or, god forbid, margarine, I serve it drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. For an especially Spanish twist, I make a dressing, aliño, with ½ tsp smoked pimentón (paprika), 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil, 2 cloves minced garlic, ½ tsp coarse salt and 1 tsp chopped parsley.

Corn, of course, is a New World plant, which may explain why it took so long to be naturalized in Spain. But, then, so are tomatoes, beans and peppers and they are totally accepted here.

Two areas of Spain where corn has long been part of the diet are Galicia in the northwest and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco (yes, the archipelago is part of the Spanish nation). Galicia uses cornmeal in yeasted bread, pancakes, empanadas. Canary Islanders use a type of cornmeal, gofio, made from toasted grain that is ground to flour. And, corn-on-the-cob (piñas de millo or maíz) goes into typical stews such as puchero and potaje.

Potaje canario with corn, vegetables and pork.

This Canary Islands potaje seems especially appropriate to the season, with many late-summer vegetables as well as the corn. Heading into fall, other vegetables can be included as well—cabbage, chayote, sweet potatoes, carrots and chard are all typical. If desired, serve the soup with a side of escaldón, a cornmeal mush made with gofio and the broth from the soup pot. Because gofio is a toasted flour, it does not need cooking. (If Canarian gofio is not available, use Venezuelan arepa flour, which also is a precooked cornmeal.)

For vegetarian potaje, just omit the meat.

 

Potaje Canario con Verduras
Canary Islands Vegetable Pot with Corn

Stewing beef can be used instead of pork. For a vegetarian version, omit the meat and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the soup.

Serves 6.

1 pound pork ribs
10 cups water
1 cup chopped onion
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon cumin
Pinch of saffron (or substitute pimentón, paprika)
1 cup cooked or canned chick peas or pinto beans
2 or 3 ears of corn, cut crosswise in thirds
2 cups diced pumpkin or butternut squash
2 cups diced potatoes
1 cup garden cress
2 cups diced zucchini
1 cup green beans
Escaldón as an accompaniment (recipe follows)

Hack the slab of ribs in half crosswise, then cut each rib. Place the ribs in a soup pot with the water, onion, tomatoes and chickpeas. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer.

In a mortar crush the salt, garlic, cumin and saffron. Dissolve in a little of the broth from the pot and stir it into the pot along with the chick peas. Cook until the meat is almost tender, 30 minutes.

Add the corn, pumpkin, potatoes, cress, zucchini and green beans. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender.

Serve the pieces of pork ribs, chick peas, corn and vegetables in soup plates with some of the broth.

Escaldón
Corn Meal Mush

Serve escaldón as a side dish with soup. Add mojo sauce.

1 ½ cups gofio (precooked corn meal)
3 cups boiling stock from the soup pot
Salt, to taste
Mojo verde (cilantro chili sauce, recipe here)
Sliced red onions
Vinegar

Place the gofio in a heatproof bowl. Stir in the boiling liquid. Stir until the mixture is fairly smooth, about the consistency of mashed potatoes. Add salt to taste.

Serve dribbled with mojo verde and red onions that have been salted and dressed with vinegar.