One more recipe from the late Frank Davis. His recipe collection has been donated to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. The world will never see another man like Frank.
2 links Cajun Smoked Sausage, half diced, half disked
½ lb. fresh Mushrooms, quartered
1 small can Contadina Tomato Paste
1 cup prepared chopped Seasoning Vegetables
1 large can Tomato Sauce
2 Tbsp. minced Garlic
3 tomato-paste cans of Chicken Broth
2 Bay Leaves
1 tsp. sweet Basil
2 tsp. Frank Davis Seafood Seasoning
3 lbs. butterflied, deveined Shrimp
4 Tbsps. extra virgin Olive Oil
2 lbs. Penne (cooked al dente)
1 cup Parmesan Cheese for topping
1 large loaf Garlic Bread
First off, take a heavy-bottomed, 5-quart, Dutch oven and place it on the stovetop over high heat.
When a drop of water dropped into the pot sizzles, it’s time to place the smoked sausage into the pot, lower the heat to medium, and briskly stir the sausage over itself continuously until it renders out most of it’s drippings and begins to turn a toasty brown. At that exact time, add the mushrooms to the pot and stir them ‘round and around until they pick up most of the sausage drippings and they, themselves, begin to toast (all this should take about 10 minutes or so).
When the mixture is fully seared, remove it all from the Dutch oven and set it aside momentarily on a platter.
Now increase the heat under the pot once more.
Then spoon in the tomato paste and stir it continuously until the paste is piping hot.
At that point, drop into the pot the mirapoix (that’s the pre-chopped onion, celery, bell pepper, parsley, and green onion mix that you buy in the produce section of the supermarket) and stir it completely into the tomato paste until it is fully incorporated.
At that point, pour in the tomato sauce, the minced garlic, and the 3 paste cans full of chicken broth.
Then drop in the seared sausage and mushrooms, the bay leaves, the basil, and the seafood seasoning and stir, stir, and stir some more!
When the tomato sauce is silky smooth and totally combined with the ingredients, lower the heat under the pot to low, place the lid on tightly, and set the sauce simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Then when you’re just about ready to eat, heat up a 12-inch, non-stick skillet, pour in the olive oil, drop in the shrimp, and quickly sear them until they just turn pink and their edges begin to take on a touch of bronze.
Stop cooking them at this point! They’re done! To cook them any longer in the skillet will make them rubbery!
All you do now is take the cover off the Dutch oven, add in the shrimp and their olive-oil pan drippings, stir everything completely once more, and let the pot sit—covered again!—with the fire off for about 10 minutes so that the residual heat from the tomato sauce tempers the shrimp and marries their flavors into the rest of the dish.
Then when you’re ready to eat, spoon out a liberal serving of egg noodles into a bowl, ladle on a generous scoop or two of the sausage-mushroom-shrimp sauce, sprinkle on a flurry of grated Parmesan cheese, and finish the dish off with a man-size chunk of hot garlic bread!
Enjoy!!!
