Shrimp Creole - NYR - YYYYY

2 medium-size onions
1 green pepper
2-3 ribs of celery (to make 1½ c. chopped)
4 T. bacon drippings
1 large can (4 cups) plum tomatoes
½ tsp sugar
4 T. tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste (or Creole or Cajun seasoning)
3 cups cooked shrimp

Coarsely chop onions, green pepper, and celery and sauté in bacon drippings until translucent. Coarsely chop tomatoes (or you can use petite diced tomatoes). Add tomatoes, sugar, and tomato paste to sautéed mixture. Let this mixture simmer slowly to a thick consistency for 30 – 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Five minutes before serving add cooked shrimp to warm.

This should be served over cooked long-grain white rice. Serves 6 – 8. (I think it’s more like 4 – 6.)

I came across this recipe yesterday, quite by accident. We had some cooked shrimp left from the shrimp cocktail we took to Elizabeth's Super Bowl Party on Sunday. I told Gary we must eat that tonight. I didn't know what I would do with it, figured we would just eat it as Shrimp Cocktail with a salad, but it's freezing around here, so that didn't appeal to him. He suggested stir-fry, but for some reason that did not appeal to me. Later I decided to read a book I had picked up at the library, A Christmas Pearl, by Dorothea Benton Frank. It was a delightful story set in Charleston, South Carolina. At the end of the book I discovered she had shared several of the recipes for foods served in the book, one of which was Shrimp Creole. Upon checking out the ingredients, I found I had everything on hand to make a half of the recipe. I will tell you that Gary and I both enjoyed the dish very much, in fact, we both had seconds, so what should have fed 3 - 4 fed the two of us. Had I made anything else to accompany the shrimp creole, I don't think we would have eaten all of it. But we figured it had plenty of veggies in it and served over the rice, it was a pretty much all in one meal.

(NYR=New Year's Resolution. Yummy rating: YYYYY = fabulous!)