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Bayou country, spring vegetables inspire shrimp pot pie

Recipe: Shrimp pot pie with fresh peas, carrots and spring onions

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUN 2, 2024

What's below the crust? Shrimp and a delicious collection of fresh vegetables. Debbie Arrington

The first time I had shrimp pie was at an antebellum plantation mansion-turned-B&B on Louisiana’s River Road. The place also served dinner because it was too far away from any restaurants in the middle of nowhere next to the mighty Mississippi. (It was possibly haunted, too.)

There were no menu choices; just a Creole-inspired prix fixe dinner. Before that meal, I had never considered the possibility of a shrimp pie. I couldn’t wait until I got home to California to make one myself.

Shrimp filling for pot pie — The creamy sauce, shrimp and vegetables are
ready to go into the pie.

That was almost 40 years ago, and I have been “playing” with the recipe ever since.

Pot pie is best with spring vegetables such as fresh peas and carrots and mild spring onions. Try not to overcook the shrimp; they can turn tough.

The rich sauce is just enough to keep everything moist underneath that single crust. Use a prepared crust or, if you prefer, one from scratch.

Shrimp pot pie

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

Butter or cooking spray for baking dish

¾ pound large shrimp, cleaned and tails removed

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

Juice of ½ lemon

2 tablespoons butter or more as needed

1 spring onion, chopped

6 button or cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 carrot, sliced into thin coins

1 cup fresh peas, shelled

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ cup dry white wine

¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup milk

1 prepared 9-inch pie crust

Flour

Instructions:

Butter or spray a deep 8-inch casserole dish. Set aside.

In a bowl, sprinkle shrimp with seasoning and lemon juice; stir.

Finished pot pie — The filling bubbled up over the crust
while the pot pie was baking.

In a large heavy pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add shrimp and sauté briefly on both sides until the shrimp just turns pink, about 2 minutes a side. With a slotted spoon, remove the shrimp from the pan and set aside.

Add more butter to the pan if needed. Add onion and sauté until soft. Add mushrooms and sauté to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add carrots to the mix and sauté another 2 minutes. Add peas and sauté until bright green, about 2 minutes more.

Add thyme and white wine to the pan and simmer until the wine is reduced by half, about 5 minutes (or less). Stir in the heavy cream and milk. Cook until sauce thickens slightly. Stir in shrimp and let cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Transfer the shrimp filling into the prepared casserole dish. (Use a deep dish; the filling will bubble.) With floured hands, top the filling with the pie crust. The crust can sit on top of the filling or stretch across the top of the dish. Make several slits in the crust.

Bake in a 400-degree oven until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles around the edges, 30 to 40 minutes. Bake the pie on top of a baking sheet to catch any overflow.

Remove from oven. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes, then serve.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipe recipes spring May entree peas carrots mushrooms Sacramento gardening savory dishes regional cooking

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Garden checklist for week of May 10

Take it easy during that high heat – then get to work! Your garden is calling.

* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.

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