Shrimp Columbia

Wayne felt this recipe was so good, he recreated it for his parents during our visit to Utah. You can recreate it yourself if you'd like. 

Shrimp Columbia, or Camarones Columbia

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup olive oil (way too much!)
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce or 1 cup canned whole tomatoes (either works well)
• 1 bay leaf
• 32 medium shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup chicken consomme (or broth)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 20 small mushrooms
• 1/2 cup diced ham
• 1/2 cup red wine, if desired

Saute green pepper, onion and garlic over low heat in olive oil. Add tomato sauce and bay leaf and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in shrimp, consomme, salt, mushrooms and ham; cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with red wine and serve over rice. Serves 4

The "new and unusual" ingredient was chicken consomme. It's not quite the same as chicken broth, and since we couldn't find it in a can at the store, I decided to make our own. For future reference, the process is a bit tedious, but doable. 

Chicken Consomme

I mostly followed the instructions from this site, except I skipped making the broth from scratch (with a whole chicken and vegetables), and started with 3 cups of prepared chicken stock (using our favorite chicken base from Costco). However, if you want to do the entire thing from scratch, feel free to do so!

Simmer the stock until it reduces 1/4 - so from 3 cups to 2 1/4 cups; let it cool, then chill for an hour.

Skim any fat that rises to the surface. Stir in one egg white and whisk thoroughly. Bring to a boil, continuing to whisk constantly. Then simmer, without stirring, for 15 minutes. The egg white will form a crust on the surface, called a raft.

Line a sieve with clean muslin (or a tea towel) and carefully ladle the crust into the sieve. Then slowly pour the liquid through. Don't push, or your soup will be cloudy.

Return the clear liquid to the pan and heat until hot but not boiling. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve warm.

Because the object is to make a super clear soup, to serve as an appetizer, hiding the consomme in a sauce doesn't make much sense. So, we just used our normal chicken base mixed with water for the second variation of Shrimp Columbia.