Summer Begs for Silver Palate Shrimp - No. 298

A throwback favorite recipe + Baking in the American South tour updates + a Publishers Weekly starred review!

EACH TIME I’VE MOVED, I’VE PARTED with cookbooks and later regretted it. Case in point—Moosewood. Should have never sold that one at the Atlanta garage sale in 1993.

But I did, however, hang onto my Silver Palate cookbooks—the first book published in 1982 and the follow-up two years later. Both were beloved manuals for first attempts at fancy dinner parties, and their pages are now stained with cocoa, raspberry vinegar, and drops of pesto.

Julee Rosso (the advertising executive) and Sheila Lukins (the caterer), were the co-authors and co-owners of the Silver Palate gourmet store on New York’s Upper West Side. The shop had opened in 1977 to feed busy professionals more global flavors. Patricia Wells, writing in The New York Times, called it a “tiny food shop with big ideas.’’

And Christine Muhlke wrote in The New York Times Magazine in 2007, that ‘’Silver Palate was born out of the women’s movement.’’ Its tarragon chicken salad, ratatouille, salmon mousse, and Chicken Marbella filled the serving dishes of working women who yearned to entertain but didn’t have time to cook.

What I find fascinating is the Silver Palate store didn’t have space for a kitchen. So Sheila’s mother baked the signature carrot cakes in her home and drove them to the shop on Columbus and 73rd. Most of the food was prepared in Sheila’s apartment nearby in The Dakota.

“John Lennon would come in and sit by the breadbasket and chat,” Julee remembered of Sheila’s famous neighbor. “One night, I was struggling in the snow to bring some beef Bourguignon from Sheila’s to the shop, and he helped me carry it. He hung out to chat and then bought it and carried it back home.”

Their books flew off the shelves in those pre-Amazon days. There was a 10th anniversary edition and then a 25th. In 1988, Julee and Sheila shut the doors and sold the Silver Palate. Julee returned to her native Michigan to run the Wickwood Inn in Saugatuck, and she published two more cookbooks.

Sheila, who everyone knew was the cook of the pair, went on to write three more cookbooks and was the food editor of Parade magazine. The two had a public falling out in 1991, however, after Julee wrote in her newsletter of Sheila’s failing health. Sheila died of brain cancer in 2009. She was 66.

Throwback Thursday: My favorite Silver Palate shrimp

Obviously, everyone’s favorite Silver Palate recipe is Chicken Marbella with its irresistible prune, olive, brown sugar, and wine-soaked chicken. But there are so many other great recipes in the Silver Palate legacy. For me, a favorite is the grilled shrimp wrapped in basil and prosciutto from the second book, the Good Times cookbook.

I can’t recall the first time I made this recipe because it’s always been in the back of my mind and on our summer menus. Sometimes it’s paired with pasta and other times with grits or a corn salad.

What about you? What’s your favorite Silver Palate recipe?

The method is so simple that you really don’t need a recipe. You don’t even need to marinate the shrimp before you grill them. But if you make this recipe the way Sheila and Julee first intended, which is what I did this week, then go ahead and soak the shrimp first in white wine, olive oil, lemon juice and a little Dijon mustard. I added some garlic, too.

The recipe calls for at least three hours of marinating time, and I think that’s about right. Marinate in the morning, chill, then cook later that afternoon. Or, in a pinch, give the shrimp about 30 minutes to soak up the marinade, which keeps them moist on the hot grill. And to use the leftover marinade, I sliced a zucchini lengthwise, and dragged the slices through it before grilling and piling onto the platter with the shrimp.

What is it about summer that changes the way the way we eat, sleep, and spend our free time?

No sense in fighting summer. It rolls around each year, and for those of us in the northern hemisphere, the trick to loving it is just to accept the heat.

Revel in the tomatoes, peaches, blueberries, and basil. Fire up the grill, don short sleeves with something cool to sip, play favorite tunes with favorite people, and ignore the mosquitoes. (Seriously, the bugs have been horrid this year!) So bad we’ve sprayed ourselves with all brands of insect repellant—the favorite so far is Murphy’s.

It’s made of lemon eucalyptus oil and smells nicely botanical. Not realizing its pungency on a recent vacation, my granddaughter and I were walking a path through wet woods and I kept smelling something wonderfully lemony and we looked around for exotic blooms until I realized the smell was coming from our arms and legs lacquered in Murphy’s. And we didn’t have one single mosquito or tick bite!

I hope you make it through the rest of summer mosquito-free, and I hope you have time to grill these yummy shrimp!

- xo, Anne

August means back to school, and it’s when cookbook reviews start coming in.

I was thrilled that Garden & Gun magazine gave such favorable comments to Baking in the American South. And this week, a Publisher’s Weekly starred review said…’’Byrn provides an encyclopedia of Southern baked goods in this masterful and extensive collection encompassing the region’s sweet and savory offerings… This is a treasure trove.” After three years researching, interviewing, traveling, writing, testing recipes, and styling photos, these are incredibly welcome words.

Baking in the American South Book Tour!

Last week, for paid subscribers, I shared notes about the Nashville, Athens, Atlanta, and Chattanooga parts of my book tour. This week I’m sharing some details of another leg of my journey after publication day on Sept. 3:

Memphis - I’ll be at Novel bookstore at 6 pm on Tuesday, Sept. 10 in conversation with pastry chef Kat Gordon of Muddy’s Bake Shop. She’s baking something wonderful from the book, and I’m baking something wonderful, so there are going to be samples!

Oxford, Mississippi - On Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 5:30 pm, I will be at Off Square Books in conversation with Mary Beth Lasseter of the Southern Foodways Alliance. We will talk Mississippi baking, and some Georgia baking, too, because that’s where Mary Beth was raised. And yes, there will be samples!

Jackson, Mississippi - On Thursday, Sept. 12 at 5 pm, I am thrilled to be in conversation with local radio personality Malcolm White at the Eudora Welty House. I can’t pull together Mashula’s coconut cake on short notice, but I just might try to make small coconut cupcake bites that bring to mind Delta Wedding and the writing of Miss Welty. Plus, I visit her gardens. Come join me!

Mississippi Book Festival - On Saturday, Sept. 14, from 9 am-5 pm, I’ll be thinking about caramel cake at the book festival located at the Mississippi State Capitol building and grounds. I am one of six food panelists, and while no times have yet been assigned, when they are, I’ll update my website with details. Can’t wait to savor Mississippi cooking and baking!

THE RECIPE:

Silver Palate Grilled Shrimp with Prosciutto and Basil

Nothing really compares with shrimp that have been marinated in white wine, olive oil, and basil, and then wrapped in paper-thin prosciutto and whole basil leaves before grilling over charcoal. The gas grill comes in a close second. I have gently adapted this recipe over the years, adding garlic to the marinade and reducing the marinade amount slightly from the original recipe.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

• 3/4 cup white wine

• 3/4 cup olive oil

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

• 1/4 cup sliced fresh basil (see Note)

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 24 jumbo shrimp (1 1/2 pounds), peeled and deveined, tails left on

• 24 large whole basil leaves

• 4 ounces prosciutto

1. Pour the wine, olive oil, and lemon juice into a large glass jar. Add the mustard, garlic, basil, and pepper. Secure the top to the jar and shake to combine ingredients well.

2. Place the shrimp in a shallow bowl and pour the marinade over. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours, turning occasionally.

3. When ready to cook, prepare a hot fire to grill the shrimp.

4. Remove the shrimp from the marinade, and reserve the marinade. Wrap the middle of each shrimp first with a basil leaf and then with a small slice of prosciutto. Thread shrimp onto skewers lengthwise.

5. Grill the shrimp, basting with the reserved marinade, for 2 minutes per side, or until the shrimp are cooked through. Serve at once over couscous, grits, or rice.

Note: To slice the basil leaves into a chiffonade, stack the leaves one on top of the other and roll them into a loose cigar shape. Slice thinly crosswise into strips.