Crevettes au Pastis

Shrimp in Pastis Cream
Served with Fluffy White Rice

Last month I wrote about our fabulous Holiday Dinner at Susan’s, where one of the courses we prepared was a delicious Mussels with Pernod and Crème Fraîche. Kim of Easy French Food commented and recommended that I check out a recipe she posted for Crevettes au Pastis. Pernod is a brand name for a type of pastis, the only one not made with licorice.
I sautéed chopped shallots in butter until soft, then added shrimp and cooked for a couple minutes. I added cream, cooked for another minute or two until shrimp were done. Finished with a splash of Pastis. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnished with chopped parsley and served with white rice, which, by the way, is awesome with this sauce.

Pastis’s warm, sweet anise aroma and flavors of licorice, spices and herbs pair marvelously with shrimp and cream. The few simple ingredients combine to result in a divine dish. Make sure to add the pastis at the end of cooking to preserve the aromatics and nuances of flavor.
Serve the Shrimp with Pastis Cream with a bowl of fluffy steamed rice on the side. It would also make a chic first course for an elegant dinner party.
While you’re cooking you might want to try Ernest Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon, a cocktail he invented in 1935 and named after his novel. Add 5 oz chilled Champagne to 1 oz pastis. Papa warns to sip slowly. He made his with absinthe, but when absinthe is unavailable, pastis is the perfect stand-in.

I’m recommending the opalescent milky Death in the Afternoon cocktail now to my friends in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a refreshing drink, with a great name, invented by a legend, and definitely suited to hot weather. We’ll be drinking this again in the coming months here.