Food In The Fort

Just because you can’t imbibe in the middle of the day doesn’t mean your crustacean friends can’t. It’s a little known fact that shrimp love their rum. It makes them happy little decapods, and if you make this recipe you’ll be happy too. It’s simple enough that you can make it for lunch with no trouble at all, especially if you do the marinade the night before. It might seem a little steppy for a midday meal, but it all goes together very quickly and took me just about a half hour total. The taste, texture and wonderful aroma will beat the pants off a sandwich and chips any day.

I adapted this recipe from several I found around the net, adjusting the ingredients to our tastes. As I made it, the shrimp have a very strong flavor to them and not everybody likes that so feel free to make your own adjustments. And for heaven’s sake, enjoy it with a small shot of rum. We won’t tell your boss.

Rum Scampi
Ingredients

• 1 lb. frozen, precooked, shrimp, thawed
• Tabasco sauce to taste
• 1/2 cup rum
• 1 1/2 tbsp. lime juice
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 (3 oz.) packets shrimp flavored ramen noodles
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 – 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tbsp. dried parsley
• Pepper to taste

Preparation

• Pull the little bits of tail shell off the shrimp, place the shrimp in a large bowl and then give them a nice rub down in as much Tabasco sauce as you like. I used quite a bit, enough to thoroughly coat the shrimp.
• For the marinade, whisk together the rum, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce and cumin in a separate smaller bowl.
• Pour the marinade on top of the shrimp, making sure the shrimp are covered.
• Refrigerate the shrimp and marinade for at least an hour, but three or four hours is better. I let the shrimp party all night long.
• Boil some water, and cook the ramen noodles until done (just about 3 min).
• Drain the noodles, and stir in the tablespoon of margarine or butter
• Add the contents of the two shrimp flavored seasoning packets and mix well. Set noodles aside.
• Melt the 2-3 tbsp. butter in a large skillet
• As soon as the butter is frothy, add the shrimp to the skillet, reserving the marinade
• Saute the shrimp on high heat about 10 minutes to bring out their color
• Add in about 1/2 the reserved marinade, along with the garlic powder and dried parsley
• Allow the sauce to reduce to about 1/2 its’ volume (about 5-10 minutes)
• Add in about 1/2 of the rest of the marinade and allow the sauce to reduce to maybe 3/4 of its’ volume (another 5-10 minutes)
• When the sauce has reduced, or you can’t stand to wait any longer and have to eat right that instant, toss in the ramen noodles to coat them with the sauce. Cook an additional minute to make sure the ramen noodles are reheated, add pepper to taste and serve.

About the author:  Leo is a technologist and writer living in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a transplant to the Mid West from Central New York and was promised cheaper gas and better winters. He feels somewhat lied to in this respect but otherwise finds the people pleasant. Read more from this author