Get the App

Recipes

Find a Recipe Blue Ribbon Recipes Pinch It!™ Feed Browse All Recipes

Editorial

Food Bites & Articles Videos What is a Blue Ribbon? Meet the Test Kitchen

Community

Member Recipes Groups Sweepstakes Contests Shopping

chicago's shrimp dejonghe

(3 ratings)
WildfloursCottageKitchen avatar
Recipe by
Kelly Williams
@WildfloursCottageKitchen
Forked River, NJ

Though I can no longer enjoy this wonderful dish since suddenly becoming deathly allergic to crustacians at age 19, I do still enjoy making it for company! It's a fairly simple dish consisting of whole peeled shrimp cooked in individual serving dishes swimming in garlic butter and topped with fine bread crumbs and then broiled. Talk about GOOD?! Wow.. *sigh*, one of the dishes I miss most. Hopefully you all can enjoy it for me! :D *De Jonghe Hotel on Chicago's Monroe Street first served this dish in the 1920s. (When my mom made this, we had it as a main dish, but it can also be an appetizer.)

(3 ratings)
yield 8 as an appetizer, or 4 for dinner

Ingredients For chicago's shrimp dejonghe

  • DE JONGHE'S ORIGINAL RECIPE: (FIRST PRINTED IN 1947)
  • 2 lbs.
    large shrimp (40), or 48 slightly smaller
  • 1
    large garlic clove, mashed with the side of a knife or finely minced
  • 1 1/2 tsp.
    salt
  • 1 Tbl.
    finely chopped fresh tarragon
  • 1 Tbl.
    finely chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 Tbl.
    finely chopped fresh chervil
  • pinch of dried thyme crumbled between your fingers and thumb
  • 1
    shallot, minced (very finely chopped)
  • 1 Tbl.
    (fresh, not dried) minced onion
  • 1 cup
    (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups
    fine dry breadcrumbs
  • pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • pinch of mace, (optional as i don't add this)
  • 1/2 tsp.
    black pepper

How To Make chicago's shrimp dejonghe

  • 1
    Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • 2
    Cook shrimp in a 4-quart pot of boiling salted water* until just cooked through, about 1 1/2 minutes. Drain shrimp in a colander, then immediately transfer to a large bowl of ice water to stop cooking.
  • 3
    Mash garlic to a paste with 1/4 teaspoon salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash garlic with salt using a large knife), then stir together with fresh and dried herbs, shallot, onion, 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, 1 cup bread crumbs, nutmeg, mace, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
  • 4
    Arrange shrimp in 1 layer (slightly overlapping if necessary) in a buttered 3-quart flameproof gratin dish or other wide shallow ceramic baking dish. Cover with herbed breadcrumb mixture, then sprinkle with topping. Bake in upper third of oven until golden, about 15 minutes. Turn on broiler and broil until crumbs are golden brown, about 2 minutes.
  • 5
    Melt remaining 1/2 stick butter and stir together with remaining 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to make topping.
  • 6
    * When salting water for cooking, use 1 tablespoon for every 4 quarts water. **This can also be made in 8 small baking ramekins for appetizers, or 4 larger individual baking dishes for main dish-sized. ***Lastly, I don't recall my mom using a whole lot of fresh herbs when making this herself, especially during the winter! So she had to have either subbed dried herbs for some of them, or used Italian seasoned breadcrumbs instead. So that's an option for you, too. All I remember was it was PURE HEAVEN... do hope you try it! Enjoy for me!!
  • Last Step: Don't forget to share! Make all your friends drool by posting a picture of your finished recipe on your favorite social network. And don't forget to tag Just A Pinch and include #justapinchrecipes so we can see it too!
ADVERTISEMENT