Shrimp & Tomato Broth
Shrimp & Tomato Broth is a type of Japanese suimono (吸い物), a simple yet elegant clear soup made of lightly-seasoned dashi stock that includes morsels of a featured food accompanied by a small number of others to add complementary flavors and an enticing fragrance. Suimono translates as “something to sip.” It was the final dish served during a dinner on Awaji Island whose aim was to celebrate the island’s diversity of sea and land foods and also to reflect on the island’s cuisine as a step in reimagining its future (see story.) The dish was called “Wan,” which simply means “bowl.” Served in chalice-like pottery, it was a reflection pool of delicately rich satisfying flavor.
This recipe is an adaptation of how Chef Yukinori Itsubo, chef-owner of L’Isoletta Restaurant, said he made the broth. He explained that because shrimp are bottom-feeders, always poking into the sand foraging for food, their heads are filled with salt and other tasty and nutritious minerals. Thus, no additional seasoning is needed. Just draw out the essential goodness of the flavor of the shrimp shells and tomatoes through long, slow simmering for hours. But, to speed up the cooking time, the recipe starts the process with Konbu Dashi and also adds touches of sake and usukuchi soy sauce to achieve nearly the same result.
You can serve the soup in Japanese fashion at the beginning, middle, or end of a meal or Western style at its start. In addition, as a kind of dashi stock, the broth can be used in other ways. As a base for a seafood soup in which you add other types of seafood—clams, squid, octopus, white fish, etc.—in the last few minutes of cooking. Or as a stock for rice, noodle, and pasta dishes. It’s a rewardingly delicious way to recycle leftover shrimp shells instead of throwing them out.
Shrimp & Tomato Broth
Ebi to Tomato Suimono : エビとトマト吸い物
Serves 4
Main Foods
Fresh or Boiled Whole Shrimp, 20, about 1 lb. (450 g)
Tomatoes, 2 large
Fromage Fraîche Curd or Ricotta Cheese, as desired
Seasonings
Konbu (Dried Kelp), 4” piece (10 cm)
Sun-Dried Tomatoes, 2 large pieces
Sake, 1 tablespoon
Usukuchi Soy Sauce, 1 teaspoon, to taste
Aromatics / Flavorings
Fresh Herbs, your choice
Directions
Put 3 cups (720 ml) of water in a pot that you’ll make the broth in, add the konbu, and let it soak for 30 minutes. If you have Konbu Dashi already made in the refrigerator, use 3 cups (720 ml) of that instead.
Prepare the shrimp. For already boiled whole shrimp, take off the heads and shells and set them aside and refrigerate the shrimp until ready to serve. For raw whole shrimp, boil them in unsalted water for 2-3 minutes until pink and then immediately cool them down in ice water. Take off the heads and shells and set aside, putting the boiled shrimp in the refrigerator.
In a fry pan, dry roast the shrimp heads and shells over medium-low heat for about 4 minutes, tossing them around in the pan with a spoon until all moisture is eliminated and they become a little crispy but not browned. This will enhance their umami.
Quarter the fresh tomatoes and rinse and pat dry the sun-dried tomatoes.
Add the shrimp heads and shells, fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and sake to the pot with the konbu. Over medium-low heat, slowly bring to a gentle simmer. When small bubbles start to form around the edges of the konbu, take it out, saving it for another use or discard it. Continue simmering for 1 hour in total, skimming as needed. The broth will reduce to about 2 cups (480 ml). Turn off the heat and stir in the usukuchi soy sauce. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve, return to the pot, and reheat when ready to serve.
Mix some chopped fresh herbs of your choice into the fromage fraîche curd or ricotta cheese. This will be used to garnish 12 pieces of the boiled shrimp.
Serve
Put three shrimp on each of four bamboo or other kind of skewers and dab some of the herb cheese garnish on top. Put two shrimp in the bottom of four soup bowls and pour over the warmed soup. Set the skewered shrimp along the edge of each bowl so that the herbed cheese is made aromatic by the rising steam.
