Shrimps in Pernod is wonderful as a festive dinner with sparkling wine and good crusty bread. (We began with a beautiful salad with pears and pinenuts.) Bread is the perfect thing to sop up the fabulous Pernod sauce. This bread is one of our favourites from Maggie Glezer's book "Artisan Breads of America".
This particular bread, based on the recipe for "Acme's Rustic Baguettes", is almost fool proof. Some day I might actually shape the bread in baguettes but boules are SO much easier. The only thing that I haven't managed to get right is to keep the loaves from growing into each other as they rise.
Even though the shape isn't quite right, the flavour and texture were great.
Shrimps in Pernod with sugar snap peas, sparkling wine and bread.
Shrimps in Pernod served on a bed of stir-fried spinach is also divine.
We garnished each bowl with a sprig of tarragon and a viola. Ideally, we would have served our favourite Argentinian Misterio rosé with the shrimp. But the liquor store didn't have any on the shelves that day. So we made do with our currant house wine, Casal Thaulero San Giovese; it was a very good compromise.
With crusty bread just baked on the barbecue, dinner was not only beautiful but beautifully delicious.
