Hey look, another beautiful 9 pm picture!

I made this soup on a night when nothing sounded good and making the effort to cook a big dinner seemed impossible. So I checked the freezer, found the emergency shrimp, and concocted a plan.

Shrimp & lemon zest soup

veg/fish/shrimp broth
garlic
green beans
frozen shrimp (defrosted, deveined, & peeled except for the tail)
salt, pepper, red pepper flake
a lemon
fresh parsley, chervil, or tarragon to garnish

First, make yourself a pot of broth. I made our standard vegetable broth, which I cooked for about 15 minutes total. If you want to make fish or shrimp stock, you'll want to simmer it for about a half hour instead.

In a separate pot, warm up some olive oil and sauté several cloves of chopped garlic. Cut a big handful of green beans per person into inch-long pieces and add them to the pot. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flake, and let everything cook together while you defrost and shell shrimp. After about five minutes, strain your broth and add it to the main veg pot. Bring everything to a boil, then add six or eight shrimp per person. Boil until the shrimp are totally cooked through; this should take maybe two or three minutes total.

While your shrimp are cooking, peel a couple strips of lemon zest off your lemon and slice them into fine strips. When the shrimp are done, correct seasonings, turn off the heat, squeeze a big wedge of lemon per person into the pot, and add the lemon zest. Stir it all up and serve with chopped parsley, cracked black pepper, and any other fresh herbs that sound good to you.

This was way, WAY more than the sum of its parts, and it’s all due to the the lemon zest. While the parsley garnish was good, chopped tarragon or chervil would be even better. I’d also consider making a dedicated tomato and shrimp shell broth with a tiny pinch of saffron. YEAH!