Last week, I wrote a bit about a shrimp stock that Alon Shaya of Domenica prepared before our eyes at Avery Island. I couldn't wait to try his technique of "bashing around the shrimp heads" to extract more shrimpy flavor. So the first chance I got, this past Thursday's farmer's market, I bought some fresh jumbo shrimp to make a stock of my own.
Before the intense heat of this summer drives us all inside to eat nothing but cold sandwiches and ice cream, and before every last tomato has been incinerated by the sun, I want to share a special creation with you that we concocted at the beach: shrimp and okra stew with a secret. The secret is chipotle pepper. (Italics is the typist's whisper). Not that chipotle peppers in adobo sauce haven't been popularized in recent years--they're showing up in everything from hot wing sauce to salad dressing--but they're not indigenous to New Orleans cuisine. But they really put this shrimp and okra stew over the top, I tell you! Wowza!
