MANTIS SHRIMP SOUP (SOPA DE GALERAS) #englisrecipes #christmasrecipes

We’re getting really close to Christmas and we’d like to share with you this very Christmassy recipe, a delicious “Sopa de Galeras” or “Mantis Shrimp Soup”.  The Galera is also known as “Squilla Mantis”.  It’s very easy to prepare, appetizing and very tasty.  ;)  You will love it!  It would be great as a starter to a great Christmas Eve dinner or a Christmas Day meal.  :-)

The “Mantis Shrimp”, even though it has a slightly soft shell, it can be as difficult to peel as a “Cigala” or Scampi Shrimp, yet conceals inside shrimp meat that is very juicy and palatable.   Mantis Shrimp (Galeras) have been a much undervalued crustacean, though used widely to provide deep flavor to seafood broth, which guarantees that they are succulent, but it is hardly ever used as the “star of the dish”. Since the Galera does not have an abundance of meat, it reduces a great deal during cooking.   

We absolutely love to eat them and this is the season, so we’re going to enjoy them, and the more the better!

So let’s get on with our holiday recipe that we hope you will like and will enjoy very much:

INGREDIENTS:
-    1 ¼ lb (1/2 kg.) of Galeras (Mantis Shrimp)
-    4 oz (100 g.) of Shrimp
-    2 Ripe Tomatoes, Skinned
-    1 Red Bell Pepper
-    2 Cloves Garlic
-    1 White Onion
-    1 Tbsp Flour
-    4 oz (125 ml.) of mild virgin olive oil
-    1 Squirt of Brandy (de Jerez)
-    Salt
-    Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

PREPARATION:
-    Finely dice the onion and the skinned tomatoes into very small cubes (brunoise style).
-    Then finely dice the red pepper and the cloves of garlic.
-    With these finely diced ingredients, we’re going to prepare a stir-fry (sofrito) sauce, taking care not to overcook it.  Add the olive oil to a heated frying pan, then add these diced ingredients and sauté on high temperature for a few minutes.  Add the flour and stir well, then the squirt of Brandy.  Once cooked, crush the mixture to create a thin sauce.
-  We’ll cook the Mantis Shrimp (Galeras) in salted water.   Remove them and retain the resulting stock.
-   Peel the Galeras and set the meat aside for the moment.  Add the shells, tails and heads to a saucepan with ½ Cup of the stock to make it richer and tastier.  Bring the heat up to Med and with a pestle, we’re going to crush the shells to extract their entire flavor.  Strain and add the resulting liquid to the rest of the stock.
-    Then boil the shrimp, peel, and set them aside.
-    To prepare the soup, we’ll use a large earthenware “Cazuela” dish and first, add all the (Galera) Shrimp stock, then the Stir-fry sauce, mixing gently to blend the ingredients.
-    To mix, instead of using a ladle or large spoon, just move the “Cazuela” dish around gently to keep the mixture from breaking up too much.
-    Cook for ten minutes, then just before removing from the heat; add the cooked shrimp and the Galera Shrimp cut into small pieces.  Taste, add salt as needed and add a touch of black pepper.

And you’ll see how delicious this is with its intense seafood flavors :-) and, especially for the cold weather, this dish is perfect.  

Remember, we’re always at your disposal at pilaraprendiendoacocinar@gmail.com and we look forward to your comments.

You can also find our recipes published, to date, in the “Rota al Día” files, under Pilar Ruiz, or consult our current list of recipes that appear in our Blog at: http://comomegustacocinar.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/relacion-de-nuestras-recetas-publicadas.html

Thank you all very much, a very special THANK YOU to our new friend Glenn Fergusson who has helped us a lot,  collaborating by checking and improving our recipes in  English, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!