Shrimp and herb cream - festive New Year's Gatsby themed appetizer

Here is our second appetizer for our Roaring ‘20s Gatsby themed New Year’s dinner. We started out with oysters, or what we called Roaring Rockefeller oysters, and we thought that a natural next step is a fresh little bite with shrimp and herb cream with a touch of lemon and watercress.

We recommend you use a very small type of shrimp, as we thought this would be one in a row of appetizers, and small shrimp will make this dish look very elegant and delicate. North Atlantic shrimp are great, or maybe you can even get your hands on a batch of Danish ‘fjordrejer’ (frozen as the fresh ones are not in season this time of year).

New Year’s for us always starts at 6 pm with Queen Margaret’s New Year’s speech. We open the first bottle of bubbles of the evening, and while we listen to this cool grand old lady sharing her reflections on the year past on national TV, we enjoy a range of little appetizers paired with bubbles. It’s really not a bad start to a festive evening!

Ingredients

12 oz (350 g) small shrimp, peeled

1 small red onion, finely chopped

5 tbsp good quality mayonnaise

3 tbsp creme fraiche, preferably 38% fat (or alternatively 2 tbsp sour cream minimum 14% fat)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 handfuls fresh basil and cilantro (or one of either)

1 large handful watercress

Directions

1. Start by preparing the herb cream. Pour the mayonnaise, creme fraiche (or sour cream), lemon juice and fresh basil and cilantro into a blender or mixer and blend it all together into a smooth cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Then leave to cool in the fridge, preferably in a plastic squeeze bottle, for half an hour or more.

2. Chop the red onion and wash the watercress well. Then start arranging the appetizer in small dishes or individual platters as shown in the picture. First, pour about 1 tbsp of the herb cream onto each platter. Next, divide the shrimp evenly on top, sprinkle with chopped red onion and garnish with the watercress. If you like, churn a bit of black pepper on top and then serve immediately.

Enjoy – with bubbles of course!