After last week’s daring French Fridays with Dorie recipe, I expected this week’s to be a breeze. It turns out Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles created quite a bit of controversy.
I had originally planned on serving this for dinner one night, somehow creating a chicken version for my husband and the shrimp version for myself. Then I checked out the P & Q section on the FFWD site. Pretty much everyone who had already made the recipe said there was way too much tomato puree and they didn’t care for the dish.
So, I decided to regroup and make the dish only for myself for lunch so I could experiment. No one ever wants to serve their family a dinner they will hate.
I began making Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles as written (except for cutting the recipe in half). When it came time to add the tomato puree, instead of adding the full 1 cup (for my halved recipe), I slowly added it 2 tablespoons at a time until it looked right. In all, I only used 1/4 cup of puree. I sauteed for a couple of minutes until the prawns were cooked through. The sauce looked a little thick, so I added a splash of Chinese rice wine to loosen it up a bit.
It worked! I love prawns and my “reworked” sauce was good. I probably won’t make this again because I am the only one in my family who eats prawns and this was a lot of work for one person, but it made for a tasty lunch.
I have my fellow Doristas to thank for helping me make this a successful dish. If it had not been for your warnings, I would have not tinkered with the recipe and probably would not have ended up with something I enjoyed eating. A hearty thank you to the group!
From Scratch 
You’re welcome. Your dish looks delicious and I’m happy to hear that someone liked it. I don’t like it when I miss a recipe with the group, but the advantage is being able to read all the tips and experiences and learn from everyone else before jumping in myself.
What!?! You’re the only one in your family who likes shrimp? Some of our favorite meals are shrimp based! Sigh….maybe one day he’ll convert;)
I actually don’t know if R likes shrimp or not, since I never make them for anyone but me.
I made mine for lunch, too, and adjusted the amount of puree to 1/4 cup for the full recipe! We have leftovers, of course, and I found it tasty even cold … almost like a noodle salad. Lemon juice helped, too!
I think 1/4 cup of puree is all this dish needs – and a splash of mirin sounds like a nice addition! It certainly looks good – the colors are really pretty!
I didn’t really like this one. My issue was more about the plethora of mushrooms and the lack of flavor, not too much tomato puree (and I used it all). I don’t know, I think Dorie missed on this one. I am glad to hear that you were able to make a version that sounds delicious! Have a great weekend.
you just never know 🙂 i used the full amount of tomatoes but I also included mussels in mine so it worked out to be a good amount.
I am very glad that some of the Doristas were able to take note from our horrible and turn this into something good. Yea for collaboration!
I enjoyed this too, also possibly because I tinkered with quantities of ingredients.
I think going slow with the tomato sauce was the right decision. I skipped it altogether and we enjoyed the results.
I should have done the same with the puree instead of the almost 1 cup I used since I also made half of the recipe. I really think it would have been better and by the looks of yours I know it would have! Great job and I am glad you enjoyed it.
Reworking the sauce was a good idea. It really didn’t go over well with us. Glad you enjoyed it though!
Good idea to just add a little puree. Your shrimp look more caramelized than sauced. And that’s a good thing.