Shrimps and maple syrup salad: the recipe

 
 

Either because the glycemic level of this blog was getting higher and higher, either because I wanted to debunk the myth that maple syrup only pairs with sweet recipes, today, we try something savoury.

The book of Francois Chartier, “Taste buds and molecules”, presents a few “molecular” pairings between maple syrup and other foods. One of the most rated is with meat or fish. In this case, Chartier doesn’t precise which aromatic molecules* the two have in common with the syrup. I simply believe that the pairing meat/fish+maple syrup works well because the sugars, during the cooking process, react with the amino acids of the meat/fish. That is better known as the Maillard’s reaction that produces those compounds responsible for the typical taste of roasts or grilled food.

And since I am pretending spring is here (not quite…last Tuesday we had another snow storm :P), I decided to go for shrimps and salad that remind me so much the sea, the sun, the beach and dinners on a porch with a good glass of chilly white wine :)

Shrimps and maple syrup salad

(Doses for 2 persons)

  • 200 g of shrimps (neat and without shell)

  • 100 g of baby spinach leaves (neat)

  • a handful of unshelled walnuts

  • 2-3 table spoons of dark-quality maple syrup

  • 2 tea spoons of lemon juice

  • salt as needed

  • olive oil as needed

Pour the maple syrup and the lemon juice into a bowl. Add the shrimps and let them marinade for 30 minutes in the fridge. After this time, pour a bit of olive oil in a pan and warm it up under a medium flame. When the oil is warm, add the drained shrimps and brown them. Turn the flame off and put the shrimps aside. Place the spinach leaves on a plate, and add the the shrimps and the walnuts. Dress with olive oil and salt.

Let me know in the comments if you liked the recipe :)

*from the chemical point of view the aromatic molecules are those that belong to the family of benzene. However, in this context, I use the term in a more general way to indicate those compounds responsible for the taste and fragrance of foods.

References

F. Chartier, Taste buds and molecules: the art and science of food and wine, Ed. McClelland and Stewart, 2009