CIL's Seafood Newburg

This recipe comes from Chef Chuck MacKinnon at Canoe Island Lodge. He shared that the history of this dish is that a sea captain named Wenberg brought the recipe back from South America and presented it to the chef at Delmonico’s in NYC. The chef named it after him Lobster Wenberg. When the sea captain started a fist fight in the dining room and was banned from Delmonico’s, they changed the name to Lobster Newberg. At least that’s the legend !

• 1 ounce butter
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper chopped
• 1 lb. small shrimp, peeled, de-veined and tail off
• 1 lb. lump crab, picked clean of shell (canned is fine)
• 1 lb. bay scallops
• 2 cups shellfish or lobster stock (comes in a carton in the organic/specialty section)
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1 Tbl paprika
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbl freshly snipped parsley

Roux to thicken:

• 2 Tbl butter
• 1 1/2 Tbl flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• few grains cayenne pepper

Sweat the peppers and onions in butter until soft and onions are translucent. Add the shellfish stock and bring to a boil. Add the paprika and the raw seafood and simmer until the seafood is cooked (snowy white throughout shrimp and scallops). Add sherry and heavy cream and simmer for 5 minutes. Make roux: Melt butter; add flour and seasonings; whisk well. Whisk into seafood mixture to thicken to desired consistency. Garnish with a few shakes of paprika, and parsley. Serve hot over rice or pasta, or in puff pastry rounds. Note: you can add more seafood if you want: lobster, clams, mussels, fish (cod, haddock, etc.) adjust the seasonings to your own taste.

Yield: servings