We should eat more fish. Jesus and his group spent time fishing, and on one occasion he cooked fish for his special 12.
We may not all enjoy fishing. It involves lots of sitting and being quiet, with not much happening — but fish (whether we catch them or someone else does) are good for us. Living as we do in South Carolina, seafood should be a regular part of our meal planning. The “health people” say we should have fish once a week, and others say more often than that.
Today’s recipe is from Dora H. DeLoach, a member of Deep Branch Baptist Church in Varnville, and it involves not fish but something else from the water — shrimp.
Deep Branch had its 114th birthday in February, celebrating its organization on Feb. 19, 1911, with 32 members. In 1975, the congregation built a new sanctuary on the same site as the original building, and in 1984 they added an educational building. In 2011, the church completed its new social hall, with restrooms, a kitchen and a dining area that will seat 100.
Dora and her family were members of Deep Branch when their two children were growing up. They later moved to many places because of her husband’s work in construction. He died in 2005.
The DeLoaches’ daughter, Trudie, and her husband, Carl Freeman, are members at Deep Branch. They have two children, and their daughter, Jill, and her husband, Henry, have two children — Steven and Ryan. Trudie and Carl’s son, Vince Freeman, and his wife, Jamie, have one son, Nicholas.
Dora and Richard’s son (also named Richard, or Dick) and his wife, Jane, live in Raleigh and have three children: Mark, Robin and Laurin.
Dora created today’s recipe as an entry several years ago in the South Carolina Shrimp Festival contest sponsored by the Taste of Yemassee and won first place. I made it once, trying to decrease the size; that didn’t work too well. I cooked it again, both to have its picture made and to serve our granddaughter, Abbie, and our grandson, Jay.
That time, I did as I was told — and the dish was “delish,” as the youngsters would say. The recipe makes a large dish, and would probably be good served over rice. Dora says that after being stored in the fridge, the Shrimp Bake is just as good the next day. If your family is small, you could divide the leftovers and freeze them.
We thank Dora for sharing this with us. It is a good dish to have waiting any day in the freezer, but especially one you can take out, thaw, then warm just in time for … Sunday Dinner.
Ritzy Shrimp Bake
3 cups shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 14.5-oz. cans chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 14-oz. box Ritz crackers (use about 1 cup or less)
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
Sauté shrimp and onion in butter. Dissolve cornstarch in juice drained from tomatoes.
Mix tomatoes, sugar and salt. Add tomato juice-cornstarch mixture and cook over medium heat until almost boiling.
Arrange the crackers in a single layer in bottom of an oblong baking dish. Gently pour half the tomato mixture over this and arrange the shrimp and onion mixture on top. Repeat another tomato mixture layer. Top with the cheese and bake in slow oven (about 325 degrees) until cheese bubbles. Serve hot. Serves 8-10 or more.