Cocktail Sauce (the best)

If you have been buying bottles of cocktail sauce at the grocery – stop – there are weird ingredients in them. If you are making it at home, applause, applause, but if you are just mixing stuff up with ketchup, then I have a new plan for you. Two words – tomato paste. Compared to sugary, thin ketchup, tomato paste is rich and luxurious. It elevates so many dishes that require a tomato-based sauce. But best of all, it can turn predictable, boring sauce into your own special brand. If you are going to serve delicious shrimp to your guests or yourself, just don’t settle for bland. – go for the best!

The weather is hot, and the kitchen is the last place to spend any time. I decided that a quick peel-and-eat shrimp supper would be the perfect solution.

Three to five minutes of boil time for the shrimp and a couple of minutes to mix up the cocktail sauce is enough kitchen time. It can all be done early in the day to avoid the heat.

I think you will love this recipe for cocktail sauce. Feel free to doctor it up any way you like. Taste and add as you go. Basically, the plan is to mix tomato paste with a little water and add horseradish sauce, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, honey (or sugar), and the hot stuff to taste. It’s such a fresh flavor and really perks up the shrimp. As my husband says, “It makes it worth peeling them!”  It was a fun dinner that I will definitely make again soon. Give it a try. Enjoy!

Shrimp – Boil 2 lbs. 3 to 5 minutes in dark beer with enough water to cover, 3 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning, one garlic head halved, thyme – fresh or dried, and a lemon cut in half. Drain and chill.

Cocktail sauce

Ingredients

1 small can tomato paste

About ½ cup water

3 Tbsp horseradish sauce

Juice of 1 lemon

1 – 2 Tbsp honey or sugar (or to taste)

1 ½ tsp salt – more if needed (some tomato pastes have more salt)

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp dry mustard 

Hot sauce to taste.

Mix all ingredients and chill – taste again before serving.