Twitter Chef Avatar Fun: James Beard's Shrimp Mornay

      We are having a bit of avatar fun over at Twitter, my baking/cooking pals and I, just to shake things up a bit and confuse everyone each month as to who is who and all.  Nancy came up with the great idea of each of us picking a different chef for each month, all of us making anything we each selected to make from that chef's recipes, taking a photo of our efforts, and using that photo as our avatar for that month. 

      February's avatar chef is James Beard, chosen by Nancy.  The recipe I chose is from The James Beard Cookbook and is Shrimp Mornay. 

Shrimp Mornay

(Serves 4) 

2 pounds of shrimp
 2 cups of Mornay Sauce
 Butter Buttered Crumbs
 Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

  Boil the shrimp
 Make Sauce Mornay (recipe follows)
  Heap the shrimp into a buttered serving dish, top with Mornay sauce, buttered bread crumbs, and Parmesan Cheese
  Place under broiler to brown a little

  Mornay Sauce
  4 Tablespoons of Butter
 4 Tablespoons of Flour
 2 Cups of Milk
 Salt & Pepper
 Additional 4 Tablespoons of Butter
 1/2-1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

  Melt the butter
Blend in the flour
 Pour in the milk slowly and stir until thickened
 Add additional 4 Tablespoons of butter and 1/2-1 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Stir until thick and well blended

      This was absolutely delicious, the sauce is easy to make and just perfectly wonderful.  Nancy suggested that I play into the February Valentine's Day theme by trying to make a heart with the shrimp in the recipe, so I tried to do that on the top, one shrimp heart to top it all off.  Thanks, Nancy, for the James Beard pick and the shrimp heart idea, I am really going to enjoy making James Beard recipes this month. 
      Next month it's Margaret's turn to pick and her chef of choice is Emeril Lagasse.