A Few of Our Favorite (Fast) Foods

Around 1750 the Earl of Sandwich put some meat between two slices of bread and gave fast food a good name. It was several hundred years before American ingenuity came along to ruin its reputation.

But fast food doesn’t have to mean a hapless piece of meat or produce that’s been fried to a frazzle, wrapped in layers of paper and plastic and sold for the cheapest possible price. Fast food can be made from scratch, served with pride and consumed with pleasure. The following recipes, a few of our favorites, prove the point.

Shrimp on Fire

I encountered this showy but super-easy shrimp dish during a Christmas party at the Biltmore Hotel. The shrimp were cooked to order in a chafing dish, and the guests gasped with delight as the chef doused the pan with Pernod and ignited the liquor to make a spectacular blaze.

I don’t always achieve that brilliant burst of flame--the Pernod has to be sufficiently hot to catch fire--but the dish is still wonderful. Best of all, it takes only a few minutes to prepare.

THE BILTMORE’S SHRIMP AU PERNOD

2 tablespoons virgin olive oil

3 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

16 jumbo peeled and deveined shrimp

2 tablespoons Pernod

Salt, pepper

Dash cayenne pepper

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add and saute shallots, garlic and parsley. Add shrimp and saute until pink. Add Pernod and ignite. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne. Makes 3 to 4 servings.