Shrimp boil with the potatoes already stuffed

Name: Shrimp boil with the potatoes already stuffed
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Polish, American
Ingredients: 2 tbsp Old Bay, plus more to finish; 2 ears of corn, husked and cut into 1-inch rounds; 10 oz potato and cheese pierogies, frozen (no need to thaw); 10 oz large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 1 lemon, half juiced and half cut into wedges; 1 tsp hot sauce, or more; scallion greens, thinly sliced, to finish; flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to finish; salt

One pot, no colander manners and a pierogi doing the job of every boiled potato you have ever fished out of the bottom.

At a Glance

Time

30 min

Adjust servings

Story

A boil is a queue, not a recipe. Everything goes into the same seasoned water in the order of how long it needs, which is why the shrimp arrive last and sit in the pot for about the length of a phone call you did not want. They are done the moment they curl into a loose C. A tight O means you were slow.

Ingredients

2 tbsp Old Bayplus more to finish
2 ears of cornhusked and cut into 1-inch rounds
10 oz potato and cheese pierogiesfrozen (no need to thaw)
10 oz large shrimppeeled and deveined, tails on
4 tbsp unsalted butter
3 cloves garlicfinely chopped
1 lemonhalf juiced and half cut into wedges
1 tsp hot sauceor more
scallion greensthinly sliced, to finish
flat-leaf parsleychopped, to finish
salt

Method

A low country boil is potatoes, corn, sausage and shrimp tipped out onto a table covered in newspaper, and the potatoes are always the part someone has to hunt for. Here they turn up already filled with cheese, which is the sort of improvement nobody asked me for and everybody takes a second helping of.

There is no sausage in this one. The pierogies are rich enough to be the ballast the sausage usually provides, and the pot only has so much room.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil with the Old Bay and a good handful of salt. It should taste aggressively of the sea and the spice tin, because this water is the only seasoning the corn will ever get.
Corn in first. Boil 5 minutes.
Pierogies in with the corn, still frozen. Boil 4 to 5 minutes, until they float and bob about.
Shrimp in last. They need 2 minutes, no more, and the pot comes off the heat the moment they curl.
While that happens, melt the butter in a small pan with the garlic over low heat, 2 minutes, until the raw edge has gone off it. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and the hot sauce. Old Bay is a Baltimore blend built for crab, heavy on celery salt and paprika, and butter is what carries it onto everything else.
Drain the lot, briefly and without ceremony, and tip it into a wide dish or onto a lined baking tray. Pour the butter over, scatter the scallion greens and parsley, and hit it with more Old Bay.
Eat it with your hands and the lemon wedges, and put something under it first. This is not a plate-and-fork situation and I will not pretend otherwise.