Sautéed shrimps on creamy cannellini bean purée

Ingredients (for 6 persons):

18 medium sized shrimps (whole)

3 bacon rashers

250 gr dry medium-sized cannellini beans

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 small potato

1 laurel leaf

cognac

peperoncino or chilli powder

olive oil

some sprigs of  rosemary

Soak the beans overnight or for at least 9 hours.

I also suggest preparing the aromatised rosemary oil the day before.

So heat some olive oil in a pan with a garlic clove and a couple of  rosemary sprigs. Do not let the garlic change colour or burn. Remove from  the fire before the olive oil starts to sizzle. Let it cool overnight and  the day after filter the oil removing the garlic clove and the rosemary.

Cook the pre-soaked cannellini beans with an onion and a laurel leaf. I do it in a pressure cooker covering the beans with up to 2-3 fingers of water and cooking for a couple of minutes till soft.

When the beans have cooled down a bit and soaked up the water remove the laurel leaf and reduce the beans to a creamy purée with the help of a hand blender. Now you can season slightly with salt and pepper.

Fry the bacon rashers till they are nice and crispy and then chop up into small sized bits.

In the meantime sauté the shrimps with salt, garlic and peperoncino on a high fire in a bit of olive oil till they change to a reddish colour but are not completely cooked. Add a dash of cognac and give it another minute over the hot fire.

Let them cool down and then peel the shrimps. Remove the heads but leave the tails. Slice into the back side of each shrimp to open them without separating the two halves completely.

Instead of discarding the heads throw them in a bowl or a mortar and grind them with the pestle to squeeze out all the tasty juices.

Spread the bean purée in a hollow dish. Place the shrimps nicely on top.   Add whatever sauce came out of the shrimp heads over them.

Sprinkle the crispy bacon bits over the purée and swirl a bit of the aromatised rosemary oil over the whole dish.  Ready to serve!