Chicken, Shrimp and Sausage Etouffee

I had this one time at Mothers in New Orleans for lunch which was out of this world. If I'm ever in a restaurant and they have etouffee, I'm ordering it! It's rich and savory and Cajun and yummy.

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
1-1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup flour
1 medium yellow onion diced
3 medium celery ribs diced
1/2 chopped bell pepper, any color, I used a red bell pepper
2 cups vegetable stock
1 can diced tomato's, strained in a colander removing the sauce
3 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon tabasco sauce
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Emeril's Essence, more as needed per taste
1 chicken 1/2 breast diced
12 medium shrimp, pealed and deveined
1 cooked Cajun sausage link cut to medium pieces
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch Italian parsley

Preparation:

Place the rice, water and salt into a rice cooker and let the rice cook while you prepare the etouffee.

 

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium. Add the butter, olive oil and flour to make your roux. Sauté the roux for 10 minutes stirring regularly. The longer you cook the roux, the darker it will become. You want the color of the roux to be like a dark peanut butter color and then you'll know it's done.

Add the onions, celery, bell pepper and sauté cook for 10 - 12 minutes over medium low heat until the vegetables soft and translucent. Add the stock, diced tomato's, garlic, tabasco sauce, Emeril's essence, bay leaf and cook a couple of minutes to bring up to temp. 

 

The sauce should become fairly thick as heats up to temp. If you find the sauce is not thick enough, take a 1/4 cup water and mix in 1 tablespoon four and add to the sauté pan. Make sure the sauce is nice and thick! 

 

Add the diced chicken, shrimp and sausage and cook 10 minutes over medium heat, but not so high that the mixture is boiling. After 10 minutes check that the sauce is the perfect thickness and that the seasoning is perfect. Lastly, stir in a tablespoon of rough chopped Italian parsley and 4 diced green onions and you're done.

 

To serve, place a mound of rice in the middle of a serving plate. Spoon the etouffee onto the plate around the rice. Garnish with some green onions.

Coconut Shrimp

I saw these jumbo shrimp at Fred Meyer and just had to make something with them. I was hoping to make a healthy version of coconut shrimp that actually tasted as good as deep fried. I looked over a lot of different recipes for oven baked coconut shrimp and put this together and it was amazing. 

 

Ingredients:

12 extra large shrimp

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
 3 tablespoons flour

2 egg whites
Dash of sriracha sauce
Spray canola oil

 

Dipping sauce:

1 tablespoon catsup

1 tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

Juice of 1 orange

Zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon curry powder

Pinch red pepper flakes

Dash of sriracha sauce

Salt & pepper

 

Preparation:

For the dipping sauce combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and set a side.

 

To make the coconut shrimp, beat 2 egg white with a dash of sriracha and put into a shallow bowl. Combine the shredded coconut, panko bread crumbs and flour and put into a shallow bowl.

 

Make sure your shrimp are dry for the next step. Dip a shrimp into the egg whites and then into the coconut bread crumb mixture. Coat all sides of the shrimp and shake off any excess and put onto a baking pan. Repeat the process for the rest of the shrimp.

 

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Take the spray canola oil and give a good spray to the shrimp. Put the shrimp in the oven and cook for 8 - 10 minutes.

To serve, place the dipping sauce in a small bowl in the center of a plate. Take the coconut shrimp and place around the outside of the dipping sauce on the plate. Garnish with diced green onions and crushed nuts.

Shrimp Scampi and Linguini

Here's a fantastic dish that I recently had when I was in Las Vegas at a restaurant called Roas. Roas is a famous old New York Italian landmark visited by all the movie stars over the years. They've had a restaurant in Las Vegas for a few years now.

I ordered the shrimp scampi because it was a lesser expensive items on the menu at only $38.00. I thought their shrimp scampi and linguini was off the chart, but it was pretty high in butter content. My version looks and tasted pretty much like Roas, but I cut the butter from 1/2 a cube to just one tablespoon, a tablespoon of olive oil and a drizzle of olive oil in the end.

Ingredients:
1 pound Barilla linguini pasta
1 pound extra large shrimp, 10 - 12 per pound
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup reserved pasta water
1/4 cup Italian parsley
Zest of 1 lemon

Preparation:

Make sure to buy the uncooked, extra large shrimp, shelled and deveined if possible. All shrimp are frozen so that is not a problem if that's what's available. You want to serve 6 shrimp per serving.
 

Take your uncooked, shelled and deveined shrimp and add to a medium size ceramic bowl, or a plastic bag works fine too. Add the minced garlic and marinate for 30 minutes.
 

Heat you largest stock pot with water and 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil. Add the Barilla linguini and cook to perfection; al dente in 12 - 13 minutes.
 

The shrimp will cook pretty quickly 3 - 4 minutes max. You want the shrimp and pasta to be done at the same time, so start cooking you shrimp with only 4 minutes left to cook the pasta. While the pasta is finishing cooking, take your 12" sauté pan and heat to medium high. When hot add the olive oil, butter, shrimp, garlic and lemon zest then the wine. When done, remove the shrimp and set a side and you're ready for the pasta.
 

When the pasta is done, drain and add 2 portions of linguini to the sauté pan that you cooked the shrimp. Add 1/2 the Italian parsley and 1/4 cup pasta water, more if you feel it's needed. The linguini is already hot, so you just want to toss for a couple of minutes all the garlic, butter, olive oil, wine, lemon zest and parsley. Lastly, add back the shrimp just to put a little warmth on them.


Plate the linguini and place 6 shrimp scampi on top of the linguini, sprinkle on some Italian parsley and drizzle with olive oil to finish.

Sweet And Sour Shrimp

This is a fun dish that I really just stumbled upon because I had very ripe pineapple and wanted to do something with it, so I cut it up and roasted it. If you like pineapple on pizza then you'll love this easy to prepare dish.
 

Ingredients:
1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1 tablespoon canola or avocado oil
1 cup roasted pineapple
2 tablespoons Trader Joes General Tso's sauce
2 cloves crushed garlic

Preparation:

Take your shrimp and add the crushed garlic and let marinate for 30 minutes. Cut the pineapple up into bit size pieces. Place the pineapple on a baking pan and coat with a little spray olive oil. Cook at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium high and add the oil and shrimp. Cook the shrimp for 5 minutes and add the pineapple and general Taoss sauce and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve over basmati rice and top with diced green onions.

Sautéed Garlic Shrimp Served on Parmesan Cheese Polenta

I made this same dish sometime back and used grits instead of polenta so this dish is similar, but still wonderful.

The difference between grits and polenta is that grits are made from ground white corn and polenta is made from ground yellow corn. The taste is similar, but really the difference is our perception of the two.

Grits brings up visions of the south and the food for the poor. Polenta on the other hand has visions of fine dining and dishes with the names like; "free range organic roasted quail served on a bed of organic polenta with spring greens and bacon reduction". Both grits and polenta are wonderful products, try them out for yourselves.

Ingredients:
1 pound 21-25 size uncooked shrimp
6 cloves garlic
1 cup Golden Pheasant brand polenta
1cup milk
2 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Take a large sauce pan and heat the milk, water and salt. Add the polenta to the sauce pan and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until thicken and cooked. Finish the polenta by adding the Parmesan cheese and olive oil. Turn off the heat, cover and set a side.

Fine chop the garlic and add to the raw shrimp and marinate for an hour. Heat a 10" sauté pan and add a teaspoon of olive oil and a small amount of butter, it doesn't take much. Cook the shrimp on medium high for 4 to 5 minutes and you're done.

To serve, place enough polenta on a plate to cover the bottom and add your cooked garlic shrimp. Finish with some diced green onions and a drizzle of olive oil.

Jumbo Shrimp Stack with Mango Salsa Stack, Avocado Salad and Cocktail Sauce

Here's a Christmas dinner appitizer almost too beautiful to eat. This consists of layers of jumbo shrimp with avaocado, mango salsa, salsa fresca drisseled with cilantro oil and cocktail sauce. I was fortunate enough to be served this wonderful dish at Phyllis's house and thought it was so amazing I would post on the blog.

Recipe on request.

Shrimp, Chicken, Spinach, Peas and Sautéed Garlic Served on White Pepper Grits

WOW, you just died and went to comfort food heaven, you just didn't know this was the ticket to get there. I telling you, this is so much better than it looks.

Seriously though, if you've been to New Orleans then you may have noticed that grits are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it's all fantastic. For me, I like this combination of shrimp, chicken, spinach, peas and sautéed garlic served over grits. The key to this dish is to get the right consistency to the grits, not too thick, not too runny, right in the middle.

Ingredients: Shrimp

1lb medium large shrimp

1 grilled chicken breast

4 - 5 sliced garlic

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup cooked spinach

1 tablespoon olive oil

Ingredients: Grits

1/2 cup uncooked grits

1 cup water
1 cup 1% milk

1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

Preparation: Chicken and Shrimp

For this dish I used cooked grilled chicken and cooked shrimp because that is what I had on hand, however you can quickly sauté up some chicken and shrimp for this dish.

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium and add a little olive oil. Add the sliced garlic and sauté for a few minutes making sure not to burn the garlic. Add the cooked spinach and frozen peas and cook until the spinach is wilted and the peas are hot. Lastly, add the cooked chicken and shrimp and toss until hot. Be sure to check for proper seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation: Grits

Make the grits according to the package which is 1 cup water, 1 cup milk and some salt to taste. When cooked add 1 tablespoon butter and the white pepper.

To plate, place a generous amount of grits on a plate and top chicken, shrimp, spinach and peas. Finish the dish by drizzling a little olive oil over the top of the dish and garnish with chopped Italian parsley.

Garlic Shrimp and Grits

There's something special about this dish, so simple and so darn good. The key is to not over cook the shrimp. The shrimp cooks in just a few minutes and when cooked properly will be tender and juicy. Secondly, you want the consistency of the grits to be like thick pancake batter. As the grits begin to cool on the plate they will thicken up.

Ingredients:

1 pound U15 shrimp, about 15 shrimp per pound

3 cloves crushed garlic

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup uncooked grits

1 cup water
2 cups low fat milk
1 tablespoon butter

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese

Chopped Italian parsley
 

Preparation:
Peel and devein the shrimp. Rinse the shrimp in cold water, lay on some paper towels to dry and then place in a medium glass bowl. Add the crushed garlic and olive oil and mix in with the shrimp and let marinate while you preparing the rest of the meal.
 

Take a medium large sauce pan and heat to medium high and add the water, milk, salt and grits. Cook the grits until somewhat firm, like corn bread batter. When cooked add 1 tablespoon butter and the parmesan cheese.

Take a large 12" sauté pan and heat to medium. The reason we're using a 12" sauté pan is because we just want one layer of shrimp across the bottom of the pan for even cooking. Add the butter and marinated garlic shrimp and cook the shrimp for 5 minutes, about 2 1/2 minutes per side. This is a nice easy gentle cooking process leaving tender juicy shrimp. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, place a generous amount of grits on a serving plate or shallow bowl. Pace the shrimp on the grits. Garnish the dish with chopped Italian parsley.

Garlic Shrimp Soft Tacos

 

Here we go, my first blog post, May 1st 2013.

These taco's are so good you'll think you just arrived in Cabo....

 

Ingredients:

1 pound uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined.

4 cloves of garlic, diced fine or use a garlic crusher

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 ripe avocado
Red onion

Lite sour cream

Shredded cheese
Tortilla's

1/2 head green cabbage

1/2 cup Mayonnaise

2 tablespoon white rice wine vinegar

 

Preparation:

Make the coleslaw first because it's better when it sits around for a while. Shred the cabbage and put in a large bowl. Combine with the vinegar and mayonnaise and salt. Mix well and set aside.

 

In a small bowl combine the diced avocado and red onion and set a side. 

Dice the garlic and add to the shrimp and let marinate for 30 minutes. Preheat a 12" sauté pan and add the olive oil. Next add the shrimp and garlic to the sauté pan and cook for 2 minutes until the shrimp are pink and no longer translucent.

Heat a 10" sauté pan to medium hot. Add a few drops of olive oil and heat the tortilla for 30 seconds on each side. Place the heated tortilla in a taco holder if you have one. Start building your taco by adding some coleslaw to the bed of the tortilla. Next, add the shrimp and lay them up against one side of the tortilla. Place the diced avocado and red onion mixture next to the shrimp. Add a sprinkle of cheese. Top the taco with sour cream. Serve with a lime wedges.