Cajun Shrimp & Sausage with Cheesy Grits

Is there anything better than comfort food on a cold winters day? One of my all time favorites is creamy grits  and Cajun shrimp and sausage. Tummy warming and delicious!  This is my quick version of traditional Cajun dish. Enjoy!

1 cup of instant grits
1 cups water
3 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 to 1 1/2 pounds precooked, shelled frozen medium to large shrimp (leave tails on)
10 ounces smoked sausage, your choice, sliced  medium thin and diagonally 
6 sliced thick applewood smoked bacon, diced
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning or to taste
4 scallions, sliced thinly

For the Grits:
Bring water, milk, 2 tablespoons butter, salt and pepper to a boil. Slowly stir in instant grits and reduce heat to medium. Cook 6 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly. When grits have thickened, stir in cheese until melted, remove from heat and set aside. If grits are too thick, add milk. Too thin, continue to cook until the mixture thickens.

Directions:
Add diced bacon to a skillet. Fry crisp, remove and drain on paper towels. Drain off most of the bacon fat. add sausage and  garlic. Fry until sausages are browned and garlic is tender.  Add shrimp and cook until pink or 3 to 4 minutes. Add seasoning and remaining butter. Stir to incorporate. Add bacon to pan and toss. Spoon over grits and sprinkle with sliced scallions.

Summer Avocado Shrimp and Fruit Salad boats

Ingredients:

¾ pound medium frozen cooked shrimp

3 good size Hass avocados (or whatever you can get in your area/season), half them evenly and discard pits.
8 strawberries, quartered
1 mango, peeled and diced
¼ cup poppy seed dressing
3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
A nice handful of cilantro, big stems removed and chopped
Finely shredded Iceberg lettuce

Directions:

Defrost shrimp according to package directions, then drain well and refrigerate to cool. Wash and quarter strawberries. Dice mango. Add the fruit to the shrimp bowl and add dressing , yogurt, cilantro and toss to coat all. Plate avocadoes. Lay a nest of shredded lettuce on each and spoon the shrimp and fruit salad on top of lettuce.

Sweet Chili Thai Shrimp

Serves 2 generously

For the sauce:
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons sherry
3 to 4 dried red chili peppers (Fresno), cut into pieces *Use less if you like less heat*
4 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons cornstarch paste, (mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 3 to 4 tablespoon water)

For the dish:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 carrots, peeled and julienned diagonally
1 can water chestnut, drained and rinsed
16 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
8 scallions, cut in thirds and sliced thin
1 slight handful cilantro, chopped
1 small can or bag of cashews, for garnish
1 can Crunchy Chinese noodles, for more crunch

Directions:
For the sauce, Add first 7 ingredients, in order, to a sauce pan on medium high heat and bring to a slow boil. Reduce heat and mix in cornstarch paste. Increase heat to medium high and stir until mixture thickens. Set aside, off the hot burner.

For the dish, this will go very fast from this point. In a skillet or wok, add oil and heat until it sizzles when a piece of green onion is tossed into it. Add carrots and cook for about 3 minutes.  You want the veggies still a bit crisp. Add water chestnuts and cook for 1 minute. Stir in shrimp and scallions.  Cook shrimp for no longer than 3 minutes. Toss cilantro in at last minute.  Add in the Sweet Thai chili sauce and stir to coat well. Plate in two dishes. Sprinkle with cashews and serve with crunchy noodles.


 มีความสุขกิน!
 Happy Eating!

Shrimp Carchovie

Shrimp Carchovie


Serves up to 6

Ingredients:
1 14ounce can or jar marinated artichoke hearts, halved
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 pound medium frozen pre-cooked shrimp, peeled and rinsed
16 ounces spaghetti or linguine noodles
Sauce:
¼ cup butter (plus 2 tablespoons for sautéing)
3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon fresh thyme ( I have used dry)
2 ½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

Directions:
Heat a pot of water to boiling and add noodles. Cook to andante, drain.

While noodles are boiling, melt butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes or until soft. Add cream and thyme and simmer until reduced by a third. Whisk in the cheese and cook until thoroughly combined and thickened slightly. Sprinkle in parsley. Your sauce is done, that easy! Set aside.

In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons butter on medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender and soft. Add noodles to skillet and combine with mushrooms. Add shrimp and stir, then add artichoke hearts and sauce. Toss gingerly and cook until heated thoroughly. Serve with garlic bread and salad for a fabulous Italian meal.

Cooks Notes:
In a hurry? You can skip a step and use a jar of alfredo sauce. Save more time by buying pre-sliced mushrooms in your produce department.

Texans like it Hot!

This is a great appetizer to serve with drinks.


Shrimp Diablo


1 14 ounce package, peeled, precooked frozen shrimp, tail on

Defrost shrimp according to package directions. Leave tail on.


Diablo Sauce:

1 to 2 large fresh jalapeno(s), washed, seeded and diced (Depending on heat desired)

1/2 large white onion, diced

2 medium tomatoes, washed and diced

1 small handful cilantro, washed, stems removed and finely chopped

1 11 ounce can green giant southwestern style corn

4 to 5 tablespoons red cocktail sauce

juice of 1/2 lime

salt and pepper to taste


Directions:

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate until needed.


Fill stemware glass with diablo sauce and arrange shrimp around the rim of the glass. Serve with tortillas or crackers and lettuce if desired.

SERVE COLD. ENJOY!

Shrimp & Bacon Club with Pommes Frites

This recipe is for 2 sandwiches. That said, these are huge and can easily feed 4 when cut in two. Absolute-a-ly de-licious! We love this sandwich. It is very much like one of the sandwiches we served at our tea room. I gave it a little twist, but other than that this is our shrimp and bacon. Funny, but true story...a lot of the Doctors from the local hospital ate in our establishment on a fairly regular basis. One Doctor in particular loved this sandwich. He ordered it quite often and picked it up to go when he had to. One day he came in to pick up his order and said to me, "I gotta tell you, I couldn't wait to get though with my last patient. All I could think about was getting to my shrimp and bacon sandwich". He said, he just kept looking at the clock and thinking it's almost lunch time! He was an OB GYN! Now you know what they're thinking!

*First prepare garlic mayo sauce and refrigerate to let flavors meld.

Garlic Mayo Sauce:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Several drops hot sauce, to taste

In a bowl, stir all ingredients well and refrigerate.

Belgian Fries or Pommes Frites
4 cups vegetable or peanut oil
2 to 2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into uniform strips.
salt

Frites Directions:
Pommes frites are fried twice. So this is a two step process. Fill a large heavy bottom pot or deep fryer 2/3 full of oil and heat for deep frying. A thermometer should read 325 to 350 degrees. Dry potatoes well so that they don't splatter when they are lowered into the hot oil. Lower potatoes in using a large spoon and fry for appoximately 5 minutes. Don't over crowd the fries. Fry in as many batches as you need to for your size pot. Keep in mind that you are not frying them completely. Just to a lightly golden color. When fries are the desired color, remove them and drain on paper towels in a colainder. This is the first fry. Let fries rest for as long as possible and then return them to the hot oil to cook to a golden brown color. This should only take 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from oil again and drain. Using a large kitchen bowl (a salad bowl works well), place fries with salt and toss well. Serve hot with sauce, if desired. We used the garlic mayo sauce as a dip for the frites.

Shrimp & Bacon Club with Avocado and Garlic Mayo Sauce

(Ingredients make 2 sandwiches, 1/2 for each)

6 medium thick slices bread (I used French bread here)
8 slices bacon, fried and drained well
2 leaves Bibb lettuce or small handful of spring mix, washed if need be
4 slices tomato, washed and sliced
4 slices Swiss cheese
10 medium frozen shrimp, defrosted in warm water, tails removed
Hot sauce

1 avocado, seeded and sliced
8 extra long frilly sandwich toothpicks (4 for each clubstyle sandwich)

Directions:
Add frozen shrimp to a bowl of warm water to defrost. Let sit while you fry the bacon. On a griddle or flat grill, fry bacon until crispy. Remove from grill, drain well and sit aside. Drain shrimp and pat dry with a paper towel. Lay shrimp on one side of the grill and add 2 to 3 drops of hot sauce to each. Fry on each side for 1 or 2 minutes. Set aside. Toast bread on the other side of the grill.

Assemble Sandwich:
Spread one side of each slice of bread with garlic mayo sauce.
Add 1 slice of cheese to a slice of bread and top with shrimp
Top shrimp with avocado slices
Top avocado slices with another slice of bread, mayo side down
Add mayo to the other side of the bread and add another slice of cheese
Add bacon to the cheese and top bacon with tomato slices
Top Tomato slices with lettuce and add slice of bread to top.

Here's where the tricky part starts. Stick a toothpick in each of the four sides of the bread in a cross type pattern, midway between the edge of the bread and the center. Using a bread knife, cut bread diagonally crisscrossing the sandwich in an X pattern. It's a little tricky holding it all together and cutting at the same time but you can rearrainge anything that falls out. Once sandwich is cut into four pieces, join two quarters together, end to end using toothpicks in top and bottom to secure together. Do this for each sandwich.