Dec 25 2015
One Christmas meal down and two to go. Our son and family came down and brought breakfast, a layered Crockpot of hash browns, sausage, eggs and cheese. It was pretty tasty! My wife had some cinnamon rolls to go with it. Then they were off to have Christmas dinner at her folks in Toledo.
There were just the wife, daughter and me for dinner (supper to me), so I fixed one of our favorites and also pretty easy to make, New Orleans BBQ shrimp. I had a nice take home and bake garlic loaf to bake; it would be good dipped in the butter the shrimp are cooked in.
We love French fries but I don’t like to deep fry in the house and don’t like wasting oil so I do oven baked. I have been using Ore Ida frozen fast food fries; not as good as the deep fried but not too bad. I found a good recipe for beer brined oven fries a by Jackie on her Beeroness blog. She has a lot of recipes using craft beers.
Fries recipe:
http://thebeeroness.com/2014/01/13/beer-soaked-oven-fries/ For the fries simply cut potatoes in ½ strips and soak in a bottle of lager beer with a tablespoon of coarse salt. Add water to cover if needed. Place in the fridge for 3 to 6 hours then rinse well and dry with paper towels. Spray or coat with olive oil and season. I used Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle. Spread fries on an oiled sheet pan in a single layer. Bake at 425 deg. for 20 minutes, stir to turn and bake another 10 to 15 minutes. These are so good it will be my go to recipe for oven fries.
I had some frozen jumbo wild caught Key West Pink shrimp and they were good. My wife dipped a piece of bread and said it was too hot for her. I got too much of the hot sauce in for her. To me they were just mild hot. To save time dipping by the piece I just dip the whole slice of bread. That is some good eating!
Smokin Don
Dons New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
1 pound raw shrimp. Shell on
3 slices bacon, diced
1 stick butter
1 TBS Dijon mustard
1 tsp Penzey’s Cajun spice mix, your favorite, or chili powder
1 tsp Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset seasoning
½ tsp Cholula hot sauce, or to taste
1 TBS Zatarains liquid shrimp & crab boil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt & pepper to taste
Don’t know why but this is what the Cajun’s call BBQ shrimp! Whether you would call it BBQ or not it sure is yummy served with good hard crust bread for dipping in the sauce.
Thaw shrimp if frozen & wash in cold water.
Brown the diced bacon in an oven proof skillet, when almost done add the stick of butter until melted & bubbly. Turn to med low heat then add the rest of the ingredients except the garlic. Heat through & add the garlic just before you add the shrimp. Stir shrimp to coat & place in a preheated 350 deg oven for 20 minutes, stirring once halfway. Serve & enjoy. This is also good done on a smoker.
Note: a little oregano, basil, & thyme will work in place of the Tuscan Sunset seasoning.
