Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wasn't the Superbowl Four Days Ago?

I've been slacking on my blog. I've been meaning to talk about Superbowl food, but here it is Thursday. I'd better get with it, shouldn't I?

As our most parties that my friends throw, the Superbowl party was a potluck. Sue, who is the traditional hostess of the Superbowl among my friends, suggested that we theme what we bring to coincide with the teams playing. New Orleans was so easy, but what should I bring for Indiana? I suppose middle America food - potato salad, coleslaw, jello molds - would have been appropriate, but I wimped out and just supported New Orleans with my food choice. I made Seafood Creole. Yum. I don't make it often, though it is quite a well loved dish. It takes at least an hour of active food prep and about an hour after to let it simmer.

This post is all about how much of a slacker I've been because I really wanted to take photos of it after it was done. But did I? Nope. So to make up for it I'll give you all my recipe.

Daphne's Seafood Creole

  • 2lbs uncooked shrimp with shells on
  • 2T flour
  • 3-4 T butter
  • 2 onions minced
  • 1/4c minced jalapenos
  • 1/2c minced celery
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 4c Sungold tomato sauce
  • 2 cans crabmeat (or use fresh if you have it)
  • 1/4 lb scallops
  • 2 bay leaves
  • T dried parsley (or more fresh if it is summer)
  • Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning to taste (which has salt, so I don't add any more)

While other things are getting sauteed, I work on the shrimp. Peel. Rinse the shells. Put the shells in water to cover and boil for 10 minutes to make a shrimp stock. Strain and use 1 cup in the recipe. If I have really large shrimp I chop them up a bit for this dish.

Make a light roux with flour and 3T butter. Add onions to roux and sautee for 10 minutes over low to med heat. I often add another tablespoon of butter at this point because it likes to stick. Add jalapenos and celery. Saute 15 minutes. Add tomato sauce. BTW you don't really need Sungold tomato sauce like I used but if you don't have a really sweet sauce, add some sugar to taste. You can also use fresh tomatoes, but add about 5 cups finely minced. Add bay leaves. Simmer 20 minutes stirring constantly. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for an hour. Serve with rice and a nice Louisiana hot sauce on the side.

From my garden I used, jalapenos, parsley, and the Sungold tomato sauce. I've had trouble using up my Sungold tomato sauce. It is really too sweet for most things, but it went very well with this. It gave a really sweet and sour taste to it.

And this ugly thing I remember to take a photo of?

After I was done making my stock, I kept looking at the shrimp shells. It would have been such a waste to throw them away. People buy things like crab meal to use as fertilizer. I keep my eggshells. So I dried them out and I'll crush them and put them on the garden. Maybe they will be good for nematodes like crab meal is. I can only hope.

16 comments:

  1. Shoot I am from Indiana & I don't think we even have any specific foods.

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  2. Yum! But you know I have to take a bit of exception to your implication that middle America is boring!

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  3. I get mad at myself, too, when I forget the PICTURES, in the busyness of cooking and eating. I'd like to see a picture of your dish, but it does sound good--and I'll mark it to try.

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  4. The Creole sounds good. I will save the recipe. I made your apple cake a while ago, not sure if I told you? It was excellent with those gooey brown sugar bits!

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  5. I some some shrimp shells in my freezer right now along with a fish carcass. I'm hoping that by mid-May, when tomato planting season is upon us, I will be able to make good use of them.

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  6. I'm saving this recipe for the height of the season, it sounds perfect for using up so much of the summer produce options. I did not realize you could make sauce from Sungolds, but that's a great idea as those plants produce so much we start to get sick of them by early September. ;)

    I have used crab and shrimp shells in my compost ever since I was told it is a really effective way to "heat" up the decomposition process and adds vital minerals to the finished product.

    You can even ask some seafood restaurants to give you their shells for this purpose; I've only had luck with the small, independent restaurants. (Big chains are worried we'll do what exactly with their leftover shells, I wonder?)

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  7. I just got my Peaceful Farm Supply catalog, and I think crushed shrimp shells are one of the fertilizer options.

    Do not research shrimp farming. . .you won't eat them any more.

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  8. Some of my favorite purchased compost is made here in Maine and is called "Fish and Farm." Lobster and shrimp shells are some of the components. I think shrimp shells will be great for your garden soil.

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  9. Only we fellow gardeners look at that pile of discarded shrimp shells and tails and think it is something of value and use! It's a good thing we hang out together because everyone else probably thinks we are nuts. ;)

    We did "not good for you" party type snack food for Super Bowl Sunday. Never did eat a proper supper that day ... just hot wings, eggs rolls with sweet hot dipping sauce, bite size burritos and appetizer sized pizzas. Your dinner sounds much better and was much better for you I am sure.

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  10. I'm sure it was delicious..even if it is a few days old :)

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  11. selina, corn?

    Karen, lol hey I just said the food was boring, I never said the area was boring (but yours might be - flat as far as the eye can see). And your area is known for its BBQ. So your food isn't even boring.

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  12. poppyseed, I've forgotten to take so many photos. It really is pretty sad. I moved the camera to the kitchen counter so I wouldn't forget and I still do.

    Dan, I love the topping with the brown sugar bits. Without it apple cake is just not apple cake.

    Thomas, I always get my fish filleted. I keep thinking about keeping the skin though. My favorite how-to page is on tomato growing from Love Apple Farm and they use fish carcasses. I've always been afraid to try that. I'm thinking the racoons, coyotes, or fox (though the fox seems to have disappeared) would dig it up.

    Meredith, I had six Sungold descendants last year, so I had way too many little tomatoes. I wouldn't do it if you don't have a good strainer. But my Victorio strainer made quick work of peeling/desseeding them. It does take longer to boil down, and the sauce is amazingly sweet. I use it in chilis too, mixed half and half with the non sungold sauce.

    Stefaneener, well now I know it is great for the garden. Ack! Don't tell me. I already won't eat farmed salmon. I'm so losing all the food I love over time. Though right now is shrimp season in New England. Maine shrimp are cheap as dirt here until the season is over (which is soon). They even have CSFs (like a CSA but with fish) going for Maine shrimp. I really wish one was close enough to drive to for me. It would be too much fun. You get ten or twenty pound of shrimp a week for eight weeks. It is under $2/pound, but you get the heads. Hmm heads that would make really good compost.

    GrafixMuse, I'd never heard of that compost before, but it is good they are using up those shells.

    kitsapFG, oh there were plenty of things brought that were of the "not good for you" variety. With a pot luck you never know what you will get. Our hostess always provides us with two chilies (one veggie, one chicken) so there is always something real to eat. I prefer to bring real things too. Especially something that my husband will eat since he is picky. And he will eat this even with all the veggies. In fact he loves it so it works as a great way to get him to eat his veggies.

    Kalena Michele, lol

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  13. I look at that shrimp remains photo and I give thanks to God that I'm a vegetarian :-)

    Giant buglike creatures invade the earth.

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  14. Your Creole dish sounds so good. Stefaneener is right about farmed shrimp, stay away, they're really environmentally bad also. Your local wild caught shrimp are ok though. I volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium where they have a really good program about sustainable seafood. If you're interested do a web search for Seafood Watch and check out the guides. There's frozen crab and shrimp shells in my freezer ready to go into my next compost pile.

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  15. We buy lots of delicious Maine shrimp for the freezer all picked (cleaned). Now I'm thinking I should investigate getting the shells, although I would be afraid it would attract raccoons and foxes, which is NOT a good idea for our hens. I'll just have to stick with lobster compost I guess.

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  16. We buy lots of delicious Maine shrimp for the freezer all picked (cleaned). Now I'm thinking I should investigate getting the shells, although I would be afraid it would attract raccoons and foxes, which is NOT a good idea for our hens. I'll just have to stick with lobster compost I guess.

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