Shrimp and Okra Gumbo

This week I broke out the always reliable Homesick Texan cookbook to try my hand at some gumbo. Growing up my grandparents lived outside of New Orleans so I've often had a touch of Louisiana in my family dinners, but other than previously posted Shrimp Étouffée I haven't really tried much of it on my own. All in all, it was really time consuming but, in my opinion worth it.

Chopped bell pepper and celery. Frozen okra.

Fresh garlic and thyme, with bay leaves.

30ish minutes for the roux, constant stirring.

Veggies cooked in the completed roux.

Everything in the pot to simmer.

For about two hours we grew hungry over the smell coming from the simmering pot before I added the shrimp. In that two hours the okra pretty much dissolved in a way that you would never know that it was there in the first place. I would have rather had some say intact, maybe I need to use fresh next time.

The end result is not the prettiest of our meals, but I thought it was quite delicious. Laura, on the other hand, didn't quite agree since the shrimp texture and cooked down veggies aren't so much her thing. I might have to save this for bachelor weekends (when I would add some andouille).

Tastier than it looks.

Shrimp Étouffée

I assure you that we are still alive and well(ish), life has just kept us from the blog lately. We recently moved cities and are sorta settled in a family house while I look for work and Laura gets settled in her new job. For a bit of comfort recently, I decided to try my hand at a dish that my family has been cooking for years now, Shrimp Étouffée. Wikipedia has a good article on Étouffée if you want to bone up.

This dish is rather simple, but easy to mess up if you aren't paying attention. It starts with a full stick of butter, mmmmmm. Sorry, just the thought of all that buttery goodness made me zone out there for a moment. Once the butter is melted sauté 1 cup chopped onions, 1 cup chopped celery 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper and 2 cloves crushed garlic. Once the onions become limp add 1.5 cups of water and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Next, add 1.5lbs of shrimp and cayenne to taste (we like it hot and went with 1/2 teaspoon). Let this simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the shrimp is cooked. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in 3 tablespoons of water and add to the skillet. Serve over cooked rice.

For some added taste of home for me, we paired it with a simple cucumber salad that my family likes to make. The salad combines sliced cucumber (thin is good for this, but it is up to you), mayonnaise (we went with Vegenaise and I swear you can't tell the difference), green onion and ground black pepper (or cracked pepper is nice as well). The salad is best if you can soak the sliced cucumbers in water with some salt for a few hours before mixing the rest of the ingredients.

Finally we added some Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, because who in their right mind doesn't like them? All in all this was just what this homesick boy needed.

mmmmmmmmm butter

sauté goodness

still needs pepper

really, don't fear it!

a taste of home

Lemon-Thyme Succotash with Shrimp

Tonight's dish was Lemon-Thyme Succotash with Garlic-Parsley Shrimp from Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats and I for one, thought it was quite yummy. Laura is trying seafood, but is having trouble with shrimp due to the "pop" they make when you bite into them. She also wants to go on record saying they are the "little cockroaches of the sea." I still maintain that they are beyond compare and only made better with butter and garlic.

We both agreed that the Succotash was great and that it is worth another go. We don't agree so much on the shrimp, but that is due to the aforementioned disagreement about the awesomeness of said critter.

A fun aspect of this dish was that it was in two pans at once so we were able to work together at the stove. See more pictures on at the Flickr set.



The succotash included onions, red bell pepper, celery, corn, cannellini beans and thyme.



The shrimp were cooked with olive oil, butter and loads of garlic. They were finished with parsley and white wine.