I love food. One of my favorite cities to eat in is New Orleans. Crawfish Etouffee, red beans and rice, gumbo and jambalaya.
YES PLEASE!
But it’s not always possible to travel to NOLA on a food whim. Although I wish I could. So, I often try and replicate some of my favorite NOLA treats at home. I’ve failed often at recreating the scrumptiousness that I’ve tasted while in the Big Easy.Maybe it’s because in NOLA you can have authentic beignets at the world famous Café’ Du Monde in the heart of the French Quarter with the Mississippi River just a few feet away.
It’s difficult to even come close to the Po’ Boys served in the Mid-City district at Parkway subs, which has been serving up the classic Crescent city sandwich since the early 1900s.
NOLA food speaks to me. The root of Cajun and Creole food is based on the rich infusion of Caribbean spices, primarily from Haiti, the European influence of French techniques and sauces and spices from Spain.
Similar to the influences that make up most of the Cuban food I grew up eating.
After much experimentation I finally found a NOLA dish I could easily make at home using something you can find in any grocery store - shrimp!This dish is quick, easy, and appeals to my Latin taste buds.
First, make sure you get fresh shrimp, if possible, but frozen will work too. The bigger the better.
I like to use what they call 26-30’s or larger (26-30’s means there are about 26-30 shrimp in a pound), Colossal or U-15’s means the shrimp is so big that about 10-15 make up a pound.Using a sharp knife (carefully please) cut along the back of the shrimp, just deep enough to be able to remove the vein.
Don’t peel the shell off. That is the flavor saver during the marinating and cooking process.
Also, if you look up several recipes, you’ll notice that NOLA BBQ Shrimp is not made with BBQ sauce at all, but mine does have BBQ sauce as I found it added another depth of flavor.
NOLA BBQ Shrimp
- 1 pound of shrimp
- 3 teaspoons minced garlic
- Olive oil
- Tabasco sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon of your favorite BBQ sauce
- 2-3 tablespoons of butter
- Tony Chachere’s Creole spice
The marinade is simple. After deveining the shrimp, place them in a bowl, add a little bit of Olive oil, the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, black pepper and shake the Creole spice over the shrimp to coat. Stir it up and let them sit while you prepare the pan.
In a saucepan, place a tablespoon of Olive oil and set the temp to medium high. When the oil gets hot, add the BBQ sauce and tabasco sauce (to your spicy liking). Stir that quickly and toss in the shrimp and all the juices in the bowl.
The shrimp cooks quickly, it only needs three to four minutes or until pink on both sides. Turn the heat down prior to the shrimp being completely done and toss in cut cubes of butter to emulsify the sauce. Stir everything together well and serve. I like to serve mine over a bed of white rice or as is with a slice of toasted, crunchy French Bread to soak up the sauce.
Whoooo-Weeee, get ready to get MESSY!
No utensils are required. Well, okay you’ll need a fork for your rice but save that for last…Trust me.
Grab a shrimp by the tail and before you start peeling it stick that sucker in your mouth and SLURP. By leaving the shell on during the cooking process all the great and spicy sauce creeps into the small crevices and melds with the briny water released from the shrimp during the cooking process.
Okay, now you can peel the shrimp, dip it into the sauce and chomp down. Pour a little bit of sauce over your rice and dig in!As they say in NOLA "laissez les bon temps rouler" (Let the good times roll). In this case, let that savory spicy shrimp roll across your taste buds.
It may be a recipe inspired by NOLA, but this meal makes my southern and Cuban heart feel, “like it’s gonna slap yo’ momma con mucho gusto!”