Shrimp Creole Ala Aunt Beverly Recipe 445

Steps:

• First, using a flexible wire whisk, combine the canola oil and the flour in a heavy 5-quart Dutch oven and cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking continually, until it transforms into a golden colored roux. Figure that this should take you about 15 to 20 minutes. Next, drop into the pot the onion, celery, green onions, green pepper, and garlic. Then blend this into the roux and cook everything together, stirring often, for about 15 minutes or until the seasoning vegetables are fully wilted and tender. Then stir in the all of the tomatoes-the fresh diced, the tomato sauce, the tomato paste, and the Rotels-as well as the water and the sherry wine. When everything is fully blended, begin adding and whisking into the mixture the seafood seasoning, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, thyme, lemon juice, lemon zest, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Now bring the contents of the Dutch oven to a full boil and stir everything around briskly. Then immediately cover the pot and reduce the heat to nothing harsher than a gentle simmer. At this point, you allow the "Creole" to simmer for a full 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Finally, when you're ready to eat, gently stir in shrimp (along with the 2 tablespoons of butter, and simmer everything once more for about 10 minutes or until the shrimp turn pink and tender. All that's left is to whisk in the minced parsley and serve the Creole over a big bowl of hot, steaming rice alongside a glass of chilled white wine. ------- Chef's Notes: If you want to extract a number of other recipes from this "base recipe," you merely follow the directions to the letter until you arrive at the signature ingredient-in this case it's shrimp, but it can also be crawfish, crabmeat, calamari, lobster meat, etc. Of course, outside of the Lenten season you can also re-fashion this base recipe into Chicken Creole, Pork Creole, Sausage Creole. . .it's limited only by your imagination.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat. Cook and stir onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic in hot oil until soft, 5 to 7 minutes; add diced tomatoes and green chiles, tomato sauce, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and bay leaves. Reduce heat to medium low and continue cooking until vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes.
• Put flour into a large sealable plastic bag. Season flour with salt and pepper. Add shrimp to bag, close bag, and shake to coat shrimp in seasoned flour.
• Stir tomato juice into the mixture in the Dutch oven. Reduce heat to low and cook until the juice reduces slightly, about 5 minutes; add shrimp and cook until shrimp turn pink, about 5 minutes. Remove Dutch oven from heat and let the residual heat finish cooking the shrimp until they are bright pink and the meat is no longer translucent, about 5 minutes more.

Steps:

• In a 2 quart saucepan, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Add onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic; cook until tender.
• Mix in cornstarch. Stir in stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, and red pepper sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Stir in shrimp, and cook for 5 minutes.