I adapted this recipe from a cookbook I bought when I visited New Orleans with my daughter a few years ago. It’s a dish served at the Court of Two Sisters restaurant in the French Quarter.
For the original recipe at Court of Two Sisters click here.
My Version Of Shrimp Creole
When I say that I adapted this it’s because, while I love Shrimp, I decided to decrease the amount of shrimp and increase the number of vegetables I used. I did this for a couple of reasons.
First, the original called for 3 pounds of shrimp. Three . . . that’s a lot of shrimp. At about $13.00 a pound (if you can find a sale) . . . that’s a lot of shrimp.
Second, I have tons of vegetables from the garden, I love vegetables, and they’re almost free since I grow them myself!
I also changed things up a bit and, also unlike the original, there was no need to add any kind of thickener to the sauce.
So here’s my version of the Court of Two Sisters Shrimp Creole.
Peel and de-vein 2 pounds of shrimp. I also remove the tails just because I don’t want to have to deal with them while I’m eating.
I reserve the shrimp shells and boil them in a pan of water. I use this water to make rice to serve with the Shrimp Creole.
They may look a little gross to the untrained eye. But boil them in water, strain the liquid, and discard the shells. Then use the water to make rice for a little extra flavor. It just adds a little something something. . .
Chop 1 1/2 cups each of onion, celery, and bell peppers, 1 cup shallots, and mince a couple of cloves of garlic.
Melt butter in a large skillet. Yes, I know it may seem like a lot of butter. But, I promise, it’ll be fine.
Add the chopped veggies and garlic, and sauté for about 5 minutes. The only vegetable in this recipe I didn’t grow myself was the celery. Something to try this year.
Then add 2 bay leaves, 2 cups tomato puree, which is nothing more than seeded tomatoes pureed in the food processor.
1 pint canned tomatoes . . .
and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add shrimp and simmer another 15 minutes.
Add the juice of 1/2 to 1 whole lemon,
salt and pepper, and cayenne to taste and, you guessed it . . . simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make rice with the strained boiled shrimp shell liquid.
Serve Shrimp Creole over the rice.
Happy Fat Tuesday!!
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 ½ cups chopped onions
- 1 cup diced shallots
- 1 ½ cups chopped peppers
- 1 ½ cups chopped celery
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 2 cups tomato puree
- 1 pint canned tomatoes
- The juice of ½ to 1 lemon
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 pounds peeled and de-veined shrimp
- Salt, pepper, cayenne
Melt the butter and sauté the onions, shallots, celery, and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree, tomatoes, and bay leaves, simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the shrimp and simmer for 15 minutes. Add lemon juice, salt, pepper and cayenne to taste, and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes. Serve over rice. Makes about 6 servings.
And to think . . . almost everything in this dish came from my garden!
I’m just gonna tell ya . . . this is some good Creole!
Cheers!
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