Continuing my recent trend of trying to shake things up in the kitchen, I pulled out another Family Circle recipe to cook up for dinner last night. This time it was their Creole Shrimp and Rice recipe (edited for use in my house).
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound frozen shrimp
3 teaspoons creole seasoning (mine was a bit saltier than I like and it was very spicy)
1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 14.5 oz can of stewed tomatoes (mine came with basil, oregano and garlic flavor)
1 box Parmesan couscousPrep the couscous per directions and set to side.
Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil over med-high heat in a large frying pan (I used a wok) and add shrimp with 1 teaspoon of creole seasoning. Saute for two minutes on a side. Remove shrimp and place in bowl off to the side.
Add remaining olive oil, peppers, onion, and celery and cook until mostly soft–about 7 minutes. Scrape up any browned bits off the bottom of the frying pan, add stewed tomatoes and remaining creole seasoning. Simmer uncovered for 5-7 minutes while breaking apart tomatoes with you wooden utensil of choice.
Stir in shrimp and serve over couscous.
While I was quite pleased with this dish, my wife complained that none of the ingredients were her thing. Disappointed at first, I realized this meant only one thing–more for me! This dish had a nice kick, and not too much for my wife surprisingly, but with the creole seasoning I chose I’ll need to scale it back to knock out some of the salt. I’m a little bummed that I won’t be making this one again any time soon. Boo.
Anyone out there have a creole seasoning recipe or brand they prefer to use? How about other creole type dishes that you have made which aren’t full of yummy vegetables and shrimp–being that my wife would prefer to starve than eat anything that grew in the ground?
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January 29th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
January 29th, 2010 at 11:32 am
That’s what I used. Too salty.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:48 am
My best advice? Get a better recipe from a higher-quality recipe source, and never, ever buy a seasoning blend. If a recipe says to use a seasoning blend, it is a bad recipe. Most blends are salt, garlic and onion powder (yuk), a nod to some dried herbs, and more salt. Possibly MSG as well (this can be disguised as “spices”, “natural flavors”, and other pseudonyms). Throw away the Family Circle, the Taste of Home, and all of their friends. This is not the quality you are searching for. You know, Bon Appetit always has fast and easy recipes in every issue.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:50 am
sandy, this seasoning blend has no MSG (I pay attention to that) and as far as your suggestion to use Bon Appetit, thanks, but with the Budget Nazi that’s just not going to happen.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:55 am
It’s one dollar an issue.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:55 am
The library carries it for check-out as well.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Believe me, $1 is more than she’s going to give me to experiment in the kitchen. But, since it’s so cheap, I’ll be more than happy to have anyone else donate their old issues to me :-)
January 29th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Oh, for check out? That I can do.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
We subscribe to Cooks Digest. I find it very interesting. Sometimes the recipes are great, sometimes I just get confused, but its worth looking at. No idea on the cost, its a gift every year.
My wife makes a sort of Jambalaya/Creole dish that is very good. There is not really a name for it. I can see if she has a written recipe, but bascially she uses a spicy sausage, shrimp, chicken, salsa, some sort of homeade seasoning (its her imitation of Emerils Essence of Emirl I guess) and some other stuff to create the sauce and then we serve it over either noodle or rice.
January 29th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
My dad was always a fan of Tony’s too. I never got into it like he did.
January 29th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
1/4 tsp has 310mg of sodium and that recipe above called for 3 tsps. No wonder it was so salty!
January 29th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I don’t know if “Cajun” seasoning and “Creole” seasoning are the same but Penzey’s has Cajun seasoning:
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeyscajunspicy.html
“Hand-mixed from: paprika, salt, celery, sugar, garlic, black pepper, onion, oregano, red pepper, caraway, dill, turmeric, cumin, bay, mace, cardamom, basil, marjoram, rosemary, and thyme. “
January 29th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
I’m sure you know where Penzey’s is, but if not, or for others that don’t:
Lakeville, MN
7626 160th St W
(952) 953-1788
Mon.-Fri.: 9:30AM – 5:30PM
Sat.: 9:30AM – 5:00PM
Sun.: 11:00AM – 5:00PM
January 29th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
i made shrimp scampi not too long ago. it turned out great, the only issue i find out is i don’t like shrimp:( i will make it again only it’ll be chicken scampi:)
bb
January 30th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Try epicurious.com they have FREE recipes from Gourmet Magazine and Bon Apetite! I use it all the time with great results.
January 30th, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Sal, yes, it is excellent and has been mentioned on this site before. Some said that it’s too big and too hard to find what they want; however, I have used it for years and like it a lot.
January 30th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Bill, a search for Shrimp Creole on epicurious.com was enlightening. The first hit has homemade creole seasoning.
January 30th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Bill, I have a bunch of back issues you can have. I subscribed for a year and found it a waste of money, the recipes, I find, are pompous. The ingredients are expensive, and everything has fish in it. Gross.
January 30th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
dm:
1. Pompous: Excessively elevated or ornate; having or exhibiting self-importance.
Bon Appetit magazine? I don’t see that.
2. Expensive ingredients. I looked through my current issue and did find a few things that are pricey; there was a leg of lamb and also a beef tenderloin, for example, and two recipes had proscuitto or pancetta in them. For the most part, however, I saw things like black beans, potatoes, barley soup, grilled cheese, ham, pork, chicken, chocolate cake, etc.
Most people do occasionally splurge on an ingredient, and I would say that this issue reflects this statistically and appropriately.
So, “expensive ingredients” gets a “no”.
3. “Everything has fish in it.” Well, many people love seafood. But again, looking through the current issue, I found seafood in five recipes out of sixty-nine; that’s about 7%. So, “no” to the seafood remark as well.
While I do miss Gourmet magazine tremendously, I still love Bon Appetit (and also Fine Cooking).
dm, I hope you will try it again sometime. I have gotten many great recipes from this publication over the years and learned a lot from it.
January 30th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I’m with dawnmarie on this one. Sandy, is it that time of the month?
January 30th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Sandy, good for you. I find most of the recipes pompous, excessive and I find the articles themselves to exhibit self-importance.
Expensive, we clearly have different definitions of the word, so I stand by my expensive.
And I’m very happy that you like it, I will not be trying it again, since I just got my last issue in January, I don’t need to try again quite yet.
I prefer other things. Makes the world go round and all that. Bill, the issues are yours.
January 30th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
I said Cooks Digest above, sorry, upon further review (looked at the cover) its Cooks Illustrated. The same people that do Americas Test Kitchen (Saturday morning TV) put out Cooks Illustrated. Check out the show, or the magazine. I enjoy both, although I often feel like I am in over my head as far as the actual cooking techniques.
January 30th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Mrs. R, is that a cheap personal attack? Where did that come from?
January 30th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
dm, you are a smart, interesting person – there must be something else we have in common to agree upon :-)
January 31st, 2010 at 7:39 am
Amen, sister. No need to refute every single argument dmh listed, for some of us “it is what it is.”
February 1st, 2010 at 7:55 am
Not an attack, but maybe it was my time of the month. I just found your comments a wee bit harsh that’s all. My apologies.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:28 pm
No worries, Mrs. R; my apologies as well to anyone I may have offended here.
Mrs. M:
“…for some of us ‘it is what it is’.”
It is indeed.