I'm happy to report that the recipe we found was excellent. Say what you will about Emeril Lagasse and his "bam!" catchphrase, the man knows how to make cajun-style food! Emeril's recipe for his shrimp can be found in full here. The seasoning for the fried shrimp (which I will include in full below) was just spicy enough and the breading was perfect. Instead of using mayonnaise and hot sauce as condiments for the sandwiches, however, used another of Emeril's recipes to make from-scratch remoulade sauce (recipe here). Using the homemade remoulade made the po'boys ten times better, and we had plenty of sauce left over to use over the next few days for cocktail shrimp and other finger food.
Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to pair our meal with a true N'awlins style drink: the Hurricane. Originating in New Orleans at Pat O'Brien's bar, the Hurricane is a mix of fruit juices and two different types of rum (light/white rum and dark/black rum). My parents convinced me to use Malibu coconut rum instead of purchasing a new bottle of light rum, and I have to admit that this did affect the flavor somewhat (and not in a good way). The sweetness of the coconut rum made the drink, already quite sweet, a little too saccharine for my tastes, so I would not recommend making that substitution. The recipe also calls for passion fruit juice, which can be hard to find. My best suggestion would be to look at a local Mexican grocery store - they often have passion fruit and/or passion fruit juice from concentrate.
Okay, enough preface! Recipes are below!
From Scratch Remoulade Sauce
In a food processor, combine the following ingredients and process until well mixed:
1/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup vegetable oil (we used olive oil and didn't notice a difference)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup celery (we used closer to 1/2 cup, but we enjoy the celery spice)
2 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp horseradish
3 tbsp Creole whole-grain mustard (I had to go to a specialty shop to find this one)
3 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp chopped parsley (fresh if at all possible - do not use dried parsley)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp black pepper
Make this sauce first and then refrigerate in a covered sauce bowl until you are ready to eat
Emeril's Essence Seasoning (used for shrimp and breading)
You could easily make this recipe with store-bought cajun seasoning, but since we are going for the "from scratch" theme this evening, I recommend you make your own!
Combine the following ingredients well:
2.5 parts paprika (my mother would disown me if I didn't encourage you to buy GOOD paprika instead of the cheap spice rack version. She suggests Hungarian paprika, such as Budapest's Best)
2 parts salt
2 parts garlic powder
1 part black pepper
1 part onion powder
1 part cayenne pepper
1 part dried oregano
1 part dried thyme (leaves)
You will need three tablespoons of this seasoning for the recipe below. If you follow the recipe as posted using a tablespoon measure as your "part" this should yield ~2/3 of a cup.
Fried Shrimp Po'Boy
For this recipe, you will need:
1.5 pounds of shrimp
1.5 cups of flour
1.5 cups cornmeal
4-6 loaves of french bread (6 inch each)
cayenne pepper and salt
lettuce, red onions and tomatoes to garnish the sandwiches
Peel and de-vein your shrimp. Coat the peeled shrimp with 1 tbsp of the pre-made essence seasoning (above) along with .5 tsp salt and .25 tsp of cayenne pepper. The easiest way to do this is to toss the shrimp in a covered Tupperware container. The shrimp should have a nice, reddish color once coated.
In a bowl, combine your flour and cornmeal with 2 tbsp of the essence seasoning, 1 tsp salt and .5 tsp of cayenne pepper. Toss your seasoned shrimp in this breading mixture - the shrimp are "sticky" enough that you will not need egg or any other coating to make the breading mixture stick. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the breaded shrimp in small batches. The shrimp should not be in the oil for more than 2-4 minutes - they cook quickly and overcooked shrimp are not pleasant (they taste gummy - yuck). Once your shrimp are cooked, place them on a plate lined with brown paper or paper towels to drain the excess oil.
To make your sandwiches, cut your french bread loaves without fully splitting the bread - creating "pockets" in which to layer your ingredients. Spread a thin layer of remoulade sauce on your bread and then top with (in order) shredded lettuce, chopped red onion & tomato, fried shrimp and a second layer of remoulade sauce. Serve with chips and a pickle if you wish. If you get the shrimp right, they will come out a beautiful golden brown - these babies are delicious!
N'awlins Style Hurricane
If you want to win over the crowd, pair your po'boys with a matching New Orleans style drink. To make the Hurricane, combine the following ingredients in a cocktail shaker:
2 oz light rum (Bacardi, etc)
2 oz dark rum (Meyers is preferred - do not use dark, spiced Rum such as Kraken)
2 oz passion fruit juice
1 oz orange juice
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz grenadine
Shake over ice, strain and pour into a Hurricane glass filled with ice (the drink is actually named after the glass - who knew!). Garnish your drink with a cherry and an orange slice. I highly recommend using real grenadine and not Rose's syrup. In the next few weeks, I am going to try out some recipes to make my own grenadine and I'll report back. But grenadine is NOT cherry syrup as some people assume - it is actually made using pomegranate! I'm hoping our home-made syrup will turn out well!
Enjoy your N'awlins night!
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