Louisiana Barbecue Shrimp, Or the Dual Senses of Splurging

Christiana George
Louisiana Barbecue Shrimp

When I was in college and hence a student on a budget, there were two restaurants that I reserved for special occasions. The first was a restaurant provençal, a French-style brunch spot that made the most perfect egg dishes. I’d go with friends and devise ways to eat everything on the menu. Real strategists we were. The second spot was an upscale-ish Louisiana-style restaurant. Angeline’s. What a heartbreaker.

Eating at Angeline’s was always a splurge, and because we were going all in with cash expenditure (remember, poor college student at the time), we also went all in with consumption of the deep-fried, the buttery, and the if-I-ate-this-regularly-I’d-develop-heart-disease. You see, it was a splurge on every front.

To start, an order of hush puppies. Such homely little things, and yet, we’d spear one of those little suckers and liberally roll it around in the honey butter and it would just melt in the mouth. I also loved the fried chicken, mac and cheese, sweet tea, beignets, and banana fosters bread pudding (dessert is absolutely mandatory when splurging).



Raw Shrimp
Rosemary Lemon

And so, a small spurge on shrimp the other day (for us at least since we rarely eat seafood) had me thinking Cajun food. I sought out a recipe, something a little different, that would bring back the taste of Angeline’s. And you know what? Louisiana barbecue shrimp is it. You get a skillet-ful of shrimp slathered in a tangy, flavorful sauce, messily eaten with some fresh bread. Golden! Even better, it calls for, what, 5 minutes on the stove? Tops? (New York summer, you win. I concede to your might.) I fist pump at discoveries like these.

What were/are your splurge restaurants when you were/are in college?

Louisiana Barbecue Shrimp Spread

LOUISIANA BARBECUE SHRIMP

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living
Serves 4 (or 2 people who are exceptionally hungry. I’m not going to lie, we polished the whole thing off in one sitting)

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (4 ounces), cut into small pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced (1 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons), rinds reserved and sliced
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 tsp hot sauce (i.e. Tapatio or Tabasco)
1 pound shrimp, peeled but with heads and tails still attached
salt and pepper to taste
fresh baguette for sopping up the sauce

Directions:

Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter, and cook until melted and foamy. Add garlic, rosemary, and lemon juice and rinds. Stir in Worcestershire and hot sauce, and bring to a simmer.

Season shrimp with salt and pepper and add to skillet. Cook until pink and firm to the touch. Season with pepper. Serve with baguette.

Note: I did not peel my shrimp, and I think I should’ve because a lot of the flavor ended up on the shell, which subsequently got peeled and tossed.





New Formula To Support Healthy WEIGHT LOSS

BUY NOW

Subscribe for New Racipies

Get mental health tips, updates, and resources delivered to your inbox.

In an Instagram Minute

Christiana George

Just when I though May was busy, then came June.  I have not had much time to breathe yet.  Every weekend has been taken up by family events.  The most important one being my daughter’s birthday.  So of course I was busy making treats for her.  Here is what I have been doing for those that don’t follow my on Instagram. 

 First up were some treats for her party at school.  I made some cookie dough cupcake pops.  You can find the recipe and the how-to here.

Then I made some cupcakes fop her party at a miniature golf place with her friends and cousins.  I just used a Funfetti cake mix and made some buttercream frosting.  I used some green candy melt to make the leaves.  I drew the leaves on a wax paper and then peeled them off when the candy melt set. 



Pink and green glittery sprinkles added the final touch. My daughter thought they were pretty, which is not bad considering she mostly likes boys stuff and her favorite color is blue. 

When I asked her what she wanted on her cake for the family party we were having after her friend’s party, she said she wanted an outer space theme.  Yes, leave it to my daughter to make my life challenging.  She has a fascination with outer space, planets, constellations, and stars ever since Santa brought her the Children’s Atlas of the Universe two years ago. 

I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I racked my brain for a way to make it work.  For the frosting, I bought a can of blue frosting and added some black frosting to it to make it darker.  I swirled on some extra black frosting to give the cake more dimension and brushed on some edible glitter dust for added effect.

For the planets, I used an Oreo and cream mixture to form the balls.  Then dipped them in candy melt and painted on them with gel food coloring.  They were not the best looking things, but not bad for someone who does not do cake decorating for a living. My daughter was pretty impressed and thrilled that she had planets on her cake.

Of course, when she saw me adding the little pearl balls for the stars, she asked me to make some constellations.  Seriously?  I just busted my hump making these planets.  Sheesh!  I did try to make some, but it wasn’t really that easy.  Those little pearl candies are very slippery creatures.  I also couldn’t find a way to make edible rings for the planets, so I had to resort to vellum paper from my scrapbooking stash.  Other than that everything was edible.

The inside was a just a white cake (from a box) that I filled with some homemade dulce de leche and strawberries.  I got lots of props on the cake the day of the party.  I was able to make it all the way through to the blowing out of the candles when out of nowhere, I got slammed with a stomach virus.  I had to quietly slip away from the party and spent the rest of the day in bed.  Not cool.

At least this time, the virus did not cause me to pass out face first and smash up my face.  But it did put a kink in my Father’s Day plans.  I was not able to indulge in all the yummy food my mom made for brunch. 



Now I am almost back to my regular eating.  I am trying to keep it healthy.  But I am dying to get back to baking some yummy treats.  Next week is my last week of work, after that I will have more free time to do the things I love.  So stay tuned!



New Formula To Support Healthy WEIGHT LOSS

BUY NOW

Subscribe for New Racipies

Get mental health tips, updates, and resources delivered to your inbox.