shrimp o crawfish etouffee

O my, this is good stuff, whether you choose shrimp or crawfish etouffee. The picture above is Shrimp Etouffee with cornbread and scallion. When I ate this I topped with Mambo Sauce, what ya talking 'bout. This is easy to make and will impress you and all who partakes. I bought two 12 ounce packs of frozen, small, raw, peeled and deveined shrimp at wally world, cooked in water with a little cajun seasoning. Wally world usually carries pound packs of peeled cooked seasoned crawfish, perfect, ready to go for this recipe. Find in frozen seafood.

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INGREDIENTS

2 pounds shrimp or crawfish (peeled deveined and cooked)

1 quart water

12 TBLS butter (stick and half)

1 package green onions (cleaned, washed and cut into quarter inch pieces, both green and white parts)

2tsp seasoning salt (like Lawry's)

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 cup chicken powder (powdered chicken bouillon. See picture below)

Roux: 3/4 cup oil, 3/4 cup flour (see directions below)

DIRECTIONS

If you have raw shrimp or crawfish, cook them now. Cook in water with a little cajun seasoning (If you do not have cajun seasoning, no problem, cook in plain water or if you want to make some seasoning click on cajun seasoning and go to bottom of page for recipe for cajun seasoning), set aside. Get your water boiling in a large sauce pan, add 1/2 stick butter, seasoning salt, cayenne, black pepper, basil, thyme and chicken powder. While your water and spices are coming to boil, cook your roux, I use a 10" iron skillet, add oil and start heat on low to med low, add flour a little at a time, mixing with heat resistant spatula to good consistency, it might not take all the flour or you may need to add a little.

  Keep Roux at a simmer while stirring often, do not burn. Keep eye on your water and spices, turn down to low and slow. Cook Roux to a nice peanut hull color, some like it darker, your choice. It seems to taste burnt with a dark, dark roux, it's a Louisiana thing, your choice. Cookin Roux is an art, take it slow, mixing often until you reach the desired color, turn the temp up on your water spice, back to boil.

Now the fun part, add hot roux to water with spices, water should be hot to boiling. CAUTION!! keep you face away from pot, you will have an explosion, Bam! Scrap all roux into pot and mix well. Add your shrimp or crawfish and mix well. Turn heat off, keep stirring until pot cools a little, do not burn. Wipe skillet out with a paper towel, return to eye on med high and add the rest of the butter (stick of butter), clarify and add chopped onions. Stir often and cook until light brown.

Add onions to Etouffee, mix well. If Etouffee seems a little thick you can add a little water at this time. 

orient express chicken

I'll admit this is a little deceiving, this is all about the marinade. I usually use it to marinate boneless chicken breast. The breast above marinated overnight then baked uncovered in a 300 degree oven. The Orient Express runs well to the Grill, my favorite way to cook the marinated breast. I bought a family pack of boneless breast at my friendly Walmart, $1.99 a pound. Six breast almost six pounds, BIG BREAST. I prefer smaller breast, organic, younger chickens, etc, but gotta work with what you can afford and what's available. This is a great chicken marinade recipe, a little spicy, just enough without being offensive to anyone. Of course you can always kick up a notch.

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INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup sriracha sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1 lime, squeezed for juice and add cut up peel

1/2 tsp ground cayenne

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Make about a cup and quarter-half. I doubled to marinate my six pounds of large boneless chicken breast. Check picture to see what I marinaded in.

DIRECTIONS

Squeeze lime and cut up peel, chop garlic fine, add all ingredients, mix well. Ka-Boom you got yourself a marinade to be proud of, eazy. I mix the ingredients in the container I'm using to marinate. Trim chicken if necessary, wash and marinate overnight.

Sliced Orient Express Breast, topped with Aji Amarillo Sauce, Brown Rice-Red Quinoa topped with Mambo Sauce, Black  Eyed Peas, Mint and Green Onions. Can you say  Tasty Fusion! The Sauce is Boss!!

Miraflores sweet rolls

Miraflores Sweet Rolls

I contemplated on what to call these sweet roll delicacies but not for long "Miraflores Sweet Rolls". I made these cinnamon, cranberry, pecan, limon rolls while in Miraflores, Peru. Not the ones here but the ones that inspired these. The problem here in the good old USA is, I have no Peruvian Limons, you know, the magical ones, I have discussed in previous recipes. Peruvian Limons are a small green lime, about the size of a golf ball or smaller, thin skin, real juicy with a mild mystical, magical taste. Not available here, WHY?? This is the best I can do, Persian limes, strong lime flavor much like key lime. More about this limon delima later. Recipes for cinnamon rolls are abundant on the food blogs, I've tried them all and always go back to my basic. Of course I always learn something from each one I try. Here I was going for the tart of cranberries, the sour of the Limon, the sweetness of powdered sugar and the crunch of toasted pecans wrapped in a cinnamon bun. It really worked using the Peruvian Limons and not bad with Persian limes. If all this is a little exotic for you, a great basic Cinnamon Roll is within. Without further ado, let's make some "Miraflores Sweet Rolls".

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375 degree oven

INGREDIENTS

Dough

2 TBL dry yeast
2 1/2 cups of water (lukewarm)
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening, softened
1 TBL salt

I know you're asking why half butter and half shortening. Here is the best explanation I have found, CLICK HERE     This is an article by Kye Ameden a employee-owner at King Arthur flour. Reading this will explain all the questions you have about butter vs shortening in baking and understand my decision to use butter for taste and shortening for tenderness and stability. I love butter but I know the benefit of shortening. 

Filling

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 TBL cinnamon

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp cardamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup toasted, chopped pecans

1 cup cranberries

Frosting

8 cups powdered sugar

6 TBL Persian lime juice

6 TBL almond milk

2 tsp vanilla extract 

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

This recipe is to cover buns completely, like in picture, cut recipe in half for drizzle coverage.

DIRECTIONS

In your kitchenaid mixer bowl (use paddle) or a large mixing bowl add water, yeast and sugar, mix well. Let stand for a few minutes (make sure it's bubbling, yeast is active) mix in beaten eggs, butter, shortening, salt and flour, mix on slow to combine ingredients. Change paddle to dough hook if using mixer, mix or knead dough for 5 minutes or so. Remove dough from bowl and place on lightly floured surface. Knead until soft, smooth and elastic, adding flour if needed. Dough should bounce back when pressed with finger. Grease bowl and top of dough, return dough to bowl, turn a couple of times to coat dough (prevents sticking). Let rise for 30 minutes, double size.

Let dough rise--make cinnamon, brown sugar filling. In a medium bowl mix dark brown sugar, cardamon, nutmeg, cinnamon and softened butter, I used a fork (old fashion way). If I wasn't using lime frosting and cranberries I would double the filling, that's just me I like a lot of flavor.

Flour your rolling surface, 36"X 20". Roll dough to 32"X 18" rectangle. Dump filling on dough surface and spread evenly over the entire surface, I use a wooden spoon and my hands. Actually I leave about an inch at top of 32" side to seal the roll. Next I sprinkle my pecans and cranberries evenly over the surface of the dough and gently press in with my roller. Roll the 32" side tight as possible, keeping diameter of roll the same. Get a small glass with warm water and moisten the under edge of the dough on the 32" side where you didn't put sugar mixture and seal with a fork (see pictures). *I roll a little longer and cut the ends off and proof and cook in my counter toaster oven while I finish cutting and proofing the big log, for taste test of icing.*

I use a measuring tape and cut a groove every inch ( your roll should be 30", makes 30 Miraflores Sweet Rolls), then use a piece of thread to cut the dough, using the grooves as your guide. At this point grease (I use Pam) your cookie pans (I use 12" X 17" baking pans).  Put string (about a 36" length, in case it breaks, you will have extra length) under roll and line up with the grooves you cut, after each cut, place on greased pan, three per row and five rows down, repeat until all cut. You should leave space between rolls, after proof (rising) they should be touching. Place cloth over the rolls and proof for 30-45 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

While the rolls are rising and the oven is heating, let's make the limon frosting. Keep in mind this recipe is for full coverage as seen in pictures. You can cut recipe in half for a drizzle frosting. In Peru, I used only powdered sugar, Peruvian limon juice, vanilla extract and a little milk for consistency. Back in the USA, combine powdered sugar, lime juice, almond milk, vanilla extract four ounces of cream cheese (softened) in a medium bowl and mix with hand mixer until smooth. Remember the ends I cooked, nice and hot I spread the concoction on my end pieces for a sneak taste. I actually did this several times to get the percentages right for this recipe.

When the rolls finish proofing (rising) bake for 10-15 minutes, golden brown. I say this over and over again, every oven is different, even if you have temp set the same? Humidity, height above sea level, convection, etc. Always remember things continue to cook, bake after you take them from the oven. The art of cooking! Allow to cool 10-15 minutes, spread the lime frosting over the Miraflores Sweet rolls. Allow to cool completely, until frosting hardens. I know you already ate one while it was hot. Let me know what you think. Store in airtight containers. These goodies freeze well.