Shrimp Creole A La Boreegard

Boreegard (aka Mike O'Neil) made this wonderful shrimp creole for the potluck on Sunday. I asked him to share the recipe with us. Here it is. Try it for yourself.

"A word on what's Cajun and what's Creole. While both the Cajun and Creole cuisines of Louisiana share similarities, Paul Prudhomme is quick to point out their differences. Cajun cooking is country cooking that can trace its venerable roots back to Southern France; from there it traveled to Nova Scotia, and from thence its Acadian migration to Louisiana (see Longfellow's Evangeline for a poetic take on this last leg of the trip). Creole cooking has elements of French cuisine, but has a more cosmopolitan background and includes Spanish, Italian, American Indian, African and other influences too. Chef Prudhomme stated simply, "It's city cooking." In this case the city is New Orleans."
- Boreegard

Ingredients

· ½ pound hot Italian sausage.
· 1 pound raw shrimp.
· Three tbsp. olive oil and a tad of butter.
· 1 cup coarsely chopped onion.
· 1 cup chopped celery.
· 1 bell pepper, chopped.
· 4 cloves garlic, minced and chopped.
· 1 cup chicken stock
· 2 cups ripe roma plum tomatoes, diced.
· 1 bay leaf
· ½ tsp. dried thyme
· ½ tsp. dried basil (or 2 tbsp. fresh)
· salt and ground black pepper to taste.
· 1 tsp. sugar.
· 8 oz. tomato sauce.
· Corn kernels from two ears of corn.


To Do

1. In a frying pan. Cook sausage, and remove. Cut into ¼ inch slices.

2. Shell and de-vein shrimp. I generally don't de-vein if they're small shrimp.

3. Melt oil/butter in the frying pan and sauté onion, celery, sweet pepper, and garlic until limp.

4. Add bay leaf, stock, thyme, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, LA hot sauce, tomatoes, quartered sausage and simmer, covered, on low heat for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Add tomato sauce and corn, and simmer slowly for 20 to 30 minutes (until mixture has thickened the way you like it).

6. Turn the heat up for a minute and then add the raw shrimp. Turn heat off, and cover pan. Depending on the size of the shrimp, they will be finished cooking in anywhere from five to ten minutes or so. Test them. So many people insist on overcooking shrimp (a sin of the worst sort). This technique should keep you from that transgression.

Serve with rice. Serves four with a little leftover.
You can also refrigerate it, and serve it cold on a hot summer’s day..
This is a good one, if I do say so myself, mon ami.