Rosie Makes Coconut Fried Shrimp And Fried Pickles.

There's just something about fried shrimp.

Frying makes shrimp taste ... shrimpier.

Don't know why, but it does.

And one of my favorite fried shrimp recipes

is coconut fried shrimp.

Here's my latest recipe.

Prepare the shrimp.

Peel the shrimp, leaving the tails intact, for dipping.  Remove black tract down the back.

It's not a vein.  It's the digestive tract.  So you're de-tracting, not de-veining.  

If you want to butterfly the shrimp here, take a paring knife and, starting at the intact tail, slice down the center of the shrimp's underside.  Open up the shrimp.  Butterflying just gives you more surface area for the batter to stick to, so more crisp, crunch frying. That's always a plus.

Batter for shrimp

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 tsp Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp dried mustard

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp minced jalapeño

1/2 cup white wine

Combine all the dry ingredients with the jalapeño pieces.

Stir in the white wine.

You could use beer instead of the wine.

Didn't have beer today,

but I did have wine, so I used that.

Dip the shrimp in the batter,

letting the excess drip off.

Dredge the shrimp through a mixture of:

1 part coconut to 1 part panko breadcrumbs

You can just mix the coconut flakes and breadcrumbs

with the shrimp in a container and shakeshakeshake.

Have a heavy deep pot for frying.

Pour in about 2-3 inches of peanut oil

and heat to 350°-375°.

Fry in small batches so as not to 

lower the temperature of the oil.

 Low oil temperature = greasy fried food.

Proper oil temperature = crisp fried food.

Fry about 1 minute - until golden.

Drain shrimp on wire racks.

Oooooh...

What's that fried delicacy in the back?

Why, I believe that would be fried pickles!

Fried Pickles

You can use spears or slices.

We prefer dill slices.

Pat pickles dry with paper towels.

Using the same batter as for the shrimp,

dip the slices, and fry until golden brown.

Drain on wire racks.

I have two sauces for the shrimp and pickles.

Pineapple Dipping Sauce

1/3 cup crushed pineapple

2 TB Dijon mustard

2 TB horseradish

1 TB soy sauce

1 TB cider vinegar

1 TB brown sugar

juice of one lime

1 tsp minced jalapeños 

Combine all in small sauce pan and heat through.

Dipping Sauce

2 TB mayonnaise

1 tsp yellow mustard

1 TB sriracha sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix well.

Enjoy!

Mr. Hawthorne Fixes Dinner. Fried Flounder And Pickles.

Every now and then, the Hawthornes must have their fried fix.
 Today it will be in the form of fried flounder and pickles.

Mr. Hawthorne soaked the flounder filets in buttermilk.

Then he dredged the flounder in a combination of 2 parts flour and 1 part cornmeal with some Old Bay seasoning. Fry in hot oil at 350 - 375 degrees until golden brown, 2-3 minutes.

The pickles went into the same flour mixture and then into the hot oil.
 Rosie Tip #254.
Fry the pickles first, before you do the fish.
 If you were making French fries, you'd fry them before you fried the fish.
 Leave the fish for last.

Drain on paper towels.

A properly fried pickle with a light crust is a thing of beauty.

Rosie’s Remoulade

1 cup mayo
 2 TB finely chopped onion
1 TB finely chopped celery
2 small garlic cloves, minced
Heaping tsp capers, minced
2 TB white vinegar
2 TB coarse ground mustard
4 grinds sea salt 10 grinds pepper
 1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cumin
And my secret ingredient- fresh, green coriander seeds- about 2 dozen.
If all you have is ground coriander, add in a teaspoon of that.
It just won't have the same pop and citrus accent as the fresh coriander.

Best when served on a deck at sunset

overlooking the water.

Excellent flounder filet. Light breading. Tender, juicy fish.

OK. I'm done with fried for now.
 Give me some fresh vegetables.
 Preferably from my garden.

Mr. And Mrs. Hawthorne's Appetizers.

I've been having a hankering for fried vegetables lately.
So that's what I'm making this afternoon.

First up, my dipping sauce.

We have sushi vinegar, sourwood honey (the real deal), peanuts, green onion,
cucumber, and red pepper flakes.

Chop onions, cuke, and peanuts.
Mix all together.
What a delicious dip.

Here are my sliced sweet potatoes.

I added some sliced squash and cucumber from my garden.

Here are the ingredients for my batter.

I used:
1 cup flour
1 cup corn starch
2 TB sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 can coconut milk

Mix dry ingredients together.

Dry ingredients are waiting for the coconut milk.
Veggies are waiting for the batter.
Dip is waiting for the fried veggies.

Pour in the coconut milk.

Veggies go in next.
I have cukes, sweet taters, and squash.

Even though I have all this going on, Mr. Hawthorne just has to get in there and mess up a counter and cook something extraneous.

He's made a batter of flour, corn meal, and Slap Yo Mama seasoning with which to dredge his dill pickle slices, as if I didn't have enough already.

Oil is ready when bubbles come out of the end of a wooden spoon.

Battered veggies ready to go into hot oil.

Lovely, lightly fried sweet potatoes, squash, and cucumber.

Served on plate with dipping sauce.

Another view.

Ooh, oooooh, ooooooh.
This is gooooood.

I just can't get enough dip on my fried slice of whatever.

Here is Mr. H.'s sad little fried dill pickle slice.
It was entirely too salty, although the ketchup did take out some (not much) of the salt.

Excellent dip.
Lovely, light, fried veggies.
Perfect combination.

Please try this.
Trust me, you'll like it.