I Love Fried Shrimp.

 

I LOVE shrimp.

Love it.

And fried shrimp?  Love it even more.

There's just something about frying shrimp that really brings out the shrimp flavor.

Frying shrimp makes the shrimp shine.

Here's my lunch:

fried shrimp, fried with yet another batter

cucumber salad

coleslaw

cocktail sauce

tartar sauce

And oh, what a fine lunch it was!

  

 

 Fried Shrimp

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Mix all ingredients together.

Peel shrimp, leaving the tails intact, and de-tract shrimp.  I don't say de-vein, because that's not a vein running down the back of the shrimp.  That's the digestive tract.  Some people don't bother to remove it, but I bother.  It's gritty and unsightly.  And that other "vein" that runs down the belly?  That too is not a vein.  It's a nerve.  But I don't bother messing with that.

Mix all batter ingredients in a container (You can use a paper bag.), add shrimp, and shake, shake, shake to evenly coat shrimp.

Heat a heavy pot with 2 or so inches of peanut oil to 375°. Get an instant-read laser thermometer.  Inexpensive and worth every penny.  

Carefully drop the shrimp in the hot oil, one at a time. Fry about 6-8 at a time.  And DO NOT CROWD the pan.  If you throw in too many shrimp, you'll drastically lower the temperature of the oil.  This results in soggy, greasy shrimp. 

I use an 8-inch diameter and 4 1/2-inch deep heavy pot filled with about 2 inches of oil.

Fry 60 - 75 seconds, or until shrimp is a beautiful golden brown.  Scoop out shrimp and drain.

Rosie Note:  I use peanut oil because it has a high smoke point.  Cooking oils react differently to heat and, the hotter they get, the more they tend to break down and start to smoke, imparting a burnt flavor to the fried food or, worse, starting a fire.  This means that certain oils are better for high-heat cooking (like deep frying) than others.  Also, an oil's smoke point does not remain constant.  The more times you use an oil, heating it, the lower its smoke point becomes.  Frying in an oil will cause batter or breading particles to drop off into the oil, lowering its smoke point even more.  So do not over-use your oil.  I drain and filter my oil after each frying to get rid of those particles so I can reuse the oil.  And after 2-3 fryings, I dispose of it.

 

Ooooh...  Look at those pretty black pepper specks!

I served this with coleslaw and a cucumber salad.

For the coleslaw dressing, I mixed 1/4 cup mayo, 1 TB cider vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, and 2 TB buttermilk.  I like the tang that the buttermilk brings to the party.  Whisk all together and season with a pinch of kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper.  Taste test!  Adjust ingredients if you desire.  Pour dressing over your coleslaw mix and toss to coat.  For my coleslaw, I used about 1 1/2 - 2 cups shredded Chinese cabbage, with julienned (matchstick) carrots, and some diced multi-colored pepper.  

All measurements are estimates.  Generally, when I make something I've made hundreds of times, I just throw it all in together.  No need for exact measurements here.

For the cucumber salad:  Peel and thinly slice as much cucumber as you want.  Peel and chop some tomato.  Sprinkle some sugar over top, then drizzle on some cider vinegar.  Add kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  Toss to coat.  Give it some green.  I used fresh dill sprigs, but you could try something entirely different if you like - mint or basil.  Either would work.

For the dipping sauces, I have the ubiquitous cocktail sauce and tartar sauce.
Again, no exact measurements.  I'll just give you ingredients and let you sort it out.

For the cocktail sauce:
ketchup
horseradish
lemon juice
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
If I had to guestimate, I'd figger 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 TB horseradish, and a tablespoon each of the lemon juice and Worcestershire.  And when I mix these ingredients together, I don't make a homogeneous mixture.  I like pockets of flavors in which to dip my shrimp.  Sometimes I'll dip into the lemon, sometimes the Lea & Perrins, and sometimes I'll get a sinus-searing slap of horseradish.

 For the tartar sauce:
mayonnaise
vinegar
sugar

pickles - salad cubes, bread and butter, relish (You can use any combination or all three.)
optional capers, if desired
fresh dill
chopped scallions
Combine all ingredients.

Enjoy!

Sunday Lunch At the Hawthornes.

 Welcome to the Hawthornes' Sunday meal.


 We're having a southern favorite - a fried concoction - along with cornbread made in a cast iron skillet and coleslaw.
 And it's ohsogood!

One of my favorite things to eat, EVER, is oysters.
In particular - FRIED oysters.


Mr. Hawthorne is in charge of the oysters today.
I'll be making the cornbread, the coleslaw, and the sauces for the oysters - a regular cocktail sauce with ketchup and horseradish and a remoulade sauce.

 A remoulade sauce is a French sauce, popularized in New Orleans, and there are numerous "recipes" for remoulade.  Typically, it's served with fried shrimp and po' boy sandwiches.

I started with the coleslaw.

Rosie's Coleslaw

about 4 cups shredded cabbage
1 carrot, shredded
Dressing:
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
lots of ground pepper
pinch kosher salt
Mix together all dressing ingredients.  Pour over cabbage and carrot mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate.  Let the flavors develop for at least an hour.  Taste test and adjust seasonings if needed.



 
Next, I started on my cornbread.  I'm always looking for new cornbread recipes because I just haven't found "the" recipe.  By "the" recipe, I mean cornbread like Mama Hawthorne used to make.  I used to ask her for the recipe, and she would tell me, but at the time (40 years ago), I didn't know what "until it looks right" meant.  Wish I'd paid more attention.  I do remember watching her make her cornbread.  She would melt a "plop" of Crisco in an 8 x 8-inch glass Pyrex baking dish in the oven.  She'd mix cornmeal, baking powder, and salt out of the blue canister with the picture of the little girl with the umbrella on it.  Then she'd stir in some milk.  When the Crisco was melted, she'd pour that into the cornbread mixture.  And the consistency would change drastically.  That part always intrigued me.  It went from batter-like and pourable to chunky-monkey and gloppy.  Then, she'd mix an egg into the whole thing and pour it into the hot Pyrex dish and bake it until perfectly golden and perfect.

So simple.  So very simple.

Yet, to this day, I cannot duplicate Mama Hawthorne's cornbread.

So, I go off on tangents and experiment.
One recipe I came across called for toasting the cornmeal first.  Sounded like a good idea and turned out it was.  Gave the cornbread more intense corn flavor.

I think I'll try this cornbread next summer during corn season and use some fresh kernels in the batter.  Maybe roast 'em first.   Sounds like a plan.

Anyhoos, this is good cornbread.
Try it and let me know how you like it.

Rosie's Not-My-Mama's Cornbread

1 10-inch cast iron skillet

2 1/4 cups cornmeal
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup Crisco
4 TB unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt

Place skillet in oven and heat to 450°.

Spread cornmeal evenly onto a baking sheet and toast about 10 minutes until fragrant and starting to color.  Pour cornmeal into a bowl and stir buttermilk into the hot cornmeal.  Set aside and let the meal soak up the milk and get happy.

Add the Crisco to the hot skillet, return to oven, and let melt for about 5 minutes.  Remove skillet from oven and add in butter, stirring to melt.  Pour Crisco/butter into the cornmeal mixture, leaving a bit in the pan to coat and grease the pan to get that nice brown crust.  Next, stir in eggs, baking soda and powder, and salt into the mix.

Pour into hot skillet and bake about 14 minutes or until golden brown, rotating pan halfway through baking time.  Cool cornbread in pan for 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack.  And yes.  The cornbread round turns right out.  Perfectly.

This cornbread falls right out of the pan.

Very nice crumb and crust.
Good corn flavor.

 

I've got my coleslaw done.

I've got my cornbread done.

Now it's time to make my sauces - a regular ketchup/horseradish cocktail sauce and my latest version of remoulade sauce.

Rosie's Cocktail Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 TB+ horseradish
2 tsp Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp lemon juice

For extra oomph, I like to press the liquid out of my horseradish.  More heat to the mix.
Combine all ingredients casually.  You don't need a homogeneous mixture.  I prefer pockets of flavor.  You dip into one section and get a few flavors here, then dip into another section and get more flavors there.  Add more horseradish if you like sinus-cleaning.  I do.

Rosie's Remoulade

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 TB Dijon mustard
1 TB horseradish (liquid pressed out)

1 small garlic clove, minced  -  about 1/4 tsp
1 TB finely chopped onion
1 1/2 tsp sweet pickle salad cubes
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
big pinch cayenne pepper
Freshly cracked black pepper
Mix all together.

Sprinkle extra cayenne and pepper over top.

If you like, use a coarse grain mustard instead of the Dijon.
I would have, except I was out.
If you have some Creole seasoning, add in 1/2 tsp of that.
If you like capers, finely mince a teaspoon and stir it in.

EXPERIMENT!

Now, we all came here for the OYSTERS, so here they are!

Coating for oysters

1/3 cup rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup flour
1 TB Old Bay seasoning
1/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp paprika
Mix all together.

Toss oysters, a few at a time, in the coating mixture.  Place coated oysters in a sieve and shake off excess coating.  Fry in 350°-370° peanut oil until golden, about 1 minute.  Drain on wire rack.
  

Toss oysters in the coating mixture first.

Then place in sieve and shake to remove excess coating.

Turn out onto rack.

Enjoy!

I'm going back for seconds. 
And thirds...