Macque Choux And Shrimp Recipes

Steps:

• Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot, red and green peppers, and green onion. Season with salt and pepper, and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
• Add zucchini, sweet corn, water and 2 teaspoons Cajun or creole seasoning to the skillet. Cook until zucchini is tender, about 2 minutes. Add half and half, and stir. Turn off heat.
• Meanwhile, season shrimp with remaining 2 teaspoons Cajun or creole seasoning. Melt butter in a separate skillet and cook shrimp in four batches, about 2 minutes on each side, or until curled, pink and cooked all the way through. Do not overcook.
• Divide corn mixture between four plates. Top each plate with 5 cooked shrimp, and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Prepare a grill for medium heat. Shuck the corn, being sure to remove all the silk. Season the ears with some olive oil, salt and black pepper. Grill, rotating the ears regularly, so as to char but not scorch, 10 to 15 minutes. Reserve.
• Dice the Tasso into approximately 1-centimeter cubes. Heat a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the Tasso with a little bit of canola oil and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until evenly browned, about 15 minutes. Remove and reserve, leaving any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• Add a little more canola oil to the Dutch oven. Add the garlic, celery, jalapenos, onions and bell pepper and sautee until the onions are sweated, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Add the wine and simmer, scraping up the bits from the bottom of the pan, until all the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the bay leaves, thyme, red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons cayenne, 2 teaspoons chili powder and some salt and black pepper. Stir.
• Using a knife, cut the kernels off the corn cobs, then milk the cobs using the back of the knife. Add the corn to the Dutch oven. Reserve about 50 pieces of Tasso, then add the rest to the Dutch oven. Add the heavy cream and butter, stir and bring to a simmer. Cook the mixture until thickened with a slight creamed corn consistency, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.
• Combine 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon cayenne and 1 teaspoon chili powder in a small bowl. Toss the shrimp with 1/4 cup olive oil on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the shrimp on both sides with the spice rub. Grill the shrimp over medium heat until pink and slightly charred, but not overcooked, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
• To serve: Place 1 tablespoon of corn maque choux in an Asian soup spoon. Top with a grilled shrimp and a piece of the reserved Tasso. Garnish with some green onion. Repeat with the remaining maque choux, shrimp and Tasso.

Steps:

• Prepare the shrimp according to the package directions for the microwave. Drain the melted butter sauce from the shrimp and reserve (you should have about 3/4 cup). When the shrimp are cool enough to handle, roughly chop them and set aside.
• Combine the butter, 1 1/4 cups water, 1/4 cup of the reserved scampi butter and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Immediately add the flour, mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
• Using a wooden spoon, beat in the eggs one at a time until a silky dough forms. Stir in the Monterey Jack and reserved chopped shrimp; set aside.
• Heat the remaining 1/2 cup reserved scampi butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, bell pepper and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the corn and 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning and cook until the corn is heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cream and cook until slightly reduced, 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Combine the mayonnaise, basil, mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest and remaining 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning in a small bowl and mix well; set aside.
• Set a wire cooling rack on a rimmed baking sheet. Fit a large, heavy-bottomed pot with a deep-fry thermometer, fill with 2 inches vegetable oil and heat to 350 degrees F.
• Grease a tablespoon with vegetable oil. Working in two batches, gently drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the oil and fry, stirring occasionally, until puffed, golden and cooked through, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the beignets with a slotted spoon to the wire rack.
• Spoon the corn mixture on a large platter and top with the beignets. Serve with the basil remoulade.

Steps:

• In a 12" skillet over medium-high heat, cook bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 7 minutes.
• Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside.
• Melt 1 tablespoons butter in hot bacon fat.
• Add garlic, shallots, peppers, and jalapenos and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
• Increase heat to high; add okra and corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 6 minutes.
• Stir in scallions and remaining butter and season with salt and pepper; set aside and keep warm.
• Meanwhile, heat oven to broil and place a rack 8" from broiler element.
• Toss shrimp with oil in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.
• Transfer shrimp in a single layer to an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and broil, turning once using tongs, until pink and cooked through, about 4 minutes.
• Serve the maque choux and shrimp on top of a bed of rice; garnish with reserved bacon and a sprinkling of scallions.

Steps:

• Working with 1 corn cob at a time, set the ear of corn upright in a medium bowl. Shave the corn from the cob by slicing down the sides using the tip of a sharp chef's knife, holding the knife almost vertical. (This gives you neat tablets of corn that land squarely in the bowl and keeps the kernels from scattering all over the counter.) Using the back of the knife, scrape each cob to release all the nibs and the "milk" of the kernels into the bowl. Repeat with remaining ears of corn, then snap the cobs in half, and add them to the bowl.
• In a large, deep sauté pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat until foaming. Add onion and celery, and season with 1 or 2 pinches of kosher salt. Stir constantly until softened and translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes.
• Add 2 tablespoons butter and the bell pepper, poblano and serrano, and stir constantly, adding another pinch of kosher salt, letting the butter melt and the peppers soften and become translucent, about 2 or 3 minutes. You will smell the peppers' sweetness and their mild capsaicin releasing.
• Add the final 3 tablespoons butter and the corn mixture from the bowl, cobs included, and another pinch of kosher salt. Stir constantly to coat with the butter and combine thoroughly.
• When everything starts to hiss and sound hot, but isn't cooking so hard as to take color, add 1/2 cup water and a healthy few grinds of black pepper, and cover the pan for a couple of minutes to steam/shallow braise the mixture.
• Remove the lid, and stir well, noticing the corn releasing its liquid and the kernels softening, and the cobs turning somewhat translucent, if however vague. You will notice a general softening and melding together. Return the lid, and let cook a few more minutes, noticing the water evaporating and the remaining liquid reducing and gaining some "body" and gloss. Discard the corn cobs, but do suck them before tossing - those buttery juices make a nice cook's treat.
• Taste for salt, and serve. It should be sweet, spicy, a bit wet and surprisingly complex, given the few ingredients and their ordinariness. If you want a smoky taste, add a good pinch of smoked paprika.