fat tuesday treat: shrimp creole

In honor of Fat Tuesday (and one of my all time favorite cities, New Orleans), I decided to make a Cajun classic and serve up some shrimp creole for a few friends last night (complete with some delicious cocktails, of course).  It's a simple recipe that's sure to please anytime of the year.  Gotta love the South - Cheers, y'all!

Shrimp Creole

2 medium onions, chopped

9 garlic cloves, finely chopped

6 stalks celery, chopped

2 medium green peppers, chopped

4 tbsp. butter

1 (8 oz). can tomato sauce

2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes

1 lemon, squeezed

1 cup dry white wine or cooking wine

½ t. cracked red pepper (you can add more if you like heat)

½ t. black pepper

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. accent
2 bay leaves, crushed

1 ½ tsp. dried basil

1 ½ lb. Uncooked, peeled, deveined shrimp

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Sauté onions, garlic, celery and green peppers in butter in large pot until wilted and transparent.  Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, lemon juice, wine, accent, pepper, salt, sugar, bay leaves, basil and Worcestershire sauce.  Simmer 30-40 minutes.  Keep heat low to prevent sticking.  Add shrimp and simmer till shrimp are cooked.  Simmer gently for 15 minutes.  Serve with rice.

You can prepare it the day before and just add the shrimp when you heat it up the next day to cook.

Also, I couldn't do a post about New Orleans without mentioning its vibrant music scene, so here is one of my favorite bands out of The Big Easy, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk.  I was lucky enough to catch them at Bear Creek Music Festival and at a small venue in town this past January.  Here they are bringing all their NOLA funk to Tallahassee - such a fun night!

xx

A