"Barbequed" Shrimp New Orleans Style

Bill the Ragin' Cajun cooked the
apples to perfection.  (He also
did well to keep Dolly away from
the rum!)
Chef Nick Landry, who had a wide variety of experiences in his impressive culinary career, guided the group through today's lunch preparation of mixed green salad with spiced walnuts and strawberry vinaigrette, New Orleans style bar b que shrimp with creamy smoked cheddar polenta and fresh apple cobbler with sweet potato crumble.  We took our time today and strategically prepared those items that could sit - allowing us to later focus on the polenta and shrimp.  Bill got right to work on the apples while three of us prepared the cobbler crumb topping of melted butter and sweet potato pancake mix, spiced baked walnuts and strawberry vinaigrette for the salad.  We also roasted roma tomatoes which we had dipped in olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, oregano and basil.  After the tomatoes cooled their refined flavor diversified the salad flavors.  With our salad and cobbler under control we turned to the polenta - cooked with chicken stock, milk and corn meal.  Once we had a creamy polenta we added smoked cheddar and mascarpone cheese.  Lastly we we sauted our shrimp on a bed of olive oil, butter, onions celery and garlic.  (No one knows why they call this "barbecued" shrimp!)  We covered the polenta with the shrimp and our gourmet New Orleans style lunch was complete.  Do I have to tell you that everything was delicious?  Tonight we'll take a deeper dive into Cajun culture and listen to an entire family of musicians from the area.  

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