STUFFED SKRIMPS
I wanted something good for dinner but didn't want to go to the store, so I was making do with what I had on hand. I decided to make stuffed skrimps. I pulled out a pack of shrimp that I froze about a month ago and some blue crab claw meat. While the skrimps were thawing I diced half an onion and a stalk of celery pretty fine. I picked out the 10 biggest shrimp, them would be the ones I stuffed. I peeled them leaving the tails on and deveined and put them in the fridge. I peeled and deveined the rest of the skrimps.
I put about 3 tbsp butter in a pot over medium heat and put the onions and celery cooking down in them.
IMG_0844.jpg (65.42 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
I make stuffed shrimp with shrimp and crab stuffing the ratio I use for the stuffing is 2 shrimp in the stuffing for every stuffed shrimp I plan on making, plus an equal volume of crab meat. I prepared 20 shrimp, setting the excess shrimp aside, thinking I would fry them and toss on the plate too.
IMG_0846.jpg (68.58 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
Then I chopped them up pretty fine
IMG_0847.jpg (61.53 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
I seasoned the chopped shrimp with a little Tony's creole seasoning and hot sauce and put them aside for a minute. I added a couple cloves minced garlic to the pot then I added the crab claw meat
IMG_0848.jpg (80.25 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
Then I added the chopped shrimp. On thing that really pisses me off is when I order stuffed shrimp (or stuffed crab or anything else) and the stuffing is almost all breading. I don't make it that way.
IMG_0849.jpg (77.8 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
I added a splash of white wine, a good bit of oregano, thyme lemon juice and adjusted seasoning, then I started adding breadcrumbs stirring the in until the stuffing was starting to hold together
IMG_0851.jpg (54.43 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
I checked seasoning again, then killed the heat and added a beaten egg.
I pulled out the larger shrimp I had prepared for stuffing and seasoned them. Then I would take a shrimp and form a ball of stuffing around the top meaty part of the shrimp to form sort of a shrimp drumstick
IMG_0853.jpg (56.07 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
I placed the stuffed shrimp in a pan layered with bread crumbs then put them in the freezer for a bit so they would firm up so that I could handle them more easily.
IMG_0854.jpg (85.03 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
I planned on making a burre blanc sauce to serve with the shrimp. To make a burre blanc sauce you put about 1/4 cup white wine and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar in a sauce pan along with some shallots or garlic and reduce until it's almost completely gone, basically just a syrup in the pan. I would normally then add a couple tablespoons of cream, reduce by half, then slowly whisk in a bunch of butter, being careful not to let the butter separate (the purpose of the cream is to stabilize the butter and keep it from breaking). I didn't have any cream in the fridge so I was going to do without. You can make a burre blanc sauce without cream but you have to make sure you let the pan cool enough that the butter won't break.
I reduced the wine and vineger
IMG_0856.jpg (67.19 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
Unfortunately I didn't let the pan cool enough and when I added the butter and it separated, so I called an audible, poured a good splash of Worcester sauce into the melted butter, then tossed in the excess shrimp I had and sauteed them. I added some more garlic and Italian seasoning and put them aside.
IMG_0858.jpg (66.42 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
I pulled the stuffed skrimps out of the freezer, they had firmed up a little bit and weren't so sticky anymore. I rolled them in breadcrumbs, then dipped in egg wash and then seasoned corn flour.
IMG_0859.jpg (81.53 KiB) Viewed 1698 times
Normally when I fry seafood I fry pretty hot, 375f or better, for this I had to go lower, they had to cook a while to cook the shrimp in the middle of that big ball of stuffing so I fried them at 325 for 8-9 minutes.
I plated up some of the sauteed shrimp and the butter with them and put the stuffed skrimps on top. They rocked
IMG_0860.jpg (63.12 KiB) Viewed 1698 times