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Tag Archives: andouille sausage

Back With a Bang… or Maybe a Boil, Sort of.

31 May
Back With a Bang… or Maybe a Boil, Sort of.

Hey there, remember me? The Dad with the cooking blog? Well, yes, it has been about six years since I posted anything. Many may have long forgotten about me, but I am still cooking away, along with all the other changes that have occurred in my life. I write romance novels now and have thirteen available (you can learn more about that at mikegeraghtyauthor.com). It has been a lot of fun. I have still been cooking away in my tiny kitchen, so I have plenty of recipes I can’t wait to share with you all.

So let’s go down to it! I’ve been a long-time subscriber to Cook’s Country magazine, and they always have some great recipes I want to try. In their most recent issue, I came across this one for grilled shrimp boil foil packs. Now, living in a condo in New York means I cannot have a gas or charcoal grill, which means improvising and using my oven instead. However, with this recipe, I think the stove works out well.

Grilled Shrimp Boil Foil Packets

1 pound small potatoes, unpeeled, halved

10 tablespoons butter, cut into ten 1-tablespoon pieces, divided

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 pounds shrimp (21-25 per pound), peeled, deveined, and tails left on

3 ears of corn, husks, and silk removed, each cut into 2-3 pieces

8 ounces andouille sausage, sliced 1/2-inch thick

2 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning

4 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

  1. Toss the potatoes in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of butter, salt, and pepper. Microwave, covered, until the potatoes begin to release moisture, about 5 minutes. Toss the potatoes to coat in the now-melted butter and let them cool slightly for about 5 minutes. Toss the potatoes with the shrimp, corn pieces, andouille sausage, Old Bay, garlic, and lemon juice.
  2. Cut four 16-by-12-inch sheets of foil. Spread 1/4 of the shrimp mixture over half of each piece of foil. Evenly distribute the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter over the shrimp mixture. Fold the foil over the mixture and crimp the edges to tightly seal.
  3. Grill the packets over a hot fire, covered, until the potatoes are fully tender and the shrimp are cooked through, about 12 minutes. Alternatively, place the packets on a large sheet pan in a preheated 400-degree oven. When cool enough to handle, carefully cut open the foil packets and sprinkle the contents of each packet with parsley. Serve with lemon wedges.

I did use the oven for mine and baked them for 15-20 minutes to get the potatoes tender, and it worked out well for me. Giving the potatoes a head start in the microwave helps to soften them nicely so they cook in a shorter amount of time and give you the creamy texture you want while also melting them in the butter. I also added one chopped shallot and distributed it evenly among the packets for a little added flavor. Everything was cooked perfectly, and I loved the mixture of the andouille with the shrimp. I made 1 packet without Old Bay because Michelle isn’t a big fan of the seasoning, but Sean and I enjoyed our packets with the added spice. Best of all with this recipe is that they are no pans to clean up! I do recommend using heavy-duty aluminum foil for this recipe so the packets don’t tear easily. If you don’t have it, double-wrap the packets in an extra layer of foil.

That’s it for today. I’m so glad to be back writing this blog! While I won’t be posting every day, I will try to post often so I can share more with everyone. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

 
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Posted by on May 31, 2023 in Grilling, One Pot Meals, Seafood, Uncategorized

 

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Going Ga-Ga Over Gumbo

24 Mar

I had meant to post this recipe a couple of weeks ago but I seemed to have caught up in other things lately and just completely forgot about it until I was making shrimp for dinner tonight and remembered I had a recipe for the shrimp, chicken and andouille gumbo I had made back on Fat Tuesday. Sean had requested some gumbo for that night so I had picked my way through a few different recipes until I came across this one from Bon Appetit. One thing to not about this particular recipe is that it makes a lot of gumbo. The servings for the original recipe are for 16 people. I cut the recipe in half when I made it and it still made a lot with many leftovers, so unless you are planning to feed a lot of people with this one, you might want to try to adjust it to fit your particular meal needs. Either way, it’s a great recipe to use.

Shrimp, Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 large onions, chopped (about 12 cups)
6 red bell peppers, seeded, chopped (about 7 cups)
8 celery stalks, chopped (about 3 cups)
16 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chopped fresh thyme
6 bay leaves
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes with juice
4 8-ounce bottles clam juice
4 cups low-salt chicken broth
4 pounds andouille sausage, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
3 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 16-ounce packages sliced frozen okra
4 pounds peeled deveined medium shrimp
Minced fresh Italian parsley
Steamed rice

Heat oil in a heavy 13-quart pot over medium-high heat until it is very hot and almost smoking. Add the flour and stir constantly until the mixture is a dark reddish-brown, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped onions, chopped bell peppers, and chopped celery and cook until the onions are soft and brown, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cayenne and stir for 2 minutes. Add the wine, thyme, and bay leaves; bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes with juice, clam juice, chicken broth, andouille sausage, and the chicken thighs; simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Add the okra and simmer until it is tender, about 10 minutes.
Add the shrimp to the pot and cook the shrimp until it is just opaque in the center, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Season the gumbo to taste with the salt and pepper. Garnish the gumbo with minced parsley and serve with steamed rice alongside.

As you can see this recipe is not hard to make, but it does require an awful lot of prep work to make this easy on yourself. Do all of your chopping and dicing ahead of time and lay everything out for yourself to make it a lot easier and it will all  come together quite easily. The flavors are great and I love the spiciness of the andouille with the shrimp and chicken and all of the great vegetables. Making the roux takes some time and attention but it is definitely worth it. There are lots of gumbo recipes out there that you can try; some omit the shrimp, some include other seafood. it’s really up to you as far as what you like best but you will get a great result and this recipe is perfect to make for a party or a buffet for a lot of people.

That’s all I have for today. Check back tomorrow for another recipe to try. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by on March 24, 2014 in Cooking, Dinner, One Pot Meals, Poultry, Sausage, Seafood, Soups & Stews

 

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Spicing Up a Dreary Tuesday with Chicken, Red Beans and Andouille

04 Dec

Ever since I saw this recipe in the New York Times last week I have wanted to try it, and I finally got to the store and got the red beans and some Andouille sausage to make it. It’s a pretty simple recipe and I think you could probably even adapt it to be made in the slow cooker if you wanted to do it that way so it would be ready for you when you got home from work.

Spicy Red Beans with Chicken Thighs and Andouille

1 pound red beans, soaked overnight or quick-soaked, then drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 bone-in chicken thighs

1 pound andouille sausage (or linguica, or other sausage you like), sliced 1/2-inch thick

1 onion, sliced

1/2 bell pepper (your choice of color), seeded and roughly chopped

2 stalks celery, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons file powder (optional)

2 to 3 teaspoons red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Drain and rinse the soaked beans. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot over medium-high heat until the oil is hot but not smoking. Add the chicken thighs and brown well, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the thighs, add the sausage to the pot and brown well, another 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the sausage from the pot. Add the onion, bell pepper and celery and saute, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Add the garlic and saute, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Add the thighs and sausage back into the pot along with the beans, the file powder (if using), the red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and enough water to cover everything. Stir well and bring the mixture to a simmer.

Transfer the pot to the oven and bake until the beans are tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours, checking every 30 minutes or so after the first hour and adding water as needed if all the liquid has been absorbed.

That’s all there is to it. It has a nice, spicy, fragrant smell and the chicken and sausage go great with the beans. You could easily add some rice to this dish to round it all out. Throw in a side vegetable or a salad, and you are all good to go.

It’s just a quick little recipe for today. I have a few other recipes lined to try later in the week, including a new recipe for a banana cream pie, some banana cupcakes, and of course a few entrees along the way. I have lots of fish in the freezer right now, so I’ll be doing some fish recipes in the very near future if you want to check back for that. I also have a couple of special recipes for my own upcoming birthday meal next week if you want to see what we’ll be making for that. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by on December 4, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Poultry, Sausage

 

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Jumpin’ Jambalaya

23 Feb

Jambalaya and gumbo are two of my favorite dishes. This week I decided to make Jambalaya as our seafood meal, even though it does have some sausage in it as well, so it’s not strictly seafood. While there aren’t the 23 different ingredients I mentioned yesterday (a slight exaggeration on my part) there are quiet a few ingredients, so there is some prep work involved in this recipe. It’s also a great one pot meal with seafood, sausage, rice and vegetables all in one.

Jambalaya

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

8 ounces andouille sausage, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 onion, chopped fine

1 rib celery, chopped fine

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine

1 yellow bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped fine

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/8 teaspoon dried

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained with 1/4 cup juice reserved

1 (8 ounce) bottle clam juice

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the andouille and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving the fat in the pot. Add the onion, celery, and peppers to the fat in the pot and return to medium heat. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Stir in the rice, salt, and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, 1/4 cup reserved tomato juice, clam juice, broth and browned sausage. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 25 minutes. stirring occasionally.

Scatter the shrimp over the rice and continue to cook, covered, until the rice is tender and the shrimp have cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the parsley before serving.

That’s all there is to it. There are some recipes that use different types of sausage or kielbasa or even ham; use whatever your preference is for you and your family. Also, some recipes call to add some chicken to the pot as well. I have used it before but opted not to put any in this time around. Finally, a lot of recipes call for jalapeno, cayenne or Tabasco sauce right near the end of cooking, which I also do sometimes, but Sean does really like the hot and spicy so this time I am serving the Tabasco separately so you can just add some to your own plate if you wish. Any leftovers I will be sure to have for lunch tomorrow as I love the leftovers from this meal.

Another quick, one pot meal in the books for the day. I was planning to make beef stew tomorrow, but Michelle has to go away on business for a couple of days, so I have bumped it into next week’s meal plan instead. Tomorrow I will write about what is in the plan for next week and maybe find an interesting recipe or two to put up as well just to add to the post. If you have any suggestions of recipes you would like to see, please feel free to comment or drop me a not at IguanaFlats@msn.com. As always, thanks for checking out my blog. I noticed I have had over 500 views of the blog so far, which I think is great and I thank everyone for reading along. Enjoy the rest of your day and your meal this evening!

 
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Posted by on February 23, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Seafood, Soups & Stews

 

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