I absolutely adore seafood and I don't mind having seafood for my main meals everyday. Yup, you heard me right now! Although fortunately, I love to cook, I won't join a cook off for fear of messing up the dish, especially with seafood, so I have to go to restaurants in my area for seafood dishes when my cravings compelled me to do so. And as luck would have it, I actually discovered some really delicious seafood recipes at http://www.greatamericanseafoodcookoff.com and found some really good seafood recipes which I can cook to fulfill my seafood lust whenever I want to.

My personal favorite would definitely be the Mississippi Redfish Courtboullion with Seafood Dirty Rice by Chef John Currence from Mississippi. I'm sure most caucasian readers to my blog are aware that I am a Chinese Asian and rice is an integral part of our diet. So, the perfect combination of seafood and rice makes it a really delicious (may I suggest the word 'Yummy-licious' instead?) and filling meal and yes, I want a second helping too but let me digest whatever I've just polished off first. Here's the recipe for this wonderful dish:

Courtboullion

½ cup raw bacon, chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3 cups + 3 tablespoons flour
1 cup yellow onion, diced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
¾ cup red bell pepper, diced
½ cup green bell pepper, diced
3 cups okra, chopped
6 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 ½ tablespoons Creole seasoning
¾ cup white wine
1 lemon, zest and juiced
1 cup fish stock
1 cup peanuts
½ pound fresh Gulf shrimp, peeled and chopped
1 lb. Mississippi redfish, cut into two inch cubes
½ pound Gulf crabmeat
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Seafood Dirty Rice (recipe below)


To make the courtboullion: render the bacon. Add 3 tablespoons each of butter and flour, and make a light brown roux. Stir in and sauté the onions and garlic until tender. Add and sauté the bell peppers. Stir in the okra and season with salt and black pepper. Add tomatoes and Creole seasoning and bring to a simmer. Stir in wine, lemon, and fish stock, and then bring to a boil.

Chop peanuts in food processor and blend with flour. Dust shrimp with peanut flour. In a separate sauté pan, sauté redfish and shrimp in remaining butter as needed, in batches until lightly browned. Add the shrimp and redfish to the courtboullion, then add the crabmeat and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Creole seasoning to taste. Serve over Seafood Dirty Rice.

Seafood Dirty Rice


½ cup bacon, chopped
½ cup chicken livers
½ cup shrimp, chopped
¼ cup onions, minced
1 tablespoon garlic
3 cups rice
2 tablespoons butter
3 ½ cups fish stock
1 cup Shock Top beer
¼ cup parsley, chopped
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Cook off bacon. Add chicken livers and cook through. Remove, chop, and return to pan. Add shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Add onions and garlic and sauté. Stir in rice, butter, and fish stock. Then pour the beer into the fish stock. Bring to a simmer. Cover and finish in 400º oven for 20 minutes. Season with parsley, salt, and pepper

There you go, although it seemed like there is a lot of steps and hardwork for this dish, but I'll gladly take the time to really make it delicious, worthwhile and satisfying. As you can see, cooking the Courtboullion requires some of my favorite food like bell peppers, tomatoes and the Seafood Dirty Rice is chokeful of bacons and shrimps, such wonderful combination for a superb dish. The only thing I'll omit will be the peanuts in the Courtboullion as I've had a choking incident involving peanuts when I was around 6 years old.

More than that, I can't wait to go to my local supermarket and shop for redfish, shrimps and crabmeat that I am going to use for this recipe. Remember, buy fresh seafood from your local supermarket or direct seafood supplier as this helps to sustain our own local markets so that the freshness of the seafood which you are buying will be a sure guarantee.

If you are hungry for more yummy-licious seafood recipes, don't wait and hesitate any longer, head on over to www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com and also remember to vote for your favorite seafood dish, where you'll get a chance to win a trip to New Orleans where you can eat your favorite dish right from where it originated from.




www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com, where good seafood dishes are fresh, local and has great taste!!