Anna's Adventures, mostly culinary: seafood

Showing posts with label seafood. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Soft shell crab

Crabs shed their outer skeleton in order to grow for about a week at a time. Some species of crab can actually be eaten in that form, along with the soft shell that is covering them. While in N.O. Jeff wanted to try this delicacy and was not disappointed with it! Served battered and deep fried and with a dipping sauce was a very interesting addition to our culinary adventures!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Raw or grilled

That's your choice when ordering oysters. Which one are you going to have?
Char-grilled oysters are covered with cheese and served with buttery toast, so the choice seems pretty obvious, right? Wrong!
The Anna's Tasty Award goes to raw oysters at Acme Oyster House in N.O.! Served with sauce of ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce) and crackers are a true hit!

At work cracking them open!

Just waiting to be devoured.

Dipped in the sauce and on a cracker.

The grilled oysters were delicious too, but I thought that frying them covered in cheese took away from the natural seafood taste I was looking for.

Monday, February 28, 2011

The search for the perfect gumbo

Being a fan of gumbo I just had to have it when visiting New Orleans! Now, having only had gumbo made by my friend Boyd or myself, I was in for a surprise. The Louisiana gumbo is darker than the one I had before - the roux in it would sure be considered burned by the French. It is also much milder; I am not sure if the restaurants are trying to please the tourists or if this is how the traditional creole gumbo is made. The soup was traditionally served with rice on top but it was more of a broth - the familiar abundance of seafood and vegetables was surprisingly missing from my plate, although I did find a little crab!
Although I did not find my perfect gumbo, I found some pretty tasty ones when exploring the city. After trying the soup in several restaurants in French Quarter, my best choice goes to Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar on Iberville St. The wonderful flavor of the broth sure made up for lack of spicy sausage!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Seafood for a Midwest girl

Well, first of all, I can't believe I just called myself a Midwest girl. After all, I may not really be suited for living in the Midwest; all the things I love have to do with water and warm(er) weather. Some days I miss the sound of waves hitting the shore of Seaside, OR, or my all time favorite place of residence - Traverse City, MI, but most importantly I miss the food even more! Thankfully we only live a walking distance (almost) from the Parrot's Cay Tavern where the Parrot Boil dish calls my name every time I drive by it!
Introducing - craw fish, spicy sausage, young potatoes, fried pickles, shrimp... And an empty belly waiting to be filled up!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Gumbolicious

I have been pretty obsessed with gumbo since Jacob served us the best batch I have ever eaten. Looking for the perfect recipe ended up in failure as I did not want to spend countless hours slaving at the stove...
One day, Rachel Ray's cookbook came to the rescue and since then I have been making gumbo about once every couple weeks. Being that I grew up with a totally different genre of food, I am now in love with everything that is Southern American, Creole and spicy. Not having much experience in this type of cuisine, though, I promise to explore more recipes!

There are a few changes that I incorporated to the recipe. First, I use ground chicken instead of the chicken tenders because it is cheaper and much easier. Second, sometimes I use chorizo sausage instead of andouille sausage. Although European, it still brings much needed spice to the gumbo!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Schrimp Tacomania

I am a big fan of shrimp and even a bigger fan of grilling them! One of many ways to eat them is to make delicious shrimp tacos, which will make you feel as if you were right next to the ocean, while, in reality, you are right in the middle of the continent... But let's dream on!
I grilled he shrimp after brushing some olive oil and bay seasoning on them and started building the tacos. I added some spring greens, avocado, salsa, fresh cilantro and plain yogurt - a healthy alternative to cream.