Bayou Country Grits a YaYa
Southern Style Grits with Smoked Gouda Cheese, Garlic Shrimp & Portobello Mushrooms

This dish calls for shrimp sautéed in a garlic sauce with bell pepper, green onion and Portobello mushrooms served over a bowl of steaming hot, southern style grits with smoked Gouda cheese. I had a similar dish at the Fish House Restaurant in Pensacola and came home and created my own version of it. I entered it in the First Annual Stone Ground Grits competition at LSU and took first place.

Prep Time: 20 minutes; Cook Time 30 minutes:  Ready in 50 minutes - Serves 6

6 cups salted water                                       1 cup chopped green onions
1 cup milk                                                        1 cup Julianne Portobello mushrooms
2 cups grits                                                      1 tablespoon minced garlic
8 ounces grated smoked gouda cheese  2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons olive oil                                  Tony’s Seasoning to taste
½ stick butter                                                   ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
½ green bell pepper                                       ½ teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce
½ red bell pepper

Directions:

Combine the salted water and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir in the grits. When the grits start to thicken, stir in the smoked Gouda cheese and simmer. Stir occasionally until grits are tick and ready to eat. Grits usually take about 15  minutes to cook.

While the grits are cooking, heat up the olive oil and butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Sauté the bell pepper, mushrooms and green onions with the minced garlic. Season shrimp with Tony’s before adding to the sauté mixture. Cook shrimp in mixture for about 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning and add Louisiana Hot Sauce.

Serve the cheese grits with a generous portion of the sautéed shrimp and mushroom sauce poured over it. Garnish with a pinch of fresh chopped parsley.

With Mardi Gras being in early February this year, a good hot bowl of grits play a great part in warming up your parade guests.

Royley Folse’s Crawfish Stew

Crawfish stew has always been one of my family’s favorite dishes. Living between the river and the swamp, we were in the right place to get crawfish and we sure didn’t let ‘em go to waste. I caught ‘em in the swamp and as soon as my boys were old enough I showed them how to crawfish. There was a big sand pit behind the house and a big slue between the river road and the railroad track just down the road from our house. The boys just loved it and when they got old enough they started fishing in the swamps and sold crawfish for spending money. It was also a dish they enjoyed and I cooked it often when crawfish were in season. I’ve been cooking crawfish stew for about 70 years. The stew got better as the years went by. I just had a lot of practice.

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INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds peeled crawfish tails            1 ½ cups vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onions                         2 cups flour
1 cup chopped bell pepper                    ¾ cups chopped green onions
1 stick chopped celery                            ½ cup chopped parsley
2 TBS granulated garlic                         Tony’s Creole Seasoning to taste
3 quarts water                                          black pepper to taste
3 bay leaves                                            1-8 oz. can tomato sauce

PREPARATION:
Peel crawfish reserving fat. Frozen Louisiana crawfish tails can be used. Season tails with Tony’s, black pepper and granulated garlic. Drain crawfish tails and sauté in about 1/3 cup of vegetable oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until tails begin to curl. Remove tails from pot, drain and set aside to cool. In same oil, sauté onions and bell pepper for about 10 minutes.

In a heavy iron pot (12-quart), make a roux by combining oil and flour. Stir constantly over medium heat, until dark brown. To the roux, add the sautéed onion and bell pepper, the 3 quarts of water, the tomato sauce, chopped celery, bay leaves and a hand full of the crawfish tails. Allow simmering for about forty-five minutes. Add additional water, if stew is too thick. Stir in crawfish tails and half of the chopped parsley and green onions and bring back to a boil. Add more seasoning, if needed. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add remaining parsley and green onions. Simmer 5 minutes more until the stew is done.

Hint: When using frozen crawfish tails, I usually add a small can of Orleans Lump Crabmeat for extra flavor. It kind of makes up for the crawfish fat, which usually comes with fresh crawfish.

Serve over steamed rice.

Enjoy. Please call if you have questions.

Jerry & Jay Folse
Folse Seafood and Louisiana Specialty Products
1421 N. Burnside, Gonzales, LA 70737
Phone: 225-644-0065