2 lbs Ground Meat
2lbs Jimmy Dean regular pork sausage
3 cups Yellow Corn Meal
1 cup Flour plain
1 1/2 cups V-8
2 tsp Garlic Powder
5 tsp Chili Powder
4 tsp Cumin Powder
2 tsp Salt
3 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Mix all ingredients together very well.  Roll into balls.  Drop balls into hot bubbly sauce a couple at a time.  Cook on Medium-Low heat for 45-60 Minutes.  Don’t stir.  Just let them simmer for the cook time.

Tamale Ball Sauce
10 cups V-8
4 tsp Chili Powder
4 tsp Cumin
4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cayenne

Note:
tsp = teaspoon
Cayenne Pepper can be cut back if you are feeding a bunch of sissies.  Or, add a couple more teaspoons in the sauce and tamales themselves if you are not a girly man.

1 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup Soy Sauce
1 cup Pineapple Juice
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp ginger
2 tblsp minced Garlic
1/2 purple Onion chopped
1tblsp Sesame Oil
1/8 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix all ingridients together and marinate your MEAT!!

Shrimp and corn soup
Makes 10 to 12 servings
1 stick butter
1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons minced garlic
2 to 3 pounds shrimp, peeled
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes, drained
2 ½ pints heavy whipping cream
32 ounces half-and-half
1 capful liquid crab boil
2 cans cream-style corn
2 cans whole corn, drained
1 pound pasteurized processed cheese (Velveeta)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried thyme
3 tablespoons K-Paul’s Seafood Magic, or other Creole seasoning to taste
In a large pot, melt butter, and cook onion and garlic until soft. Add shrimp and Ro-Tel, and cook until shrimp are pink. Add cream, half-and-half, and liquid crab boil, and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add corn, cheese, brown sugar, thyme and seasoning. Cook just until the cheese melts.
Variation: Add lump crab meat.
Freezes well.

Eggplant and shrimp casserole

Makes 4 to 6 servings

1 large eggplant

1 stick margarine

1 onion, chopped

½ bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound small fresh or frozen shrimp, peeled

1 egg

Bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

Butter for the top

Peel and boil eggplant, then drain, mash and return to the pot.

In a frying pan, melt margarine. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic. Add shrimp and saute 3 minutes or so. Add this mixture to the eggplant, and mix well.

Add 1 tablespoon water to the egg and beat well. Stir into mixture, along with salt and pepper to taste. Scatter bread crumbs over the top and mix in just enough to keep the mixture moist, not thick and dry.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray and fill with the mixture. Cover with additional bread crumbs. Dot with butter and salt lightly. Bake 30 minutes.

Radio personality Lorin Gaudin said she combined recipes from family members and favorite chefs to come up with her version of this Louisiana classic, which she served on the air recently to her guest as they discussed the taste difference in local and imported crawfish.

Makes 6 servings

6 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups chopped onions

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped bell pepper

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 ½ cups seafood stock or water

1 small can tomato paste

1 ½ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Tabasco to taste

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 pounds Louisiana crawfish tails with fat

Juice of half a lemon

1 cup chopped green onions

Cooked white rice for serving

In a large, heavy saucepan melt 4 tablespoons butter and whisk in flour to combine well. Stir constantly until roux is the color of peanut butter. Add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves and thyme, and cook until vegetables are soft, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Add stock, tomato paste, salt, cayenne pepper, Tabasco and Worcestershire and return mixture to a boil. Skim the surface, reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add crawfish tails with fat, lemon juice and green onions, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining butter and stir to mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve over hot rice.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

PASTRY

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons bleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white cornmeal

1/8 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/3 cup milk

Mix together the flour, cornmeal and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the shortening. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, blend the shortening into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the milk and mix together until the mixture leaves the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry and fit into a regular-size quiche pan.

FILLING

1 pound boiled shrimp, peeled and coarsely chopped

½ pound Swiss cheese, coarsely chopped

1¾ cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons flour

3 eggs

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Distribute the shrimp evenly on the bottom of the quiche pastry. Arrange the cheese evenly over the shrimp. Combine the cream, flour, eggs, cayenne, black pepper and salt and mix well. Pour over the cheese and shrimp.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool a few minutes before slicing to serve.

Makes 6 servings

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onions

¼ cup chopped red bell peppers

½ cup chopped green bell peppers

½ cup chopped celery

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 cups shrimp stock or chicken broth

½ cup dry white wine

½ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup all-purpose flour

3 ½ cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1 ½ cups fresh corn kernels

1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped green onions

16 jumbo crab claws (optional)

Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions, peppers, celery and garlic, and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add the stock, wine and thyme, and bring to a boil.

In a skillet over medium heat, combine the oil and flour, and, stirring constantly, make a blond roux. Add the roux to the mixture in the saucepan and mix well to blend. Reduce the heat to medium-low.

Add the cream in a steady stream, whisking with a wire whisk to combine the mixture. Add the salt, hot sauce and the corn. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the crabmeat, parsley and green onions, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the soup is well heated. To serve, garnish with crab claws.

Chef John Currence won the 2008 Great American Seafood Cookoff with this recipe.

Redfish

1 Lb. Redfish, cut into two inch cubes
Courtboullion
½ cup raw bacon, chopped
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 lemon, zest and juiced
¾ cup white wine
1 cup fish stock
1 cup Shock Top beer
½ pound crabmeat
½ pound fresh shrimp, chopped
1 cup peanuts
3 cups + 3 tablespoons flour
1 ½ tablespoons Creole seasoning
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and black pepper, to taste
Seafood Dirty Rice (recipe below)

To make the courtboullion: render the bacon. Add butter and 3 tablespoons flour and make a light brown roux. Stir in and saute the onions and garlic until tender. Add and saute 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 saute pan, saute redfish and shrimp in butter, in batches until lightly browned. Add seafood to the courtboullion and cover. Add the crab after the seafood has been sauteed and added to the courtboullion. 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
3 ½ cups fish stock
1 cup Shock Top beer
¼ cup onions, minced
1 tablespoon garlic
3 cups rice
2 tablespoons butter
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 saute. 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.

Makes 3 loaves

6 pounds pork shoulder

1 gallon water

3 large onions, quartered

2 sticks celery, diced

6 cloves garlic

2 bay leaves

3 packages unflavored gelatin

½ cup minced parsley

½ cup minced carrots

½ cup minced red bell pepper

½ cup thinly sliced green onion

Salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper

Cut pork shoulder into 1-inch cubes and place in a large stockpot along with the water. Add onions, celery, garlic and bay leaves. Bring to a roiling boil, reduce to simmer and cook until the meat is tender, about 2 hours. Remove the meat from the liquid and strain vegetables from the stock. Return the stock to the pot, bring to a roiling boil and reduce to 10 cups.

Once the meat is cooled, bone and grind or chop it finely. Prepare gelatin according to package directions, using 2 cups of warm water. Set aside.

Add meat to reduced stock, then gelatin and all remaining vegetables. Season to taste, using salt and peppers. Cook 10 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Ladle the mixture into two or three 4-by-8-inch loaf pans and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight.

Slice and serve with crackers or croutons.

Make mango puree from cubes of fresh fruit run through the food processor or blender.

em>Makes 1 serving

Large handful of fresh mint leaves
3/4 ounce lime juice
1 tablespoon raw sugar
3 ounces white rum
1/2 ounce mango puree
3/4 ounce simple syrup
2 1/2 ounces club soda

Muddle mint leaves, lime juice and sugar (best with sugar cane stick) vigorously. Add ice, rum, mango puree, syrup and soda, stir well and pour into a tall glass. Garnish with a mint leaf or a wedge of fresh mango.