Shrimp berl
I walked into the house this evening to find my husband at the top of the stairs with a look of panic on his face. “I tried to call you. I swear, I tried to call you.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t need to peel the onions or the garlic.”
Some couples finish each other’s sentences; we just process how badly the other has screwed up. It works for us.
See, I’d asked him to put a pot of water to boil with a couple of onions, a head of garlic, and a bag of Zatarain’s Crab Boil in preparation for our shrimp boil this evening. Specifically, I asked:
And around 7pm, can you fill the big silver pot (kept under the sink) about 3/4 with water and put a Zatarain’s bag in there to boil? Once the water starts boiling, add some salt, the onions and garlic to the pot. It needs to infuse the water before we begin our seafood boil!
Pretty clear, right? I know him well enough at this point to spell out everything when it comes to cooking, so I thought the lack of cutting/chopping direction would be enough. Sigh. Anyway, he could’ve always called my dad, but chose instead to peruse his iPhoto library to see how it looked last time.
Despite his worries, things turned out fine. I threw in some small red potatoes, some smoked sausage cut into pieces, and boiled until the potatoes were tender. The shrimp went in next and boiled for a couple of minutes until they floated to the top. At this point, I used a trick my dad taught me — I turned off the flame and threw in a package of frozen corn on the cob. It stops the cooking process and heats the corn through at the same time. After it rests for about 10 minutes, everything is ready to eat.
In Louisiana, we pour the boiled seafood over a table covered with newspaper (see below), but only made enough tonight for the two of us, so it went onto a platter. Not as colorful, maybe, but not as messy, either.

Delicious! I served it with dipping sauce from Leah Chase’s The Dooky Chase Cookbook.
recipe after the jump








