Louisiana Shrimp Bake

Redneck Epicurean's Note:

This is kinda like etouffee..sort of. I thought it was delish sounding when I heard about it. I have tweaked it a bit from the original, since I hate hard-boiled eggs and didn't have any cooking sherry. I replaced the sherry with some Old Bay (which I have just discovered in '05) and didn't replace those nasty eggs with anything. The recipe calls for a pound of tomatoes. Since I usually make this in the fall/winter, I use DM's home-canned tomatoes in some juice. I really like this - some Southern comfort food at its best.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 cup celery , sliced thin
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• ½ cup chopped green pepper
• ¼ cup butter or ¼ cup margarine
• ¼ cup flour (self-rising or a.p.)
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 16 ounces tomatoes with juice
• ½ lb frozen shrimp
• Old Bay Seasoning , to taste
• 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 cups cooked rice

Directions:

1. Sauté celery, onion, and green pepper in butter in a medium saucepan until soft. Blend in flour and salt; cook until bubbly.
2. Stir in tomatoes, shrimp, and Old Bay.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.
4. Pour into a 2-quart casserole. Bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes.
5. When serving, place rice on plate; spoon casserole over rice and top with cheese.

Reviews

[mlok]

Very tasty supper, and made good leftovers too! BF even liked it. (He's usually fussy the first time and then gets to like something after repeated attempts.) My only problem was the salt - I used about half of what was called for but it was still rather salty. I suspect that is because I used store-bought tomatoes and not home-canned ones. I may try this with fresh ones plus some tomato juice next time. Thanks for sharing, we'll be eating it again soon. (P.S. I have thought of omitting salt altogether but adding a bit of bacon...)