We’re re-mixing the normal mayo-based salad. Don’t get me wrong, I like chicken salad (I’m partial to this one), but sometimes you just want something different. We’re using the classic ‘Holy Trinity’ of bell pepper, celery and onion found in Creole & Cajun dishes as the base of our salad, mixing in some Old Bay spiced mayo and viola–something different. We had planned to toss in some crawfish tails too–but after a trip to the grocery store, we kind of forgot about them and left them in the trunk to um…hang out. So, we nixed that idea and just bumped up the amount of shrimp.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lbs shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 2 bell peppers, diced (whatever color is your favorite–or cheapest)
• 4 stalks celery (and the leaves), diced
• 3 green onions, diced
• 2 recipes mayo (about ½-¾ c)
• 1 ½ t Old Bay seasoning (taste and then add more if you’d like, it’s quite strong)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• s&p

Method

Bring a pot of water to boil, add the shrimp and cook until they’re pink, about 5 minutes. Once the shrimp are cool enough to handle, chop them up into bite size pieces. Dry them off really well with a dish/paper towel.

In your serving bowl, mix together all the ingredients.

Serve cold.

HB NOTE: I used the lightest green stalks of the celery. Since we’re eating it raw, it makes sense to use the most tender celery pieces and reserve the other dark green stalks for sauteing. Also, many people don’t know that the leaves of celery are edible–and make a wonderful salad, at that. We’ve made a few recipes using the celery root too.

A kid-friendly riff on fish sticks. We made tartar sauce from scratch, I highly recommend you do the same. If you’re deathly afraid (which you shouldn’t be) of making mayo, substitute the homemade mayo for store bought, but DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, buy store bought tartar sauce. It’s so gross…so, so gross. These seafood balls are cheap, cheap, cheap. I swear they could pass for crab cakes. We used cod (a cheap, easy to find, flaky, white fish that tastes way better than tilapia) and shrimp. Another nod to cod: you can find it wild-caught! Feel free to play around with the ratio of cod-to-shrimp, but do keep the total weight around 2 pounds.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb cod
• 1/2 lb shrimp
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 3 T fresh parsley
• 2 T Old Bay
• 2 eggs
• 2 T tartar sauce
• 1/2 c almond flour

Breading Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/2 c water
• 1 c almond flour
• 1 t salt

Tartar Sauce Ingredients

• 2 recipes mayo (or use 3/4 c store-bought)
• 3 T pickle relish
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• salt

Method

For the tartar sauce:

In the smallest bowl of your food processor, blend all ingredients and stick in the fridge to chill while you make the seafood balls.

For the seafood balls:

In the largest bowl of your food processor, add all the ingredients (except the breading ingredients) and mix until everything has turned into a fine paste.

Heat a non-stick or cast iron saute pan with a few tablespoons of fat over medium-high heat.

In one soup bowl, mix together the egg and water. In another soup bowl, toss together the almond flour and salt. Scoop the seafood mixture into small balls. Drop and roll the seafood balls in the almond flour mixture, the egg mixture then in the almond flour again.

In batches, place the seafood balls in the saute pan and saute, until the balls are brown and crispy on all sides–about 3-4 minutes on each side.

This is a serious multi-tasking kind of recipe. I don’t typically make/write recipes that require dirtying lots of dishes or require multiple steps or too many ingredients, because I know most people (including myself, most days) just want to eat something a.) that tastes good b.) is good for us and c.) doesn’t require washing more than 3 dishes. I absolutely, positively abhor washing dishes. Let me get back on task here, what I’m trying to say is…I’m not trying to scare anyone off, but this should be made on a “I can’t wait to cook an awesome meal” kind of day. We didn’t need a roux for this recipe. I thought I would have to experiment with some arrowroot powder but the okra does a nice job of thickening the gumbo. Oh and let me mention, this makes a TON…get ready for leftovers!

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• 4 T butter, cubed
• s&p
• 3 leeks*
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 green pepper
• 1 lb. Andouille sausage, chopped
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped
• 6 c shrimp stock** (any stock will work)
• 1/2 lb. okra
• 1 14.5 oz. can diced fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 T Old Bay
• 2 t Quatre épices***
• 3 green onions

Method

Get your oven to 450°F. The food processor is going to be your BFF for this recipe. Get it out! Cut out the core and leaves of the cauliflower. Roughly chop and, in batches, process the cauliflower until it resembles rice. Place on a baking sheet. Toss it around with the butter and some s&p. Roast the cauliflower rice until it’s a nice pale yellow-ish color and doesn’t taste cauliflower-y, making sure to toss it one or two times while it’s roasting. About 25 minutes.

While the cauliflower is going, add the andouille sausage to a soup/stock pot, at least 5 quarts. Saute until it’s browned, remove from the pan and place on a “holding” plate. Add the chicken and saute until it’s done…if you’re a little shy of done, no worries, it’ll continue to cook in the soup. Remove the chicken and add to the plate with the sausage.

Add the green pepper, celery stalks and leeks to the food processor and blend until everybody is in small, itty-bitty pieces. Add to the stock pot and saute until everybody has softened. Pulse up the canned tomatoes in the food processor too–I don’t like when they’re too big in the soup, I like them evenly sized and textured within the soup. Add the rest of the ingredients, including the sausage and chicken, and simmer until the okra has softened, about 20 minutes. Don’t be afraid to taste the okra for the correct done-ness–soft, but still has a crunch to it.

To serve, place a scoop of cauliflower rice in the center of a bowl, ladle around the gumbo and sprinkle with green onions. You will have more gumbo than cauliflower. So leftovers will be “soup.”

*Leeks are dirty little suckers. To clean them: Cut off the root and to the top where it starts to get really, really green. Slice lengthwise and toss into a bowl of water. Use your hands to jiggle them around and that should remove virtually all the dirt.

**So here’s the deal with shrimp stock: I made the faux-viche one night and used shell-on shrimp. I saved the shells, added them to 3 quarts of water, simmered for 3 hours, strained and discarded the shells. Incredibly easily, and might I add, very resourceful.

*** Quatre épices is a french seasoning mix: white pepper, nutmeg, ginger, cloves. It’s not a necessary component, but it’s a nice addition. I found mine at World Market.

I have a difficult time talking myself into making ceviche at home. Even though we’re not far from the coast here in Columbia, South Carolina, it is quite difficult to source fresh, wild ceviche-makin’ seafood. Insert lightbulb overhead. Why don’t I just pre-cook some seafood like shrimp and scallops, chill it and then make the tasty “broth” to go with. Wonder if you can tell the difference, we sure couldn’t.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. wild shrimp, peeled, deveined and tail-off
• 1/2 lb. bay scallops
• 1 mango, diced
• 2 limes, juiced
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1 orange, juiced
• 1/2 handful cilantro, chopped
• 3 green onions, chopped
• chili garlic sauce, optional
• s&p

Method

Heat about 2 quarts of water on medium until it starts to simmer–no boiling allowed! While the water is coming to temperature, make sure to have the shrimp peeled, deveined and take the tail off. Chop the shrimp and scallops into bite size pieces. Alternatively, you could use pre-cooked shrimp…it may cost more, but it will save a bit of time. Once the water is ready, add the seafood and cook until the shrimp is pale pink. This will not take long, about 5 minutes. Strain the seafood from the water.

In a bowl add the rest of the ingredients. Add the cooked seafood and let chill before serving.

Grits are not paleo, but groots are. Groots are our take on grits, Paleo style. It’s celery root, hence the g-roots, pureed with a little fat and some stock. Oh how creamy, dreamy it is. It has a slight celery flavor, but a texture similar to creamy grits. All you non-Southerners out there, grits are ground up corn–prepared like rice, but takes literally 5 minutes to cook–think polenta.

Ingredients

• 1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp
• 2 medium sized celery roots
• 1/2 c chicken, beef or veggie stock
• 6 slices bacon
• 1/2 onion
• 2 gloves garlic
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1 T chili garlic sauce (any other hot sauce will do)
• 2 oz cheese (optional)
• 1 T minced thyme
• S&P

Method

Cut the ends off the celery roots and slice the skin off (see pics). Slice the root into 1/3′s, then rotate and slice into thick sticks, then slice into rough squares. Toss the roots into a pot of salted water and boil until softened, about 10 minutes. Get out your blender and place the roots inside, along with the stock, cheese and 2 T of bacon fat from the saute pan (see below). Pulse until you reach a smooth consistency. Stir it around and/or add more stock if the mixture isn’t cooperating. S&P to your liking.

Cook your bacon in a saute pan. Once it’s browned, remove the bacon and crumble. Add the onion and garlic to the pan. Saute until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the shrimp, tomato paste, thyme and hot sauce. Cook until the shrimp have turned pink.

Place the “groots” into a bowl, add shrimp, crumbled bacon and many, many spoonfuls of the tomato gravy.

This is an extremely popular dish in the South. It’s usually shrimp, kielbasa sausage, potatoes and corn cobs boiled in water with a sachet of ‘crab boil’ seasoning. Yum, right? Not exactly. I understand the appeal of this meal, but have never quite gotten why it became so famous. Never, ever (except with this recipe) have I had a Beaufort stew that tasted like anything other than boiled odd ‘n ends. We tried our damnedest to kick up the flavor and add a real punch and zest to the ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped and skins on
• 8 oz. mushrooms
• 2 leeks, sliced & washed really well
• 2 T olive oil or butter or coconut oil
• 2 t + 2 T Old Bay

Method

Fill a large pot with water. Add the sweet potatoes and boil until they’re tender all the way through. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, add the leeks, 2t Old Bay and 2 glugs of oil into a saute pan. Cook on medium heat until the leeks have browned, about 12 minutes.

Once the sweet potatoes are almost done cooking, add the mushrooms to the water and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Next, add the shrimp. Don’t overcook the shrimp! Once they’ve turned pink, they’re done.

Place a strainer in your sink and pour out the water and the sweet potatoes, shrooms and shrimp. Shake the strainer really well to remove as much water as you can. Then return the goodies to the pot.

Add the browned leeks and 1T Old Bay to the pot and toss around to coat.