I love the idea of tossing everything in a 20 gallon stockpot outside and ending up with festive dinner for a crowd. I also love that you can scoop out all the goodies from the pot and strew them down a length of butcher paper on the picnic table. There’s nothing quite like dining fish-camp style to bring people together, especially with a washtub full of cold beer.
But while low country boils are good casual fun, rarely is the food quite as wonderful as we know it could be. There are certainly better ways to cook each of the ingredients. The major draw is that it’s an easy one-pot wonder that can feed a whole bunch of people all at once. That, and pretty much everybody likes potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp. Several years ago I had an epiphany.
I was coming up with a menu for a rehearsal dinner, and the mother of the groom mentioned her son’s favorite party food was a low country boil. Could I do something like that only fancy? As you know, with catering clients I’m a yes girl. My policy is to say “yes, of course!” and figure it out later. I already knew we had a shellfish allergy in the wedding party. So cooking all the ingredients together was a hard no. And what the heck to do about corn on the cob? I mean, picking corn up and biting it off the cob is at best inappropriate for a wedding rehearsal dinner at a nice B&B for multiple reasons. After some thought, I realized that cooking each ingredient to show off its best qualities–and not kill the brother of the bride the night before the wedding–wasn’t difficult, and the food would taste better, too. Rehearsal evening we served beautiful roasted tiny potatoes, individual corn puddings stuffed in tomatoes, roasted marinated shrimp, seared Conecuh sausage, and all was right with the world. (We also had the groom’s favorite dessert: key lime pie. I jobbed those out to another caterer in town, sent someone to pick them up, and we all lived happily ever after.)
I liked the food that night so much better than your average low-country boil, and I wanted a quick and easy weeknight version of this combo at home. Gulf Coast Shrimp Roast with Creole Butter is the result. This simple sheet pan dinner is everything you want a low country boil to be, only better.
This Shrimp Roast recipe is designed for a smaller gathering–4-6 diners would be about right–and you can expand that to the extent of your oven capacity. There are a few steps, but none are the least bit difficult or time-consuming. Oh, and please do try the Creole butter. You are going to love it. You may even decide you can’t live without it. It’s awesome on the potatoes, corn, and shrimp; and leftover Creole butter is just fine well-wrapped in the freezer for months. It’s fantastic on a steak. I sometimes put it on egg noodles. Last night we had Creole butter on leftover Popeye’s takeout biscuits.
Love!
Gulf Coast Shrimp Roast with Creole Butter
Ingredients
Creole butter:
- 6 T. soft butter
- ¾-1 t. Creole seasoning
- 1 ½ t. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 t. parsley flakes
Roasted meats and vegetables:
- 1 lb. tiny baby potatoes, or other thin-skinned potatoes in 1½" chunks
- olive oil for drizzling
- salt and pepper
- 1 lb. 1" thick (in diameter) smoked sausage
- 2 or 3 ears fresh corn
- 1 lb. large or extra large shrimp
Instructions
- Make the Creole butter: combine butter, Creole seasoning, Worcestershire, and parsley flakes in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly. Spoon the butter onto a sheet of wax paper and form into a log, twisting the ends to seal. Put in the refrigerator while everything else cooks.
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Cover a large sheet pan with parchment or foil.
- Wash potatoes and pat dry. If very tiny, leave whole and pierce each one with the point of a paring knife. If a few are larger than the rest, cut those in half. If using larger potatoes, cut in fairly even 1½-inch chunks. Put the potatoes in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the potatoes in a single layer on the sheet pan. Set the oily bowl aside.
- Slice the sausage about ½ inch thick on the diagonal. Add the sliced sausage to the sheet pant with the potatoes, also in a single layer. Put the pan in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut the stem and tassel ends off the ears of corn. Do not shuck the corn yet. Put the ears of corn in the microwave for 3½ minutes. As soon as it's cool enough to handle, shuck the corn. (Notice how easy it is to get the silk off!) Cut each ear into thirds and set aside.
- While the corn is cooking, pat shrimp dry and put in the oily bowl you used to toss the potatoes. drizzle a little more olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss the shrimp to coat.
- When the potatoes and sausage have cooked 20 minutes, check the potatoes with a sharp paring knife--they should pierce easily even if they aren't quite as cooked as you want them. Add the shrimp and corn to the pan. You can nestle the corn anywhere, but make sure the shrimp is in a single layer. Return the pan to the oven and continue to cook for 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with generous pats of Creole butter.
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