Tag bacon

Take Your Mouth To Mardi Gras: Parties That Cook Mini Shrimp Po’Boys with Bacon Mayo

Mardi Gras officially lands on Tuesday, March 8, this year. While it may be a bit difficult to make it over to New Orleans for the celebration, there is no reason why we all can’t FEEL like we’re there! This mouth-watering Parties That Cook recipe for Mini Shrimp Po’ Boys with Bacon Mayo (aka the reason they call it “Fat Tuesday”) will have you earning your beads in other ways…

For those who can’t make it to New Orleans OR Brenda’s French Soul Food in San Francisco, take your Fat Tuesday to a whole new level with your own Cinnamon Beignets with Mocha Crème Anglaise!

Mini Shrimp Po’ Boys with Bacon Mayo
This recipe can also be found in our Appetizer Recipe Library!

Ingredients
Fried Shrimp:
2 cups canola oil, for shallow frying
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 pounds small shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
3 Tablespoons Old Bay seasoning

Sandwich Fixings:
1 pound bacon, each strip cut in half
12 good quality hot dog bun, cut in half to yield 24 mini buns
3 cups baby arugula
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Lemon wedges
Hot sauce (optional)

Bacon Mayo:
2 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup rendered bacon fat (saved from cooking bacon)
1/4 cup canola oil

Methods/Steps
Prepare Shrimp: Put oil into a high sided frying pan and heat to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat egg, buttermilk and salt together. Soak shrimp in milk batter for 10 minutes. In a shallow bowl or cake pan, mix together the flour, cornmeal and Old Bay seasoning. Using tongs, remove a few shrimp at a time and coat in breading. Add breaded shrimp to the hot oil and fry them 2 to 3 minutes or until firm and deeply golden all over. Set aside onto a wire rack set on a sheet pan.

Prepare Fixings: Cook bacon strips in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove from pan and reserve bacon fat for the bacon mayo.

Make Mayo: Combine the egg yolk, mustard and lemon juice in a small bowl. Whisk together well. Season with the salt and pepper. Have the bacon fat liquidy, but not hot. Combine the fat with the canola oil. Very slowly add the fat to the eggs until the mixture starts to stiffen and emulsify.  Once it starts to emulsify, you can add the fat more quickly. If the mayonnaise is too thick, just blend in 1 teaspoon of hot water to thin it.

Assemble and Serve: Spread bacon mayo on all of the buns. Place a piece of bacon on the mayo and place 2-3 shrimp in the bun. Top with arugula and 3 tomato halves. Squeeze some lemon juice on the shrimp. Serve with hot sauce if desired. Serve immediately.

Makes 24 Mini Sandwiches

Recipe created by Parties That Cook®.

It’s Prime Time for Butternut Squash and Bacon Galletes!

Now that we’ve all had a full month to recover from nightmares of Lady Gaga’s meat dress, it’s time to get back to the goods. Not to worry, we won’t jump head first into a meaty meal –though if you fancy that idea, check out these ten ways to show your love of bacon. This recipe for Butternut Squash and Bacon Galettes will ease you back into the swing of the carnivore (or omnivore) lifestyle with just the right amount of BACON… for now.

Nothing says “Holidays” better than a Butternut Squash recipe. Really! Butternut Squash is a close relative to the beloved pumpkin -like a cousin, or maybe even fraternal twin? It’s also a staple in those Thanksgiving food horns we colored every year in middle school. Sticking with the Holiday foods theme, this recipe can also be made with Sweet Potato! Check out the original Sweet Potato version of this recipe here.

Butternut Squash and Bacon Galettes
For other great Holiday appetizer ideas, visit our Appetizer Recipe Library!

Ingredients
Galettes:
6 slices bacon
1 small butternut squash yielding 1 1/4 cup of cooked pulp
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon sage leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon rosemary needles, chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Canola oil

Garnish:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
Baby sage leaves

Methods/Steps
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cook Bacon: Put bacon on a cooling rack over a sheet pan. Transfer to the oven and cook until crisp, about 12 minutes. Let cool on the cooling rack.  Once cool, chop  into small 1/4” bits and transfer to a small bowl .  Set aside.

Cook Butternut Squash: Cut the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and roast squash on a lightly oiled sheet pan, flesh face down, until a knife inserted into the thickest part encounters no resistance, about 1 hour.  Cool squash slightly and scoop flesh from shell. Measure out 1 cup of pulp.   Set the rest aside for another use.

Make Batter: In a medium bowl, mix together flour and baking powder; set aside.  Place the cooked butternut squash in the jar of a blender.  Add the cream, milk, melted butter, sage, rosemary and salt; blend for 20 seconds.  Add eggs, and process a few seconds more until fully combined.  Pour butternut squash mixture into flour mixture; fold to mix. Add lemon juice and half of the chopped bacon, reserve the rest of the bacon for garnish. Stir just to combine.  Do not over mix or the galettes will be tough.

Cook Galettes: Pour a Tablespoon of canola oil into a non-stick pan. Spread around the pan with a paper towel.  Working in batches, drop a heaping Tablespoon of batter into the pan, being careful not to overcrowd.  Cook until the underside is golden, about 2 minutes.  Turn pancakes over and cook until the other side is golden and the pancake is cooked through, about two minutes more.  Transfer to a cooling rack over a sheet pan.  Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more canola oil as needed between batches.

Garnish: Combine the sour cream and salt.

Serve: Put the pancakes on a serving platter. Top each pancake with a tiny dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with a little bit of the reserved bacon. Add a baby sage leaf and serve immediately.

Makes 24 delicious galletes.