Shrimp Creole, P'cola style

First things first. Let me say how I love that cajun food reflects such a rich spectrum of culinary traditions. Now, just as sofrito (onion, cilantro, garlic, green pepper) is the base for Puerto Rican cuisine and mirepoix (onion, carrots, celery) the base of French cuisine, cajun food has the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is equal parts onion, celery and bell pepper. Now, this being a culinarily eclectic household, we begin our cajun odyssey by throwing the following things in a Cuisinart, passing them off as The Holy Trinity, and blending them beyond recognition:

3 ribs celery
1 large onion
1 green pepper
4 cloves garlic

Now in the meantime, you will take 3 pounds of exquisite, head-on Gulf Coast shrimp and remove the heads by twisting them gently off. Reserve the heads and peel the shrimp, adding the shells to the ripped off heads with bulging shrimp eyeballs. Now, put 3 or so cups of water into a pot, add the shells, heads, a sliced lemon, a few ribs of celery, some onion, garlic, peppercorns, and thyme sprigs, bring to a boil and let simmer for 45 minutes. This is your shrimp stock. See? Now with the peeled shrimp, you will take a paring knife and devein as demonstrated below: Throw the holy trinity into a nice cast iron skillet with generous amounts of olive oil and sautee for a while on medium high heat. To this add a few chopped fresh tomatoes, salt, and some creole seasoning which you can buy or make yourself if you are so inclined.


After your shrimp are cleaned, you can toss them in said creole seasoning. Then go back to your sauce.

With your Holy Trinity (plus some) in the skillet, you will add 1/2 cup of white wine, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp. of black pepper, 1 tsp. white pepper, caynenne to taste, and what the hell, a little more creole seasoning. I don't think you can ever have too much.

Let the sauce simmer for 45 minutes and then add some tabasco and worcestershire sauce to taste. Throw in the shrimp for 2-3 minutes and ta-dah! You're done! Serve with white rice and garnsih with anythign green and fresh. Deeee-lish!