Cajun shrimp boil for when you don't live in the South

Coming from South Louisiana, seafood boils were a staple I often took for granted. My favorite is crawfish, but shrimp holds a special place too. Boiling potatoes and corn in the same flavorful liquid completes the meal. The linchpin to this dish is the seasoning blend, usually made by Zatarain's. It is spicy blend of cayenne, bay, cloves, thyme, mustard, and coriander. I can buy it in our grocery store in Corvallis, Winco, by the seafood counter. It will be hit or miss whether you can get it in your supermarket, but you can buy it on Amazon for a reasonable price.

Whole raw shrimp, let alone crawfish, are hard to find outside Louisiana, including here in Oregon where I now live. Surprisingly, it was a trip to Minnesota that gave me the idea to replicate these flavors. While visiting my best friend Amanda in St. Cloud, she took me to one of her favorite local spots, Boil, a Cajun seafood place. I'm always skeptical but curious about Cajun-style food outside Louisiana—it can go wrong but sometimes there’s a rare gem. There's a lot of creativity involved with replicating the food in a place where ingredients are hard to come by.

This restaurant served a Louisiana-style shrimp boil with peeled shrimp, which makes sense since whole shrimp are hard to come by. The unique twist? They added butter to the final dish, creating a delicious dipping sauce from the juices normally drained away—a touch I think even a Cajun would approve of.

Inspired by this idea, I developed my own recipe. Traditional seafood boils involve fully submerging everything in boiling water and then draining it away. Since you might not have access to flavorful Gulf seafood, I prefer to use less liquid and retain it to concentrate the flavors. This method means the shrimp are technically braised rather than boiled. Taking a cue from Minnesota, I add butter at the end and sop it up with French bread. 

Cajun-style shrimp boil

3/4 cup water
2 t Zatarain's concentrated shrimp and crab boil

2 t salt
1 lemon, halved

5 cloves garlic, smashed

2 lbs large or jumbo raw shrimp, with ot without shells, your preference
4 small red potatoes, halved

1 corn on the cob cut in half, or 2 mini cobs (optional)
3 T butter (optional)

In a large saucepan or small to medium Dutch oven, add all ingredients except potatoes, corn and butter. Squeeze the lemon into the pot and then throw the whole thing in as well. Cover, bring to a simmer, and cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are no longer translucent. Remove shrimp from pot and set aside, leaving the lemon and garlic in the liquid to continue to flavor the broth. Add potatoes and corn, if using, cover, and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, return shrimp to pot, and stir in butter, if using. Serve with French bread for dipping. Serves 4.