I'm baaaack!

It has been one heck of a week! I have been so sick and just plain weary. I have not cooked or done anything but sit on the couch with hot tea or orange juice. I have had some upper respiratory issues and just can't quite shake it. Needless to say my cooking was put on the back burner and my family has enjoyed some take out or frozen food. (Well, enjoyed may not be the right word here! ;)
I started to feel better and with that energy came a craving. I wanted a shrimp po' boy and I wanted one bad! My wonderful hubs decided to indulge his croaky, coughing wife and drove me to get the ingredients. I love how appropriate life is sometimes. I love frogs, so much so I named my blog after them. I now sound like one! Funny! I don't think I love them enough that I want to sound like one, but one day I will sound like myself again. In the mean time imagine a frog croaking to you, and that is me talking. Back to yummy shrimp. Here is a quick recipe for quick, yummy shrimp po' boys!

The most important ingredient of this batter is the beer. I like a good dark beer for this batter. So I use Guinness, about a cup full in a bowl. I add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the beer. 

I put the batter in a bowl and add salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to your liking. 

I make an assembly line at this point. Starting left to right (bowl to stove): beer/lemon in a bowl, batter in a bowl, pot full of hot oil, plate next to stove with paper towels on top. Take a big heaping handful of the shrimp and drown them in the beer mixture and let them sit for about two minutes. Dredge the shrimp in the shrimp fry. Here comes the fun part! To make sure the oil is hot enough, drop a little tiny, teeny drop of water into the oil. It should immediately sizzle and a cloud of steam should arise. Now make sure not to get the oil too hot, it will burn the batter on the shrimp and that does NOT taste good! So now that the oil is good and hot, drop those little balls of goodness into the oil and let it cook for about 2 minutes, or until golden. Take them out of the oil and put them onto the plate. Onto round two! Do this until you have cooked through all of the shrimp.  

These are an example of what your shrimp should look like. Pretty and tasty!  

Now time to make the sauce that goes on the french bread. French bread is the traditional bread used in po' boys. That does not mean that you can not use another type of bread, it just may not taste as good. But taste is in the mouth of the beholder. Do what you like! Make it your own! For my sauce, I just throw a bunch of ingredients together in a bowl and stir. Start with 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of parsley, 1/2 tablespoon of black pepper, 1/2 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and 1 tablespoon of pickle relish. Mix other ingredients in if you like, or use smaller quantities, whatever tastes good to you! Toast your french bread and then spread the sauce on the top or bottom. Lay your shrimp down on the bottom of the bread and cover with lettuce, tomato, and sliced pickles. Now enjoy! So good! Yum!  

Enjoy!