This recipe is based on Paula's. I reduced the butter, caramelized onions, and replaced the celery with asparagus. Celery supposedly doesn't have much of a taste for some people, but I find it rather unpleasant. I considered using frozen peas, but I already had fresh asparagus so in that went. The proportions of the recipes come out to about 3 cups of vegetables, 2.5 pounds of meat, and about 3 cups of sauce. Onions reduce quite a bit when you caramelize them, so I sarted with more onion.
This is what the sauce and vegetables look like before the sauce has thickened.
Make sure the biscuit batter is inside the rim because it will expand outwards and over!
Three pies for the three of us! Yum!
One of the lucky eaters
Shrimp, asparagus, crab, and scallops!
Ingredients:
- Vegetables:
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 1 cup diced asparagus
- 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
- 2.5 tablespoons of butter
- Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 cups half-and-half
- Meat:
- 1 pound medium fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 pound bay scallops
- 0.5 pound crabmeat
- Biscuits! Any will do, but I tried Paula's this time:
- 2 cups baking mix
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar
- 1 cup whole buttermilk
Directions:
- Caramelize your onions. This can take a while so I usually throw the onions in the microwave for a couple of minutes first. This will make the little onion cells explode and release some of the water that you need to get rid of before caramelization starts. Pour off the water and caramelize the solids as usual with the butter or oil.
- Mix biscuit ingredients while waiting for the onions. The onions need to be stirred, but not constantly. Mixing the biscuit ingredients doesn't take loater your plants, call your mom, blog how this is going, write some code, or anything else you can do while absent-mindedly stirring with one hand now and then.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 3-4 large oven safe bowls. Many recipes say to do this first, but there's no point in keeping it hot while doing the onions if you don't need it yet.
- Add asparagus and mushrooms to the onions and cook 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are tender.
- Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Stir in Creole seasoning, sherry, cheese, and half-and-half. Cook for 5 minutes, or until thickened.
- Remove from heat and add shrimp, scallops and crab. These cook quickly so you don't want to overcook them.
- Spoon into bowls.
- Spoon the biscuits evenly over. They will expand so leave a small gap between the biscuit and edge.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden.
I think I'll try peas next time, maybe some other kinds of seafood or lamb, and croissant dough on top.