Birthday Celebrations::food edition

We celebrated Gabriel’s 14th birthday this weekend. Whenever we have birthdays I fix whatever the birthday person wants for supper. Usually it’s something that I’ve fixed before and we just haven’t had in a long time, but this time Gabriel picked fried shrimp, calamari, spaghetti with red and white sauce and his mint dessert.

Carl and I both grew up on the coast so we are kind of picky about our seafood- we want it fresh and real, as in not “fish sticks”. It’s been a long time since I’ve fixed fried shrimp so I went trolling along the internet to find a recipe that I thought would be good – using what I happen to have on hand. I came across this recipe and in the comments I found the recipe we used for the sauce and we used Zatarain’s fish fry for the breading. They were amazing!

 After you have peeled and deveined the shrimp, dust them with the fish fry, then dip in the sauce and then dust with the fish fry again.

Fry for 2-3 minutes in oil that is 350-360 degrees. You need at least 350 degrees or they will turn out greasy and the breading won’t be crunchy.

Enjoy – and if it’s a birthday celebration no veggies are required. On your seconds get a plate of just shrimp and calamari.

 Finish with a delightful mint concoction

Use an ice pick to put holes in the dessert so you can put the candles in.

Fried Shrimp Recipe
1 pound shrimp – shelled and deveined
1/2 stick butter
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
Zaterain’s cajun fish fry
oil for frying

Melt the butter, add egg and milk (I think it would work better if the milk were a little warm so that it doesn’t set up the butter).

Dip the shrimp into the breading, then sauce, then breading again. When you have enough to fill your frier (we used our electric wok) fry them 350-360 degrees. Most recipes called for peanut oil, but that is too pricey for us, so we used canola oil.

We used the same recipe for the calamari. We bought tubes that were already deheaded and the “bone” was removed. We sliced them in half and then fried them just like the shrimp.

Mint Dessert Recipe

1/2 gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream
1 bag of mint oreos
1 bag of mint M&Ms

Line the bottom of a 9X13 pan with chopped oreos. Let the ice cream get a little soft and mix it with the M&Ms. Put the ice cream in the pan and cover with the rest of the oreos. Put in freezer until time to serve. If you need to put candles in it, poke holes in it with an ice pick just before putting the candles in.

Enjoy!

To see more great recipes check out Tasty Tuesday. 

Thanks for sharing with your friends!