The Saltwater Magazine for Gulf Coast Fishing!
COOK'S GUIDE
Seafood Sausage
by Annette Lucido
- Given the many kinds of splendid sausage along the Gulf Coast, it should be no surprise that sausage and seafood recipes abound. It's a bit of a surprise that seafood sausage isn't a bit more popular. Granted, that seafood sausage requires close attention to see your ingredients don't get too hot, but a single session can produce enough sausage for three or four months, about the limit of time you can expect to keep fine ground seafood. Other possibilities worth considering are soups and rice dishes that combine seafood and sausage in interesting ways. Among other advantages, the recipes that follow improve on reheating and solve the problem of mixed groups of carnivores and "piscavores."
- Fish and seafood sausages do offer other advantages besides delicate taste and, if you can avoid adding cream - as we can't - lower calories. Given a light hand with the seasonings so you don't hide the taste of your fish, shrimp or scallops, and ensuring that your mixing bowl and ingredients stay cold so cream and such are absorbed, you can't miss. You can, as usual substitute the catch of the day and whatever shellfish, save oysters, for those that follow. 1 1/2 Ib. fish, boned and skinned
- 2 egg whites, chilled
- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white or green pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons fresh or 2 teaspoons dry, of your favorite of Tarragon, Chervil, lemon grass or Rosemary
- 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup mushrooms
- 1 cup scallops in 1/4 inch cubes
- 1 cup shrimp, crab or lobster cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
- 3 teaspoons minced green onion
- Put food processor blade and its bowl and another 4 quart bowl - we use metal or glass - into the fridge for a half hour. Cut one pound of fish into one inch cubes and freeze for 15 minutes. Cut one half pound of fish into 1/4-inch cubes and refrigerate.
- Given the many kinds of splendid sausage along the Gulf Coast, it should be no surprise that sausage and seafood recipes abound. It's a bit of a surprise that seafood sausage isn't a bit more popular. Granted, that seafood sausage requires close attention to see your ingredients don't get too hot, but a single session can produce enough sausage for three or four months, about the limit of time you can expect to keep fine ground seafood. Other possibilities worth considering are soups and rice dishes that combine seafood and sausage in interesting ways. Among other advantages, the recipes that follow improve on reheating and solve the problem of mixed groups of carnivores and "piscavores."
- Grind large fish chunks in the processor until smooth. Add egg whites
until blended. Add cream bit by bit and dump in and stir seasonings. Move
ground fish into your cold bowl and stir in the salmon chunks, mushrooms,
scallops and shellfish. Add other seasonings. At this point you can poach
a dime-size ball of the stuffing in hot water, move the rest to the fridge.
Taste test seasonings. You might like to add a little Pernod, sherry, white
wine or even a dash of Lee & Perrins.
- You can stuff the sausage into casings or poach it in liquid - we put the sausage into plastic bags and poach it in simmering water so it stays together. It's your choice. Cooking time only runs from 15 to 20 minutes. You can tell as the fish changes color when it's done. We like these in breakfast sausage-size casings as hor d'ouvres. Their only drawback, besides the fact guests eat them so fast, is they don't freeze well. Given the rate they are usually eaten, that's seldom a problem.
- FISH, SAUSAGE & SHRIMP
- This Spanish approach to sausage and shellfish is similar to a paella, but is really our solution to leftover fish and shellfish with more of a Far Eastern flavor - curry powder is a lot cheaper than saffron too! You won't find a faster dish. It can be prepared while rice cooks. We like it over warm rice. You can substitute any kind of cooked seafood here.
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 cube) butter or margarine
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 1-1/2 cups milk
- 3 tablespoons cheese - cheddar if you must, Monterey Jack if you can
- 1/2 pound fresh or 1/4 pound canned mushrooms
- 1/4 teaspoons Spanish or Hungarian paprika
- 2 teaspoons curry powder, or more to taste
- 1/2 pound cooked sausage -- we like Italian, Boudin or Bratwurst cut in 1/4 inch thick slices.
- 1/2 pound leftover cooked fish fillets cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/2 pound cooked shrimp, shelled
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups cooked rice
- Melt butter over medium heat, stir in flour to a smooth paste. Mix lightly beaten egg and milk. Stir into flour mix slowly. Add sausage, fish and shrimp. As soon as everything is hot, serve immediately or hold over low heat until rice finishes up.
- STUFFED PRAWNS
- Sometimes prawns aren't exactly as fresh and nice as you might like. This isn't to say they're not edible, just that they need a bit of help. This recipe offers that and you will need 15 to 20 count.
- 1 cube butter
- 1 tablespoons soy sauce - light soy if possible
- 2 pounds large raw prawns
- 1/2 pound Italian or Louisiana sausage, browned
- 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped shrimp - the ones that you break cleaning same
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder ( depends on sausage, add after tasting)
- Pepper to taste (ditto!)
- Split shrimp almost through on curved side taking care to leave the tail on. Remove vein. Stuff each slit with some of the above mixture. Melt butter with soy over medium heat. Cook shrimp slowly until lightly browned. Tails make handy handles the picky among us might cut off.
- CHINESE SHRIMP
- Okay, so we don't have sausage in this one -- we cheat and serve this shrimp with slices of braised weisswurst or home-made pheasant sausage. However, this is perhaps our favorite shrimp recipe ever.
- 24 15 to 20 count shrimp
- 2 tablespoons lemon or, if you can get it, even better, lime juice
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 cup very finely ground bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup melted butter, margarine or oil
- Peel, devein and wash shrimp. Put them close together in a small bowl and sprinkle with lime/lemon juice and the Worcestershire. Turn several times and marinate four at least four hours.
- Add milk a few drops at a time and toss shrimp like salad until milk is absorbed. Roll shrimp in fine bread crumbs and place very close together on broiler rack. Drip melted butter or margarine on top and broil until pink. Turn over and repeat - less than ten minutes total. This dandy recipe serves three big eaters or, if you add a broiled link of sausage each, six. Slice the broiled sausage and serve with the shrimp. We add sliced tomatoes and sweet onions and some nice hard crust French bread.
- MID-ATLANTIC KEDGEREE
- Kedgeree, the English "breakfast of champions" incorporates smoked haddock and chopped hard boiled eggs in a butter/cream sauce usually served in rice. We like this version better.
- 1 pound fish fillets, smoked if you have them otherwise add 1/4 teaspoon Liquid Smoke.
- 1/2 pound rice
- 1 pound mild cooked and sliced sausage - Italian or whatever, but not turkey franks!
- 2 large eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and chopped
- 2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup cream or milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped.
- Poach the fish in a large shallow pan of water for about 15 minutes, omit this step with precooked, smoked fish like our favorite wahoo or salmon. Flake fish.
- Set oven to 350 degrees
- Cook rice in salted water until tender; about 15 minutes.
- Very gently mix the fish, sausage, rice and egg. Stir in other ingredients, except parsley, into the cream. Stir mix into fish and rice. Spoon everything into a greased, oven-proof dish
- and cook about 25 minutes. Stir in chopped parsley and serve.
- KING NEPTUNE'S PIE
- This odd recipe came from Devon, one of our favorite English spots to fish. They use firm, white fish like haddock, cod or halibut. Just about anything works and, if you have some handy, try a little shrimp or stir some cheese into the sauce.
- 2 pounds potatoes
- 1/2 cube butter salt and pepper 1 egg beaten
- 3/4 pint milk
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1/4 pound peas, frozen are fine
- 1 ounce (at least) flour
- 1 bay leaf
- pinch of grated nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons cream
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- Cook potatoes in boiling, salted water for 20 minutes. Drain and mash with half the butter. Season to taste, beat in the egg and set aside.
- Place fish, sausage, milk, onion and bay leaf in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add carrot and peas and simmer five minutes more. Remove pan
- from heat and toss out the onion and bay leaf. Strain the milk and put the fish, sausage and vegetables into an oven-proof dish. Note: we use a nice one we can serve from. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan and stir in floor. Cook one minute. Gradually stir in strained milk. Cook until sauce thickens and smooths out. You may need to add a bit more roux - a 50-50 mix of flour and butter. Stir in the nutmeg and cream. Add seasonings. Pour mix over fish, sausage and vegetables and mix just a bit.
- Cover with a layer of potatoes and dot with butter. Bake at 400 degree oven for 10 minutes or until topping browns. This goes nicely with beer.
- TIP: With judicious rinsing, you can do this in one big pot to cut pot walloping!