Shrimp Boil & Mixed Drinks

We closed on the house seven months ago and I had yet to invite any of my work friends to our home aside from the Halloween get-together where we mostly sat outside and gave candy to hundreds of trick-or-treaters going through our neighborhood.

With most of the house projects done (I'll post about those soon, I swear!) and with things turning green everywhere because of the spring season, it was time to have that housewarming party. Jessica suggested we do a shrimp boil, and that sounded great to me! Easy, plentiful, and we have a stock pot just waiting to be used more than once.

I searched for shrimp boil recipes and came down to two recipes. The final recipe was a cross between a recipe from Old Bay and another from Paula Deen. I'll provide the recipe as I would make it the next time.

Mai Shrimp Boil Recipe (v.2)
Feeds 5-6
Ingredients

• 3 quarts water (I did 5 quarts because it took 2 quarts to fill the space beneath the strainer)
• 1/2 cup OLD BAY seasoning
• 2-1/2 lbs. medium-size red potatoes (quartered)
• 4 ears corn (each broken into 2 or 3 pieces)
• 2 lbs. sausage (cut into 1-inch pieces)
• 2 lbs. large shrimp, head off, shell on (by definition, with legs and not yet deveined)

Instructions

• Add water and seasoning to stock pot. Bring to boil.
• Add red potatoes. Boil for 13 minutes.
• Add corn and sausage. Boil for 7 minutes.
• Add shrimp. Boil for 4 minutes.
• Remove everything from stock pot and serve hot! Top with seasoning if desired.

I doubled the recipe by making two batches of the boil. I used the same water and seasoning for both batches, and that worked out well. I bought the shrimp from a local seafood market ($5.99/lb. for fresh, never frozen, and local shrimp; they even took the heads off for free!). Instead of being traditional and serving the boil on newspaper, I used an aluminum tray.

I didn't get a picture of the boil right after it came out of the pot and in the tray,
so you get this picture of it as leftovers on a plate.

Shiner Bock (popular beer made near where we used to live) and
30A Beach Blonde (popular beer made near where we live now).

The food was good. The beer was good. Even the mixed drinks I made were good (frozen peach margaritas and mint mojito; see recipes below) considering I've hardly made any before. The only casualty of the boil that I know of thus far was the oven mitt that I absent-mindedly placed near the burner after the first boil batch; it caught on fire and was fortunately noticed by one of my guests while it was still manageable.

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Frozen Peach Margarita
slightly modified recipe from Martha Stewart
provides 4 large servings
Ingredients

• 1 lb. frozen peach slices
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1/2 cup silver tequila
• 1/4 cup triple sec
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup water

Instructions

• Put everything into a blender and puree until smooth.
• If a salted rim is desired, take a lime wedge and wet the rim of your glass. Put a lot of kosher salt into a plate. Turn the glass over and dip it into the plate of salt.
• Serve the margarita immediately.
• Enjoy.

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Mint Mojito
recipe from Brandy on Allrecipes.com
provides 1 large serving
Ingredients

• 10 mint leaves
• 4 limes wedges
• 2 tbsp. white sugar
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1-1/2 oz. white rum
• 1/2 cup club soda

Instructions

• Place mint leaves and one lime wedge into a glass. Muddle the mint leaves and lime wedge to release the flavors.
• Add two lime wedges and the sugar to the glass. Muddle the lime wedges.
• Add the ice cubes to the glass.
• Pour the rum over the ice.
• Add the club soda to the glass.
• Stir, taste, and add more sugar if desired.
• Garnish with the remaining lime wedge.
• Enjoy.