Cajun Shrimp

When Wayne’s hungry, he likes clicking on the “best ever recipe” links that pop up on his Yahoo feed at work. Last week he forward the one filled with shrimp recipes, so I thought it would be nice to try one of them for dinner this week. Because we’re avoiding the grocery store this month, I had to select one containing ingredients we already had, and Best Cajun Shrimp fit the bill.

Technically, I don’t have cajun seasoning, but I do have jerk seasoning, another ingredient we’re trying to use. However, before substituting that in this recipe, I decided to do a bit a research. Just so you know, jerk seasoning and cajun seasoning are NOT interchangeable. Apparently jerk seasoning has more of a sweet flavor and includes allspice and nutmeg along with the spicy peppers. (The jar we have – a souvenir from a visit to Jamaica – has neither allspice nor nutmeg, but it does contain cinnamon. Here’s a recipe to try if a cruise to the Caribbean isn’t in your near future and you want to try making some yourself.)

Cajun and creole seasoning, however, ARE interchangeable – at least from what I can gather. It’s also easy to make yourself. Here’s the recipe I used to create my version.

Cajun/Creole Seasoning

1 part salt
1 part onion powder
1 part garlic powder
1 part thyme
1 part oregano
1 part basil
1 part black pepper
1 part cayenne pepper
2 parts paprika

Combine all ingredients. 

Pretty simple, isn’t it? I used 1/2 teaspoon as my “one part” but that’s easily adjusted depending upon how much you want to make.

To make dinner, briefly sauté chopped onions, bell pepper, corn and garlic in some oil. Scoot to the side and add shrimp which has been sprinkled Cajun seasoning and cook until done. Drizzle with some lemon juice, sprinkle some parsley on top, then serve. Nice and simple for a weeknight dinner!

Note that Wayne was surprised that there weren’t any tomatoes in our Cajun meal; I imagine they would make a nice addition, and help provide a “sauce” to go with the bed of rice I used. He also thinks jerk seasoning would have worked quite well; I guess I shouldn’t have listened to the “experts” and saved myself some time. Oh, well. Maybe if we were Jamaican or Cajun we would notice a real difference.

Next week, after I buy some cream and green onions, we’ll try a shrimp recipe with an Oriental flavor – Honey Walnut Shrimp.