Three Savory Recipes for a Crowd
Three Savory Recipes for a Crowd
Prepare a feast with these dishes and condiments from Emily Meggett's new cookbook
Editor’s note: Today, we’ve got three dishes that serve 10 to 12 people and two delicious sauces. They’re submitted by Kayla Stewart, from the book she co-authored with Emily Meggett, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island. Enjoy them.
Shrimp Rice
Serves: 10 to 12
Shrimp rice is a very simple dish to make, but it packs the flavor. When you cut your bacon, the slices should be no bigger than a fingertip, and you want your onions chopped fine.
Ingredients
2 pounds (910 g) small shrimp
6 slices bacon
1 large onion, diced
¼ cup (1/2 stick/55 g) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon seasoning salt, preferably Gold Medal
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 cups (555 g) long-grain white rice, rinsed
Instructions
Peel, devein, and wash the shrimp. Remove the tails. Set aside.
In a large skillet, cook the bacon for about 5 minutes, or until crisp, and chop it into small pieces. Add the onion and cook it with the bacon for 3 to 5 minutes, allowing the onion to become coated with bacon fat.
In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and cook until pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the cooked shrimp from the butter and add it to the skillet with the bacon and onion. Add 4 ½ cups (1 L) tepid water along with seasoning salt and crushed red pepper. Bring the water to a boil, then add the uncooked rice. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the rice has absorbed almost all of the water, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir with a fork to ensure the rice is fluffy and done.
Crab Casserole
Serves: 10 to 12
On special holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is almost always a casserole dish filled with this flavorful medley of crab and noodles at our dinner table. And on Mother’s Day, my children make this dish so I don’t have to cook. I think the cream of mushroom makes the dish a little less fishy, but the sherry turns this casserole into a fancier meal—something worthy of a celebration. Fresh crabmeat is best here, but canned will work just as well.
Ingredients
1 (12-ounce/340 g) box egg yolk noodles
2 dozen crabs, rinsed; or 2 pounds (910 g) crabmeat, undrained
¼ cup (1/2 stick/55 g) unsalted butter
1 small onion, grated
1 cup (100 g) diced celery
2 (10 ¾ -ounce/298 g) cans cream of mushroom soup
2 tablespoons self-rising flour
½ cup (120 ml) half-and- half, or more if needed
1 cup (240 ml) milk, whole or 2%
¼ teaspoon ground mace
½ cup (120 ml) sherry
¼ cup (25 g) breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (170°C).
Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside in a large bowl.
If using fresh crabs, fill an 8-quart (7.6 L) pot three-quarters full of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the fresh crabs and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the crabs from the water and allow them to cool. Remove the backs and the “dead man,” the grayish gills that look like accordions, from each crab. Once all the backs and gills are removed, rinse the crabs. The next stage is hard work, but worth it!
Pick the meat from the back and claws. There should be about 2 pounds (910 g) meat. Add the picked crabmeat (or canned crabmeat) to the bowl of noodles and mix until combined.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Sauté the onion and celery in the butter over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the cream of mushroom soup, flour, half-and-half, and milk to the saucepan and stir. If the sauce’s texture is too thin, add more half-and-half as needed. Add the mace and sherry and stir. Remove from the heat.
Transfer the crabmeat and noodle mixture to a greased 9 by 13-inch (23 by 33 cm) baking dish. Pour the sauce over the crab mixture. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with the breadcrumbs and paprika, if using. Place the casserole dish in the oven, uncovered, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the casserole is bubbling. Serve immediately.
Fried Shrimp
Serves: 10 to 12
If you go to one of these restaurants in the city, they have fried shrimp on the menu. But the fried shrimp they give you aren’t the real fried shrimp, the good fried shrimp. They are tiny shrimp, dipped in heavy batter, and are mostly just a lot of bread with little taste of seafood. Not my shrimp.
My fried shrimp are covered in just enough flour to give them a light, crunchy fried layer. I use medium-sized shrimp, which aren’t as easily drowned out by oil and breading as the shrimp you find in restaurants. It seems like any time I made fried shrimp, everyone on the island somehow knew. I’d make a big batch so I could serve my family and anyone who stopped by. This recipe will give you plenty of shrimp, enough for family, guests, and anybody who “just happens” to stop by. And if you eat the shrimp tails, nobody knows how many shrimp you had.
I always serve these with my cocktail sauce (see below) or pink sauce (see below).
Ingredients
3 pounds (1.4 kg) medium-sized shrimp
Gold Medal seasoning salt, to taste
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup (240 ml) milk, whole or 2%
2 cups (250 g) self-rising flour, preferably White Lily
2 ½ cups (600 vegetable oil, plus more as needed
Instructions
Peel, devein, and wash the shrimp, leaving the tails attached. Drain the shrimp in a colander.
Season the shrimp with seasoning salt to taste and place in a bowl.
In a separate, medium mixing bowl, mix the eggs and milk with a fork. Pour over the shrimp.
Pour the flour into a brown paper bag. By hand, dip out enough shrimp for the first batch of frying and drop them into the bag. Be sure to flour the shrimp as they are cooked, not all at once.
Close the top of the bag and shake the bag until the shrimp are coated.
In a cast-iron skillet, heat the oil until very hot but not smoking.
Place the shrimp in a single layer in the skillet and fry for 3 to 5 minutes. Do not overcook! Shrimp are easy to over- cook. Drain the shrimp on a plate lined with a paper towel.
Repeat this process until all the shrimp are fried, then serve immediately.
Cocktail (Horseradish) Sauce
Makes: About 1 cup (240 mL)
My horseradish sauce is another sauce that you can make your own. It’s simple to make, and just requires one night of cooling. This cocktail sauce is great for beef, pork, and lamb dishes.
Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
In a small mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients together with a spoon. Cover and chill overnight.
Pink Sauce
Makes: About 1 1/2 cups (360 ML)
The smooth texture and subtle taste make this a favorite on Edisto Island. People come by all the time just to get a bit of my sauce, and my children would ask me at the table, “Mommy, can I have some more pink sauce, please?” It’s with good reason. This sauce is very versatile and goes with just about everything, from fried shrimp (page 80) to fried green tomatoes (page 129). With just a few ingredients and a minute or two of mixing, you’ve got a sauce that works with most seafood and fried vegetables. Not to mention, it’s pretty to look at, too.
Ingredients
1 small onion, grated
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
½ cup (115 g) mayonnaise
1/3 cup (75 ml) ketchup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together.
— Recipes from Gullah Geechee Home Cooking
 | A guest post by
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Mrs. Merret,
I am so enamored with your cooking style, thank you very much. Your cocktail sauce is now my #1 sauce for shellfish, hands down! I'll get a handle on the Pink Sauce -- right now I think I grated in too much onion, but that's ok. Like you did, I'll learn. Your strength and perseverance are an inspiration to me -- in the kitchen and in life. Thank you so, so, much.
Wonderful touches within these recipes. The book cover is unique and appealing, warmth and homestyle comfort so evidently clear. Thank you.