Pawley's Island Shrimp and Rice

I love this dish.  This is a Low Country recipe I created and named after one of my favorite places, Pawley's Island South Carolina.  It's a quaint little location just below Myrtle Beach near the seafood mecca of Murrel's Inlet.  I love this area, where I spent several summers working in my college days.  I would go eat with Miss Francis over at Prince's Palace and marvel at the wonderful food she cooked.  I never knew her to make this dish really but she inspired me to create dishes of my own.

Give this recipe a shot, it's not really as difficult as it might sound... I think you'll love it.

Ingredients
12 - 16 oz of med, peeled, raw shrimp (keep shells and tails)
1 med onion (small diced)
2 tbs minced garlic
6 green onions (white sliced thin, green sliced 1 in long)
1/2 stick butter
6 strips, thick sliced, smoked bacon (diced)
1 green chile or small Anaheim pepper (seeded and diced small)
1/2 cup RoTel (half 10 oz can)
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 tbs tabasco sauce
1 tsp Cajun Seasoning
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1/2 tsp Italian Herbs (dried)
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups long grain rice (raw)
4 cups of water

Directions
In a stockpot, combine shrimp shells, tails, with any scrap onion or garlic parts, cover with the 4 cups of water, and bring up to a boil.  Let boil 5 mins and then turn down to simmer for 30 mins. more.  This should produce about three cups of stock when strained.

Here is our Shrimp dish with Chicken

In an ovenproof pot with a lid, (cast-iron Dutch oven is perfect) melt the butter on MED/HI and add the onion, and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes, then add the bacon.  Stir well and cook for 10 minutes, add green onions (just mostly the white part).  Add all spices and herbs, then add the Worcestershire and Tabasco sauces.  Add the Anaheim pepper and let this cook for a few minutes, all the time stirring as you add ingredients.

Add 3 cups of the shrimp stock and stir thoroughly making sure you get all the little brown bits that accumulate on the bottom of the pot.  This “graton” flavors and colors the rice.  Next add the 1/2 can (or 5 oz.) of RoTel tomatoes to the pot.  After letting this cook for about 5 mins, add the 1 1/2 cups of rice.  As soon as you add the rice, proceed to stir for several minutes, making sure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

After the stock is up to temperature, you can add the shrimp.  Now let this cook for a while until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.  Place the pot in a 300º oven for about 25 mins.  Check the rice is soft and tender and the liquid is all absorbed.  Take this out of oven and stir to let it steam.  After 10 mins, garnish with green onions and enjoy.

RouxBDooooooooo