Page 42 - CFAN_Apr2014

SHRIMP AND GRITS
get new patriotism when
Instead of all water, use orange juice. Start when you poach the Gulf shrimp in orange juice and serve
you poach the Gulf shrimp with, say, one-quarter of the liquid in a small them on Sunshine grits. Decorate the dish with orange or
in orange juice and serve
batch and see how it comes out. If you would tangerine sections in season.
them on Sunshine grits.
like it more intense, make the next batch Let’s add some Florida lemon juice so we can serve the

with half OJ. Now what will you do with the Lemony Grits with ish. Fish and grits is an unheard-of
Sunshine Grits? Serve them beside eggs fried breakfast a little way north. Ask around and you won’t
Recipe
sunny side up. For the kids, fry some bologna ind a preponderance of local folks who would go for the

slices until they turn into little cups and combination either. But try fried ish with Sunshine grits
serve the Sunshine Grits in there. Add some and many will change their tune.

sugar or cane syrup and put them in orange Add a little more grits or a little less liquid and you
Spotlight
shells for brunch dessert. Drop a few Florida get irmer grits that will slice when cold. Fry the slices

blueberries on top for color and taste. We can in butter until just a bit brown and serve with the shrimp
do that now. It’s blueberry season.
or ish. For dessert, top with cane syrup, Florida honey,

Shrimp and grits get new patriotism
orange syrup or blueberry sauce.

A Dash of Sunshine for

Southern Food Icons
Po’ Boy Turned

Cracker

by TRENT ROWE, Food Editor

here’s nothing like taking something
A Po’ Boy sandwich is rich in taste, and, when TAKE SOME
Southern and making it something
made with pricey oysters, you can be too po’ to OF THE
Southerner—a dish with Florida lair. aford one. Harkening back to New Orleans, one
SHRIMP you
Ater all, if you get any farther south than story says the sandwiches were given away to poached in
street car workers on strike in the ’20s. Both came
Florida, you’re swimming for an island.
orange juice,
to be called Po’ Boys.
and are now

What makes this sandwich diferent from he same cooked well chilled,
and layer them
most others is the bread. Loaves are traditionally shrimp can be
Grits—Florida Style
32 inches long with a lufy center and substantial chopped for salad on the mayo or
buttered halved
crust. Wait, doesn’t that sound a lot like the Cuban with a splash of hot
bread we have grown to know and love in Florida?
sauce to boost the bread.

Using the technique of the Cuban sandwich and orange lavor for
Grits is Southern. here’s no doubt about that. If you got Florida ingredients, we have a variation we could interest.
grits in the Great White North it was spelled p-o-l-e-n-t-a.
call a Cracker Boy. Remember where you put your Now let’s go get the panini press and get to work
Grits is processed corn, and there isn’t much lavor added
to most recipes . . . except cheese . . . and some of that that Panini press for later and let’s get to work. Blend on a Pressed Cracker Boy. You need some freshly
butter and orange juice (or mayonnaise and orange cooked shrimp or local ish to do it Florida style.
might be colored orange, but it’s not Florida.
juice) to slather the bread if you’re going to serve Dredge the main ingredient in corn meal with
LET’S START PUTTING SOME SUNSHINE STATE the sandwich cold and crisp. Take some of the a good dash of cayenne pepper or hot sauce. Datil

IN THE POT WITH THE CORN GRINDINGS.
shrimp you poached in orange juice, and are now pepper sauce comes from St. Augustine—and only
well chilled, and layer them on the mayo or buttered St. Augustine. It’s made with tiny peppers that have

halved bread. Top the shrimp with Florida lettuce a deinite kick. Check supermarkets and roadside
and sliced tomatoes if you like them. hin slices of stands for a bottle. Check the Internet for seeds and

DECORATE THE DISH
cucumber add moisture and crunch.
grow your own. Paint mayo (with or without orange
with orange or tangerine Anything else you can think of can go on now. or lemon) on the Cuban bread and then add a good

sections in season.
Cut into lengths to suit the diners and serve up layer of cooked ish or shrimp. Butter the top and

your Cracker Boys to Cracker guys and gals. he bottom of the bread and tuck it into the press.
sandwiches can be well wrapped and chilled to In a few minutes, you have a crispy Florida

come out later at a picnic or game.
creation that rivals any Po’ Boy in Na’wlins. ag

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