As I am winding down to my year end break, I have found some time this morning to write and share my successful dinner recipe we had last night - in celebration of my husband's birthday. It was absolutely a happy meal for us!
This recipe of 'Cajun Seafood in a Bag' is simple enough for anyone to master and best of all, it is so much more cost saving having this at home versus eating at a specialty restaurant. (The seafood cost me slightly less than $30 only) This is also a great feast to share when we gather for a communal meal with family and friends at home. Except for the slight unglamorous manner eating them with your hands.
The only thing one may find challenging (or maybe it is just me) is handling and cleaning the raw crabs. If you are a noob at cleaning crabs, check out this video of how it can be done. Tip : actually, it can be made simpler with a good pair of scissors instead of picking the stuff inside the crab with fingers. You know... if you don't want to feel icky about it.
I have used flower crabs for my recipe. Just so that I don't have to handle live crabs! But please feel free to substitute it with mud crabs if you like or perhaps something easier would be cray fish which I didn't manage to find. Any assortment of seafood can also be used for this dish and it is lip smacking delicious, I tell you! The slight buttery and peppery flavor with the natural sweetness from the seafood is so so good!
This recipe is inspired by Cuisine Paradise.
Preparation time : 15 mins | Cooking time : approx.30 minutes | Serves : 3 adults
Ingredients :
- 2 large flower crabs : cleaned and quartered
- 6 large tiger prawns : with feelers snipped off
- 400 grams fresh clams : washed and cleaned
- 2 medium sized squid : cleaned and sliced to rings
- 1 sweet corn on cob : cut into 6 portions
- 1.5 tbsp of butter, cubed
- fresh parsley for garnishing
Seasoning :
- 1 tbsp cajun spices (check out McCormick brand)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1/4 cup of white wine (optional)
Items you need to wrap the seafood in :
- 1 large piece of parchment or baking paper (this is to hold the juices in place)
- 1 large piece of foil paper
(Please use your discretion with the sizes of wraps to fit the seafood in it)
Method :
- Preheat your oven to 190 degrees.
- After cleaning and cutting the seafood into it's portions, layer the foil paper, followed by the parchment paper on a base of a large oven safe deep dish. If you don't have a large one to fit all the seafood in a bag, you may consider splitting the portions into 2 bags.
- Arrange the seafood onto the parchment paper and proceed to add all the seasoning onto the seafood. Give the seafood a good toss with your hands and top it of with butter.
- Wrap and fold the ends of the foil together to form a bag. Don't worry if it's not large enough to fold over. Just use another piece of foil paper large enough to secure the top. The idea is to keep the cooking sealed without drying out the content.
- After 30 minutes, take out the bag and check to see if your seafood is cooked. If you are unsure, put it back into the oven for an extra 10 minutes. You can also probably tell when you smell the cooked seafood aroma in the air.
- Garnish the seafood with some fresh chopped parsley before serving.
- Enjoy!
Absolutely Me,
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Ooo, so no need to add water? Sounds and looks like a great meal !
ReplyDeleteHi Agy! No need for water. There will be natural juices from the seafood when it's done baking.
DeleteI love cajun food and my wife prepared me this surprise for me to take to work. I asked her where she got the recipe from and came here to say "thank you"!
ReplyDelete