RECIPE: Creole Shrimp (from Gullah Geechee Home Cooking by Emily Meggett)
In South Louisiana, many dishes use what’s called the “holy trinity.” The holy trinity—onion, bell pepper, and celery—is a big part of Cajun cuisine and Louisiana creole cooking. My creole shrimp use this holy trinity, and like many creole dishes, the herb smell that fills the kitchen during cooking is just as wonderful as the taste of the shrimp once they reach the plate. The bacon adds a rich, crispy texture, while the tomatoes serve as the fresh base for this wonderful sauce. Shrimp cooks quickly, so be careful to sauté only until pink. Serve creole shrimp over a bed of white rice.
Serves: 4 to 6
5 slices bacon
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup (100 g) diced celery
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
10 small tomatoes (2 pounds/910 g), peeled and diced
2 teaspoons sugar
¼ cup (½ stick/55 g) unsalted butter
2 pounds (910 g) shrimp, peeled and deveined
Seasoning salt, preferably
Gold Medal, to taste
Cooked long-grain white rice, for serving
In a 10-inch (25 cm) cast-iron skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from the heat and let cool. Cut the cooled bacon into small pieces. Set aside.
In the skillet, cook the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, tomatoes, and sugar for at least 1½ hours over low heat. This mixture needs to “cook down,” which means that the sauce needs to thicken and shrink. The consistency should be a thick sauce, similar to a spaghetti sauce.
About 5 minutes before the mixture finishes cooking, melt the butter in a small skillet. Add the shrimp and cook over medium heat until pink, 1 to 2 minutes.
Drain the shrimp. Add the shrimp and cooked bacon to the tomato mixture. Add Gold Medal seasoning salt. Taste, and add more as needed. Stir, and serve over white rice.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR
This is the first major Gullah Geechee cookbook: Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, shares the recipes and the history of an essential American community
The history of the Gullah and Geechee people stretches back centuries, when enslaved members of this community were historically isolated from the rest of the South because of their location on the Sea Islands of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Today, this Lowcountry community represents the most direct living link to the traditional culture, language, and foodways of their West African ancestors.
Gullah Geechee Home Cooking, written by Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, is the preeminent Gullah cookbook. At 89 years old, and with more than 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Meggett is a respected elder in the Gullah community of South Carolina. She has lived on the island all her life, and even at her age, still cooks for hundreds of people out of her hallowed home kitchen. Her house is a place of pilgrimage for anyone with an interest in Gullah Geechee food. Meggett’s Gullah food is rich and flavorful, though it is also often lighter and more seasonal than other types of Southern cooking. Heirloom rice, fresh-caught seafood, local game, and vegetables are key to her recipes for regional delicacies like fried oysters, collard greens, and stone-ground grits. This cookbook includes not only delicious and accessible recipes, but also snippets of the Meggett family history on Edisto Island, which stretches back into the 19th century. Rich in both flavor and history, Meggett’s Gullah Geechee Home Cooking is a testament to the syncretism of West African and American cultures that makes her home of Edisto Island so unique.
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