The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern_ Knockout Dishes With Down-Home Flavor - Matt Lee [54]
SHRIMP AND DEVILED-EGG SALAD ROLLS
serves 4 • TIME: 30 minutes
Think of these rolls as the Lowcountry cousin to lobster rolls—those uber-decadent (and expensive!) sandwiches of lobster morsels dressed with mayonnaise, lemon juice, and diced celery that get served in roadside joints up and down the New England coast in the summer. The idea here is simple: it’s a super-tasty deviled-egg salad with chopped shrimp folded in, loaded into a hot-dog bun, then garnished with bacon bits and scallions.
2½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 pound headless large shell-on shrimp (26 to 30 per pound; see Notes on Deveining Shrimp, and Shrimp Shopping Notes)
6 large eggs
2 ounces slab bacon, or 2 strips thick-cut bacon, finely diced
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons high-quality store-bought mayonnaise, such as Hellmann’s or Duke’s
1 tablespoon pepper-vinegar hot sauce, such as Tabasco
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Freshly ground black pepper
2 vine-ripened red tomatoes, cut into 8 slices total
4 leaves butter lettuce
4 top-loading hot-dog buns
2 scallions (white and green parts), finely sliced
1 Fill a large stockpot with about 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons of the salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pot from the heat, add the shrimp, and cook (off the heat) for 1 to 2 minutes, until the shrimp are pink-orange and slightly firm. Using a slotted spoon or a skimmer, transfer the shrimp to a colander. Rinse them under cold water until they are cool enough to handle.
2 Return the shrimp water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low so the water simmers calmly. Add the eggs gently, lowering them to the bottom, two at a time, with a large ladle. Let the eggs cook at a simmer for exactly 14 minutes.
3 While the eggs cook, peel and chop the shrimp and put them in a large bowl. Sauté the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until it is firm and just turning golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel to drain.
4 When the eggs are done, transfer them to a strainer and rinse under cold water until they’re cool enough to handle, about 2 minutes. Peel the eggs and cut them in half lengthwise. Separate the whites from the yolks. Coarsely chop the egg whites, and add them to the bowl with the chopped shrimp. Press the yolks through a mesh strainer into a medium bowl. Add the mayonnaise, hot sauce, mustard, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt to the yolks and whisk until the mixture has the consistency of cake batter, about 1 minute.
5 Using a rubber spatula, fold the yolk mixture into the shrimp mixture until the shrimp and egg whites are evenly coated with the deviled-egg dressing. Season with salt and pepper, and toss again. (Covered, the shrimp and deviled-egg salad will keep in the refrigerator for 2 days.)
6 To serve, load 2 slices of tomato and 1 leaf of lettuce into each of the top-loading buns, and spread ¾ to 1 cup of the shrimp and deviled-egg salad into each roll. Garnish each roll liberally with the reserved diced bacon and the scallions.
MUSHROOM AND OKRA PURLOO
serves 4 as a main dish or 6 as a side dish • TIME: 15 minutes preparation, 35 minutes cooking
A purloo (or perlo, pilau, or pilaf, if you prefer) is a rice dish that enhances flavor by cooking the main ingredient—often a chicken or some other protein—and the rice together, all in the same pot. It’s an efficient method that Karen Hess, in her definitive The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection, follows from its origins in Middle Eastern technique to northern Africa, to eastern Africa, and then to the colonial American South. If the liquid is calibrated correctly, the rice absorbs the flavors of the meat and ends up perfectly cooked, a one-pot meal.
We wanted to create a vegetable purloo that would bake deliciousness into the rice without a