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Mardi Gras Food

Cajun Shrimp & Corn Cake with Chipotle Cream

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Cajun Shrimp & Corn Cake with Chipotle Cream celebrates the south with smoky spices and a burst of flavor from corn and peppers.

A perfect weeknight meal that’s ready in 30 minutes PLUS an easy sauce. Layers of subtle smoky spice and cream make a delicious sauce for dipping the shrimp and sopping up with the sweet corn cake.

This is the kind of dish that has all the Southern feels when you want to celebrate Mardi Gras or just feel the comfort of the South. Use your local shrimp for the best, fresh flavor. 

In these parts, we have spot prawns, and they are delicious.  I always buy extra in the Spring and freeze some for later.  They are a large saltwater shrimp, deep pink/orange in color, and have two pairs of white spots on the tail.  Absolutely delicious and incomparable to the frozen shrimp found at the grocery. I beg you – buy local and buy seasonal and buy fresh.

Ingredients in Cajun Shrimp & Corn Cake with Chipotle Cream

  • Shrimp – Large 13/15 count shrimp are my favorite for this dish.
  • Corn – Sweet corn kernels, fresh if possible, but frozen will work.
  • Bell Peppers – Red and green bell pepper, thinly sliced.
  • Onion – Sweet onion, thinly sliced.
  • Chipotle in Adobo – A can of chipotle in adobo peppers, freeze any remaining.
  • Sour Cream – I prefer full fat sour cream.
  • Heavy Cream – Also could use whipping cream.
  • Spices – Smoked paprika, celery salt, minced garlic, salt, sugar.
  • Pantry Items – Flour, corn meal, baking powder, butter, eggs.

Related Recipes

Try these other Southern inspired dishes like rich and complex Seafood Gumbo with shrimp, andouille and crab or Cajun Shrimp Carbonara with bacon wrapped shrimp and a fried green tomato piled high.

Seafood Gumbo is rich and flavorful from a dark roux with crab, shrimp and spicy andouille sausage.
Seafood Gumbo
Cajun Carbonara piled high with fried green tomato and bacon wrapped shrimp
Cajun Shrimp Carbonara
Cajun Shrimp & Corn Cake with Chipotle Cream

Cajun Shrimp & Corn Cake with Chipotle Cream

Cajun Shrimp & Corn Cake with Chipotle Cream celebrates the south with smoky spices and a burst of flavor from corn and peppers.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Seafood, Southern
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

Corn Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup corn meal
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Chipotle Cream Sauce

  • 1 chipotle pepper from can of chipotle in adobo sauce
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. sugar

Cajun Shrimp

  • 16 large shrimp cleaned, shells removed
  • 1 tbsp. adobo sauce from can of chipotle in adobo sauce
  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika
  • 1/4 tsp. celery salt
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp. mild cooking oil
  • 1/2 yellow onion sliced in strips
  • 1/2 red bell pepper sliced in strips
  • 1/2 green bell pepper sliced in strips
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1 tbsp butter

Instructions
 

Corn Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees,
  • Combine all ingredients, pour into a parchment lined square baking pan, bake for about 30 minutes or until no longer jiggly in the center. Let cool.

Chipotle Cream Sauce

  • Combine all ingredients and blend in blender or with immersion blender. Place in a small sauce pan to warm.

Cajun Shrimp

  • Combine shrimp, adobo sauce, smoked paprika, celery salt and minced garlic in a small bowl.
  • Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add cooking oil, then seasoned shrimp. Sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add peppers and onions, cooking an additional 2-3 minutes. Finally add corn and butter until heated through.
  • Place a large spoonful of chipotle cream sauce on plate, top with a piece of corn cake, spoon some of shrimp mixture over the top.
Keyword Cajun Shrimp, Fat Tuesday Food, Mardi Gras Food

Seafood Gumbo

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Seafood Gumbo is rich and flavorful from creating a dark roux and adding crab, shrimp and spicy andouille sausage.

“Laissez les bons temps rouler” ~ Let the good times roll ~

Tender shrimp combines with buttery crab and spicy andouille sausage in a rich, complex base of bell peppers, celery and onion, known as the holy trinity, bay leaves, seafood broth and okra. This Cajun stew is served with white rice and crusty French bread for sopping up the juices. It’s a relatively simple recipe once you have created the perfect roux.

The roux takes time but is absolutely essential in creating the most flavorful gumbo.  Making a portion of this gumbo the day before would be an excellent plan for both accentuated flavor and timing. Preparing the base of the recipe then adding the seafood the next day can save time when cooking for others or during the busy weekday.

Ingredients in Seafood Gumbo

  • Crab – Traditionally blue crab is used, but you can use your local crab.
  • Shrimp – I like using large pink shrimp and throw them in right at the end.
  • Andouille – A spicy smoked sausage that adds flavor to the dish.
  • Okra – I keep whole okra in my freezer they thicken the gumbo.
  • Bell Peppers – Red and green bell peppers.
  • Onion – Just your basic yellow onion, save the peel for making broth.
  • Celery – Save the end pieces of your celery to make the broth.
  • Broth – Both seafood (see recipe) and chicken broth are used.
  • Chipotle Powder – I use chipotle powder for its smokiness instead of cayenne .
  • Bay Leaves – Essential for flavor.
  • Cajun Seasoning – Tony Cachere’s or Zatarain’s work well.
  • Flour / Vegetable Oil – Essential for making the dark roux.

Making the Roux

What is a roux? Roux is essential in making gumbo. It’s not difficult, but it does take some patience. Cooking flour and fat together makes a roux and is used for thickening. In gumbo, flour and vegetable oil is often used to achieve a dark brown color and nutty flavor. Because this color takes time to develop, oil is used as it has a higher cooking temperature than butter, which can burn easily.

The four stages photographed below show the development of color over 30 minutes. It is absolutely necessary to continue stirring the roux the entire time to avoid burning. If you burn the roux it cannot be used because the flavor will ruin the entire pot of gumbo. There is no hiding that taste.

Try these other Cajun inspired recipes like Cajun Carbonara, Fried Green Tomato & Bacon Wrapped Shrimp that checks all the texture boxes or Cajun Shrimp Maque Choux a simple classic that is ready in about 20 minutes and showcases sweet corn.

Cajun Carbonara piled high with fried green tomato and bacon wrapped shrimp
Cajun Carbonara, Fried Green Tomato & Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
Creamy corn topped with spicy shrimp, peppers and tomato
Cajun Shrimp Maque Choux
Seafood Gumbo is rich and flavorful from a dark roux with crab, shrimp and spicy andouille sausage.
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Seafood Gumbo

Seafood Gumbo is rich and flavorful from creating a dark roux and adding crab, shrimp and spicy andouille sausage.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Seafood, Soups, Stews, Chowders
Keyword cajun food, Fat Tuesday Food, Mardi Gras Food, Shrimp Gumbo
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients

Seafood Broth

  • 1 crab shell
  • 8 shrimp shells
  • 1 onion peels
  • 1 celery ends
  • 4 1/2 cups water

Roux

  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup flour

Gumbo

  • 1 cup onion, chopped save outer peel
  • 1 cup celery, chopped save end pieces
  • 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup andouille sausage dice half, slice half in rounds
  • 4 cups seafood broth see notes on making broth from shells
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tsp chipotle powder
  • 5 large bay leaves
  • 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp. butter
  • 1 pound crab body shell reserved, if available
  • 8 large shrimp shells reserved
  • 1/2 cup okra

Instructions

Seafood Broth

  • Combine ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes while making roux. Strain liquid and reserve to use in gumbo.

Roux

  • Heat oil in a heavy bottom pot over medium heat.  Stir in flour using a wooden spoon.  Continue stirring until roux is a dark copper penny color.  This should take about 30 minutes. If it starts to brown too quickly, just turn the temperature down to medium low or remove from heat for a minute, then continue stirring. (Do not stop stirring because it will burn and taste horrible. If this happens, you will have to start over.)

Gumbo

  • After roux is a dark copper penny color, add onion, celery, peppers and diced portion of sausage.  Stir to combine 3-4 minutes until softened. 
  • Add both seafood and chicken broth, chipotle powder, bay leaves, Cajun seasoning and salt. Simmer on medium until reduced by half for about 20 to 30 minutes.
  • In a separate pan, sauté shrimp and sliced sausage in butter and a pinch of Cajun seasoning on high heat for about 2 minutes to add a nice color to the outside of the meat.
  • Add crab meat, cooked shrimp and sliced andouille mixture. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes. 
  • Serve with rice, chopped green onions and crusty french bread

Red Beans & Rice

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Red Beans & Rice

Course Main Course
Cuisine Creole, Soups, Stews, Chowders
Keyword fat tuesday, mardi gras
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp bacon grease (or vegetable oil)
  • 1 cup yellow onion chopped
  • 1/2 cup green bell pepper chopped
  • 1/2 cup celery chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 andouille sausage sliced on bias
  • 1 lb dried small red beans soaked overnight and drained
  • 1 ham bone
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 sprigs thyme

Instructions

  • In a large heavy bottom pot over medium high heat, saute onion, green bell pepper, celery and garlic until softened, about 3-5 minutes. 
  • Add andouille to the pot and saute for another 3 minutes.
  • Add soaked red beans, ham bone, broth, bay leaves, salt and pepper, cayenne and thyme.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours.  When finished, remove ham bone and thyme springs.  Serve with steamed white rice and garnish with sliced green onions.

Make plans to simmer a pot of these Creole Red Beans and serve it up with rice this weekend. You’ll be ready to Laissez les bons temps rouler, as they say in the Big Easy. 

This dish was traditionally made on a Monday, which was laundry day, and back when we washed clothes by hand on a wash  rack it took most of the day, which left little time for cooking.  A leftover ham bone, some dried beans soaked overnight and the faithful trinity of onions, green bell pepper and celery quickly became the go-to meal for feeding the family.

Banana Dutch Baby w/ Maple Bourbon Cream

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Banana Dutch Baby with Maple Bourbon Cream, Pillowy dutch baby filled with caramelized bananas, bourbon maple syrup and creamy bourbon whipped cream.

Every Sunday, growing up, we would eat banana pancakes. My dad loved them. Well, I loved them too. The bananas would get naturally caramelized when they touched the griddle and the sugars with the maple syrup were a perfect combination. This is my grown up version of my childhood favorite.

If you haven’t had a dutch baby before, its basically a thicker pancake that poofs up when cooked creating this perfect vessel for filling with yummy stuff like bananas. I just happened to have some bourbon on hand and mixed that in with my maple syrup creating a magical mixture.

So, the next time the kiddos are at a sleep over..break out the bourbon and fancy up your breakfast, grown up style.

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Banana Dutch Baby with Maple Bourbon Cream

Banana Dutch Baby with Maple Bourbon Cream, Pillowy dutch baby filled with caramelized bananas, bourbon maple syrup and creamy bourbon whipped cream.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine Breakfast
Keyword Breakfast, Dutch Baby, mardi gras, Pancakes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 2

Ingredients

Maple Bourbon Whipped Cream

  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp maple bourbon syrup recipes follows

Maple Bourbon Syrup

  • 1 cup good maple syrup
  • 1 tsp bourbon

Dutch Baby

  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup warm milk
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 pinch salt

Caramelized Bananas

  • 2 bananas, peeled and sliced
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp butter

Instructions

Maple Bourbon Syrup

  • Heat syrup and bourbon in a small sauce pan over medium low heat for about 5 minutes.  Let cool before folding into whipped cream.

Maple Bourbon Whipped Cream

  • In a medium bowl, blend on high with a mixer, cream, sugar and vanilla until thick and creamy.
  • Fold in maple bourbon syrup.
  • Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Dutch Baby

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Using a hand mixer, blend eggs, flour, warm milk, sugar, vanilla and salt until combined.
  • Place butter in either one large or two small cast iron pans in the oven until melted.  Remove from oven and swirl to coat pan with butter.
  • Pour batter evenly into either the two cast iron pans or one large pan. Place in oven and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until large and poofed up with no jiggle left to it.
  • Rove from oven and top with caramelized banana and maple bourbon whipped cream.

Caramelized Bananas

  • While the dutch baby is cooking, make the caramelized bananas.
  • In a small pan over medium high heat, melt butter.  Place banana slices in pan and toss to coat.  Add brown sugar and cook until browned and sugary 3-5 minutes.

Plate Dutch Baby

  • Spoon caramelized bananas over dutch baby, drizzle a little maple bourbon syrup, top with maple bourbon whipped cream.  Add a lemon slice for fun.

Related Recipes:

Cajun Shrimp Maque Choux

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This quick and easy Cajun Shrimp Maque Choux can be on the table in just 20 minutes. Creamy corn is topped with spicy Cajun shrimp, peppers and tomato.

Creamy corn topped with spicy shrimp, peppers and tomato

January is a pivot month, especially if you live in the Pacific Northwest. We’ve made it through the darkest days of December and we’re headed towards lighter days. I am always looking for a quick comforting meal around this time of the year. This Cajun Shrimp Maque Choux is so easy to make in just 20 minutes. If you keep frozen shrimp and corn in your freezer, you are already half way there.

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Cajun Shrimp Maque Choux

Course Main Course
Cuisine Seafood
Keyword cajun, southern
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Maque Choux

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup sweet yellow onion, diced
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 2 cups corn, drained if using canned
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 12 large shrimp, cleaned and peeled
  • 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1 small red bell pepper, julienne
  • 1/2 cup tomato, chopped
  • 1 tbsp cilantro, chopped for garnish

Instructions

  • 1.  In a medium pot over medium heat melt 1 tbsp. butter.  Add onion and saute for about 2-3 minutes or until softened.
    2.  Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Stir in corn and cream.
    3.  Season with salt and set side. 
    4.  Season shrimp with Cajun seasoning and garlic.
    5.  Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large pan over high heat. Place shrimp in pan and sear until just pink, then flip and repeat on other side. 
    6.  Add red pepper and saute, stirring frequently for 2 minutes.
    7.  Add tomato and cook another 2 minutes.  
    8.  Serve shrimp over corn and garnish with cilantro.