Great American Seafood Cook Off

It is of no secret that I love cooking. I love creating and inventing something yummy in the kitchen. It gives me a certain kind of kick. That’s why I envy the likes of Wolfgang Puck and wish to covet Nigella Lawson's beauty and talent. Imagine cooking for a living--and being famous of it. Ah, one can only dream!

I buy recipe books, and self-categorize them under pleasure-reads. I am not sure if other foodies do this, but I did not realize this until such time when I cannot seem to stop reading one particular recipe book that’s 2 inches thick. Call me crazy, but I get giddy at the prospect of recreating something in my humble kitchen. In addition to books and magazines that I hoard, I bookmark online tools and references. I am always on the lookout for anything cooking related.

One very recent find is the www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com. They have really interesting recipes one can easily recreate in any kitchen. The one that I particularly like is the recipe Mississippi Redfish Courtboullion with Seafood Dirty Rice by Chef John Currence of Mississippi. I am a working mom, and I like to cook meals that have everything on it – vegetables, seafood, some meat, and yes, rice! It is also necessary that the meal I’m making is delicious – I have a very hard to please customer *wink* Also, I use whatever’s fresh from the locale. Being an island girl, it’s not hard for me to gather fresh seafood ingredients for my meals. I can only get the freshest, juiciest, yummiest ingredients locally. That’s why this recipe sits right at home. If I were to recreate this in my kitchen, I’d be replacing some ingredients that are available to me locally. I can imagine making this with a grouper instead of a redfish. We have tasty tiger prawns which I can use in place of Gulf shrimps. Mmmm, possibilities!

This recipe is one of the 5 finalists of the cook off challenge. Visit www.GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff.com, choose from which of the 5 you like, cast your vote, and have a chance to win a trip to New Orleans prize package which includes hotel and accommodation to accompany that unique dining experience.

Excuse me while I scour the cupboard to check my ingredients…