A Shrimp Boil recipe popped up on my Facebook feed the other day and I immediately knew I’d need to give it a try. The bonus was, I had all the ingredients on hand and it sounded deceptively simple to make. What could be easier than a meal all in one foil packet grilled on the barbecue? I even had Old Bay seasoning in the cupboard – a souvenir from a trip to Baltimore – that I’d never found a way to use before.
Since I’ve had good results with Delish recipes in the past, I figured I’d give it a try.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 smoked andouille sausages, thinly sliced
2 ears corn, each cut crosswise into 4 pieces
1 lb. red bliss potatoes, chopped into 1-in pieces
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning
1 lemon, sliced into thin wedges
4 Tbsp. butter
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley leaves
Read the full recipe and complete cooking instructions on Delish’s website.
In review
The recipe was easy to prepare and my husband did the grilling, making it really simple for me! I substituted the andouille sausages with mild chorizo that I had in the fridge and it really added nicely to the flavouring. I’d use chorizo again as it’s easier to find at any mainstream grocery store; andouille isn’t as readily available where I live. Everything was absolutely delicious except the potatoes weren’t cooked. They were inedible and needed to be finished in the oven for quite awhile afterward. I had a feeling that would be the case when I first saw the recipe. I knew shrimp cooked much faster than potatoes and would turn rubbery and tough if done too long. The potatoes not being cooked enough proved to be a problem because my family wanted to eat right away and said they’d eat the potatoes later on but that never happened. I ended up with a lot of wasted potatoes, which would have been really nice to eat along with the rest of the meal. Surprisingly, the corn, shrimp and sausage were all done at the same time and were delicious.
On the “Sugar Scale” [my unofficial recipe rating system], this recipe scored a 5 out of 10. The ingredients were simple and I had everything on hand. The length of time it took to fully cook the potatoes was problematic since they took much longer than 15 minutes and the rest of the items in the packets couldn’t be cooked any longer or they’d be overdone. I’ll make again but next time I’ll either pre-boil the potatoes, which kind of defeats the purpose of the simple all-in-one packet; or, I’ll do all the potatoes separately in their own larger packet and put them on the barbecue much earlier.
The views expressed in this post are purely my own. See my disclosure policy for more information.
I love Old Bay!