Recipes LOUISIANA CAJUN PRAWN PO-BOY
LOUISIANA CAJUN PRAWN PO-BOY
Accounts of how this Louisiana classic came about differ, but most agree that the po-boy’s origins date back to New Orleans during the Great Depression. Times were tough and brothers Benny and Clovis Martin served up very generously sized sandwiches of saucy beef in crusty baguette to struggling streetcar workers on strike. The name po-boy obviously has its roots in ‘poor boy’.
Fast-forward almost a hundred years and the po-boy endures to this day in Louisiana. Saucy beef fillings are still popular and so too simply fries on baguette – what I think of as a good old-fashioned chip butty.
But the po-boy reaches its finest expression when it is stuffed with fried seafood, most especially shrimp or prawns. Crumbed and deep-fried, they make their appearance on baguette rolls along with lettuce, tomato, pickles or cucumber and a cheeky Louisiana-style remoulade with a generous dash of what the Americans so charmingly refer to as 'hot sauce'. Cape Herb & Spice’s Louisiana Cajun Rub Seasoning is ideal to create your own home version of this very fancy sarmie.
- WHAT YOU WILL NEED -
- FOR THE SANDWICH
- FOR THE REMOULADE SAUCE
- 500g large raw prawns, deveined and head and shells removed
- ½ cup thick mayonnaise
- 6 tbs flour mixed with 4 tbs Cape Herb & Spice LOUISIANA CAJUN
- 1 tsp Cape Herb & Spice LOUISIANA CAJUN
- 1 egg, whisked
- ¼ tsp Cape Herb & Spice SMOKED PAPRIKA
- 1 cup cornflakes, blitzed in your food processor until it resembles crumbs (alternately use store-bought bread crumbs)
- 2 tbs lemon juice (or more if you like it extra tangy)
- lettuce
- 2 tbs finely chopped dill pickle (aka cornichons)
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
- baguette rolls (baguette is traditional but I used thick slices of ciabatta which I seared very lightly in a hot griddle pan)
- FOR THE SANDWICH: Sliced tomato
- METHOD -
Mix all the remoulade ingredients together and set aside. Drop the prawns in the flour ensuring they are coated all around, then shake off any excess. Next, dip the prawns in the egg and then in the crumbs. Deep fry in 5cm oil until golden and cooked through, then drain on a kitchen towel.
(NB: Your oil should be only medium-hot. If it is too hot, the coating will burn before the prawn is cooked. If you prefer not to fry your food, simply pop the crumbed prawns on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a 160˚C oven until cooked through. Baking time depends on the size of the prawns, but it should take mere minutes.)
Serve prawns on baguette rolls with lettuce, tomato and remoulade dressing along with extra lemon wedges on the side.
Recipe concept & photography by Lizet Hartley.
Lizet Hartley is a freelance stills and reel food stylist, food photographer and recipe developer. In her spare time she – rather predictably – cooks. Get more of her recipes on her blog at http://www.melkkos-merlot.co.za
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