French Bread Rolls for Shrimp Po'Boys- for a Lovely Friday night with my Family!

I went home to see my family for a long weekend. A wonderful visit filled with good food, good wine, and lots of family time....plus, a little shopping :)
Friday, I cooked for my whole family. We had Shrimp Po'Boys on French Bread Rolls to Die For, with roasted asparagus and my own recipe for oven fries! This was my first time making the French Bread rolls and they were quite tasty. Here is the process:

First- gather your ingredients. A very simple recipe, unless you are visiting your parents and the first two stores (one a grocery store) that you go to, don't carry yeast! Hello? Isn't Active Dry Yeast a fairly common grocery item? Anyway- this recipe requires Bread Flour, Salt, Yeast, Water, Sugar and Oil (I used Olive Oil).

Combine water, yeast and sugar and allow to proof for about 10 minutes. When it's ready, it should look like this:
Carefully add in flour and mix until dough forms. I made this recipe times 1 and 1/2 and only used 4 cups of flour. Knead 8-10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Should look like this:

Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for about 1 hour, until the dough looks like this (double in size):
Form into the number of rolls you desire. This recipe says it makes 16 dinner rolls. I made the recipe times 1 and 1/2 and formed 12 sandwich size rolls. Allow the rolls to rise for another 40-60 minutes, until they look like this (not perfect, but that's how you know they are homemade!): Bake for 18-20 minutes at 400 degrees until golden brown. They should look something like this (other pictures for this recipe are much more beautiful!):
They were really good and perfect for my Po'Boys. In the rush of entertaining on Friday night, the sandwiches didn't get a picture, but here is my recipe!

Shrimp Po'Boys with Lemon and Jalapeno Mayonnaise

Po'Boys

6-8 medium size shrimp per person
Wondra Gravy Flour
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

Mix together flour, salt and pepper. Toss in raw shrimp to coat. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil. Fry shrimp until they are crispy and opaque.

Lemon and Jalapeno Mayonnaise

1 cup mayo (regular or low-fat)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 large clove of garlic finely minced or grated
1-2 TBS of chopped, pickled jalapenos

Chop garlic and jalapenos. Add to mayo. Zest one lemon and then juice it. Add both to mayo, stir and refrigerate. Best if made at least 2 hours before serving. Also delicious with the oven fries!

Slice rolls, top with hot shrimp, mayo and shredded lettuce. DELICIOUS!!!

Why I love Easter!

Why do I love Easter? Because I was born on Easter!! I haven't had a birthday on Easter since, but this year it is two days after :) For the last few years, my family comes to our house for Easter. We dye eggs, eat well, and have a huge brunch on Easter morning. This year, I was inspired by another blogger (MySweetCreations) to try my hand at making Easter Candy. Here is my first experiment.

Collect supplies- I use Baker's White chocolate, Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate, a Wilton Candy mold, Wilton paint brushes, and Wilton chocolate dye.

Begin by chopping one square of White Baker's Chocolate- this is enough for one mold.

Then, you need to temper your chocolate- this allows it to harden properly. You can tell when you have melted to the right point, when the chocolate is still lumpy, but warm. The warm chocolate will melt the remaining lumps. It will look like this:

After your chocolate is smooth, add desired colors. I divided the white chocolate into two bowls. I added 3 drops of red to one and 3 drops of yellow to the other.

Blend well!


Using a paint brush, apply the white chocolate to desired areas on your mold. Place mold in the freezer for about 10 minutes.


While your chocolate is setting, make breakfast for your daughter :)


And yourself!


Then, temper your Semi-Sweet chocolate- I used 4 squares for this mold.


Gently spoon the melted chocolate into your mold. Tap the edge of the mold to remove any bubbles and to make the surface smooth.


When the mold is full- you may add lollipop sticks, if desired. Make sure to roll the stick in chocolate first so it holds well.


Chill in the freezer until set- if you chocolate is properly tempered, this can be done without freezing, but freezing will speed the process. The chocolates should come out of the mold easily.


Lollipops for Robyn


And chocolates for me :)