I am very big on fine dining and cuisine as a whole, my spouse is a formally trained chef who specializes in french/Italian techniques and some of our favorite dishes of course are seafood dishes. Arizona is generally one of the worst places to get fresh seafood, but there are some elite shops and restaurants that fly in seafood fresh daily, and now flash frozen options don’t taste half bad for the most part. So when I found out about “The Great American Seafood cook off” I had to at least see what recipes were showcased and which states they were from.

I will be honest in that I am no chef, I burn pasta in boiled water, and can barely feed myself, so when I read recipe’s it is very hard for me to visualize the preparation and effort involved until I actually try a recipe. When I selected the Recipe Contest button on http://www.greatamericanseafoodcookoff.com, I almost immediately found the dish I would vote for. Without reading a recipe, I am very big on plating and presentation style, sometimes the presentation style of a dish will make you try a dish you wouldn’t normally try.

In this case, the Texas Gulf Shrimp created by Chef Mark Holley (from Texas of course) looked so visually appealing in the picture, and I love Gulf Shrimp and always have. I had never tried Rockfish before which was another recipe, so I can’t honestly vote for something I have no inkling of what it might taste like. The Colorado Striped Bass would have been my second favorite based on plating presentation.

When I clicked on the Gulf Shrimp picture and read the recipe I was even more intrigued. Tequila is used to provide a base flavor for the shrimp, which I love, don’t worry when you cook the tequila the alcohol evaporates only leaving the tequila flavor if you are sensitive to alcohol or don’t like the thought of alcohol in your food. The entire recipe appears very easy to follow and each part of the recipe (the Shrimp, Heirloom Tomato Relish, Prickly Pear Gastrique, Black Beans and Hominy Arepas) are separated out into separate instructions with a final “Plate Assembly” at the end to put it all together.

As an Arizona Native I have tried Prickly Pear Cactus before and I really like it, so it is another nice touch to have that as part of this recipe. So that all leads up to why I chose this as my favorite recipe. I also noticed that everyone who takes part in the contest and actually votes is entered to win a Trip to New Orleans which includes airfare, hotel accommodations, dining and more. This would be a great free vacation if I was lucky enough to win it.

I encourage everyone to visit Great American Seafood Cook-Off and cast their votes, or at least get some recipe idea’s and give it a try.

EMAIL