Christmas Traditions...

Christmas Traditions

Everyone has them, while many are the same there are also many very different traditions. My family has always had two that I really love and in the recent years my Grandmother has opted to do these two traditions in place of them and Christmas dinner.

The first is very simple, about two weeks before Christmas most of the family, (adults mostly) go out to a nice restaurant. It is always the same, why? because Grandma picks, and no one changes what Grandma wants. NO ONE. Anyway, it is a nice waterfront seafood and steak restaurant that has been there for many many years.

Second tradition is my most favorite! Though if it was an option I personally don't think that anything could really compare to the formal Christmas dinner we used to have but with Grandma's age and her not wanting help, she has decided to keep Christmas eve dinner and not Christmas. Another reason Grandma has kept Christmas eve dinner if because she is a seafood junky, (as said above.. same restaurant every year for the other dinner). So.. anyway.. we have a dish that we have always called Avery Island Shrimp. Now after her refusal to share the side dish recipe I went looking for it and, not to my surprise, I could not find it anywhere. The Avery Island Shrimp that we have is not the same as you find on the internet, Why? Who knows!

Let me explain what this dish is. It is regular size shrimp coated in an egg wash and crackers, it is then fried in butter. Pure BUTTER!! The side dish is rice with an onion sauce over it, I personally don't eat this part because I don't like onion. So the only part of this recipe, as you can see above, that I know is the shrimp part. SO here it is a little more in depth.

Ingredients:

• 2 or more bags frozen shrimp (thawed and shelled; side note, we use about 7 bags for our family of 12, what we buy are 2 pound bags)
• 1 or more boxes of regular salted crackers (crushes into a large slightly flat bowl)
• 4 or more eggs (beaten in a large slightly flat bowl)
• 4 or more sticks of butter (1 stick of butter will fry about 1/2 a 2 pound bag)

Instructions:

1. Thaw and shell shrimp one day before, place in bowl and cover. Leave in fridge.
2. Day of. In one large bowl crush crackers until fine, chunks are okay just keep them small.
3. In different large bowl beat eggs until smooth. You can add a small amount of milk to help keep eggs light.
4. Place one stick butter in nonstick frying pan keep at medium to high heat.
5. Place about 10 shrimp into egg wash then transfer them to crackers, making sure extra egg drips from shrimp before transferring.
6. Coat in crackers evenly before placing in heated pan with butter.
7. Cook on each side until slightly browned then repeat.

Because we cook so much shrimp we set our oven to the lowest setting and place cooked shrimp in a casserole dish to keep warm.

If I am ever able to get the rest of this dishes recipe I will surely share it but until then, Happy Cooking!!

And MERRY CHRISTMAS