September 9, 2008

My family just absolutely loves seafood. I miss being able to eat the freshest seafood practically anytime, whether at home or in restaurants.   We don’t need fancy ingredients or over-the-top cooking to enjoy seafood. In fact, we are quite happy to just have them steamed or grilled, with the barest of seasoning…usually just salt and lemon.

When I found out about The Great American Seafood Cook-Off, I was a little thrilled. I wanted to see how chefs from different states will be able to showcase seafood that is readily available in their locality in their own unique way. This year the cook off, which is on it’s 5th year, was held on Aug 2-3 at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center within the Louisiana Foodservice EXPO and the Gulf Coast Seafood Pavilion.  Out of 14 chefs, 5 were chosen to be the top finalists.

Easily, my top picks are the recipes from Chef John Currence (the winning chef!) and Chef Mark Holley.  I liked Chef Mark, first and foremost because he’s from Texas (Howdy, Texas!) and 2nd, because I love shrimps!  We’ve had the chance to taste the Texas Gulf Shrimps before and they are sooo good!  I could actually do away with the heirloom tomato relish and prickly pear gastrique.  But that’s just because I won’t be able to hold off my craving for the shrimps, long enough to make the relish and gastrique!  Hee hee!

On the other hand, I love the Chef John’s winning recipe because it comes with Seafood Dirty Rice!  What can I do?  I’m Asian!  Hee hee.

I appreciate the premise behind this annual cook-off, which is to make use of readily available domestic seafood.  Check the contest website when you have time.  You might want to test the recipes in your very own kitchen!

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