Ding, Ding, Ding, Round Two

Okay, so I wanted to make something for our New Year's Eve Game Night. Unfortunately, my grandma didn't make a lot of appetizers. I think, as a matter of fact, there are nine recipes in that section, and 3 of them are versions of guacamole. Funny, I don't know if I even needed a recipe for guacamole. Oh well, enough about that, let's get on with it. So, I needed an appetizer for the party and I would have to fish through another section...breads, No; vegetables, No; seafood, Maybe. After flipping through every card, I stumbled on Sweet and Sour Shrimp. Sounded good. I read over the recipe and, after seeing catsup (I thought it funny that they called it catsup and not ketchup...huh? How did that come to be? I'll have to google that later.) and apple juice, I thought I should call in some reinforcements! Foodnetwork.com would lead me on the right path to culinary nirvana. I checked out a couple of recipes and it looked like Grandma wasn't crazy, well at least not crazy when it came to Sweet and Sour Shrimp. Alrighty then, on to cooking.

As instructed, I combined the catsup, apple juice, vinegar, sugar, butter, salt and soy sauce in a sauce pan. I brought that to a boil. It didn't look that good. In fact, I thought it looked kind of gross. The catsup was a little clumpy. Oh well, one must forge on. I boiled it for about three minutes. The recipe wanted me to basically cook all the veggies in this "concoction," but, remembering what Tyler Florence said on the food network (my culinary college, if you will!), "more color equals more flavor," I must grill them first. I was actually excited about this part because I got a grill pan for Christmas. I chopped up the carrots, yellow peppers (Green peppers were the recipe's choice, but I think they are yucky.), and green onions. I kind of cheated because I had leftover "stuffing mix" celery and onions. I thought if I just rinsed them off, then I would wash away the Thanksgiving flavor. Hee hee. It worked. So, I threw all the veggies, with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, on the grill pan. Everything sizzled with delight, even me! I can't believe how beautiful grill marks are!!

Back to the sauce, hmmmmm, about the sauce...it looked, well, weird. I just kept on cooking it. I didn't know what else to do with it. I added the cornstarch to a bit of juice and added that to the pan. It instantly thickened. So cool. I love cornstarch. I really, really do; it's magic! The sauce still looked weird, but at least it was thick now. When I tasted it, it kept its weird verdict. I think its time to cheat. Ginger would be my hero...lots of ginger and a pinch more of sugar and a couple dashes of soy sauce. Taste number 253 and, yes, yes, yes, Houston we have lift off! Tracy, the pickiest eater on the planet next to her mother, said, "It's delicious...tastes warming...like home." Wow, that's a compliment considering that her favorite bread is Wonder bread. Scary, I know. Okay, so my sauce is amazing...how the heck did that happen?? Veggies in the pool!

It was time for the shrimp. I peeled them and tossed with garlic and salt and pepper. Back to the grill (love the grill!), I threw them on for a couple of minutes on each side. Delicious. Then I threw them in the pool too. I think it's party time. No, it actually is time for the party. AHHHH! I am not ready. Ding, ding, ding, dong.

By the way, everyone slurped up the shrimp...it was like a party in your mouth with the sweet, the salty, the sour...huh, I guess I know where it got its name. Duh!

As it stands~
guests- 7
mistakes- 1
emotions- 2
meltdowns- 1
recipes- 1
recipes to date- 3

The Recipe

Sweet N Sour Shrimp
3 5 oz. cans shrimp (used 2 lb. raw, frozen shrimp, 16-20 count)
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup catsup
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup apple juice (dissolve cornstarch)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp melted margarine (used butter)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup diagonally cut carrots
1/4 cup sliced green onions
(added diced white onion and celery)
1/2 cup cubed green pepper (used yellow pepper)
2 cups cooked rice

Drain and rinse shrimp (Defrost and peel shrimp). Combine apple juice, soy sauce, salt, catsup, sugar, vinegar, and margarine in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add carrots and simmer for 15 min. Add green pepper and onion. Cook 5 min. more. (Grilled all the vegetables before putting in sauce.) Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup apple juice and add to the sauce pan. Stirring constantly. Add shrimp (grilled shrimp first) to the sauce. Heat. Serve sauce over rice.