Case of the leftovers: Creole fried rice
Because my brother visited me for a week in New Orleans recently, we did a lot of fine dining out and ended up with surprisingly fewer leftovers than I expected considering how gluttonous we were. In addition to some delicious lemon herb roasted chicken from Emeril's (though sadly there's no more truffle fried chicken) and authentic Cajun shrimp and okra gumbo from Cafe de Amis in Beaux Bridge, I also brought home Shaya's roasted cabbage. It's been sitting in my fridge along with some rosemary roasted eggplant and sauteed garlic broccoli rabe, so I decided to heat it all up together with some of my leftover rice. And it'll all end with some leftover homemade blueberry and peach cobbler for dessert (I used leftover farmers market fruit from the trip before, recipe to come!). It's finally my weekend, and because I worked another six days in a row this week, I was in no shape to whip up a fresh hot meal. So thank goodness for leftovers!
Because I still had tomatoes, scallions, and shallots to use, I decided to spruce up my rice and make it fried in the skillet! It's reminiscent of my chili lime fried rice, but boy has being in the south seriously influenced my cooking style.
Creole fried rice
2 cups leftover cooked brown rice, cooked with 1 dz dried shrimp
2 eggs, beaten
1 Creole tomato, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 knob gingerm minced
1 shallot, minced
3 sprigs scallion, diced
1/4 cup kimchi, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil, lightly coated in corn starch
2 tbs peanut oil
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
Optional:
1 link Andouille sausage, chopped
1 dz medium - large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1. Brown scallion, ginger, shallot, and garlic with 1 tbs peanut oil in skillet or wok on high heat. Sautee with chopped tomato, kimchi, and optional sausage.
2. Once everything is slightly browned, add the rice and stir-fry until rice is fragrant. Rice should be slightly harder to the bite, yet still retain some degree of moisture. (This should take 5-10 minutes depending on the heat of your stove top.)
3. Season on salt, garlic powder, tumeric.
4. Mix in the two beaten eggs and keep the rice moving in the wok until the eggs are fully cooked and dispersed throughout.
5. On a separate pan, sizzle shrimp in 1 tbs peanut oil on high heat until browned. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
5. Finally, add the sesame shrimp and make sure all ingredients are mixed evenly.
6. Remove the fried rice from the heat and add the sesame oil. Mix well.
