Treasure from the Gulf

Shrimp is my favorite thing.  I've often said if I had a last meal request, it would be fried shrimp, hushpuppies, seasoned french fries and onion rings, macaroni and cheese, a slice or two of homemade pie (pecan, coconut cream, and chocolate meringue), and wash it all down with a root beer float.

We were talking about needing to buy some shrimp and put them in the freezer.  Well, last Saturday afternoon, we were sitting on the back patio relaxing after doing the chores and I received a text from a young man who attends our church.  He said, "Kyle, would you like some fresh shrimp?"  Now, what kind of a question is that?  Yes, I'd love some shrimp!  He told me that he had bought too much and has 50 pounds that he didn't know what to do with.  

In 20 minutes he was at the house unloading some beautiful head-on shrimp that were caught the night before in Vermilion Bay.  We often lament the fact that there is so much imported shrimp in all the restaurants when we have the best fresh shrimp not 40 miles from our doorstep.  I don't understand why you would purchase or eat imported shrimp.  We always ask when we order shrimp where it came from.  If it's imported, we'll have a burger.

Back to the shrimp.  The best part of the deal was the price.  The young man would not accept a penny for them.  He said, "They're yours for free."  Fifty pounds of shrimp is worth a lot of money.  We begged and pleaded to pay him.  Finally, he said, "I want to bless you with them.  If you want to pay something, put some money in the little church."

At our church we put together Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child Boxes.  We work on them all year long.  They are shipped to children all over the world.  We have a little church up in the front near the podium that people put money into.  The little church is emptied and the proceeds are used to pay the postage for the Operation Christmas Child boxes.  We'll be putting a nice donation into the little church for these wonderful shrimp!

I stood by the sink that night "heading" the shrimp.  I'd pull the heads off of the shrimp and toss the tails in a colander and the heads in another bag.  When we were done we had 16 quart bags filled full.  You couldn't fit another shrimp in them.  They all were stacked in the freezer.  Our cat, Ginger, got a special treat, too.  There was a pogey (little trash fish) in with the shrimp.  Tricia pan sautéed it in butter and fed it to the cat.   

The shrimp heads are ALMOST as good as the tails.  We save the heads and put them in a big gumbo pot and cook them down with water, making a good shrimp stock.  That shrimp stock will be the base for seafood gumbos, etouffee, shrimp stew, etc.  We love head-on shrimp for that reason.

Just this Sunday, Tricia cooked down a skillet of fresh picked tomatoes, garlic, onions, and peppers.  She added a bunch of fresh heavy cream from our cow, LuLu, and let it all simmer and reduce.  At the last minute, she added a quart of the shrimp!

In another pot, she had some bow tie pasta going.  Now I'd like to be able to share a finished photo of the meal all plated up, but I was so looking forward to eating it, I didn't get around to taking the photo until my plate was clean.  Fresh Gulf Shrimp.  What a blessing to receive!  We are so thankful.