New Recipe: Vegan Shrimp Po’ Boys.

Now, y’all know I’m a Gulf Coast girl, and so I suppose it was only a matter of time until I put together a po’ boy for us to try here at home!  I do love some good old Cajun flavor, and Louisiana-style restaurants are hard to come by up here in the DC area.  So the other day, it hit me: I need a po’ boy.  And I need it ASAP.

Enter tonight’s vegan shrimp po’ boys!  So easy to make, so wonderful to eat.

I served our sandwiches alongside some sweet-potato fries, so I got those cooking first – seven minutes or so at 425 just to get the juices flowing.  Then I placed a package of Sophie’s Kitchen breaded “shrimp” in the oven as well and heated it for another seven minutes to defrost the shrimp a bit so I could separate them.  Then I set everything in for another 10 minutes and prepared the bread!

The key to this dish is to have a fresh, untoasted baguette at your disposal.  I waited until the last minute today to buy mine just so it would be as soft as possible – a necessity if you’re not going to heat it up!  I cut a hunk (that’s the technical term) off of the bread, sliced off the end, and then sliced each hunk lengthwise to make a top and a bottom to the baguette.

Next, I spread some Just Mayo out across each slice.  Like a good Southerner, I tend to be a bit heavy-handed with the mayo, but add as much or as little as you like!

Then it was time for the add-ons (proportions in the recipe below).  A little Tabasco does wonders when it soaks into bread, and atop that I added a layer of shrimp, like so:

And then several slices of tomato, some leaves of lettuce, some diced pimientos, and some Creole mustard.  Put the top on the sandwich, slice it in half, and you’re good to go!  Served with sweet-potato fries, you’ve got a wonderfully flavorful and filling meal that just can’t be beat.

It’s amazing to me that a sandwich as simple to make as a po’ boy can be so addicting.  I’m not sure whether it’s the tang of the mustard, the crunch of the lettuce, the surprise of the pimientos or the chewy shrimp (real in my past life, vegan in my current :)), but the sum of the parts is a wonderful experience indeed.  You ought to try them today!

VEGAN SHRIMP PO’ BOYS

Serves 2-4

What you’ll need:

1 package vegan shrimp (we used Sophie’s Kitchen)

1 fresh baguette

4 tbsps. vegan mayonnaise (or more or less, depending on the number of sandwiches and your preference)

Tabasco, to taste

1 tomato, sliced thinly

Romaine lettuce, to taste

1 jar diced pimientos

4 tbsps. Cajun mustard

First, bake the shrimp according to package instructions.

While it cooks, cut your baguette crosswise to make as many sandwiches as you like.  Then cut each section lengthwise to create a top and a bottom to each portion of the baguette.

Spread the mayonnaise evenly across each slice, then top one slice of each sandwich with a few drops of Tabasco.  Next, wait for your shrimp to cook.  This allows the Tabasco to soak into the bread – a wonderful experience!

When the shrimp is ready, line them up along the bottom half of each sandwich.  Then top the shrimp with several slices of tomato, and next the lettuce.

On the top half of the sandwich, add a tablespoon or two of Creole mustard.  Then top that with several teaspoons of diced pimiento (or to taste).  Next, place the top half of the sandwich onto the bottom and slice each sandwich in half crosswise.  Serve, and laissez le bon temps rouler!

:)