Sunday, April 06, 2008

Frogs and More

We are in the middle of endless winter. We're experiencing barefoot & frolic depravation. Last winter was our first in Bozeman and God must have let us just have a 'sip' ~ Sorta work us in, easy like. This year its' been like drinking from a firehose. It has literally been 8 months of winter. We've had non-stop snow since the end of Sept. Great for the skiiers, not so great for those of us with Spring in our hearts.
We've been hankerin' for Summer - campfire grub, Flip flops, tank tops, Fresh fruits, vegies, grilled fish.
Family night this week I decided to cook a childhood favorite of mine. Grampa used to make this in the big dutchovens when we'd go camping. He called it Frogmore Stew - cause it had Frogs and More in it! It's simple and fun.
Throw chunks of potato, corn cobs, crab, shrimp, frog legs, or whatever into a pot with some olive oil and water. Season to taste with whatever you want and boil it until tender. Then drain it and dump it onto newpaper in the middle of the table. (I put a garbage bag under it so it wouldn't damage the table, but when you are camping it doesn't matter!)
Give everyone a ramikin of garlic butter, a big napkin and long forks and have at it!
You'll be surprised at how quickly it is gone!
Minda beat us all in corn cobs ~ Her place looked somewhat like a graveyard.
What I really love about this dish is the clean up! When you are finished you just roll up all the newsprint. I tossed the cobs out for the squirrels, the newspaper went in the recycling, and that left me 5 forks and 5 glasses to wash!

It reminds me of Fondue in some ways. You all sit around a central 'pot' and laugh, chatter, and eat, getting your forks tangled up, chiding the ones who are hogging all the shrimp... Great family fun!
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3 comments:

Pastor Paul said...

So, did you actually have frog legs? I didn't see any, but the shrimp looked delicious.

Anonymous said...

Oh, you poor souls! 8 months of winter! Well at least you had Christmas in your "always winter"!

Love,
Peggy

Deeapaulitan said...

@shari ~ I'm afraid to do any "seafood" in a landlocked state! But no, this batch didn't have any froggies in it. I bought frozen, already shelled & deveined shrimp and just added it. Worked fine, but woudhave oved some crawdads and crab to make it more colorful and flavorful!

@Peggy ~ I almost put "Always winter and Never Christmas!" We just received 3 feet last night. :}