Creole Cajun Shrimp Po’Boy

All the flavors of NOLA without ever leaving your kitchen! I’m taking a traditional Po’boy and making it healthier while keeping it as delicious.

Every now and then, there’s a recipe that literally blows my mind—one—how easy it is to make, and two—how incredible it tastes. These Cajun Shrimp Po’Boys are one of those recipes.

Now, before you “@” me about it not being a traditional fried po’boy. I know, and it’s ON PURPOSE. I’ve been all through Louisiana and have had it a bunch of different ways – deep fried, with and without breading, chilled (yes, the shrimp was cold), oven-baked, and so forth.

I opted not to fry it as well; I wanted to save calories, and honestly, I preferred it this way to the breaded and fried versions.

When I created my Creole Shrimp Nachos, I honestly fell in love—or was it lust? Maybe both. All I know is that they were awesome. I went on this uber kick with not only the Creole Seasoning but also the Baja Cream Sauce. Like, I needed these in my life.

Anyway, as I was making those creole shrimp nachos, I realized I had too much fresh shrimp—way more than any two people could eat for nachos. It was actually quite embarrassing, but hey, you’ll have that.

After we had inhaled the nachos, I put the rest of the shrimp back in the fridge, figuring I had a day to use them up either for more nachos or something else.

I was watching a food show, and they were talking about all the foods of New Orleans.  Gumbo, Hurricane drinks, beignets, crawfish, and of course, po’boys.

I can remember the first time I ever had a po’boy.  I had gone to Mardi Gras (because I was young, stupid, and it was a ‘thing’ to do – never again now that I’m old and wise; it’s totally not my scene), and it was there I had one. 

As I lay there and watched the show, I immediately thought about all those shrimp I had left in my fridge.  Since I didn’t have any French baguettes on hand or any soft ‘n chewy hoagie rolls, I had to hold off until the next day to make my po’boy.  Once the show was over, I went out to prep my dough for the baguettes.

Now, if you’re like me (total nerd), hearing a food called “Po’Boy’ when to me it’s just a Creole Shrimp sub made me curious.  Where did the name Po’Boy come from? 

So, like usual, I went to Google and searched.  Now, the stories vary from website to website; however, the most widely accepted story holds that the sandwich was invented by Clovis and Benjamin Martin, brothers and former streetcar drivers who opened a restaurant on St. Claude Avenue in the 1920s.

When streetcar drivers went on strike in 1929, the brothers took up their cause and created an inexpensive sandwich of gravy and spare bits of roast beef on French bread they would serve to the unemployed workers out of the rear of their restaurant. When a worker came to get one, the cry would go up in the kitchen that “here comes another poor boy!” and the name was transferred to the sandwich, eventually becoming “po-boy” in common usage. Pretty cool, huh?

With this recipe you can either make the shrimp in a pan or skewer them and grill them a few minutes on each side.  Either way, it’s AMAZING and definitely something you’ll want to make all summer long!

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