Panko Shrimp Is A Sure Bet!

Family and friends threw me a surprise birthday bash yesterday at a nearby gaming and casino establishment for a day of fun. Before the actual gambling commenced we enjoyed a leisurely early dinner at their vineyard buffet. As with all buffets the selection was overwhelming. While all of us enjoyed most everything that we tried one dish stuck out as the agreeable favorite, their panko crumb fried shrimp. It was delicious, my grandmother could not stop talking about them and actually had seconds. The Japanese panko crumbs make all the difference in this recipe. The crumbs create the perfect crispness which gives a great textural contrast to the tenderness of the shrimp.

Panko Fried Shrimp

Fresh large or jumbo shrimp

2 eggs, beaten

Panko Crumbs

Cooking oil

salt

Peel, de-head, de-vein and wash the shrimp in cold water. Lightly salt them. Put well stirred eggs into a bowl. Dip the shrimp in the eggs. Drain the excess egg off for a few seconds and place them in Panko crumbs. Make sure they are well covered with the meal.
For best results refrigerate the battered shrimp for about an hour.
Deep fry at 350 degrees until they rise to the top, 1-1/2 - 3 minutes or until golden brown.

Photo/palebear/flickr

A day at the Casino

Yesterday seven of us went on one of those casino package bus trips. We went to Seneca Niagara Casino on the American side of the falls. You couldn’t beat the price $17.95 second person was half price. The package came with luxury bus travel, $20.00 each in gambling money and a $5.00 voucher for lunch, plus depending on how many points you had on your player’s card you could get an additional dollar amount off the price of your lunch. You could not beat the lunch that we had, we went to their"Thunder Falls Buffet" which had a seafood bar with shrimp and crab legs, fried haddock, fried catfish, mini crab cakes, and all were delicious. They had an Italian bar, salad, bar, pizza bar, southern bar with biscuits, collards, brisket and fried chicken, the brisket was wonderful. Then of course there was the dessert bar which was deadly, I couldn’t decide so I had to try a couple different things (huge sacrifice on my part lol).They had assorted pies, cakes, bars, cookies, brownies even an ice cream sundae bar with all the toppings, I’m surprised they didn’t have to roll us out of there.
All in all it was a great day; we left at 9:30am and were back by 7:00pm. Travel time wasn’t bad as we are only an hour and a half drive away. My 90 year old Aunt who is here from Florida just for the summer came along with my grandmother (her sister) who is 88 they are the only two left of their 5 siblings. So it was really cute seeing them sit on the bus conversing as little old Italian sisters do. The conversation on the bus seemed to veer towards the making of a good doughnut, probably because the doughnuts that we got on the way weren’t the greatest. So today in honor of that conversation I decided to include an old family doughnut recipe, enjoy.

Sweet Milk Doughnuts

4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

2 eggs (well beaten)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 -6 cups of oil for frying

Blend together. Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut using a doughnut cutter or just cut into any shape you would like and let set 5 minutes, then deep fry. You may eat as is or dust with powdered or cinnamon sugars.