Low-Country Shrimp Boil Soup

I just got back a couple of days ago from a wonderful, relaxing 10 day vacation at our cabin in the Brainerd Lakes Area in Northern Minnesota.  Our kids were all there over the 4th of July weekend and we (mostly) had awesome weather.  We spent some lazy afternoons on the boat in the middle of the lake, swimming and snacking and I think every day got just a little bit slower, in the best possible way.  Steve and I also had fun finding some new places to go hiking and then having a leisurely lunch at some of our favorite restaurants in the area.

Unfortunately, our vacation ended with (quite literally) a bang.  Sunday was a hot and muggy day and we were enjoying relaxing by the beach for a good chunk of the afternoon.  There were thunderstorms in the forecast, but we didn’t really think much about it.  Then by about 7:00 it became clear that there was, in fact, going to be a storm.  As the storm started rolling in, I got an alert on my phone saying there was a tornado warning in the area, so we turned the radio on to see what was going on.  Soon it was really dark, the wind picked up and the rain started.  The lights were flickering and we were hoping we wouldn’t lose power.

This isn’t the best picture, but it gives you an idea of how hard the wind was blowing, but this was just the start.  The wind just kept getting stronger and stronger, so within a very short time, we decided it was probably a good idea to head to the basement.  We have  a lot of trees and we didn’t want to be upstairs if one decided to come down on the house.  After just a few minutes, we lost our power…..for the next seven hours.

After about 20 minutes or so, the storm finally passed and Steve went outside to survey the damage.  There were twigs and leaves all over the place and chairs had blown up from the beach.  The worst of our damage were some really big branches that came down and one tree down in the far corner of the yard.

As news reports starting coming out, we found out we were actually very fortunate.  The winds ended up being 60-70 miles an hour and I read that this was the worst storm in the area in about 30 years.  Many people lost multiple trees and had serious damage to their homes. Several resorts in the area also sustained major damage with one estimating it will be closed for two weeks to clean up and make repairs. Right after the storm, there were 8500 people without power and trees and power lines were blocking the roadways  But the really amazing thing is that no injuries were reported.  I guess people took the storm seriously and stayed inside.

Before the storm hit, we hadn’t eaten dinner.  We made the best of it and put our creativity to work.  Alex was also there with us and between the three of us, we decided that we could probably heat up some leftover pasta sauce over a candle.  The crazy thing is, it actually worked!  I took some leftover pasta out of the fridge to let it warm up a little bit while the sauce was heating and we ended up with at least a semi-warm bowl of pasta.  Not bad for having no power or water, since we have an electric pump for the well.

So that was my adventure, now let’s talk soup.  This soup is absolutely amazing!  It’s got all the ingredients of a shrimp boil in a quick and easy soup.  With nice chunky pieces of potato, smoked sausage and of course, shrimp, it’s very satisfying.  A fair amount of garlic and old bay seasoning give the broth wonderful flavor and you’ll want to make sure you have lots of crusty bread to soak it up with.  This soup is perfect to feed a crowd, since you can easily double the recipe.  If you’re unable to find seafood stock, you could use chicken stock instead and it still be delicious.

Low-Country Shrimp Boil Soup

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• corn from 3 cobs or 2 cups frozen
• 1 1/4 lb red potatoes, about 3 large, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 (14 oz) package smoked sausage, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 tsp old bay seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 6 cups seafood stock
• 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
• crusty French bread, for serving

Heat oil and butter over medium heat.

Add onion and saute for about 3 minutes.

Add garlic and saute for about another 2 minutes.

Add corn and potatoes and saute for 2 minutes.

Add smoked sausage and saute until it starts to render its fat, about 2-3 minutes.

Sprinkle mixture with old bay, salt and pepper, stirring to evenly coat.

Stir in seafood stock.

Increase heat and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Add shrimp and cook, uncovered for 2 to 3 minutes, until shrimp are pink.

Stir in lemon juice and parsley.

Serve with crusty French bread for soaking up the broth!

ENJOY!