The Greater Mandeville Seafood Festival promises to be a very special event. The three day event offers entertainment for people of all ages.

New Orleans style cuisine featuring fresh Louisiana seafood will highlight the food court. Dishes for all tastes will be offered.

Live music encompassing all genres including, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Rhythm & Blues, Cajun and Reggae.

Arts & Crafts vendors from around the country will be offering many fine antiques, collectibles and other presents and fine gifts.

Children visiting the improved Children's Corner will be treated to games, performances by local actors and many fun rides and entertainment and there will be the 2nd Annual Mandeville Idol Contest.

July 3-6, near Mandeville, Fontainebleau State Park. Seafood, crafts, music, children's activities, rides, classic car show, fishing rodeo and fireworks. (985) 624-9762, www.seafoodfest.com

Sure, you can just add horseradish sauce and lemon to catsup to make a shrimp cocktail sauce.  But take a moment and try the recipe below for a really sublime, fresh cocktail sauce that will complement your boiled or fired shrimp or fried crab cakes perfectly.

Ingredients

8 to 10 plum tomatoes about 1 1/4 lbs.)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1/3 c. red wine vinegar
2 tbsps. sugar
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsps. fresh lemon juice
3 tbsps. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
1 tbsp. cream-style horseradish

Directions

1. Cut tomatoes in half crosswise (not through stem end), squeeze out seeds, and chop into about 1/4-inch dice.
2. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, stir together tomatoes, onion, celery, garlic, vinegars, sugar, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, tomato paste, and salt. Cover with lid or vented plastic wrap and microwave for 30 to 40 minutes or until very thick, stirring every 10 minutes.
3. Stir in horseradish.
4. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for flavors to blend.

The sauce may be refrigerated up to 2 weeks. Serve with crab cakes, shrimp, or other seafood. Makes 2 1/4 cups.

Courtesy of Marlene Sorosky, award-winning cookbook author featured on Good Morning America.

Ingredients

• 8 shrimp, peeled and de-veined
• 1 tsp. garlic, chopped
• 2 tsp. chopped shallots
• 1 yellow tomato, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. Opal basil, chopped fine
• 1/2-cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste

Directions

1. Salt and pepper the shrimp on each side. In a large pan, heat the olive oil and then add the shrimp. More on Charleston Grill Shrimp and Grits

To start with, scampi is really an Italian word describing large shrimp or prawns, and originally it had no connection to a specific dish. Over time scampi came to be a common name for large shrimp simply prepared with garlic and butter or garlic and olive oil. Scampi has evolved over the years, and depending on the restaurant, you will see many versions of the dish — some with cream, white wine, basil, fresh herbs, some even without shrimp.

At Red Lobster, Shrimp Scampi is one of their most popular dishes. While it is difficult to give you an exact recipe for their scampi (kitchen recipes often do not exactly translate into household recipes), here is a recipe to produce Red Lobster Shrimp Scampi at home, straight from their head chef, Michael LaDuke. More on Red Lobster Recipes: Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients:

2 cups V8 Vegetable Juice
1 tsp Prepared Horseradish
1/8 tsp Black Pepper
1/8 tsp Celery Salt
2 TBSP Fennel (Bulbs Only, Small Dice)
¼ cup Diced Fresh Tomatoes
To taste Tobasco
1 dozen Cooked Cocktail Shrimp

Preparation:

1. Combine all ingredients in bowl and toss lightly. Store covered in refrigeration for 24 hours prior to serving. If a spicier version is desired, you can add an additional jalepeno, or a tsp of your favorite hot sauce.
2. Place all ingredients except Tobasco and shrimp in blender, puree until smooth
3. Gradually add Tobasco until flavor is correct for our taste
4. Strain Mixture and hold cold
5. To serve, pour 2 oz Bloody Mary mix in small shot glass, and top with one cocktail shrimp and Vodka, if desired.

Source: Red Lobster Restaurant

With summer solstice 2008 fast upon us, I thought I would offer up this great New Orleans recipe that combines two of the best food gifts of Louisiana- strawberries and shrimp- to celebrate the first day of summer.

Makes 4 servings.

Salad:
2 cups baby spinach, rinsed and dried
2 cups arugula, rinsed and dried
2 cups strawberries (about 1 pt), hulled and sliced
2 oz crumbled goat cheese
3 tbsp pecans, toasted and chopped
2 small green onions, sliced
1 lb shrimp, cleaned and deveined

Dressing:
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tbsp honey mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
Pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Combine all salad ingredients (except shrimp) in a large bowl. Toss gently.

2. Make the dressing: Whisk the vinegar and mustard together in a small bowl; slowly whisk in olive oil. Add basil and season with salt and pepper.

Grille the shrimp" Heat and oil and outdoor or stove-top grill. When hot, add shrimp and grill 3 to 4 minutes on each side until slightly charred and cooked through. Remove from heat.

4. Divide salad among 4 plates. Arrange grilled shrimp on top.

5. Drizzle dressing over each and serve.

Nutrition Per Serving: 251 calories, 23 g protein, 12.5 g carbohydrate, 12.8 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 177 mg cholesterol, 2.5 g fiber, 306 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 45%.

Source: Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD in WebMD the Magazine.

Spicy Herbed Butter:
1 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 red jalapeno, seeds and white membranes removed, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley leaves
1 lemon, juiced
3 tablespoons chopped chives
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 (1 1/4 pound) lobsters

Summer Vegetables:
1 yellow squash, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and sliced lengthwise into 1/4's
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the grill to high.

In a food processor, combine the butter, garlic, jalapeno, parsley, lemon juice, and chives. Season with salt and pepper and process until well combined. Place in a small container. Remove a few tablespoons of the herbed butter and set aside. This reserved butter will be used to finish the lobsters and vegetables once they are off the grill and prevent cross contamination.

Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil. Place the lobsters in the boiling water and blanch just until the shells turn red, but the meat is not cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove the lobsters and let cool slightly. Slice the lobsters in half lengthwise. Brush the meat and inside of the lobsters with some of the herbed butter, about 1 tablespoon per lobster half. Place the lobsters on the grill, flesh side down and cook until the meat has grill marks and starts to turn opaque and firm up, about 5 minutes.

While the lobsters are cooking, start the grilled vegetables. Drizzle the vegetables and lemon wedges with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables and lemon wedges on the grill and brush with some of the compound butter. Grill until tender and browned, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Turn the lobsters over and grill an additional 3 to 4 minutes, brushing with more butter, if desired. Remove the lobsters and vegetables to a large platter. Squeeze some of the grilled lemon wedges over the tail meat. If desired, serve with some of the reserved herbed butter.

Source: Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class "Grilling Seafood" on Food Network

Summer Lobster Fest! Save 10% on all lobster items from gortonsfreshseafood.com. Enter 'LOB08' at check out. Expires 7/31/08

Now for the last step- cooking the lobster tails on the grill.

• Place the claws still encased in the cracked shell on the hotter part of the grates.
• Salt and pepper the inside open half of the lobster and grill it 2-3 minutes
• turn over the body and the claws and grill for another 4 minutes.
• If the flame flares up, move the lobster to a cooler part of the grill, or move it until the flame calms down.

Source: Laura Karwisch, Executive Chef of Red Fish Grill, New Orleans Restaurant

Summer Lobster Fest! Save 10% on all lobster items from gortonsfreshseafood.com. Enter 'LOB08' at check out. Expires 7/31/08

These instructions assume you started with a live lobster and have just completed step 1.

• Turn the lobster around and cut the tail in the same fashion as killing the lobster.
• Along the center of the lobster are three kinds of viscera, the dark green are the stomach and intestine that should be scraped out and discarded, and the yellow-green and coral are the liver, or tomalley, and the roe, which are both delicious and can be left in.
• Remove the claws, and crack them with the back side (not the sharp side) of the knife. You can do this inside a plastic bag to minimize the mess.

Source: Laura Karwisch, Executive Chef of Red Fish Grill, New Orleans Restaurant

Summer Lobster Fest! Save 10% on all lobster items from gortonsfreshseafood.com. Enter 'LOB08' at check out. Expires 7/31/08

When grilling lobster tails, you generally have two choices- using a live whole lobster or frozen lobster tails.

If you are using a live lobster, follow these steps to prepare it for grilling.

Step 1:

Make sure the rubber bands around the claws stay on during this process, as you don't want to be dodging the claws while cutting up the lobster.

You must first cut it in half down the center. This job is one that is best left to a 10 inch chefs' knife, and one with a good deal of heft.

With the lobster sitting where the tail curls towards the table, flatten it out and in one hand grasp the tail where it joins the body.

In the other hand, take the knife's point and aim for the place an inch or an inch and a half from between the eyes towards the tail. The blade of the knife should be facing away from your hand that is holding the tail.

Step 2.

Press the point of the knife into the head at that point until the point of the knife goes all the way through the lobster's head to the cutting board, then bring the blade down between the eyes to finish the cut of the head.
This kills the lobster as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Source: Laura Karwisch, Executive Chef of Red Fish Grill, New Orleans Restaurant

Summer Lobster Fest! Save 10% on all lobster items from gortonsfreshseafood.com. Enter 'LOB08' at check out. Expires 7/31/08