Let’s face it, every husband / boyfriend / significant other knows the drill.
There are times when you find yourself in the doghouse.
It could have been (and probably was) something you said or did. It might have been something you didn’t say or do. Perhaps you simply woke up one day and found yourself there through no damn fault of your own. (For our fair women readers, yes, that actually does happen now and again.)
Most of us don’t savor long-term residence in the doghouse; of course you must do something to regain the good graces of your wife / girlfriend / significant other.
Having looked madly for a ‘get out of the doghouse free card’ for something like 30 years of marriage (blissful years they’ve been), I’ve not been smart enough to find one though it has come to my attention that passable proxies do exist.
Men have been getting out of the doghouse for centuries with mundane things like chocolate, flowers and fine wines. Lingerie might even be a better choice (for all involved). Overt begging has been known to work, though most fly fishers I know disdain begging unless it’s for access to some out of the way, hasn’t-been-fished-in-years stock pond or private creek…
But there’s even a better choice – Get Out of the Doghouse Coconut Shrimp. Good food works miracles and this is one powerful medicine around our camp. Utterly simple to prepare and better than anything you’ve tasted your favorite restaurant (and far easier on the pocketbook) – you can’t go wrong with a platter of these and a spicy Thai dipping sauce.
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
3 large egg whites2 dozen jumbo shrimp , peeled, deveined, tails left intact, then butterflied
Vegetable oil
Get ready. Prep the shrimp, rinse and pat dry. Mix the cornstarch, salt and cayenne pepper and place in a shallow bowl. Whisk the egg whites together in a shallow bowl until just frothy.
Give the coconut a turn or two in the food processor to shorten the length of the strands; pour into a plate.
Coconut time. Take a shrimp, coat well with the cornstarch mixture and shake off the excess. Next dip the shrimp in the egg whites, shake off the excess and then press into the coconut – make sure to turn the shrimp over and press into the coconut once again to coat both sides. Place on a parchment or wax paper covered cookie sheet; refrigerate for at least an hour before cooking.
Cook ‘em up. You’ll need a couple of inches of oil in your dutch over / heavy pot – our preferred method is to fire up the burner on the deck and cook these outside weather permitting. Heat the oil to 350 and fry until golden brown and cooked through – it takes all of about a minute for a batch of 8-10 at a time. Drain well.
Grab one before they’re all gone. Our favorite way to enjoy these is to serve with a cold adult beverage and a spicy thai dipping sauce, though the sauce options are basically infinite (think sweet and spicy). And two dozen really don’t go very far when the natives are hungry or if you’ve stepped in it. Think big and get four dozen.
Enjoy.
