Alligator and Blackened Scallops Cajun Tacos

August 8, 2026August 8, 2026 / toothpicktales / Leave a comment

On those rare occasions when I’m the only one at home for dinner, I like to play around in the kitchen and come up with something that’s a little wacky. It’s the perfect time to experiment with new ideas and recipes.

Recently my wife was given a 3 lb. bag of frozen, breaded alligator pieces by a co-worker. While my wife enjoys a wide variety of foods, seafood and fish aren’t normally her cup of tea, but I was happy to try them out.

I have found several opportunities to prepare the alligator, during the last few months, mainly serving it as a snack while watching television, or munching on it between meals.

When fried, the alligator bites are a bit like popcorn shrimp. They can be served with tartar sauce, ranch dressing, or cocktail sauce.

Tastes like chicken!

…well, not exactly. Alligator has a mild flavor, similar to chicken, with a hint of fishy flavor. The main difference between alligator and chicken is that alligator is a little chewier, similar to calamari.

In my opinion, it’s a perfectly fine source of meat, as long as I’m not the one who has to wrestle the gator!

Alligator and Blackened Scallops Cajun Tacos

I’m not listing proportions here, except for the scallops and alligator. Use your instincts to determine how much of each item you want to use. I went heavy on the spiciness, since that was what I was craving, but you can scale the spiciness up or down to suit your taste.

Ingredients:

6 ounces, or about 10 small to medium sized bay scallops
6 ounces, breaded, bite-sized alligator pieces
White or yellow onion, thinly sliced
Jalapeno, thinly sliced
Green onion, diced
Shredded lettuce
Cilantro
Louisiana Hot Sauce
Tartar Sauce (homemade if you have the luxury of time!)
Flour tortillas

Dried blackening seasonings for the scallops:

Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Ghost Pepper (definitely optional!)
Garlic Powder
Thyme
Oregano

Directions:

Prepare the alligator bites by pan frying in cooking oil. Turn the alligator pieces every minute, or so until the alligator pieces are crispy. Remove the alligator pieces to a paper towel-lined plate to absorb excess oil.

Pat the raw scallops with paper towels to dry them. Toss them in the blackening seasoning until they are fully coated.

Add a scant amount of oil to a hot skillet and add scallops to the pan. Sear the scallops on each side for about one minute and remove to a paper towel-lined plate to absorb excess oil.

Blackening doesn’t mean “burning”. The blackening process requires searing at high heat and charring the spice coating.

Serve with tortillas, fresh vegetables, Louisiana hot sauce, and tartar sauce.

Po’ Boy Burrito

April 10, 2020April 10, 2020 / toothpicktales / 10 Comments

This whole stay-at-home stuff is really weird. I’m adjusting to it but I have to admit that it’s really hard to break the habit of trotting down the grocery store every time I want something that I don’t have in the kitchen.

This time it was fresh baked French bread.

I wanted a Po’ Boy sandwich and perhaps the single most important ingredient of a Po’ Boy is an excellent loaf of French bread. I could have jumped in the car and raced down to the store to get a loaf of bread but I decided to resist the urge and improvise. Thus, the Po’ Boy burrito was born!

What I find interesting is that I had every other ingredient for a Po’ Boy, except the French bread. Go figure.

This recipe makes 3 Po’ Boy burritos.

Ingredients for the remoulade sauce:

½ cup mayonnaise

2 Tbs dill pickles, chopped

1 Tbs lemon juice (I used lime, since I didn’t have lemon on hand)

1 tsp Louisiana hot sauce

1 tsp capers, mashed and minced

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp Dijon mustard (or creole mustard)

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

1 green onion, chopped

Ingredients for the pickled cabbage:

½ cup cabbage, sliced thin

½ tsp cayenne pepper

¼ cup vinegar

2 tsp sugar

Ingredients for the fried shrimp:

15 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and butterfly cut

1 cup flour

½ cup corn meal

Oil for frying

Additional ingredients:

½ cup lettuce, sliced thin

1 sliced tomato

3 large burrito sized tortillas (9”)

Directions:

Prepare the remoulade sauce.

In a mixing bowl, add mayonnaise, chopped pickles, lemon or lime juice, hot sauce, capers, paprika, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and green onion. Set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, add the cabbage, lettuce, cayenne pepper, vinegar and sugar. Swirl to mix. Set aside.

Prepare the shrimp.

Mix the flour and corn meal in a bowl and set aside.

Lightly beat two eggs in a bowl and set aside.

Dredge the shrimp in the flour/corn meal mixture and tap off excess flour. Dip the shrimp in the egg wash and then dredge in the flour/corn meal again.

In a medium sized sauce pan, fry the shrimp in hot oil. I fried the shrimp in batches of five.

Remove the fried shrimp to a bowl and keep warm.

Once the shrimp are cooked, assemble the burritos. Add remoulade sauce, lettuce, tomato, shrimp and pickled cabbage.

Serve with hot, crispy French fries. See, I found a way to have a little French after all!

Crawfish and Shrimp Etouffee

April 7, 2020 / toothpicktales / 4 Comments

Here’s one of my many mottos: If it’s spicy, there’s a good chance I will like it.

Having lived most of my life in the South, I have had the joy of eating some excellent Tex-Mex and Cajun food. Both cuisines tend to lean toward the spicy side and I like to make it lean just a little bit more!

Etouffee and gumbo are similar in that they are both served over rice but gumbo is more like a stew, comprised of various types of seafood, meats and vegetables. Etouffee usually only has one type of meat and the sauce is thicker than gumbo. Crawfish Etouffee is the quintessential Etouffee but don’t rule out the shrimp or chicken versions. Use what you have in your kitchen.

Etouffee, which means “smothered” in French, is a classic Louisiana dish. There are two basic types of Etoufee: Creole and Cajun. The Creole variety uses a dark roux and the flavors are deep and complex. The Cajun variety uses a light roux and is spicier than the Creole version.

30 minute Crawfish and Shrimp Etouffee

Yes, this only took 30 minutes to cook from start to finish. But, here’s the catch. I did a lot of prep work a few days before I made this dish. Previously, I cleaned and de-veined the shrimp, parboiled them and stored the shrimp in the refrigerator. I peeled the steamed crawfish and stored them in the refrigerator.

I made stock reductions from the crawfish and the shrimp and then I made compound butter using the crawfish and shrimp reductions. All of that work took a considerable amount of time, but it was worth it.