Low Country Boil

I travel like a tourist.  I unashamedly walk around with a giant SLR camera around my neck, I carry a bag pack with extra shoes (and bandaids) and I stop walking approximately every 14 feet to take another picture.😅📸 I am the person who says, “Oh my gosh, LOOK!” 47 times in a single afternoon. The person who has seen a photograph of something a thousand times but is still completely unprepared for what happens when I finally see it in person.  On our trip to the Netherlands, that moment happened when I saw my first Dutch windmill.  And then another.  And another.  And suddenly I understood why people have been taking pictures of windmills for centuries.

We went to the Netherlands expecting canals, bicycles, beautiful old buildings and enough cheese to make us question whether we had ever truly understood dairy before.  But the windmills?  The windmills were something else entirely.  Standing there among them with the water reflecting the sky and the enormous sails turning above the flat green landscape, I had one of those travel moments when you realize you're looking at something much more than a pretty postcard.

For centuries, windmills were an essential part of Dutch water management. We visited the UNESCO world heritage site in Kinderdijk where the sails of 19 windmills capture the wind, turning gears and machinery inside the mill that powers pumps capable of lifting water from the low-lying land.

The goal of a windmill is simple: keep the land dry enough for people to live and farm on it.  These aren't decorative little garden windmills.  They working machines.​ At Kinderdijk, the historic windmills are still maintained and still operate as part of the water-management system. Modern pumping stations now handle most of the heavy lifting, but the windmills remain available as a backup when needed.

The weather didn't cooperate during our trip to Kinderjik but that didn't stop me from taking hundreds of pictures.  It didn't take long for me to realize that I had to become an expert at taking pictures in the rain if I was going to shoot these amazing windmills.  It was totally worth it.  The wet feet, the soaked jeans and the frizzy hair - a small price to pay to for the chance to see these amazing machines up close. 😂 

Seeing the windmills for the first time reminded me that some of the most remarkable things humans create are born from simply looking at what they have and figuring out how to use it.
The Dutch had wind.
They had water.
They had land that desperately needed managing.
So they built windmills.

I apply that same principle some nights when I can't decide what to make for dinner.  I open the frig.  See what I've got in stock and devise a plan to make it delicious.  
I have shrimp.
I have sausage.
I have corn and potatoes.
So I put together a delicious low country boil that we can eat outside like we're sitting my an old canal lined with historic buildings.  

Low Country Boil
Spice
1/3 cup salt
2 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons coriander
2 Tablespoons dry mustard
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon celery seed
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Boil
1/2 cup boil spice
3 bay leaves
1 lemon, quartered
1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes, halved
1 1/2 pounds andouille sausage
6 ears corn, cut into thirds
2 pounds shell on jumbo shrimp
2 Tablespoons parsley

Remoulade
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon whole grain mustard
11/2 teaspoons fresh parsley
1 teaspoon boil spice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 garlic clove, minced

Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce
8 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, grated
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon boil spice
1 garlic clove, minced

Combine boil spice ingredients. 

Combine 6 quarts water, boil spice, bay leaves and quartered lemon in stockpot.  Cover and bring to a boil.

Whisk together ingredients for remoulade.  Refrigerate. 

Melt butter in saucepan for lemon garlic butter sauce.  

Stir in lemon zest and juice, boil spice and garlic.  Cook 10 minutes.  Keep warm on stove.

Add potatoes to boil.  Cover until water returns to a boil.  Uncover and cook 13 minutes. 

Add sausage and corn.  Cover until water returns to a boil.  Uncover and cook 7 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add shrimp.  Cover pot and let stand 4 minutes. ​

Use a skimmer to transfer potatoes, corn, sausages and shrimp to platter. 

Slice sausages into thirds. 

Sprinkle boil with 1 Tablespoon spice mixture and parsley.  Serve with remoulade, butter sauce and lemon wedges.  

​Ciao!

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