It’s time for Po’Boys my friends! The Po’Boy is a Louisiana style sub sandwich that can be as creative as you are. Po’boys got there name from a restaurant in New Orleans during a local factory strike. The restaurant served free sandwiches to the “poor boys” that were on strike. My shrimp po’ boys with zingy slaw is a traditional take on the sandwich, having fried seafood and dressed with coleslaw!
The shrimp for this sandwich gets a marinade in spicy egg whites. The egg whites help to tenderize the shrimp. Then I coat them in a crunchy cornmeal coating, and fry them with only a little oil in a skillet. The sandwich is topped with a zingy slaw. The slaw has a small amount of a lot of different ingredients. This make the flavors rich and complex!
Variation to the Shrimp Po’ Boys with Zingy Slaw recipe:
- If you don’t like spicy food, try using ground red pepper instead of cayenne pepper in the shrimp marinade, and omit the Louisiana style hot sauce from the slaw.
- To make this recipe vegetarian or vegan, try using tofu instead of shrimp. Replace the egg white with 1 TBS soy sauce in the marinade (the tofu won’t need tenderized). Replace the Worcestershire sauce with soy sauce in the slaw.
- I like using sliced cabbage for the slaw, but you could also buy a package of coleslaw mix to save time.
- If you can’t find a 6 oz mini loaf of french bread, just cut down a regular sized loaf. Each sandwich should be about 5 inches long.
- For the lemon zest, try zesting the entire lemon and only using what you need. Freeze the rest of the lemon zest for the next time you need some!
- 1 ½ TBS Mayo
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp Louisiana hot sauce
- 1 pinch lemon rind
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 ¼ cups sliced green cabbage
- 1 TBS cornstarch
- ½ tsp lemon rind
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 egg white
- ½ lb shrimp, peeled and devined (no tails)
- 6 oz loaf of french bread
- 1 ½ TBS cornmeal
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- Splash olive oil
- 4 tomato slices
- Whisk together the first 7 ingredients. Mix in cabbage.
- Combine cornstarch through egg white. Mix in shrimp and marinade for 30 min.
- Cut out centers of French bread to ½ inch shell. Place cutouts in blender and process until fine.
- Combine bread crumbs, cornmeal and pepper in Ziploc bag.
- Add shrimp to bread crumb mix and shake to coat. Discard marinade.
- Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed skillet (I prefer cast iron) and cook shrimp on each side for 3 minutes or until opaque and cooked through.
- Build sandwiches by lining the bread with tomato slices, topping with fried shrimp and coleslaw.
