Easy Entertaining: Shrimp with 3 Dipping Sauces

I love to entertain at my home, but the real pleasure is when I can set out yummy fair that I don't have to attend to all evening. A common appetizer is shrimp and cocktail sauce, but these homemade dipping sauces take this average hor d'oeuvres to new levels: Tangy Garlic Tartar Sauce, Smoky Remoulade Sauce, and Spicy Cocktail Sauce. These recipes were found in the Southern Living December 2008 holiday issue and I tested them all out at our 08 Holiday Party. Read to the bottom to find out which sauce was the best.

For the Tangy Garlic Tartar Sauce you will need: Mayo, Capers, Garlic and Dijon Mustard.

In a cuisinart mixer or blender combine 2 cups of mayo.

1 3.5-oz jar capers, drained.

3 cloves of minced garlic.

1/4 cup dijon mustard.

Blend until smooth, stopping once to scrape down sides. Cover and chill before serving. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 3 days.

The next dipping sauce for the shrimp is a Smoky Remoulade Sauce. The ingredients are: Mayo, Creole Mustard, Garlic, Parsley, Lemon Juice, Paprika and Red Pepper.

In a mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups mayonnaise.

1/4 cup creole mustard.

2 large cloves of minced garlic.

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley.

1 tablespoon lemon juice.

2 1/4 teaspoons smoked paprika (regular paprika may be substituted).

3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper. Here I used cayenne pepper.

Whisk together all ingredients until blended. Cover and chill 2 hours before serving. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 3 days.

Jim helped make the third dipping sauce - Spicy Cocktail Sauce. You will need: Chili Sauce, Ketchup, Horseradish, Lemon Juice, Worcestershire Sauce, Hot sauce, Salt and Pepper.

In a bowl Jim added 1/2 cup ketchup.

Next add 6 tablespoons horseradish.

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce. Here Jim uses tobasco.

You also need to add 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 2 1/4 teaspoons worcestershire sauce, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

The winning ingredient is the bottled chili sauce. You need 3/4 cup and Jim used the chinese chili sauce we had in the fridge. SPICY! You could also use a chili sauce made my Heinz.

Whisk everything together.

Cover and chill 30 minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to five days.

For parties, set up a serving area for the shrimp and sauces on your kitchen island or breakfast table, and let everyone help themselves. To shortcut prep, ask your seafood monger to steam shrimp for you. Or you could do what I did and purchase shrimp that is already peeled, deveined and cooked ready to go. For a good laugh, read my blog post titled Firecracker Shrimp on handling raw shrimp. So you want to know which sauce was the best? The Smoky Remoulade Sauce was my favorite and the Tangy Garlic Tartar Sauce was a close second. In the future I would buy the cocktail sauce at the store and stir in a dash of worcestershire and some horseradish sauce to taste - just to spice it up a bit. No one would know the difference.

Peel, Eat and be Merry!

Here a few of my other shrimp recipes.
Shrimp Bisque

Kelie Shrimp

Firecracker Shrimp

Pan Fried Shrimp and Pork Potstickers

Ginger Marinated Shrimp