Sweet and Spicy Shrimp and My First Giveaway!

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from a small company by the name of Country Bob’s. They wanted to know if I would be willing to give their All Purpose Sauces a try and let them know what I thought. Well, of course, we all like to get food goodies delivered to our door, so I said bring it on! Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauces arrived, as promised, in both the regular and spicy version.

This is a link to Country Bob’s website. Their products are sold in over 3000 stores in the United States, but honestly, I had never heard of them, so I was excited to give this stuff a try! I do know that they try to get the word out about their sauces by getting some bloggers to do posts. It is a great way to get noticed.

This is the information about their business and the All Purpose Sauce from their website:

In 1968 Country Bob perfected the sauce of his dreams. After years of giving the sauce to friends and family he began to sell it in 1977. The reaction was overwhelming just as it is today. Almost everyone who tries Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce becomes a lifelong user. And why not, it is the perfect complement to practically any meal set on your table.

It was actually October of 1982 when Country Bob, Inc. became the company, which remains today. Bob Edson,Terry Edson, Al Malekovic and Reed Malekovic formed a corporation with equal ownership. Since that time Country Bob’s distribution has magnified regionally in all directions from our corporate office located in Centralia, Illinois. Even with the tremendous growth we have not forgotten where we came from, continuing in our relentless pursuit of product excellence.

Along with our All Purpose Sauce we have expanded our product line to include BBQ Sauce, Seasoning Salt and Spicy All Purpose Sauce.With our fully automated bottling line we also have the capability of producing Private Label products for stores or restaurants.

Well, of course, you know which sauce I tried first (the spicy one!) 😉 It was hot and spicy with a bit of sweetness, so my mind started racing, thinking…I decided that we could do better than just a little review. We could whip up a few pounds of shrimp with that sauce! We don’t mess around when it comes to food in this house! (I told you I started thinking…and we all know that can be dangerous!)

I wanted to create a shrimp dish with a little barbecue flavor…maybe served on rice…kind of creole style…I can tell you one thing, don’t ever let your man hear the word barbecue because after that, I had more hands than I could count in my kitchen tossing in everything but the actual physical bottle of Country Bob’s sauce! Before I knew it, after tasting the final marinade, I was in Thailand and not in Louisiana! So, we altered the plating and enjoyed a little Thai shrimp!

I have to say, this is one awesome shrimp dish! It is spicy hot with a bit of sweet and tangy twist to it! I couldn’t get enough of the sauce with the rice. It was also great as a sopping sauce with crusty french bread! It’s messy, but that’s half the fun of eating shrimp!

This would also be a fabulous appetizer. Serve the shrimp skewered (as we did in the photo at the top of the post) and your guests will love it! I like the fact that this is a versatile recipe. It just depends how many shrimp you want to eat….! We wanted to eat lots (because it was soooo good), therefore, appetizer portions were not on our menu! 😉

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp
Serves 8-10 as an appetizer
Serves 3-4 as an entree

2 pounds unpeeled, extra-large, fresh shrimp (We tried to find the ones with the heads on because they look so cool, but they were not available. If you do use them, you will need about 3 lbs. of shrimp.)

For marinade:
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lemon, sliced
1/2 cup Country Bob’s Spicy All Purpose Sauce
1/4 cup Thai Chili Sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon Creole seasoning
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

Mix all ingredients. Add shrimp and toss thoroughly with the marinade. Place in a non-reactive, covered dish and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. Periodically turn the shrimp over to marinate evenly.

To a large skillet add:
1 stick unsalted butter
1/3 cup Country Bob’s Spicy All Purpose Sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Creole seasoning

Garnish for finished dish – lemon slices and chopped parsley (*or cilantro)

Melt butter over medium low heat and add remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer. Add marinated shrimp and raise heat to medium high. Stir to fully cover shrimp. (The higher heat is required to compensate for the cold shrimp when placed in the skillet.) Cook 2-3 minutes then turn shrimp to cook other side and cook another 2-3 minutes. Turn heat down to medium low. Shrimp should be fully cooked in a total time of 5-6 minutes (depending on the size of your shrimp). Check often so as not to over cook.

* Since I was originally thinking Louisiana barbecued shrimp, I had lemon and parsley to serve with the dish. With the Thai flavors, I think a little squeeze of fresh lime juice would be nice at the end along with some cilantro to garnish the dish.

We also had a taste test with the regular All Purpose Sauce and tried it on grilled steaks. I would prefer to use a little of the sauce in ground meat and then cook it. I am sure mixing the meat with the sauce would give burgers (beef or turkey) an awesome flavor! These sauces have so much character, I like the idea of using them in dishes, rather than on top of them.

So, now that you have some idea what to do with this sauce, how would you like to have 2 bottles of Country Bob’s show up at your door in a little food goodie box??? Thanks to Al at Country Bob’s, we are giving away 2 sets of 2 bottles each of their All Purpose Sauce (one regular and one spicy).

The question is – How can I enter to win the sauces???

This is how you do it:

Leave a comment on this post telling me what you might cook with Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce. Be sure to have your name/blog somewhere on the comment that I can contact you if you are a winner.

Extra Entries:

Here are four additional ways that you can enter.

1. Follow @bunkycooks on Twitter. Leave a comment here indicating that you are now a follower. If you are already a follower, you can leave a comment saying you are.

2. Tweet about this giveaway. Leave a comment here with a link to your tweet.

3. Become a fan of Bunkycooks on Facebook. Leave a comment here indicating you are now a fan. If you are already a fan, you can leave a comment saying you are.

4. Subscribe to Bunkycooks by RSS feed or email. Leave a comment saying you are now a subscriber. If you are already a subscriber, you can leave a comment saying you are.

You have to play to win (and you can play one time or five times!) The more times you leave a comment, the more chances you have to win! I will be using random.org (or my dog) to pick a winner (just kidding about the dog)! 😉 The contest is only open to those of you in the US or Canada (I know, I know…bummer!)

This giveaway ends at 5 pm EST on Friday, March 19th.

Country Bob’s will be mailing the sauces direct to the winners, so I will need to hear back from the winners within 48 hours after notification to get your shipping info, otherwise, random.org will choose another winner.

GOOD LUCK!