Photo courtesy of Robin Robinson

The 61st annual Lobster Festival officially opens today in Rockland. Admission is free all day today — look for carnival rides, face painting, the coronation of the Sea Goddess, tours of the U.S. Coast Guard station, and live music. Plus lots of lobster to eat. (Click here for the complete schedule.)

But the event you don’t want to miss takes place at 9:00A.M. on Friday morning. It’s the Maine Lobster Festival Seafood Cooking Contest. And Down East Enterprise is proud to have one of its own in the competition.

Jan Campbell of Hope is competing with her original Maine Shrimp Chimichangas (taste tested by many here at the Down East offices). Here’s what she has to say about the origin of the recipe:
“I love to cook, and try new things. We were going to camp, and I had some bags of shrimp left in my freezer that needed to be eaten up. My family loves shrimp salad sandwiches, but I wanted to do something I could make and take. Alicen [her daughter, who is severely "allergic" to preservatives and artificial colorings] loves tortillas filled with anything. Kind of like those "Lean Pockets" but she can't have them because they are so full of preservatives. So, I experimented to figure out how to make them. I used a sour cream base rather than mayonnaise because it would keep longer, and substituted spinach for lettuce of a regular sandwich. Over the years, I have added the cilantro to compliment the tomato and cayenne pepper to enhance the shrimp. I use local hydroponic tomatoes, Cabot cheeses and sour cream, and fresh baby spinach. I have tried substituting the shrimp with lobster, or scallops, or haddock before, which were all very yummy, but I like the shrimp version the best.”

Maine Shrimp Chimichanga

1 lb fresh Maine shrimp, shelled & cooked
(You can either sauté with a bit of garlic & olive oil or…bring salted water to a boil, add raw shrimp…bring back to boil, rinse immediately.)

1/2 c green onions, sliced & diced
1/2 c shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
1/2 c shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 c diced fresh tomato
2 c chopped fresh baby spinach
Salt/pepper to taste
1/8 tsp red pepper
8 oz. sour cream

Combine the shrimp, green onions, cheeses, cilantro, tomato, spinach, salt, pepper, and red pepper with the sour cream.

Wrap 1/2 cup of the mixture in a warm tortilla. Fold the opposite sides towards center, roll from the top, making sure sides are sealed in.

Place in an electric fry pan or a skillet over medium-high heat with 1/2 inch of canola oil. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.

To serve, cut in half on the diagonal. May be served hot with a salad, or cooled and stored in a cooler to take on a picnic.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Entire recipe takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare and cook.

Note: This recipe can be modified to use lobster meat, crab meat, bay scallops, or haddock, but the shrimp version is my family’s favorite. I have also prepared part of this recipe without seafood for my vegetarian friends.

The views expressed on this Web site are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Down East Enterprise or its employees.