The Recipe Thread [tm--CajunCook]

[redlandssaintsson]

Originally Posted by Joe OKC

How bout making the pizza as normal.. but use thin sliced andullie instead of Pepperoni, also try adding shrimp, crawfish meat and fresh slices of Cayenne peppers... Yea... It's a slight rip off of Deano's, but what the heck...

Joe

I'll give that a shot, thanks.

[Joe OKC]

I forgot to mention crabmeat as well...

Joe

[fenboy73]

I would like to cook something simple but very New Orleans style here in the UK! Please give your suggestions and receipes.....

[feoinfunroe]

Originally Posted by fenboy73

I would like to cook something simple but very New Orleans style here in the UK! Please give your suggestions and receipes.....

Dude, I'm eating Eggplant Parmesan tonight, and it is awesome. If it wasn't my mother's secret recipe I'd give it to you (heck, it might even already be on this thread if one searches).

Oh, and BTW, any of your Scottish dishes can be turned Louisiana-style if one just substitutes "& rice" for "& tatties"...but I digress...

Here you go...got any seafood? This will work with just about anything, but it's called:

CRAWFISH ETOUFFEE

1/2 cup butter [that's a stick to me and mine]
2 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups peeled crawfish (or shrimp, or halibut, or whatever the heck you people eat)
1 cup water (I use stock or wine in this step, but whatever)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 bay leaf (the recipe says "optional", but don't you believe it!)
salt and pepper (and myriad other things that you grab in the spice cabinet while searching for the salt and pepper)

Combine butter and flour. Cook over low heat until mixture is light brown [in other words make a roux, but do not tell yourself that you are making a roux because you will get nervous and burn it], stirring frequently. Add onions and garlic [etc, etc]. Saute[that means simmer over low heat] until onions[etc.]are tender. Add crawfish [or whatever]. Cook 5-10 minutes, stirring often. Add water [ha!], parsley, and bay leaf. Salt and pepper to taste [double-HA!]. Cover and cook 20-30 minutes. Serve over rice [NOT TATTIES!!!]. serves 4[triple HA!!!]

Any more questions? Just read this whole thread...some very good cooks have posted here...I am not fit to shine their spatulas...(Amen).

[redlandssaintsson]

Originally Posted by feoinfunroe

Dude, I'm eating Eggplant Parmesan tonight, and it is awesome. If it wasn't my mother's secret recipe I'd give it to you (heck, it might even already be on this thread if one searches).

Oh, and BTW, any of your Scottish dishes can be turned Louisiana-style if one just substitutes "& rice" for "& tatties"...but I digress...

Here you go...got any seafood? This will work with just about anything, but it's called:

CRAWFISH ETOUFFEE

1/2 cup butter [that's a stick to me and mine]
2 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups peeled crawfish (or shrimp, or halibut, or whatever the heck you people eat)
1 cup water (I use stock or wine in this step, but whatever)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 bay leaf (the recipe says "optional", but don't you believe it!)
salt and pepper (and myriad other things that you grab in the spice cabinet while searching for the salt and pepper)

Combine butter and flour. Cook over low heat until mixture is light brown [in other words make a roux, but do not tell yourself that you are making a roux because you will get nervous and burn it], stirring frequently. Add onions and garlic [etc, etc]. Saute[that means simmer over low heat] until onions[etc.]are tender. Add crawfish [or whatever]. Cook 5-10 minutes, stirring often. Add water [ha!], parsley, and bay leaf. Salt and pepper to taste [double-HA!]. Cover and cook 20-30 minutes. Serve over rice [NOT TATTIES!!!]. serves 4[triple HA!!!]

Any more questions? Just read this whole thread...some very good cooks have posted here...I am not fit to shine their spatulas...(Amen).

THANK!

[SaintShane]

Here's one my wife did the other day. I was VERY skeptical about it, but after tasting it, it's something we're gonna do quite a bit.

Crawfish Enchiladas:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon chopped oregano leaves
4 teaspoons Old Bay seafood seasoning
2 teaspoons Tony's(or your favorite seasoning)
Flour tortillas
16 oz shredded Monterey Jack or Mexican cheese mix
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 cup chopped onion
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 pounds LOUISIANA crawfish tails
1 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a pot over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup butter. Add onion and bellpepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook and additional 5 minutes. Add cream cheese, oregano, cumin, 2 tsp Old Bay, Tony's seasoning, and parsley. Cok and stir 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of whipping cream and cook 5 minutes. Set aside.

In a large skillet over low-medium heat, combine 1/2 cup butter and crawfish. Cook and stir 3 minutes. Add 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning, garlic powder and green onion. Cook 2 more minutes. Drain, keeping liquid and set aside. Add to cream mixture and mix well. Spoon a portion of the mixture in the center of the tortillas and place them seam side down in a casserole dish.

Mix liquid from crawfish with 1 cup of whipping cream and cook for 3 minutes. Add remaining mixture of crawfish and stir. Dump mixture over the tortillas and top with cheese. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Then put under the broiler for 1-2 minutes.

[buzd]

Originally Posted by fenboy73

I would like to cook something simple but very New Orleans style here in the UK! Please give your suggestions and receipes.....

If you have trouble getting crawfish, you should be able to find the ingredients for chicken etoufee. This recipe comes out great:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/e...ipe/index.html

[feoinfunroe]

Thanks, SaintShane! Definitely going to have to try that, too!

I made this last night...it's a recipe I found in my favorite little Louisiana cookbook, and then modified it to suit my needs...I'll post the modified version.

huîtres aux vert

1/2 stick of butter
about 2 tbsps Tony Chachere's instant roux mix (I know, but there were extenuating circumstances)
3 dozen (or so) raw oysters, chopped.
Two links out of a 1-pound package Richard's smoked sausage (Hot), diced.
1 big ol' yellow onion, chopped
about 1/2 a cup of chopped bell pepper
about 1/2 cup of chopped celery
A few green onions, of course
Garlic (about a clove or so)
2 large cans (1 lb, 11 oz size) Glory greens (I used 1 can mixed greens and 1 can collard)
1/2 a cup or so of white wine.
etc.

I melted the butter in a deep-sided skillet, and was going to break out the flour for a roux when my daughter announced that she had lost her cell phone somewhere outside and all Hell broke loose. So I knew I'd never get a proper roux made, and therefore grabbed the Tony's (see, I told you). It browned up real pretty so I added the onions, bell pepper, and celery, and a splash of the wine, and sauteed until the onions were clear. Then I added the sausage and let that cook about 5 min. and then added the greens. I let that cook together about ten minutes or so (I'm not sure because I was distracted by "the great phone search in the thunderstorm" drama as it was unfolding). Around this time I added some green onions and the rest of the wine. Then I remembered that I hadn't added the garlic yet, so I added that, too. I let that cook while the rice got cooked (serve over rice), about 20 minutes or so. Then, when it was just about done, I added the oysters and some of the liquid that the oysters were in (eyeball it). I didn't want to overcook the oysters. I can't believe that the recipe in the cookbook says to add the oysters first. Anyway, the oysters cooked with it for maybe 5-10 minutes before I cut the heat down.

I added herbs and spices to this as it cooked, you know, but everyone has their own favorites and I always haul out half the spice cabinet it seems so there are really too many to mention. Oh, and those Glory greens come seasoned and they are excellently seasoned, too. In fact they are about the only pre-packaged product I use that I don't "doctor up" except for maybe some wine and green onions when I make them as a side dish.

Oh, yeah, we found the phone, too. Well, her brothers found it this morning. Her youngest brother had a "vision" of remembering seeing her stepping really high to step up on a handle-less hand-cart down on the railroad track-spur near the house, and sure enough, they found the phone in the briers right there beside it. It had fallen out of the pocket of those low-cut, practically pocketless jeans that teen-aged girls wear these days...it still worked even though it had been out in the rain all night. Lucky her. We might have found it last night, but she had the durn thing on vibrate

[Joe OKC]

WOW... That Crawfish Enchiladas sounds great.... Gonna try that...

Here's a real easy one.

1 Bag Corn Chips - ie- Doritos
1 lb Hambuger Meat
1 can refried Beans
1 jar Pace Picante Sauce
2 cups Cheese
1 small can Black Olives
1 envelope Taco seasoning Mix

Brown Hamburger meat with pack of Taco Seasoning.

in a 9x9 Baking dish.

Crunch up Corn Chips, Not too much

Layer Chips, Then Seasoned hambuger meat, refired beans, B olives, Pace Pincante sauce and cheese. Then repeat the same layering again... Cover and bake for 350 for about an hour... Dollip with Sour cream...

It's a pretty good taco bake... Cheap, quick and easy.

Joe

[buzd]

Originally Posted by feoinfunroe

huîtres aux vert

That looks great. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of oysters rockefeller. You might try adding some anise or replacing some of the wine with Herbsaint or Pernod.

[feoinfunroe]

Originally Posted by buzd

That looks great. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of oysters rockefeller. You might try adding some anise or replacing some of the wine with Herbsaint or Pernod.

Heeeyyy...and I've got almost a whole fifth of Herbsaint in the liquor cabinet...I'm going to do that next time I'm making it with fresh greens instead of canned. We usually put Herbsaint in the "gumbo 'zab", but we did not make it this year, everyone was too busy.

Meanwhile I just went and whipped up a lovely concoction of Herbsaint, chardonnay (I was out of sweet vermouth), lemon juice, and Peychaud's bitters in your honor for the suggestion...good for what ails ya...

[NCSaint]

Can you make a GOOD hamburger with 90% lean? That is what I have - 6lbs of it and I want to make some hamburgers tomorrow. What is the secret to a good - not dry - burger with lean(er) meat? Somebody has to have a secret?? Come on...give it up.

[feoinfunroe]

Originally Posted by NCSaint

Can you make a GOOD hamburger with 90% lean? That is what I have - 6lbs of it and I want to make some hamburgers tomorrow. What is the secret to a good - not dry - burger with lean(er) meat? Somebody has to have a secret?? Come on...give it up.

One thing that I would try is cooking them with the lid on...what I call "kettle burgers". I have a deep skillit with a lid, and when I cook them that way, they don't get very brown but the meat stays moist and tender. I usually don't fool with 90% lean unless I'm making spaghetti sauce or something...but in a pinch, that's worked for me.

[buzd]

Originally Posted by feoinfunroe

Here you go...got any seafood? This will work with just about anything, but it's called:

CRAWFISH ETOUFFEE

Feo, I hope you don't mind the cross post:

I checked it out and feoinfunroe's recipe is pretty close to mine. Since I'm a little buzd (ahem), I'm going to expand on it a bit, because it's really easy to make a good etouffee.

First the "trinity" is onions, celery, and bell peppers in a roughly 2:1:1 ratio. Extra celery always helps. Garlic is kind of the stepchild, and it burns faster, but we all love garlic, right?

The best etouffee is made with hand-picked crawfish, or at least LA crawfish tails. Chinese crawfish won't make good etouffee, because you need the fat. If you peel your own (5-7 lbs per lb of meat), keep the shells and make a stock. Simmer the shells lightly for 15-30 minutes in a gallon or so of water. If using packaged meat, squeeze off the fat and add it to the roux (do it also with hand picked meat).

1. Make a roux. Equal parts flour and butter, roughly half a cup of each (or oil to taste). Make a light or dark roux, just don't burn it. It's a question of style. Prepackaged roux and making in the microwave are both cheap outs, but work surprisingly well (no one will know).

2. Stop the roux from cooking by adding the Trinity. 1 cup onions, 1 cup celery, 1/2ish cup peppers. Cook 5 minutes and add as much garlic as you feel like (it may burn if you add it right way). The vegetables stop the roux from cooking. Continue to stir well, about 15 minutes.

3. Optional - add one small can tomato paste. There is much argument about this. I add it if I have it - sometimes not. I don't care. Cook another 5-10 minutes, stirring.

4. Add stock, hopefully crawfish stock (probably a pint or two - experiment to get the thickness you want). Stir well, and allow to simmer for a while. Add bay leaves and Tony's (or other cajun seasoning) to taste. For extra spice, add cayenne. A little white wine and/or dark beer at this point is good too. You can add other herbs and spices, but you can make great etouffee without them. Simmer for a while and allow to thicken.

5. Chop up the whites from some green onions (reserve the greens for garnish to serve). Add with the crawfish and simmer another 10 minutes or so. You don't want to overcook the crawfish - just heat them up and blend the rest of the fat.

6. Serve over rice topped with chopped tops of the green onions. easy.

[feoinfunroe]

Originally Posted by buzd

Feo, I hope you don't mind the cross post:

Not at all! That looks awesome! You certainly went into better detail