Food The Recipe Thread [tm--CajunCook] (2 Viewers)

[SaintShane]

As some of you read my thread asking for a good crawfish fettuccine recipe last week, this is what I came up with and it came out really good...IMHO

1 lb LOUISIANA crawfish tails
1 stick butter
1 lg onion
1 bundle green onions
1 stalk celery(you can use more, I just don't like celery very much)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 sm Velveeta cheese
1 package pasta(we use bowtie as that's what the wife likes)


Melt your butter in a non stick pot. Saute your veggies. Add crawfish(you may choose to boil the crawfish in a little crab boil prior to starting the fettuccine. We did and it kicked up the fettuccine a notch) and cook about 5 minutes. Add cream of mushroom soup and simmer another 5 minutes +. Add your Velveeta cheese until melted.

Toss in your cooked pasta and mix thoroughly.

You can add a little shredded cheese to the top of you like and bake in a caserole dish, but we ate it straight from the pot and it was great.

I'd say it serves about 6-8

If you wanna do it for a party or more guests, just double/triple the recipe.

 

[Mr conch]

Well i better introduce myself into this thread. I'm Chef Scotch from birmingham Alabama, currently executive chef of the Wine Loft and enrolled in a culinary curriculum.

I've got tons of great recipes for all types of stuff, unfortunately its late and i'm drunk so I will try and get some posted up soon!

edit:

just went back and read a few pages of this thread. seems like a lot of you are putting to much effort into recipes and not getting the big picture.

some of the best dishes you can make consist of a meat and some sort of sauce. sauces can be pretty much anything you want them to be, but there are 5 main sauces. Espangole, Veloute, Bechamel, Tomato, and Hollandaise. Espangoles are usually brown sauces(utilizing veal stocks/brown stocks), veloutes are usually made from chicken or white stocks, bechamel's are cream and milk based, tomato is self-explanatory, and hollandaise is eggsz and butter emulsified.

If you know where you want to go from those 5 it will help in the long run.

Basic meat/fish sauces are key. some of the best come from simple reductions of red wine and vinegar... or white wine and cream. mushrooms, shallots, thyme, and good ol' salt and pepper are your best friends.

more to come.

 

[lakeusmc]

Any suggestions for Crawdads?

 

[Mr conch]

Any suggestions for Crawdads?

Try a pasta I used to make at one of my old restaurants

Crawdad Delight Pasta
Angel Hair
Butter
Chicken Base
Heavy Cream
Crawdads
Spicy Seasoning of your choice
Red Bell Peppers
yellow bell peppers

Cook your angel hair in boiling water and set aside (should take around 10 minutes)

In small saucepan, melt butter and and throw in a little diced garlic
- add bell peppers and saute for 5 minutes
- add anything else you want (mushrooms, broccoli, whatever)
- add your spicy seasonings
- add your chicken base enough to barely cover the food in the pan
- add your cooked pasta
- swirl the pan and let the pasta absorb some of the water and reduce
- add your crawfish (add last because they cook very fast
- add your heavy cream
- reduce by a third
- enjoy!

 

[Joe OKC]

, but there are 5 main sauces. Espangole, Veloute, Bechamel, Tomato, and Hollandaise. Espangoles are usually brown sauces(utilizing veal stocks/brown stocks), veloutes are usually made from chicken or white stocks, bechamel's are cream and milk based, tomato is self-explanatory, and hollandaise is eggsz and butter emulsified.

You've got me interested now.... I would like a few more examples as I am not quite understanding.. With me, You have to talk to a kid... I ain;t that smart...

But... What is Tomato Gravy?

Joe

 

[BullDawg]

But... What is Tomato Gravy?

Only the greatest culinary concoction known to man, especially when applied to homemade cathead biscuits. Oh yeah...now that's living.

 

[feoinfunroe]

You've got me interested now.... I would like a few more examples as I am not quite understanding.. With me, You have to talk to a kid... I ain;t that smart...

But... What is Tomato Gravy?

Joe

Here ya go:

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[feoinfunroe]

The conversation about shrimp stew down on the main board mentioned shrimp creole, and I figured that while I've got the cookbook out I'd put the shrimp creole recipe that I always use:

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 oz (half a can) tomato paste
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons roux (I use Tony's instant)
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
3 cups liquid (water, white wine, and/or stock. I usually use 2 cups stock and 1 cup wine)
A couple-three bay leaves
2 cups peeled shrimp
salt, pepper, etc.

Melt butter in saucepan. Saute onions and celery until onions are tender. Add garlic, tomato paste, tomato sauce, roux, sugar, parsley, liquid, and bay leaves. Simmer about an hour. Add shrimp and the rest of the spices. Cook another 15-20 minutes. Serve over rice.
Serves 4-6

When I make that, I'll usually have about a serving or so left over. I'll turn that into tomato/shrimp soup the next day by adding 1 to 2 cups of liquid and the rest of the tomato paste. That makes a good two servings of soup to go with a sandwich for lunch.

 

[J-Dub]

Red Beans????

Got a quick question, I have never used ham when cooking my beans, I'd like to know
what type of ham to use and when to put it in??

Thanks
J

 

[SuePrudhomme]

Got a quick question, I have never used ham when cooking my beans, I'd like to know
what type of ham to use and when to put it in??

Thanks
J

Dang it, I wish my husband weren't sleeping; he'd know the answer to this right off. I've never actually seen him use ham, but I have seen him add salt pork or fatback to his beans (plus lots of andouille, of course).

 

[SuePrudhomme]

Football-Friendly French Bread

Do we have any bread fanatics out there? I could eat it every day and never get tired of it. Imagine my delight when my husband got all into baking fresh bread! This recipe's our favorite and results in something a lot like a fresh loaf of Leidenheimer's french bread. Anyone who's living outside of NOLA and misses the phenomenal po-boy-ready french bread we have here, this is something you should try.

(You'll see why it's "football friendly" at the end of the recipe.)

2 cups of warm water (around 110 degrees F)
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of granulated dry yeast
2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening
6 1/2 cups of bread flour
1 tablespoon of salt

Mix the water, one tablespoon of sugar, and yeast in a largish mixing bowl and let it sit for about fifteen minutes (until it starts to get bubbly).

Add the other tablespoon of sugar, the shortening, and about five cups of flour. Mix until it starts to look less like a mess and more like a dough. Add the salt and as much of the remaining flour as the dough will take (you'll know you have enough flour when the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl). Knead for about another ten minutes; it'll take a little longer if you're using your hands and not a stand mixer with a dough hook. What you're looking for is a smooth, elastic dough with no lumps.

Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover with a barely-damp towel or with plastic wrap and allow to rise somewhere warm and draft-free until it doubles in size (should be about an hour and a half). A great place for dough to rise is in an oven with the light on--the light provides just enough heat to make yeast happy.

Punch the dough down and divide into three balls. Cover these and let them rest for about another fifteen minutes.

Shape the balls into loaves and put them on baking sheets; cover them up with a damp cloth and let them sit for another hour and a half.

Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. If you live somewhere arid and want to get fancy, you can spritz it with a little water about ten minutes into the baking; that'll give you the right crust that flakes apart when you bite into the finished bread. You can test for doneness by tapping the bottom of a loaf with your finger; if it sounds hollow, it's ready.

All the rises and such are a little time-consuming, but you can just go about your business while your yeast is doing its thing, so it isn't like you'll spend the whole hours-long span staring at dough. In fact, during a game is a great time to make the stuff: assemble ingredients during the boring parts of the pre-game show, let it rise for the first half, shape the loaves at halftime (if you're quick about it), let it get its second rise during the second half, bake!

 

[dtc]

Got a quick question, I have never used ham when cooking my beans, I'd like to know
what type of ham to use and when to put it in??

Thanks
J

Dang it, I wish my husband weren't sleeping; he'd know the answer to this right off. I've never actually seen him use ham, but I have seen him add salt pork or fatback to his beans (plus lots of andouille, of course).

There is no wrong type of pig.

I prefer my bean soup to have tasso and/or smoked hocks...............or both is good.

 

[dtc]

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.

Yes, but you have to add fat!

Seriosly. Render you some bacon fat and mix it in with your beef when you're making your patties. mmmmmmm.

 

[dtc]

Stole this from a catered dinner I went to a couple weeks ago and did it at home earlier this week. It was good so here goes.

Shrimp with caviar cream sauce.

Cook your fresh fettucine to al dente, rinse and detangle and set aside.

peel about 6 jumbo shrimp per victim, devein and sprinkle with Tonys.

add 2 tbsp unsalted butter and 2 tbsp evoo to medhi pan bring to temp and add shrimp. add 1 clove smashed fine garlic as heat increases.

When shrimp are pink on one side flip and swirl pan then deglaze with cold white wine as shrimp reach 70%.

Add 1/2 cup heavy cream and bring to boil. add 1/2 cup grated parmesan reggiano to boiling goo.

add serving size of almost done pasta to pan with salt and pepper then turn to mix.

Remove from heat and toss in a spoon full of cheap black caviar that has been rinsed. Top with a bit of chopped italian parsley

serve with toasty french bread.

Call cardiologist for blood thinners in the am.

The version I had at the party had morels. I don't know wth they got them and they're expensive so I skipped them. I'm sure adding another mushroom type would be great.

 

[feoinfunroe]

I made cornbread following this recipe, and it turned out better than the one on the corn meal bag that I also tried. I found this recipe in the "Hearth to Heart" cook book put out by Beta Sigma Phi. () = my notes.

Old-Fashioned Southern Corn Bread

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour (I used regular ol' white flour, I think)
1 cup milk
Dash of salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup honey or molasses (I used cane syrup)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour small amount of oil into cast-iron skillet (to grease it). Heat skillet in oven. Combine remaining ingredients in bowl; mix well. Pour into heated skillet. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until tests done (clean toothpick). Yield: 10 servings (unless you cut it into 8 pieces like I did).

Lynette Baugh, Preceptor Zeta Alpha
Waco, Texas

Everybody liked it. I actually got it out of the skillet in one piece, too. Will miracles never cease.