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Cajun Country |
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SUGAR PEPPER COOKIES
2¼ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup butter or margarine, at room temp.
1 large egg
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (Tabasco Sauce)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, cream sugar and butter until well blended. Add egg, hot pepper sauce, vanilla and flour mixture; beat until smooth. Divide dough in half. On plastic wrap, shape each dough half
into a log, about 1½ inches in diameter. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut dough rolls into ¼-inch thick slices. Dip each slice in granulated sugar. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are golden around edges. Cool on wire rack. Makes 5 dozen cookies
SHRIMP CREOLE
12 medium-size firm, ripe tomatoes (or
4 cans coarsely chopped, drained, canned tomatoes)
3 lbs. uncooked medium-size shrimp
½ cup vegetable oil
2 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 cup coarsely chopped green peppers
1 cup coarsely chopped celery
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1 cup water
2 medium-size bay leaves
1 tablespoon paprika
½ teaspoon ground hot red pepper (cayenne)
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with ¼ cup cold water
6 to 8 cups freshly cooked long grain white rice
In a heavy 4 to 5 quart pot, heat oil over moderate heat. Add onions, green peppers, celery, and garlic, and, stirring frequently, cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and translucent but not brown. Stir in the tomatoes, water, bay leaves, paprika, red pepper, and salt; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low; cover partially and, stirring occasionally, simmer for 20
to 25 minutes or until it is thick enough to hold its shape almost solidly in a spoon. Stir in the shrimp and continue to simmer, partially covered, for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Stir the cornstarch and water mixture to recombine it and pour it into the pot. Stir over low heat for 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly. Pick out and discard the bay leaves. Serve over rice. Serves 6.
HUSH PUPPIES
1½ cups yellow cornmeal
¼ cup sugar
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon Tony's, Accent, or other seasoning blend
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup onion, finely chopped
milk
Combine dry ingredients; add eggs, onion and enough milk to make a thick batter. Drop by spoonful into 4 inches of hot oil. Fry til brown.
CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE JAMBALAYA
3 lbs. chicken pieces
Tony Chechere's Creole Seasoning
4 tablespoons margarine
4 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
½ lb. smoked pork sausage
3 cups uncooked rice
6 cups water
Season chicken generously with Tony's. Melt margarine in a 5 quart Dutch oven and fry chicken until brown. Remove chicken from
pot and add all vegetables. Saute for 10 minutes. Add sausage and cook for 10 minutes, mixing thoroughly. Return chicken to pot. Add rice, water, and stir. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes or until rice is fully cooked. Serves 8.
FRIED TURKEY
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 tablespoons Creole mustard
6 ounces garlic juice
6 ounces onion juice
¼ cup Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
8 ounces water
3 ounces pepper sauce
1-14 pound turkey
Two days before cooking, mix the first seven ingredients in a blender. Pour into a jar and chill.
Inject turkey with a syringe using the blended mixture. Rub turkey with additional mustard and season generously with Tony's seasoning. When ready to cook, heat 5 gallons of peanut oil to 350°F. Submerge turkey and fry for 4 minutes per pound of turkey. Serves 15.
RED BEANS AND RICE
You may substitute canned beans in this recipe
1 pound dried red beans
½ pound pickled pork, cut in strips
1 onion, chopped fine
½ green bell pepper, chopped
Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
Soak beans overnight. Drain. Using a heavy stockpot, combine all ingredients with enough water to cover well and cook until beans are tender. Add water as needed. To thicken gravy, mash a few beans against the side of the pot with the back of a wooden spoon. Serve over steamed rice. Serves 6.
POPCORN SHRIMP
1 pound shrimp, peeled (90-110's)
4 cups corn flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 quart oil for frying
½ cup yellow mustard
Make sure shrimp are peeled, washed and drained well. Pat shrimp in paper towels to dry. Reserve shrimp in a bowl. Next, mix corn flour, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder until totally blended. In a 2½ quart pot, heat 1 quart oil to 360°F. Then, add yellow mustard to the reserved shrimp and mix well. Dredge the shrimp through the corn flour mixture until well coated. Shake off excess, drop in hot oil and fry until golden brown.
CHICKEN SAUCE PIQUANTE #1
2 chicken fryers (8 pieces)
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup bell pepper
1½ cups celery
¼ cup green onions
2 bay leaves
2 cups mushrooms
¼ cup jalapeño
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup flour
4 cups onions
3 tablespoons garlic
¼ cup fresh parsley
2 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
¾ cup white rhine wine
10 dashes Tabasco brand pepper sauce
Chop all vegetables to a fine texture. Mince garlic and process jalapeño peppers in a food processor until very fine. Use fresh parsley if you can, but use ½ if using dried parsley. Salt chicken and fry in ¼ cup of vegetable oil until brown, then add bell pepper, celery, green onion, bay leaf, mushrooms, jalapeño peppers and simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and reserve.
In a separate large pot, heat ¾ cup oil and add flour. Stir over medium heat until dark brown (about 20 - 25 minutes). Add onions, garlic and parsley and stir. Add water slowly and stir until completely blended. Add salt, pepper, cayenne and stir. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Add chicken and above mixture to pot and stir well until mixture thickens. Add Tabasco, wine and stir, cooking 20 minutes more on medium heat. Serve over spaghetti or rice. You can top with parmesan cheese.
CHICKEN ETOUFFEÉ
1 large chicken fryer
2 quarts water
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups flour
¼ pound butter
2 cups onion
1 cup bell pepper
½ cup celery
3 tablespoons garlic
3 tablespoons parsley
1 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons whole basil
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 dashes Tabasco brand pepper sauce
In a 4 quart pot, heat water to boiling. Add whole chicken to pot and boil until completely cooked (about 45 minutes). Remove chicken and allow to cool. While chicken is cooling, strain chicken stock, skim oil and return to high heat. Boil until reduced to about 1 quart stock, then remove from heat. Pick cooled chicken and reserve. Chop all vegetables fine. In a skillet heat vegetable oil to pot and add ¾ cup flour and whisk until dark brown (be careful not to burn). Remove and reserve roux.
In a 2 quart saucepan, heat butter on high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, celery, garlic and sauté until onions just begin to wilt. Add remaining flour and stir in well. Continue to stir until flour is the color of a paper bag. Next, slowly add 1 quart reduced chicken stock until all is added. Stir with a whisk until stock is completely blended with light roux. Bring to a boil and add reserved dark brown roux and stir in well until blended. Bring to boil, add remaining ingredients except picked chicken, reduce heat to just maintain boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add picked chicken and stir. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand covered for 10 minutes. Serve over rice or your favorite pasta. Serves 4-6.
STUFFED FRIED SHRIMP
1 pound jumbo shrimp (16 - 20 per lb.)
¼ pound small shrimp (70 - 90 per lb.)
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup onion, minced
2 tablespoons celery, minced
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
2 tablespoons whole basil
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon whole thyme
4 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 quart oil for frying
First peel shrimp and remove heads, leaving the tails on the first rib of skin on the jumbo shrimp only. Place all peeling and heads in a 1 quart pot with 3 cups water and boil for 40 minutes. Strain liquid from pot, discard peeling and heads, then return liquid to cleaned pot. Boil until reduced by ½. Reserve stock.
Next, in a 10 inch skillet, melt butter on high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, parsley flakes and basil. Simmer on high heat until onions begin to clear. Add salt, pepper, thyme and mix well. Cover and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Chop small shrimp to medium fine texture and add to skillet along with ¾ cup reserved shrimp stock and stir well. Bring heat back to high and simmer until mixture begins to boil. Cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
While mixture is simmering, clean, butterfly and devein jumbo shrimp by slicing down the back of the shrimp, cutting about ¾ of the way through the shrimp. Remove the dark vein and rinse well. Reserve covered until ready to stuff.
Remove skillet from heat after 15 minutes of simmering and stir well. Add bread crumbs to mixture and stir well until mixture becomes firm enough to handle. It should take between 1½ to 1¾ cups of the bread crumbs to get the job done. Allow mixture to cool. Reserve remaining bread crumbs. When mixture has cooled, spoon a generous amount, (about 2 ounces) of stuffing onto the
open area of the shrimp. Mold stuffing around the end of the shrimp with your hands. Next roll stuffed shrimp in remaining bread crumbs and set aside until you have all shrimp done. In a 2 quart pot, heat oil to 400°F. Carefully drop stuffed shrimp in oil and fry until brown. Remove, drain and serve. Serves 4-5 people.
ONION RINGS
2 large onions
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
8 cups flour
salt to taste
1½ quarts oil for frying
Cut off ends of onions and peel outer skin. Slice onions ¼ to ½ inch thick. Press out all rings and reserve. In a large bowl, mix eggs and milk, then whip until totally blended. Slowly add 2 cups flour a little at a time while whipping until all is added and totally blended. In another large bowl, add remaining flour. In a 2 quart pot, heat oil to 400°F. Dip onions in egg mixture until completely coated. Next dredge coated onion rings into flour until completely coated. Carefully drop coated rings in hot oil and fry until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle salt to taste and serve. Serves 2.
CAJUN SEASONING
Use only dried seasonings
1 cup salt
¼ cup cayenne pepper
¼ cup black pepper
¼ cup granulated garlic
¼ cup onion powder
1½ tablespoons paprika
1½ tablespoons celery seed
In a food processor add salt and cayenne pepper. Process for 30 seconds. Add black pepper, granulated garlic and process another 15 seconds. Add remaining ingredients and process another minute. Store in air-tight container. Use for gumbo, jambalaya, etouffeé or for your regular cooking. You can also use like salt at the dinner table. Makes about 2½ cups.
FRIED CORN ON THE COB
½ cup creole mustard
4 cups corn flour or corn meal
1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
6 mini ears of corn, fresh or frozen
1 quart oil for frying
Heat oil to 400°F. Roll corn in creole mustard until coated. In a separate bowl, mix corn flour (or corn meal) with Cajun seasoning until
blended. Roll coated corn in flour, pressing down until completely coated around the kernels and on the sides. Fry in hot oil until coating is golden brown. Serves 6.
FRIED CRAWFISH
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
4 cups corn flour
1 quart oil for frying
In a bowl, mix egg, milk, salt and cajun seasoning. Whip with a fork or whisk until totally blended. Add 1 cup corn flour and whip until blended. Heat oil to 400°F. Drop all crawfish into egg mixture, and mix until all crawfish is coated. In a separate bowl, add remaining corn flour. Roll coated crawfish tails into the corn flour mixture until coated. Carefully drop crawfish tails into oil and fry until golden brown. Serves 4.
CAJUN SMOTHERED POTATOES
8 pounds russet potatoes
½ pound butter
¼ cup bacon fat
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
½ cup chopped celery
¼ cup minced garlic
¼ cup dried parsley
¼ cup whole basil
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons salt
2 cups ground tasso
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups green onion
Peel all potatoes and cut into medium sized cubes. Rinse well. Cover with water and bring to a boil for 16 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F. In an oven roaster, (on the stove) melt butter on high heat. As soon as the butter is melted, add bacon fat, onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, parsley, whole basil, paprika, cajun seasoning and salt. Stir well and sauté for 10 minutes. Add ground tasso and stir well. Put roaster (uncovered) in oven and begin to bake at preheated temperature. Stir every 10 minutes. After the first 10 minutes in the oven, add chicken stock and stir well. Bake another 20 minutes. When potatoes have boiled for 16 minutes, drain completely and let stand uncovered. Potatoes should be about 75% cooked. Add partially cooked potatoes to oven roaster.
Stir well. Continue to bake (stirring occasionally) for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cover roaster. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add green onions and stir well. Serves 20.
ALLIGATOR SAUCE PIQUANT
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 cup all purpose flour
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
½ cup chopped celery
¼ cup parsley flakes
2 cups crushed tomato
¼ cup tomato paste
1¼ cup diced rotel tomato
1 quart chicken stock
½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup finely minced jalapeño pepper
½ cup white wine
2 pounds alligator body meat
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon whole thyme
2 tablespoons whole sweet basil
Cooked rice or pasta
With oil and flour make a dark roux. Reduce heat to very low and add onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic and parsley, stirring as you add each. Add crushed tomato and stir well. Return to high heat. Add tomato paste and stir until well blended. Add rotel tomato and continue to stir. Add chicken stock slowly and stir to blend as you add all stock. Add jalapeño peppers and mushrooms and stir. Add wine. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to maintain low boil. Simmer in this manner for 45 minutes to an hour. Add alligator meat and remaining ingredients (except for rice or pasta) and continue to simmer until alligator meat is cooked and tender. This should take
about 30 minutes. Serve over cooked rice or pasta.
BEIGNETS
3 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 envelope yeast
2 tablespoon cooking oil
1 cup hot milk
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
confectioners sugar
Combine milk in large container with oil and sugar. Mix well and allow to cool to just warm. Add yeast and stir until dissolved. Mix flour, salt, spices and egg into yeast mixture. Form a large ball; allow to rise while covered. Knead gently until elastic. Roll out onto floured board to about ¼" thickness. Cut into 2" squares, allow to rise again for 45 minutes. In deep fryer or skillet, heat oil to 375°F and drop in squares. Cook until light golden brown. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar. Makes 24 beignets.
SHRIMP IN COCONUT MUSTARD SAUCE
1 pound shrimp - shelled and deveined
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
2 hot Thai chillies
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoon water
1 large coconut
2 tablespoon mustard oil
wet dough made of 3 tablespoon of flour
Grind the mustard seeds, chillies, salt, turmeric and water into a smooth paste in a blender. Marinate the cleaned shrimps in this paste for at least 10 minutes. Split the coconut in two and drain the coconut milk. (The milk is not used). Put the shrimp mixture in the coconut halves with the mustard oil and the whole chillies. Put the two halves of the coconut together and use a thin rope of the flour dough to seal the joint. Put the coconut in the oven and bake for 45 minutes at 400°F. This preferred method is to barbecue the coconut among coals. The coconut is left in the dying embers until the outerlayer is well charred - about ½ hour.
CHICKEN SAUCE PIQUANTE #2
1 large dead hen, cut up
3 large onions, chopped
½ bell pepper, chopped
¼ cup parsley
¼ cup onion tops
½ can tomato paste
¼ cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt, pepper
Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and set aside to marinate in seasoning while preparing other ingredients. When all vegetables are cleaned and chopped, fry chicken until golden brown in oil. Add onions and bell pepper and sauté with chicken. Add hot water to cover contents in pot.Add parsley, onion tops, tomato paste, garlic and celery. Let boil, covered, for about and hour. If gravy reduces too much, add a cup of hot water, but not later than 30 minutes before serving. Just before serving over hot rice, sprinkle more fresh onion tops and parsely over chicken and sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.
CATFISH COURBOUILLON
2 pounds catfish
1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped onion tops
½ cup parsley, chopped
1 large can tomatoes, mashed
3 cloves garlic, minced (or garlic powder)
1 bell pepper, chopped
salt, red pepper
1½ quarts water
Make light brown roux with butter and flour in cast iron (or other heavy) pot. Stir constantly until flour turns brown, a shade or so darker than peanut butter. Add onions and sauté. Add tomatoes, stirring while cooking down for a few minutes. Add all other ingredients except fish and simmer for 45 to 60 mintutes. Season this sauce to taste with salt and red pepper - should be quite tangy with pepper. Add cut-up fish, cover and simmer for 20 minutes without stirring, so as not to break up fish. Serve over hot rice.
ROUX
Combine 1 cup cooking oil and 2 cups flour in a black iron skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to brown. Reduce heat, continue stirring constantly until mixture is almost dark brown. Remove from heat just before desired color is reached, as roux will continue to brown in the hot iron skillet. Keep stirring.
CAJUN JAMBALAYA
2 pounds pork ribs
½ pound smoked pork sausage, cut into ½-inch rounds
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
½ cup chopped green onion
½ cup chopped parsley
small amount fat
1 cup rice, more or less
Season ribs with salt and red pepper and brown in small amount of fat. Remove from pot and put in onion, celery, garlic and bell pepper. Sauté about 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, render most of the fat out of sausage rounds. Return ribs to saucepan, put in drained sausage rounds and add enough water to cover.Cover and cook until pork is almost tender, adding water when necessary. Remove all meats from pot and measure liquid (gravy). For each 2 cups of gravy, put in 1 cup of raw rice. Stir well, cook over high heat for 10 minutes while stirring. Reduce heat to simmer. Place meat and sausage rounds on top of rice and cover. Do not stir until rice is almost cooked and ready to serve; add green onions and parsley, mix well and serve hot.
Any kind of meat, wild or domestic fowl may be substituted for the porkribs.
PAIN PERDU
Pain Perdu means "lost bread" in French. It is usually made with stale chunks of French bread, thus the term "lost". Today, most people call it French toast.
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
8 thick slices stale bread French bread or Texas toast works well)
margarine
confectioner's sugar
In a large bowl, beat eggs well; add sugar and continue to beat. Add vanilla, milk and cinnamon. Mix well. Soak bread slices in mixture, coating each side thoroughly. Melt a little margarine in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Carefully remove bread slices from bowl and place on griddle. Cook on each side until golden brown. Place on platter and dust with confectioner's
sugar. Yields 4 servings.
Thanks For ALL the Cajun Recipes, Keigh!
Some Creepy Bayou, Louisiana
