March 2005 Archives
Crawfish and Tasso Pasta
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped fine
2-3 green onions, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic
4-5 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 tablespoons flour
1/2 pound tasso, cubed
1 pound crawfish tails
1/2 cup fish or chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
saute the onion, green onion, green pepper, and garlic in 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until the onion is transparent. add the tasso and heat for three minutes, stirring regularly. Add the remaining olive oil, then sprinkle the flour over the mixture. Continue to mix everything together and cook until the flour turns golden. Stir in the wine, then the chicken stock, thinning out the mixture. Add the cream, stirring continually. Add the crawfish tails and simmer. Serve over pasta. Serves 4-6.
Gumbo Z'Herbes
The tradition behind Gumbo Z'Herbes is that it was usually made on Holy Thursday for consumption on Good Friday. Since Good Friday was (and still is) a day of fasting and abstinence from meat for Catholics, something meatless had to be prepared for dinner. Catholics in New
Orleans normally had no difficulties with the Church's no-meat-on-Fridays rule, since we have such an abundance of seafood in the area.
Good Friday was a bit different, however, since it is also a day of *fasting*. The regular Friday seafood feast had to be toned down
dramatically in keeping with the tone of the day.
I don't know much about all of the various levels of vegetarianism, so I'll just say that this dish contains no meat or seafood. The
shortening called for in the recipe could be replaced with olive oil, since this is for making the roux. I'll leave it to the Vegans and such
to make this recipe fit their dietary requirements.
1 bunch each, in any combination, but use at least five:
spinach, collard, mustard or turnip greens, watercress, chicory, beet
tops, pepper grass, radish tops
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
1 small green cabbage, chopped
1 gallon water
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons shortening
1 large onion, diced
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Salt and pepper to taste
Cayenne to taste
2 cups rice, cooked
Wash the greens, parsley, green onion, and cabbabe thoroughly and remove the stems and hard centers. Boil in water for 2 hours. Drain the greens and reserve the water. Chop the greens finely. In a soup kettle make a brown roux of the flour and shortening. Add the onion and saute' for 15 minutes. Add the reserved cooking water, herbs, spices, and seasonings. Simmer for 1 hour. Serve over rice. Serves 8.
YatCuisine: New Orleans Po-Boys
25 minutes. Po-boy history, New Orleans French bread, french fry, roast beef, and seafood po-boys. Recipe: BBQ Shrimp Po-boy.
Roux
"First you make a Roux" -- this phrase is repeated in almost all Creole
and Cajun recipes. A Roux is a mixture of fat and flour, cooked
together until the flour has turned an even, nut-brown color. It is
important that the Roux be cooked in a heavy pot, slowly and evenly. If
the flour is burned, it will not thicken the sauce. It will also impart
an unpleasant taste.
Accepted methods of making a Roux call for equal parts of flour and fat
(oil, bacon grease, shortening, butter, or margarine). For an ordinary
sauce (such as gumbo, daube, grillades, etc.) bacon grease or oil is
used. For more delicately flavored dishes (poultry, fish, and eggs),
butter or margarine is usually preferred.
In a heavy sauce pan, melt the butter, or slightly heat the oil, over
low heat. Stir in the flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly,
until a rich brown Roux is formed (about 20 to 25 minutes).
Roux may be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen, tightly covered, for
long periods of time.
Welcome to the first YatCuisine Podcast, a weekly presentation of YatPundit.
keywords: yatcuisine, new orleans, gumbo, roux
Top Ten Thursday this week is actually a Top Five, the five places in town with the best onion rings. Here's the list, if you want the reasoning, listen to the podcast. :-)
5. Popeye's
4. Lee's Hamburgers
3. Charlie's Steakhouse (4510 Dryades near Napoleon)
2. Mandina's (3800 Canal Street)
1. Liuzza's (Bienville and Telemachus)
Just some thoughts on Lunch around town of late...
Bud's Broiler on City Park Avenue is still one of my favorite places to stop for a bite. #4, fries, diet coke. I got an e-mail from a local who said they felt that Bud's had cut back on the cheese on their burger. I haven't found that to be the case personally.
Pizza Florence - Vets and N. Woodlawn in Metairie - formerly "Johnny and Josie's Po-Boys," the location is now a pizza place, run by some Turkish folks. Good crust, good sauce, excellent green olives.
Corner Cafe - Green Acres and Yale in Metairie - excellent hot sausage po-boy, good fried shrimp po-boy. The gumbo at the next table looked thick and smelled tasty. Good plate lunch/sandwich place in the burbs.
Caretta's - Vets and Metairie Heights, across from Shogun in Metairie - good Mexican food, enchiladas/burritos/flautas/etc. Had a tasty chile relleno, the salsa was spicy and the chips were crispy and fresh.
Today's podcast on the "holy trinity" of Creole cooking (onion, celery, green pepper) inspired me to do a bit of Creole cooking tonight. I had a cut-up fryer I broiled in the oven, and to go with it, I made a Creole white wine sauce. I didn't have any green pepper, but I did have green onion, so I made a last minute switch rather than run to the grocery.
Here's some shots of the process (sorry about my cheap-ass webcam; I shoot film for my websites):
The "holy trinity," sort of. Remember, there are no rules here. I sauteed the veggies in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.
just some white flour and breadcrumbs to blend in with the veggies, along with half a cup of dry white wine and some chicken stock.
The sauce, simmering on the stove.
Dinner!
Creole Cooking - the "Holy Trinity"
keywords: new orleans, louisiana, creole, creole-french, onions, green pepper, celery, pork chops
