Podcast: April 2005 Archives
Crawfish Etouffee is one of the classic Creole/Cajun dishes from New Orleans and South Louisiana. You'll hear a bit of discussion/debate as to whether this is a "Cajun" or a "Creole" dish, but it's really a French dish, so it's essentially both. "Etouffee" is the French word for to stew or smother, so we're talking about "crawfish stew," and that sort of cooking is common to both city and country cuisine.
Here's a great etouffee recipe from Chef John Folse's website. If you can't get crawfish tails, you can use this same base recipe with two pounds of shrimp and make Shrimp Etouffee, or you could substitute boneless, skinless chicken breasts and make Chicken Etouffee. While doing the podcast, it dawned on me that a Chicken Etouffee might even be made as a Kosher dish. I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of keeping kosher, so if anybody who is would like to comment on this possibility, please do.
The Podcast (28:38, 26.2MB)
The recipe:
Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee
PREP TIME: 1 Hour
SERVES: 6
INGREDIENTS:
* 2 pounds cleaned crawfish tails
* 1/4 pound butter
* 1 cup onion, chopped
* 1/2 cup celery, chopped
* ½ cup green bell pepper, chopped
* ½ cup red bell pepper, chopped
* ½ cup tomatoes, diced
* 2 tbsps garlic, diced
* 2 bay leaves
* 1/2 cup tomato sauce
* 1 cup flour
* 2 quarts crawfish stock or water
* 1 ounce sherry
* 1 cup green onions, chopped
* ½ cup parsley, chopped
* salt and cayenne pepper to taste
* Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce
* 2 cups white rice, steamed
METHOD:
In a 2-gallon stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and bay leaves. Sauté until vegetables are wilted, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add crawfish tails and tomato sauce and blend well into mixture. Using a wire whip, blend flour into the vegetable mixture to form a white roux. Slowly add crawfish stock or water, a little at a time, until sauce consistency is achieved. Continue adding more stock as necessary to retain consistency. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sherry, green onions and parsley and cook an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste using salt and cayenne pepper. Serve over steamed white rice using a few dashes of Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce.
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is second only to Mardi Gras in terms of attendance. Da Fest is two weekends of great music and great food, all on the infield of the Fair Grounds Racetrack in Gentilly.
The List:
1. Crawfish Sacks, Crawfish Beignets, Oyster Patties from Patton's (food area 1)
2. Meat Pies/Crawfish Pies, Mrs. Wheat's (food area 2)
3. Muffeletta from DiMartino's (food area 1)
4. Oyster Rockefeller Bisque, Food for Thought (food area 2)
5. Cannoli, Strawberry Ice, Lemon Ice, Angelo Brocato's (food area 2)
6. Pheasant, Quail, and Andouille Gumbo, Prejean's (food area 2)
7. Fried Soft Shell Crab Po-Boy, Galley (food area 2)
8. Cochon de Lait Po-Boy, Fried Eggplant w/Crawfish sauce, Love at First Bite (food area 1)
9. Crawfish Sushi, Ninja, (food area 2)
10. Mango Freeze, WWOZ, (various locations)
Recipes:
Crawfish Beignets
1 lb. crawfish tailmeat
1/4 lb. andouille sausage
2 egg whites
1 Tbs. white wine vinegar
2 Tbs. chopped scallion
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
salt, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne to taste
cornmeal
In a food processor, grind together the crawfish and andouille. Add the whites, vinegar, scallion, mustard, and season very well to taste. With a disher, form the mixture into balls and roll in cornmeal. Fry in hot oil (350 degrees) until golden and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.
Oyster Patties
1 Dozen Patty Shells
2 Dozen Small Oysters
1 med Chopped Onion
5 Stalks Chopped Green Onions
Chopped Fine Parsley
2 tbs Butter
4 tbs Flour
To Taste Salt
To Taste Pepper
Melt butter and make roux with flour. Add seasoning, add oysters and liquor from oysters. Place in baked patty shells and serve hot.
Yield: 12 Patties
Creole Cream Cheese is a "farmer's cheese" originally from France, and rarely seen outside of the New Orleans area. There are a few grocery stores in New Orleans that still make/sell Creole Cream Cheese, which is down from the large-scale production operations of the old local dairies like Gold Seal Creamery. Still, you can by Creole Cream Cheese at Dorignac's Supermarket on Veterans Blvd. in Metairie, or you can make your own.
Creole Cream Cheese
PREP TIME: 4 Hours
INGREDIENTS:
* 2 gallons skim milk
* ½ quart buttermilk
* ½ rennet tablet (available at cheese specialty stores)
* Half & Half optional
METHOD:
Combine skim milk, buttermilk, and the ½ rennet tablet in a stainless steel pot. Using a thermometer, bring the temperature of the milk to 80 degrees, stirring constantly and hold for five minutes. Remove from heat, cover tightly and allow to sit 3 hours. Drain off the whey (liquid remaining after the curds are formed) discarding this liquid. Pack the solids in 8-ounce portions topping with equal parts of half and half cream. Chill and serve with sugar or fruit. Creole cream cheese is excellent in ice creams and pastries.
Creole Cream Cheese Evangeline
The classic brunch appetizer from Arnaud's Restaurant in the Quarter
Sweeten 2oz of Creole Cream Cheese with 1tbsp sugar. Mix thoroughly and spoon into a small glass ice cream dish and top with fresh fruit.
CRABMEAT CHEESECAKE
with Pecan Crust,
from the Palace Café
This fabulous cheesecake by Chef Robert Bruce is the signature appetizer at the Palace Café in New Orleans, one of my favorite restaurants back home. It's decidedly different from Chef Emeril Lagasse's savory cheesecakes, for which he is well known, primarily for its nutty crust and the special tang of Creole cream cheese.
Creole cream cheese is unfortunately impossible to find outside of New Orleans, and is even difficult to find within the city limits (Dorignac's Food Center on Veterans in Metairie still makes their own, bless 'em). You won't be able to make this like the restaurant does without it, but for the Creole cream cheese you can substitute equal parts of plain yogurt and sour cream. Believe me, the cheesecake will still taste fantastic!
Pecan Crust:
* 3/4 cup pecans
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
* 3 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
* 1/2 small onion, finely diced
* 4 ounces fresh lump crabmeat, picked over for shells
* 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
* 3 ounces Creole cream cheese (or 3 tablespoons each plain yogurt and sour cream)
* 2 eggs
* Salt and white pepper to taste
* Crystal hot sauce to taste (or your favorite hot sauce)
Garnish:
* 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
* 4 ounces sliced mixed wild and exotic mushrooms
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 3 ounces Worcestershire sauce
* 1 ounce hot sauce
* 3 ounces heavy whipping cream (UK: single cream)
* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
* 24 crab claw fingers
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the pecan crust: Grind the pecans, flour and salt in a food processor until fine. Transfer to a bowl. Add the butter. Work the butter into the flour until you have crumbs about the size of a pea. Toss in the ice water, lifting up the dough with your fingers to incorporate evenly. The dough will remain fairly crumbly. Starting with the sides, and then the bottom, press the dough into a 9-inch tart pan. Bake the crust in a 350°F oven for about 20 minutes. Allow the crust to cool before filling. Meanwhile, make the filling ...
For the filling: Cook the onion in a bit of butter over medium heat until translucent. Add the crabmeat and cook just until heated through. Remove from heat and set aside. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or by hand using a wooden spoon), blend the cream cheese until smooth. Add the Creole cream cheese and then the eggs one at a time. Fold in the crabmeat mixture. Season to taste with salt, white pepper and hot sauce. Pour the mix into the prepared cooled crust. Bake at 300°F for about 30 minutes until set and firm to the touch.
For the garnish topping: Sauté shallots until translucent. Add the mushrooms and sweat until just cooked through. Add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, and reduce by 3/4. Add the heavy cream and reduce by half. Whisk in the butter.
In a separate sauté pan, add crab claw fingers. Salt and pepper to taste, then pour the reduction over and keep warm. Each slice of cheesecake gets three crab claws and 2 tablespoons of sauce.
Yield: 8 servings from one 9" tart
In this week's YatCuisine Podcast we talk steak, and what you can do to "Creole" the basic American steak dish. Also: Crawfish-Stuffed Filet Mignon from Emeril's.
Recipes:
Bernaise Sauce
1/4 c Vinegar
1/4 c White wine
1 ts Tarragon, dry
1 tb Scallion, minced
1/2 c Butter, melted
3 ea Egg yolks
1/2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Pepper
Serve with beef or fish, yield 1 1/2 cups (6 tbls per serving). Combine vinegar, wine, pepper, scallions and tarragon in saucepan. Cook over low heat until reduced to half, about 8 minutes.Strain mixture into top of double boiler. With wire wisk or rotary beater,beat in beaten egg yolks and salt. Cook over hot water until thickened.Beat in butter 1-tbl at a time. Stir over heat till creamy, about 1 minute.
Marchand de Vin Sauce
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup scallions, finely chopped
1/2 cup boiled ham, finely chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cups beef stock
1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and black pepper
Melt the butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven and saute' the onion, garlic, scallions, and ham for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes. Blend in the flour and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes, then add the Worcestershire, beef stock, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Before serving, remove the bay leaf and add the parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Yields 3 cups.
Crawfish-Stuffed Filet Mignon with Crawfish Bordelaise Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp finely minced onion
1 tsp finely minced green onion
1 tsp finely minced celery
1 tsp finely minced green pepper
1 tsp finely minced garlic
1/4 lb crawfish tails
2 tbsp Shrimp Stock (may substitute fish or chicken stock here)
2 tsp bread crumbs
1 tbsp creole seasoning
1 1/2 cups Crawfish Bordelaise Sauce (see below)
4 filet mignons, 6-7 ounces each, trimmed
1. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Add the onions and green onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic and saute' for 1 minute. Add the crawfish tails, stock, bread crumbs and 1 tsp of the creole seasoning and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool, at least 15 minutes. Makes 1 cup.
2. Prepare the Crawfish Bordelaise Sauce (see below)
3. Sprinkle the remaining 2 teaspoons creole seasoning over the meat, using 1/2 tsp on each steak and inside its pocket. Use your hands to coat the meat thoroughly, inside and out.
4. Using a small sharp knife, cut a slit about 2 inches long into the side of each steak, cutting about 2 inches in to make a pocket. Stand the filets on their uncut edges and open the pockets. Using a spoon, fill each pocket with 1/4 cup of the cooled stuffing.
5. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil in a skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the filets and saute until rare, for about 3 minutes on each side. Saute the steaks 4 minutes on each side for medium rare, or longer if desired.
6. To serve, place 1 filet on each of 4 dinner places and cover with a generous 1/3 cup of the sauce.
Crawfish Bordelaise Sauce
1 tbsp minced shallots
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp creole seasoning
1/2 dry red wine
1/4 pound crawfish tails
1/2 tsp salt
4 turns freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups veal or beef glaze (may substitute beef stock)
2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tbsp chopped green onions
1. Combine the shallots, garlic and creole seasoning in a small nonreactive saucepan and place over high heat and cook for 30 seconds. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the crawfish, salt, and pepper and bring back to a boil.
2. Stir in the glaze or stock and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, skimming off the fat and impurities several times for about 10 minutes. Turn up the heat to high, skim the remaining impurities from the top of the sauce and cook for 1 or 2 minutes.
3. Whisk in the butter and continue to whisk until thoroughly incorporated, for about 30 seconds. Add the green onions and remove from the heat.
