Artichoke
Dip
Makes 2 cups
1 (14-oz can) artichoke hearts in water, cut in half
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped onion
6 slices bacon, cooking and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Italian herbs or other favorite spice blend
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine everything in a mixing bowl and stir gently until
combined. Serve with crackers or crispy chips
Spicy Rémoulade Sauce
Makes 1/2 cup
This well know mayonnaise is perfect
for seafood, smoked meats, vegetables and just about anything else.
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped pickled gherkins
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Creole, Dijon or stone-ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Hot pepper sauce -- to taste
In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Chill before
serving.
Crab
Cakes with Remoulade Sauce
Pannéed Meat
Serves 8
Pannéed is a New Orleans term for
pan-frying. It
is generally a pounded and breaded beef, pork or veal
cutlet, quickly
fried in hot oil. It is simply delicious served with pasta
and
tomato sauce or mashed potatoes.
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
8 round steak, boneless pork or veal cutlets, pounded
to about 1/4"
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1cup plain or seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (optional)
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
Oil for frying
In 3 separate plates combine; the salt, pepper and
flour; the beaten eggs and milk and; the
bread crumbs,
cheese and Creole seasoning. Dredge the meat cutlets
in the
seasoned flour, dip in the egg/milk mixture
and then
roll in the bread crumbs, coating the cutlet thoroughly.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and cook the meat until done,
about 2 minutes per side, until the breading is nicely browned on both
sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.
Natchitoches Meat
Pies
From Chef John Folse
Serves 4
Natchitoches, LA, is known for its
meat pies,
which are
turnovers filled with ground meat and seasonings. The original
Louisiana version is believed to have been developed by the
Natchitoches Indians and improved upon by the Spanish.
½ pound ground meat
½ pound ground pork
½ cup cooking oil
½ cup chopped onions
½ cup chopped celery
¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tbsp diced garlic
2 cups beef stock (see recipe)
2 9-inch pie shells
1 egg
½ cup water
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Preheat
oven to 400 degrees F. In a heavy-bottomed sauté pan, heat oil over
medium high heat. Sauté beef and pork until golden brown, stirring
constantly, until all liquid has evaporated. Add onions, celery, bell
peppers and garlic. Sauté three to five minutes or until vegetables are
wilted. This should cook slowly for about one hour, adding beef stock
to mixture to prevent sticking. Season to taste using salt and pepper.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Roll pie dough into circles and cut
into halves. Spoon a generous portion of the cooked meat mixture into
the pie shells. Brush a little egg-wash around the edge of the shell,
fold over and press the edges with a fork similar to apple turnover.
Place on a greased cookie sheet or pan. Make small slits in dough to
vent steam, egg-wash entire pie and bake thirty minutes at 400 degrees.
Pie may also be deep-fried.
Quick Barbecued
Shrimp
From Chef Paul Prudhomme
Serves 2-4
Messy
but so much fun! The shrimp are technically not
grilled or
barbecued but baked in a tangy sauce. Just peel, eat and sop
up
the sauce with crusty French bread.
1 pound large or
medium shrimp, unpeeled.
1/4 pound (1 stick), plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon Creole seasonings or seafood seasoning
blend of choice
1/2 cup chicken or shrimp stock (previously made)
1/4 cup warm beer, not flat
Combine
1 stick of the butter, the garlic, Worcestershire sauce and
the seasoning blend in a large skillet over high
heat. When the butter melts, add the shrimp.
Cook
for 2
minutes, gently stirring. Add the remaining 5 tablespoons
butter
and the stock. Slowly add the beer and cook and
stir for 1-2
minutes more. Remove from the heat and serve immediately
in bowls with crusty bread
Shrimp
Stock
This is versatile and good stock for any dish that contains
shrimp such as gumbo
or
jambalaya.
Peel
the shrimp. Put the shells in a saucepan and rinse quickly in
cold water. Add water to the shells and place pan over medium
low
heat. For more flavor, add chunks of celery, onion,
parsley, lemon and seafood seasoning. Simmer about
30
minutes. Strain through a mesh strainer pushing on the shells
to extract maximum flavor.
If you are lucky enough to find shrimp with
the
heads on, remove the heads leaving the orange-colored shrimp
fat
in place. Put all of the shells in the
pan. The
heads and fat will produce a much more concentrated stock.
Shrimps sold with the heads on are common in New Orleans but
hard
to find elsewhere.
Mom's Stuffed Shrimp
Serves 4
This
is one of my all-time favorites. My Mom of course made the
best
stuffed shrimp ever but I have changed this recipe to make
it easier to prepare and a
little less fattening. These shrimp are baked instead of fried.
About 12-16 shrimp, large or
jumbo, peeled, deveined, butterflied, tails-on
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 pound fresh crab meat, shell and cartilage removed
3/4 -1 cup bread crumbs or finely crushed buttery crackers, reserve
about 1/2 cup for finishing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Old Bay or other seafood or Creole seasonings
1/4 cup butter, melted
Lemon wedges
In
a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add
the
onions, celery, and green peppers and cook until
softened,
about 4 minutes. Add the parsley and the garlic, and cook, stirring,
for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool.
Mix bread crumbs,
mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire, lemon juice, cayenne, egg
and
Old Bay. Stir until well blended. Stir in vegetables and then
gently fold in crab keeping the lumps as whole as possible.
To butterfly shrimp:
Split shrimp down the bottom center to tail, being careful not to cut
through. Spread and flatten shrimp as much as possible
Mound each shrimp with about 2 scant tablespoons
of the crab mixture. Sprinkle
reserved bread crumbs
over shrimp and sprinkle with more Old Bay or paprika.
Drizzle all with melted butter.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes until lightly
browned. Serve with a squeeze of lemon.
Chef Deb's Creole Red
Beans and Rice
Serves 8-12
Traditionally,
red beans and rice were always cooked on a Monday. Monday was
wash day in most New Orleans homes and because the beans cook for many
hours, a person could do a lot of laundry while the beans
cooked.
Serve over white rice with French bread and butter. We loved
red
beans with pickled onions and a small dollop of mayonnaise.
Try it!
When the beans are
done, remove 1-2 cups of mostly beans and mash with the back of a spoon
until creamy.
Return mixture to pot
This recipe uses ham hocks but you can omit them if you wish.
Also good is smoked sausage or chorizo
either fried and eaten separetly or sliced into chunks and added to the
beans in the last 1 hour of cooking. Of course the beans are
great without any meat at all.
2-3 pounds ham hocks
1 pound dried kidney beans
Water; to soak beans and to cook in
2 cups onion; chopped
2 cups green bell pepper; chopped
2 cups chopped celery
3 Bay leaves
1-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 garlic cloves; chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Hot sauce to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
Salt and black pepper to taste
Cover the beans with water and allow to stand overnight.
Drain the beans and rinse well.
In
a large Dutch oven or stock pot, add about 2 1/2 quarts of water to
start.
Add the beans, ham hocks, chopped vegetables, bay leaves,
oregano
and thyme. Do not add the salt at this point because some say they
prevent the beans from becoming tender. Also, the
ham hocks
are salty
Simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, or until
the meat is very tender. Remove the ham hocks from the pan and
add additional water as needed. Simmer and cook,
stirring occasionally until the beans
are tender,
about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Remove the meaty parts of the ham hocks, and discard the bones and
skin. Add the meat to the beans in the last minutes of cooking
time. Add salt, hot sauce, hot pepper and black pepper to taste.
Serve
over rice
Dirty Rice
Serves 4-8
Dirty
rice is white rice mixed with vegetables and chicken
livers
or gizzards
(the "dirty" part). Some versions contain seafood or sausage.
Some people do not like chicken gizzards (like me) so they
are
left out of this recipe.
1/4 pound chicken liver
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup oil
1 cup chopped onion
8 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green onions, both white and green parts
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 cups rice, cooked
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Red chile flakes
Put chicken liver in separate saucepan. Cover with water and simmer
until tender. Chop fine and set aside. In a large saucepan, saute
ground meats in oil until
well done. Drain off excess fat. Add onion, garlic,
celery, and green onions. Cook until tender. Add chopped
liver, parsley, and
Worcestershire sauce. Cook about 15 minutes. Add rice and mix well.
Season with
salt, pepper, and red chile flakes.
The term muffuletta (pronounced
"muff-uh-LOT-uh" or "moo-foo-LET-ta" ) actually
refers to the round Sicilian bread on which the sandwich is
made. It is an absolutely fabulous gastronomic delight.
The sandwich is stuffed with meats and cheeses
and topped with a tangy, marinated olive
salad, which is the heart of the sandwich. The
muffuletta most likely originated in 1906 at
the Central Grocery in the French Quarter by the Sicilian-born
owner.
To make a Muffuletta sandwich start with about
a
10-inch round loaf of dense textured bread
(similiar to foccaccia). The bread needs to be able to absorb
the olive salad juices without falling apart. Cut
the bread in
half crosswise. Next layer thin slices of
Italian-style cold cuts such as salami, ham, mortadella or
capicola, followed by slices of provolone or mild Swiss cheeses. The
sandwich is then topped with the olive salad and the top of the loaf.
The sandwich is especially good when made 1 day
ahead, wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated.
This way the olive salad's oil and juices flavor the
bread,
meats and cheeses. Cut in quarters and serve. I have also
made individual sandwiches using Kaiser rolls or good French bread
hamburger buns.
Quick and Easy Olive Salad
Sorry folks, no real recipe here. It's really hard
to go wrong!
I like to start with a jar of mild giardiniera
(pickled vegetable
relish). Drain the
veggies to a large mixing bowl, reserving the juices. Add a mixture of
olives such as Nicoise, green
pimiento-stuffed, Kalumata
and black olives. I purchase from the olive bar at
the supermarket. You will probably need about 1-1/2 cups of
olives to a 16-oz jar of giardiniera. I also add a little
more chopped celery, garlic and shallots,
along with
dried oregano and freshly ground
black pepper. You can also
add hot pepperoncini for
extra kick.
All of these ingredients must then be finely chopped into roughly 1/2
inch pieces. I like my olive salad a little more
finely chopped but either way, the olive and veggie pieces should not
be so big as to fall off of the sandwich unnecessarily. You get my
drift. You can use a food processor but be
careful not to over process and turn the mixture into mush.
Place in a glass container and cover with olive oil
and canola oil and reserved juices, to taste.
Allow the olive salad to marinate for about
24 hours. It will last for at least a month in the
refrigerator and is delicious on any sandwich, burger or hot dog.
Try it mixed into hot
pasta topped with Parmesan cheese.
The
Po-Boy" is in tough competition with the muffuletta for the king of all
New Orleans sandwiches. I think it's a draw!
Growing up I don't remember hearing anything about heroes or
sub sandwiches. We only ate po-boys.
As the story goes, the sandwich name is short for "poor boy".
Way back when, the youth of New Orleans would start
the working day with a sandwich made from French bread and filled
with whatever the family could afford. The sandwich
was usually their only food for the day.
What makes a po-boy so very good is the bread. After
moving
away from New Orleans, I soon realized that what Northerners call
"French bread" is not the bread I grew up loving.
New Orleans French bread has a super
crunchy crust (no need to crisp in the oven) and a light,
almost non-existent center. This makes it perfect for
stuffing to the brim.
What is it stuffed with? My personal favorite is hot sausage.
Alas, this spicy, paprika-laden sausage doesn't seem
to exist outside of Louisiana but fresh Mexican or Spanish
chorizo comes fairly close. Most natives love fried oysters,
fried shrimp, roast beef with gravy, ham (usually no cheese)
and fried smoke sausage.
Po-boys are usually enjoyed dressed. I think that term is
peculiar to New Orleans and simply means that the sandwich contains
shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes, pickles and mayonnaise.
It's also ok to add Creole mustard, ketchup, Worcheshire
sauce, hot peppers and and fried or raw onions.
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