Cajun Shrimp Stew

My husband spent his formative years in the Cajun capital of the world, Lafayette, La. The first time I went there, in addition to being completely enamored with the food and the accents, I was struck by a couple of things.

First, they don’t serve ginger ale in bars, though I did have a fine southern gentleman, Grayson, do his darndest to try and replicate it for me (7-Up with a dash of Coca-Cola). Second, Cajun men are serious about their cooking. I’m sure that Cajun women are, too, but I seemed to only have met Cajun male foodies (though I’m quiet certain they would frown at such a label).

Case in point, my husband has a friend name John. He is a rather solid, gruff guy, usually with a cigarette in one hand and a whiskey in the other. We had joined him for a drink in a bar before he and some other friends were heading to a late night party. John was getting a little agitated.

Someone asked him what he was worried about. He said, “May y’all, we got to go. The locks broke on my truck and I got some shrimp stew in there. That’s a good pot of stew, someone might steal it.”

I like this for a many reasons. One, I love the fact that John was bringing shrimp stew to a party. This wasn’t a dinner party; this was your average party where most people bring beer. Cajuns apparently bring food. Two, John wasn’t concerned that someone might steal his radio, or make off with his truck; he was concerned about his shrimp stew.

When I first heard of shrimp stew, I pictured a beef stew with carrots, onions and potatoes made with shrimp instead of beef. That thought really didn’t excite me too much. This spicy, peppery stew does excite me!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell peppers
1 cup shrimp or seafood stock
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/4 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp
1/3 cup chopped scallions
Cooked rice (enough for 4 servings)

Method

  • Make a light roux by stirring together oil (or butter) and flour in a heavy skillet. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until roux is the color of light milk chocolate, 10 to 12 minutes. Don’t let it burn, or you’ll have to start over again.
  • Add onion, celery and bell peppers and cook. Keep stirring, until bell peppers are softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in stock, water, salt, pepper and cayenne and simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is thickened, about 8 to 10 minutes.
  • Add shrimp and simmer, stirring occasionally, until shrimp is bright pink and cooked through, only about 3 to 4 minutes.
  • Top with scallions. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over rice. Serves four.

BBQ Shrimp Po Boys

When we visit New Orleans we always get BBQ shrimp po-boys from Liuzza’s By the Track. The first time my husband mentioned getting a BBQ Shrimp Po Boy, I wasn’t too excited. I pictured shrimp with tomato based BBQ sauce stuffed into French bread. The dish doesn’t have a drop of BBQ sauce and the shrimp never touch a grill. Seems the misnomer is a mystery. Even Pascal Manale’s, the restaurant, which claims to have created the dish, doesn’t give any answers. No mystery on its deliciousness. It’s mainly shrimp in a spicy butter sauce. What is not to love about that?! This is my husband’s recipe.

Ingredients:
2 pounds shrimp in shells
2 cups water (for stock)
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning (or a mixture of salt and cayenne)
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 ounces good beer
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely minced (or as much as you like)
1 medium onion, very finely minced
2 rib stalks of celery, very finely minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Tabasco, salt, pepper to taste
French bread, cut into 6-inch sections (or 6-inch sub rolls)

Method:

  • Shell and devein shrimp. Set shrimp aside. Add shells to sauce pan and cover with 2 cups of water. Cook over medium high heat for at least 10 minutes. Drain and reserve stock, discard shells.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Melt butter in a skillet. Over medium heat, sauté garlic, onions, celery, parsley, rosemary and seasoning for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add one cup of the shrimp stock and continue to cook for a few more minutes.
  • Place shrimp into a 9×13-inch baking dish and pour the sauce over it, stirring well.
  • Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, turning once.
  • Hollow out the bread from one of the ends, not from the side. You want to make a deep pocket for holding the shrimp.
  • Remove shrimp from the oven. Spoon shrimp with sauce into individual bread boats.

Serves six.

King Cake: Galette Des Rois

I told my foodie friend, Ellen, that I made a King cake. The conversation went like this:

Me: I made a King Cake the other day.
Ellen: I LOOOOVE King Cakes.
Me: It wasn’t bad.
Ellen: Oh, all that fluffy pastry and almond filling.
Me: Huh?
Ellen: It’s so light and airy.
Me: Huh? The one I made is like a big doughnut.
Ellen: Huh? No puff pastry?
Me: No.
Ellen: Hmm.

Turns out the King cake Ellen was enamored with was the French version or, Galette Des Rois. The one I made was the brioche-style one that is most often found in New Orleans. Of course, I had to try the French version.

Traditionally a fava bean is hidden in the cake and the person who gets the piece with the bean is crowned king for the day. Modern day King Cakes in New Orleans work like this: You make or buy a king cake and hide a tiny plastic baby Jesus figurine in it. The person who gets the piece embedded with the tiny plastic baby has to supply the next King Cake. Apparently it is a ploy to keep the party going from Twelfth night through Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday). Not that New Orleans needs another incentive for revelry.

Ingredients
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 eggs
1/4 cup of sugar (substitute rapadura or palm sugar)
1 packages (2 sheets) store bought puff pastry sheets, if frozen thaw in refrigerator
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Method

  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Grind almonds in food processor.
  • In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter.
  • Add two eggs, almond extract and ground almonds and mix well. This is your Frangipane.
  • Unfold thawed puff pastries and using a large plate or pie pan as a template cut pastry sheets into two circles.
  • Lay one circle on the prepared baking sheet and spread the Frangipane in the middle, leaving an inch border all the way around.
  • Place a dried fava bean or ceramic figure in the Frangipane. If you are using a plastic figurine, you’ll have to wait until the cake is cooked before you hide it.
  • Whip an egg and brush around the border of the dough, be sure it doesn’t drip down the edges, this will prevent the pastry from rising.
  • Place the other dough circle on top and press the edges to seal.
  • Brush top with egg. Slice a few (or many) lines in the top dough sheet.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes in an oven preheated to 375ºF
  • Dust with powdered sugar

Cool and serve.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Muffuletta

New Orleans has a rich and diverse culinary history. Of course, we have French and Cajun influences. And with an influx of immigrants in the late 19th century, there is also an Italian influence. Enter Central Grocery, circa 1906, and the Muffuletta. Traditionally, this is made on a large round Italian bread about the size of a dinner plate. The olive mix is the best part of this sandwich, so use whatever thick-crusted bread you want.

Ingredients
1 loaf of Italian round bread
1 cup olives, pitted and chopped (I use a combo of green and black olives)
1/4 cup of capers or chopped caper berries
1/2 cup giardiniera, chopped (Italian pickled vegetables)
1 tablespoon onions, minced
1 clove garlic, large, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 to 2 pounds of a combination of sliced deli meat, such as ham, mortadella, salami (I like an assortment of Fra’Mani Salumi)
4 slices provolone
4 slices mozzarella


Method

  • In a medium-sized bowl, mix together olives, capers, caper berries, giardiniera, onions, garlic, ground pepper, lemon juice, olive oil and crushed red pepper. Cover and let sit for an hour or more.
  • Cut bread in half horizontally. Brush each half with a little of the juice from the olive mix.
  • Spread with olive mix on each half and then layer the meats and cheeses.
  • Cover with loaf top. Slice into quarters and serve.

Serves four.

Molten Chocolate Cake in a Slow Cooker

chCakeCrockThis cake is very similar to a chocolate soufflé, only it’s made in a slow cooker! If your slow cooker is hard to clean, you may want to cook this in an oven-proof container (just make sure it fits before hand).

Molten Chocolate Cake is something I will make again, and again. I should just be sure to make it when we have guests over so my husband and I don’t eat the whole thing ourselves. Oops.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons butter
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (or 1/3 cup chocolate chips)
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup hot water

Method

  • Grease the inside of a 2.5- to 5-quart slow cooker with butter (or oil).
  • Mix together the flour and baking powder in a large bowl and set aside.
  • Melt the butter and chocolate. Using a microwave, heat for 30 seconds at a time or use a double boiler to melt chocolate. Once melted, mix well.
  • To the butter/chocolate mixture, add brown sugar, 3 tablespoons of cocoa, vanilla extract, almond extract, salt, milk and egg.
  • Add mixture to the flour and combine until well mixed.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared slow cooker. Make sure to spread it evenly.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, 1/3 cup of cocoa and hot water. Mix until the sugar is dissolved.
  • Pour the mixture over the batter in the slow cooker. This is the good gooey part.
  • Cover and cook on high for 1 to 2 hours (if you are using a smaller cooker, the time will be closer to 2 hours).
  • It will be done when the cake starts to pull away from the sides. The cake should be moist, with pockets of molten chocolate (yum).
  • When it’s done, turn off the power and remove the lid. Let it cool for 15 minutes. Scoop out and serve it in bowls.

It is best served warm. Serves six to eight.

Whole Wheat Bread in a Slow Cooker

My sister gave me a slow cooker (aka crock pot) a couple of years ago. She uses hers all the time. She is a very organized person and will whip something up before she heads to work and come home to a ready-to-go one-dish dinner. I’m not that organized in the morning and since we don’t have the counter space, mine is stored in the back of a cabinet and I often forget about it. This week, I pulled it out.

I have made various soups and casserole-type dishes in mine, but I wanted something new. While searching for recipes, I came across a couple things that I would have never thought you could make in a slow cooker — bread and cakes. How cool is that?

I make bread all of the time and I was excited to see how fast and simple the slow-cooker bread was. It didn’t have the delicious crust that I get with my standard recipe, but it is great for sandwich bread.

If you want to see all of the crazy things you can cook in your slow cooker, check out A Year of Slow Cooking. Good stuff.

The biggest challenge is finding an oven-proof dish that fits in your slow cooker.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk or buttermilk
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 whole egg
1/4 cup millet
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

Method

  • Grease a deep ovenproof dish (I used a 1.5 quart Corningware dish). Make sure it fits in your slow cooker.
  • In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water; mix and let sit for five minutes.
  • Add milk, oats, salt, oil, honey, egg and ground flax seeds. Mix well.
  • Add flour and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
  •  Turn dough into the prepared oven-proof dish.
  • In bottom of the slow cooker, place 1/2 cup of water and a trivet or something to elevate the dish off the bottom of the cooker.
  • Place dish on the trivet; set a piece of oiled foil over the dough. From what I can tell, the foil is to keep the condensation from making the top soggy.
  • Cover and bake on high for 3 hours.
  • Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

Shared in Whole Foods for the Holidays.