Not Your Grandma’s Breakfast

Cajun French:  le pain (lu pain) – bread

 

Breakfast seems to be the meal that can be the most rushed.  Simple, easy to prepare dishes are preferred and often contain leftovers.  Last night we made “Grandma’s Potato Croquettes” (see prior post) updating the recipe using Salmon and Sweet Potatoes — based on one from John’s grandmother where she used white potatoes and fish flakes.  The recipe makes about 12 patties so we had plenty left over.

 

This morning we decided to build a breakfast tower using the croquettes along with all fresh items from the Redstick Farmers Market (except the grapes and bananas) and it was great!  Not only is it easy to prepare and assemble, it makes an elegant presentation.  Grandma would be proud.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Grandma’s Potato Croquettes

Cajun French:  la patate douce (la pa-tat doos) – Sweet Potato

Many years ago John‘s grandmother owned a General Store across from the school in Port Allen, LA.  This was before school cafeterias and Francis would make hamburgers at lunch for the students.  Since most of the students were Cajun Catholics, on Fridays she would make Potato Croquettes using fish flakes.  Francis, the below recipe is in your honor, we hope we make you proud.  The below recipe has been updated using sweet potatoes and salmon.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Let’s Zydeco

Cajun French: la tomate (la tō-mat) — Tomato

HOT!

It’s summer, it’s New Orleans, it’s HOT!

Hot describes the last few weeks in south Louisiana.  Okay so it is nothing out of the ordinary, it  is still HOT!  Some people may believe  Southerns stay in the air conditioning and sip mint juleps – not so.  We go out in the heat, dance, eat and enjoy festivals.  The weekend of June 11th was the Vieux To Do Festival in New Orleans.  Vieux To Do is three festivals in one – Cajun/Zydeco Music, Creole  Tomato, and Seafood.

 

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Scoops of Hummus

Cajun French: l’olive (l’ō-leev) – Olive

As the Fourth of July Weekend approaches our thoughts turn to outdoor festivities – eating outside, jumping in a cool pool, watching fireworks.

Most often there is grilling and homemade ice cream but that leaves appetizers that fit the outdoors.  We tried multi grain scoops with hummus and a black olive and wow what
an appetizer!  It’s quick, easy and travels well.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Cajun Fruit Tart

Cajun French: le fruit (lu frū-ee) – Fruit

Fruit is always among our weekly Farmers Market purchases.  Toward the end of the week, we had peaches, plums, and blueberries left and decided to make a dessert tart.  Ok, how do we put a Cajun twist on a dessert tart?  We decided on Steen’s Pure Cane Syrup as a sweetener along with a sprinkle of raw brown sugar on top.  If Meyers Lemons are available substitute 3 thin slices for the lemon juice.  Place the lemon slices on top of the fruit.

This tart is an easy quick dessert.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Cajun Shrimp and Dill Cucumber Salad

Cajun French: la cocombre (la kō-kom) – Cucumber

 

Pinch My Salt has a great recipe for a Sweet and Spicy Dill Cucumber Salad. The salad was in a recent tweet and it sounded wonderful especially for the hot weather we have been having in south Louisiana. Like all the recipes we make we always look for a way to make it Cajun. For this one we did two things: we changed Rice Vinegar to Louisiana Cane Vinegar and added fresh Louisiana Gulf boiled shrimp. The salad tasted as good as it looked. We think we will keep a container in the fridge all summer.

Thank you Pinch My Salt for this great recipe.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Shrimp Remoulade Wrap

Cajun French: la chevrette (la shuv-ret) – shrimp

Brocato's Eat Dat Shrimp Wrap

Brocato’s Eat Dat Restaurant in East New Orleans was one of the food vendors at the Vieux To Do Festival in New Orleans in early June and this recipe was inspired by the wrap from their booth.  We ate lots of great food, many of our favorites, yet for us this particular dish was number one this year.

Everyone has their favorite Remoulade and Brocato’s may even make their own, for us our Remoulade of choice is Omi’s from Omi’s Gourmet Foods.  We do make our own Remoulade yet sometimes it is easy to use a prepared one if it is good and suits the dish.  Since this is a quick meal, we chose to use the prepared Remoulade.

Boiled shrimp was our choice since we had some in the refrigerator.  Any type of cooked shrimp (boiled, sautéed, bbq, fried, etc.) will work for this dish.  This is a quick and easy lunch!

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Cracked Wheat Burgers

Cracked wheat is high in fiber and health benefits and great for any diet.

Always being on the lookout for new items or new ways to use various ingredients, cracked wheat came to mind for our bean burgers.  Although this is not a new way to use cracked wheat, for us it is new.  The cracked wheat gave the burgers a nutty crunchy taste and we liked it.  The dish has firmness and weight, definitely is filling.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Stuffed Creole Tomato

What is a Creole Tomato?

A true Creole Tomato is grown in the river parishes south of New Orleans.  The soil and the climate make the tomato a “Creole”.   The tomato is meaty, juicy, thick and a delicacy in south  Louisiana.  Nothing announces summer like
the Creole Tomato and snowballs.  Locals  wait for each to “come in season”.

We purchased Creole Tomatoes at the festival and have enjoyed them all week.  Now we are down to our last big plump juicy delicacy – what to do with it?  We decided to make a tuna salad and stuff the tomato which is large enough to share.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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