RV Cajun Cooking

Cajun French:  la farine de maïs (la far-een du ma-ee) – corn meal

A loaf of cornmeal and corn bread was one of our purchases at the farmers market.  We only find this bread when fresh corn is in season, so we purchase a loaf every week as long as it is available.  The bread taste fresh and clean and melts in your mouth!

We wanted to make the bread a part of our lunch so the planning was around the bread.  Fresh eggplant, sweet red peppers and tomatoes were also some of our purchases and we had marinaded artichokes so a sandwich was born.  Add onions and we were set for stacking a sandwich.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!! (more…)

Cajun French: le grue (lu grū) – grits

What started out as left over crawfish and carrot tops over girts for breakfast turned into Shrimp Grillades and Grits. Traditionally grillades are slow cooked meat in rich gravy. We enjoy grillades and since we no longer eat meat wanted to try shrimp grillades. Today was the day and what a dish! Another difference to the traditional grillades is the shrimp do not cook in the gravy. The shrimp are pan fried and plated in the gravy just before serving. As usual we used shrimp from the Anna Marie.  Even though this dish is very rich, it is not high fat. The richness comes from using red wine in the gravy. We plated the dish on plates with a shrimp design. Wanting to highlight the design as well as the food we plated the dish two ways.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!! (more…)

Cajun French:  l’ile (l’eel) – island

Friday was travel day, so Thursday night supper was going to be an easy dish of mushrooms and pasta.  Yet, like most of our dishes, it evolved and evolved.  Mushrooms and garlic were cooked and pasta was cooking; then we saw the ripe avocado.  Okay that sounds good.  Here’s a fresh tomato; that sounds good also.  The dish was still easy; it just had more depth of flavor to it.

Our newest evolution – Island Pasta.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!    (more…)

Cajun French: le saumon (lu sō-mon) – salmon

It is Thanksgiving morning and since we are pescatarians no turkey is in the oven. We are having a laid back morning; coffee and scones in bed. And now it is breakfast time – what is in the frig? What started out to be a mushroom omelet with salmon on the side turned into a wrap with lots of raw vegetables. This is a breakfast for any holiday.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!! (more…)

Cajun French: les légumes (lā lā-gūm) – vegetables

Baton Rouge, LA. – What happens when a food truck finds a home?  The “streets” loose.  Yet the door is opened to a new customer base enjoying climate controlled seating.  Such is the case with GoYaYa’s, the latest food truck to settle down.  GoYaYa’s found a home at the Main Street Market in downtown Baton Rouge, La.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Cajun French:  l’huile d’olive (l’ū-eel d’ō-leev) – olive oil

Finding a new green at the Red Stick Farmers Market was exciting for us.  Mizuna is not a new green, just new to us.  We are sure we have had this green in salad mixtures or other dishes, yet we had never purchased it.  Now that we have it, what are we going to do with it?  Breakfast was going to be a wrap and the mizuna greens sounded like a fit.  Our simple wrap turned into one that was almost too large to fold.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!! (more…)

Cajun French:  la tomate (la to-mat)  –  tomato

We bought green tomatoes at the Red Stick Farmers Market specifically for frying.  Yet we did not want to batter and deep fry the tomatoes.  From somewhere in our gray matter we remembered a chef preparing fried green tomatoes with just cornmeal so we decided to give it a try.  We use a locally ground cornmeal, Alexander Mill Stone Ground Yellow Cornmeal.  We seasoned the cornmeal with Cajun seasoning and used the juice from the tomato for the binder and then we pan fried them.  Cooking them in the manner gives you more of the tomato taste and not so much batter.  Give them a try!

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Cajun French: la crabe (la krab) – crab

Lunch time with simple combinations.

There is nothing better than fresh lump crabmeat and fresh tomatoes. Having both in the refrigerator, we decided on a Remoulade salad for lunch. The salad was refreshing on a hot summer day. All ingredients were chilled, crisp and full of flavor.

The salad became another simple combination.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Cajun French:  la breme (la brem) – eggplant

Smothering eggplant with onions and tomatoes is the usual way we prepare eggplant.  Today we wanted something different and a sandwich sounded good.  Roasting the eggplant gave it crunch, adding capers and pine nuts gave depth.

This sandwich builds and each layer add a depth of flavor.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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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 11^th 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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