Cajun Food Where You Find It
Cajun French: le persil (lu pair-see) – parsley
It’s Crawfish time in south Louisiana! Fresh crawfish are abundant this time of year and we try to incorporate them into as many meals as possible. This one is a very simple yet elegant meal and is delicious. The cornbread is made using locally milled cornmeal from Papa Tom and fresh crawfish tails from the Outlaw Katfish Company.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la pacane (la pa-kan) – pecan
Leftovers.
What does it mean to you? Some people we know will not touch leftovers; others make extra just to have leftovers. For us, leftovers are the beginning of another meal. Today we had a baked sweet potato, rice, and corn – what to do? There was also fresh shrimp. Creativity started and we ended with stuffed shrimp.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Sweet Potato Stuffed Shrimp with Pecans”
Cajun French: déjeuner (dā-ju-nā) – breakfast
The smell of boiling crawfish permeates the air during Spring in south Louisiana. It is rare that we eat all the crawfish we boil. I think we intentionally boil more than needed so we have leftovers for use later. So it was Friday, we ended up with a few crawfish tails left. The tails along with an ear of corn and three potato halves would make a great omelet filling.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la patate (la pa-tat) – potato
Potato Salad – picnics, family dinners, comfort food. That’s Potato Salad.
How about potato salad with a twist? Instead of using just white potatoes, include equal amounts of sweet potatoes for a flavor twist. This is a very fresh tasting salad that pops in your mouth.
We had boiled shrimp that we added to the plate and wow what a meal!
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le grue (lu grū) – grits
Warm sweet potato right from the oven – what could be more Southern than that? Add grits and shrimp and your taste buds will be doing the Cajun Two Step.
Shrimp was on the menu for dinner and sweet potatoes were coming out of the oven; the fragrant aroma triggered the flow of creative juices. So began the journey that would be sweet potato grits with shrimp. Wanting to make it Cajun not just Southern, we added Tasso to the grits which gave it a pronounced smoky flavor.
We hope you have as much fun with this dish as we did…..
Mais C’est Bon!
Clear blue sky, crisp Fall air, the morning was perfect for farmer market shopping. There was only one problem; the market did not open until 10 a.m. Continue reading “Elgin, TX Farmers Market”
Cajun French: le sirop (lu see-rō) – syrup
An Old LA Recipe
Both of our grandmothers were Cajun and from the same small community of Brusly, LA. Due to that, there are many foods which were cooked in a similar way. Also, there are lots of foods which are considered Cajun, or which are cooked the Cajun way, which survive today. There are a very few, however, which are unique because the common ingredients are so ubiquitous to LA – and Gateau Sirop is one.
Laurie Finding a Lost Treasure
There are recipes that bring back memories of Grandma’s kitchen smelling of warm cake and love. Gateau Sirop is the recipe that brings back wonderful memories of my Maw Maw’s kitchen and all the love she poured out. What makes this recipe so special is that it was lost for almost 12 years. In fact all of my Maw Maw’s recipes were lost. In cleaning out my grandparents dry cleaners, we found her box of recipes. It was a joyous moment! My grandmother was of Acadian decent and the Cajun language is not a written language so there were not many recipes written down. To find that box of recipes was a true treasure she gave to me and my sisters. Continue reading “Gateau Sirop”
Cajun French: la prune (la prūn) – plum
Most of our recipes are made from “starch”, but sometimes we have prepared items that must be used. We do not like to throw out anything including prepared foods. In walks Pesto and we must use it somehow, somewhere, in something, etc. The pesto had already been used on pizza, but we still had half a bottle left. Shrimp was on the menu and the pesto became a marinade. The blending of flavors became a simple supper of shrimp with fresh plum and avocado. This is a great summer evening meal!
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Pesto Shrimp”
Cajun French: l’orange (l’ō-ronj) – orange
A small bottle of Sweet Roasted Garlic Balsamic Dressing was hanging out in our pantry. We weren’t sure how we would use the dressing. Flash forward, on the table in our fruit bowl was oranges and avocados while in the fridge we had cooked shrimp, roasted corn and roasted garlic. It was coming together. We decided to build a citrus salad with shrimp.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le sel (lu sel) – salt
Brining has become very popular for meats and poultry. Since neither is on our menu, we decided to try brining fish and WOW! This brine is easy, simple and oh so good. We have used it for catfish as well as salmon and smoked the fish with excellent results. When smoking, we used apple wood which added an extra sweetness.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Fish Brining”
