Cajun French: le plie (lu plee) – flounder
Morning in the Gulf, evening on the grill – can’t get much fresher.
Fishing on Grand Isle can be frustrating, exhilarating, boring and exciting all within an hour’s time.
Mais C’est Bon!
Shrimp and Beet Greens Wraps
Cajun French: la bétrave (la bāt-rav) – beet
The beet greens from the Red Stick Farmers Market were beautiful, almost too pretty to cook. Not a chance. This is one of our dishes that evolved and then un-evolved. It was breakfast time and we were cooking eggs, beet greens and shrimp wraps – sounds good and it was. Only problem, we forgot the eggs. Hunger pains took over with the shrimp mixture smelling so good, we totally forgot we were planning to add scrambled eggs. No problem, the wrap was fantastic without eggs. This is a great any meal dish and quite easy.
Mais C’est Bon!
Louisiana Seafood Crowning Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
Cajun French: Louisiane (Loo-ee-zee-on) – Louisiana
Valentine’s Day Dinner
Romantically speaking, oysters say it all. Combine fresh Louisiana oysters with fresh Louisiana shrimp and crab and romance is in the air. We paired this trio with a stuffed portabella mushroom that will leave your taste buds sizzling. Light candles, chill your favorite wine, grab your honey and you will have a night in paradise.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Louisiana Seafood Crowning Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms”
Shrimp, Red Cabbage & Oyster Mushrooms
Cajun French: le chou (lu shoo) – cabbage
Cleaning out the frig before our weekly Red Stick Market purchases, we found red cabbage and oyster mushrooms. What to do with them? Shrimp in the freezer, good addition. We decided to cook each separately and then plate together. The sweetness of the cabbage added to the mildness of the mushrooms and the shrimp were the crowning glory. For a meal made with clean out the frig items, it was outstanding!
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Shrimp, Red Cabbage & Oyster Mushrooms”
Crab Dressing
Cajun French: la pince (la pains) – claw
Fresh claw crabmeat was one of our purchases at the Red Stick Farmers Market this week. Once home, we knew we had to use some of the crabmeat immediately. The crabmeat is from the Outlaw Katfish Kompany and just like their catfish; the crabmeat is sweet and melts in your mouth. With John’s creativity on overload, a crab dressing was in order. This dressing would be excellent not only on a salad, yet on fish or steak.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Crab Dressing”
Simply Catfish
Cajun French: faire la cuisine (fair la kū-zeen) – cook meals
Sometimes preparing a meal is not about complicated recipes and fancy presentation; it is about quality ingredients fixed simply so the true taste comes out. That is what dinner last night was all about. We had catfish filets from Outlaw Katfish Kompany and fresh broccoli from Red Stick Farmers Market. It had been a long day, we were tired and not really into fancy cooking. The catfish from Outlaw is small, sweet and melts in your mouth and we were ready.
Mais C’est Bon!
Shrimp Cocktail Extraordinaire
Cajun French: l’ail (l’a-ee) – garlic
Watching the sunset on a beach, sipping a cool, crisp glass of wine and a shrimp cocktail waiting for dinner. Dreaming of the day that will be our front yard and it will be soon! So tonight we are having the shrimp cocktail without the beach sunset or glass of wine (no wine on South Beach Phase 1). Having purchased large shrimp from the Anna Marie at the Red Stick Farmers Market, we decided a shrimp cocktail was in order. This was going to be dinner so we wanted to make the cocktail a complete meal. Searching the frig to see what was available and how the finds could be used resulted in our Shrimp Cocktail Expanded.
Mais C’est Bon!
Shrimp Grillades and Grits
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!
Island Pasta
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!! Continue reading “Island Pasta”
Tenth Day of Christmas – 10 pirogue paddles
Cajun French: le riz (lu ree) – rice
A pirogue is a small flat bottomed boat originally made of Louisiana cypress. The pirogue is designed to move through the very shallow water of the Louisiana marshes. It can also easily be turned over to drain any water that gets in the boat. We have seen pirogues that were carved from a single cypress tree, meaning no seams. Many Cajun cooks have “pirogue paddles” to use when cooking, for stirring the pot. On the tenth day of Christmas we are going to stir up a Shrimp Creole Casserole.
John, like many Cajuns, are known to “stir the pot” having no connection to cooking. It means they like to get things going, pit one against another in fun.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy! Continue reading “Tenth Day of Christmas – 10 pirogue paddles”