Cajun Food Where You Find It
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”
Cajun French: le jardinage (lu jar-deen-aj) – vegetables
Pizza has the reputation of high fat, high calorie food. Because of this pizza is something we enjoy yet rarely indulge in. We had a whole wheat pizza crust and were trying to decide what to do with it. Grilling is a favorite way of cooking for us and so Grilled Pizza was on the menu. Not only grill the pizza but also grill the vegetables that would go on the pizza. This process is a labor of love and does take some time, yet the end product is worth every minute of preparation and cooking. We took what would have been high fat and calorie and made it healthy.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: l’écrevisse bouilli (l’ā-krū-vees boo-ee) – boiled crawfish
Crawfish boils bring family and friends together to enjoy the bounty of south Louisiana. Every Cajun family has their own “special” boiling recipe and most are willing to share to prove it’s the best! Besides the enjoyment of the boil itself, one of the best parts is the left over crawfish. Most families plan their boils so there is crawfish left to incorporate in other dishes. Our Saturday afternoon boil was no different and we had crawfish to make our Crawfish Boil Fritter. This is a sweet savory dish and makes a great start to any meal.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la sauce aux tomates (la sos ō tō-mat) – tomato sauce
Salmon was the main dish and we were looking for a side. In the frig we found fresh ears of corn, homemade tomato sauce and left over spaghetti – that was a good start. We first decided to roast the corn, then we added the sauce and finally the pasta and a side was born. The salmon was grilled with rosemary seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Mais C’est Bon!
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!! Continue reading “Grilled Eggplant and Artichoke Sandwich”
Cajun French: la chadiere en fonte (la shō-dee-air en font) – cast iron pot
Crawfish boils are a staple of south Louisiana. Any given weekend during the Spring and into the Summer, pots are boiling and “mudbugs” are crawling. Once boiled and eaten, generally there are crawfish remaining. For us that is part of the boil, leftover boiled crawfish for future dishes. This past weekend was no different, we had a boil and had boiled crawfish leftover. In fact we had enough crawfish left to prepare three dishes; one of which was a potato crawfish Galette. Unfortunately, we did not have potatoes left over so we used new potatoes purchased from the Acadiana Farmers Market in Lafayette (another blog post). This is an easy dish to prepare, slicing the potatoes is the most time consuming part.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le pain (lu pain) – bread
Stale bread is bread pudding in waiting. When bread pudding is mentioned, we think dessert. Recently our stale bread consisted of wheat, French, lemon rosemary, and olive. Thinking of the bread combination dessert was not in the vision. Besides the stale bread, we also had vegetables that were in need of cooking. What evolved was a vegetable bread pudding that became a side dish, part of a stuffing for flounder and used in an omelet.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le cachat (lu ka-sha) – squash
Spring time means squash blossoms!
We get excited when squash blossoms are available at the farmers market. They are fragile flowers yet so much fun to cook with. The first ones of the season are always for stuffing. Unlike most recipes, we do not batter and deep fry; we stuff and pan fry. Pan frying allows the flavor of the squash and its flower to blossom to its fullest flavor.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Stuffed Squash Blossoms and Catfish”
Cajun French: l’huile d’olive (l’ū-eel d’ō-leev) – olive oil
Pasta? Yes, please.
Pasta is very versatile and can be a main dish, side dish or snack. This salad fits all three descriptions. The salad is a great lunch during the heat of the summer or an afternoon snack while enjoying the spring breezes. It is also one of the best potluck dishes for a crowd. Anytime, anywhere this is a great dish!
Mais C’est Bon!
