Category: Sides

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Root Salad

Cajun French:  la bétrave (la bāt-rav) – beet

 

The taste of Spring.

There is nothing like the taste of fresh Spring vegetables and Red Stick Farmers Market offers a variety to choose from.  We have purchased several beet varieties as well as celery root.  The past few weeks we have used the beets and celery root separately so this week we decided to make a salad combining both root vegetables.  We wanted the vegetables crunchy but not hard so we parboiled them in seasoned water.  Cucumber, though not a root vegetable, was added for a crisp taste.  The salad brings Spring to the table.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Veggie Rice

Cajun French:  le riz (lu ree) – rice

 

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.  What to do with that little bit of leftovers; combine them and make a great side dish.  Rice is a staple in Cajun kitchens and at Cajun meals yet sometimes there is just a little rice left, not enough for one serving much less for a family.  When that happens we just see what other vegetables we have and start combining and soon we have Veggie Rice.  This is a quick, easy, and time saving dish.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Sweet and Savory Brussels Sprouts

Cajun French: la confiture aux figues (la kon-fee-tūr ō feeg) – fig preserve

 

Brussels Sprouts are one of those love/hate vegetables. We are on the love side and enjoy them from steamed to cooked in a sauce and everything in between. It is Spring time and in south Louisiana that means strawberries and they were abundant at the Red Stick Farmers Market. Besides fresh strawberries, Spring also means Abita Strawberry Beer, one of their seasonal beers. Home from the market we had Brussels Sprouts and fresh strawberries and in the frig we had Abita Strawberry Beer and fig preserves. Below is the dish that evolved from those ingredients. It is sweet with a hint of savory from Camp Dog Cajun Seasoning.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Simple Combinations – Sweet Potatoes & Zapp’s Potato Chips

Cajun French: la patate douce (la pa-tat doos) – sweet potato

 

Sweet, brings a smile, and then the pepper pops, a larger smile and finally ends with a salty kiss.

Sweet and savory gives all sorts of flavors to your mouth. This recipe does just that. Wanting to use Zapp’s Potato Chips as a topping, just did not know on what. Deciding to bake sweet potatoes we realized Zapp’s would be great with the sweetness of the potatoes. There are so many flavors of Zapp’s that it could be hard to decide which to use. Our decision was easy since we had Cajun Crawtators in the pantry. With Zapp’s the option are limitless, kick imagination in and enjoy!

Mais C’est Bon!

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Stuffed Trumpets

Cajun French: trompette – trumpet

 

What would “swamp pop” music be without trumpets? The horns add a quality that make “swamp pop” a distinctive music. On Saturday night in south Louisiana “swamp pop” music can be found in dance halls and juke joints in most cities and towns.

The oyster mushrooms we purchased at the Red Stick Farmers Market reminded us of trumpets and “swamp pop” music. Wanting to make the mushrooms as distinctive as “swamp pop” we decided to stuff the trumpets. They were served with grilled salmon and grilled asparagus. John said the salmon and asparagus were the accompaniment that the main player was the mushrooms.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Kumquats and Greens

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

 

South Louisiana has wonderful citrus.  In fact, many yards have at least one fruit tree and winter is citrus time.  Our neighbor has a kumquat tree and he does not eat the fruit, so we are beneficiaries of his harvest.   This time of year we always search for new ways to incorporate kumquats with what is fresh at our farmers market.  Remember from a previous post that we have carrot tops that we want to use and some kohlrabi and radish greens.  Not knowing how it would turn out, we decided to cook the greens and throw in some kumquats.  Wow!  The greens had a most wonderful citrus flavor.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Mujadarrah

Cajun French: le riz (lu ree) – rice

 

Rice is a staple in Cajun diets. There are many Cajuns who think rice should be served at every meal in some form, mainly rice and gravy. Rice is also important in many other cultures and Mujadarrah, lentils and rice, is one example. There are numerous recipes for this dish and for ours we added cayenne pepper and garlic, the Cajun influence.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Locavore Roasted Corn and Sweet Potato Galette

Cajun French: saler (sa-lā) — salt

 

Choosing to be Locavores makes us very aware of food seasons. Each season has its specialties and none more so than Fall in South Louisiana. Last week we purchased sweet potatoes, garlic, and ears of corn. One morning we had eggs with mushroom and corn. While enjoying breakfast, John stated tomorrow we would fix sweet potato galettes. The recipe below is the new and improved version 2.0, as one of our food testers (Matt, twitter.com/@othermattreed) named it.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Alliance, NE Pinto Beans

Cajun French:  la feve (la fev) – bean

 

 

In a truck stop in Alliance, NE we saw a five pound sack of dried Pinto Beans.  Looking closer, we realized the beans were processed and packaged in Alliance.  Always on the lookout for local items, we couldn’t resist.  Beans are a staple in our diet; we cook them once a week on average.  They are versatile food which can be used as an entrée, vegetable, or snack.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Fresh Purple Hull Peas

Cajun French:  la feve (la fev)  –  pea

 

A farmer gave us a piece of cooking advice some time back; do a first boil with fresh peas and beans.  He said it would take the starch out and they would taste better.  Skimming the starch helps but rinsing the peas or beans is even better.  Never having done a first boil we decided to try his method.  It does give a better taste and we have been cooking our fresh peas and beans that way ever since. 

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

Continue reading “Fresh Purple Hull Peas”

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