Category: RV Cooking

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Bulgur Salad

Cajun French: le limon (lu lee-mon) – lemon

 

Remember our beautiful bouquet of carrot tops? We finally finished them off and it has been a great gastronomic adventure. The final dish is a bulgur salad using carrot tops. Most bulgur salads like Tabbouleh use parsley; carrot tops give a completely different flavor. The carrot tops need more liquid compared to using parsley. We have used this salad as a base for stuffed tomatoes, an addition to other salads, in an omelet, or as a side vegetable with meals.

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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Carrot Top Green Eggs

Cajun French: la carotte (la kar-ot) – carrot

 

Being Cajun we try to use all parts of vegetables. Our fresh carrots from the Red Stick Farmers Market came with a large top bouquet. What do you do with Carrot Tops? After some research, we decided to try carrot tops and eggs. Only using about ¼ of the bunch, we still have lots to be creative with. We used only the leaves not the bottom stem.  When the tops are cut they smell like parsley. The cooked carrot tops had a firm texture and added lots of flavor to the eggs. We served our eggs and carrot tops with Papa Tom’s Grits and toast.

Mais C’est Bon!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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Ninth Day of Christmas – 9 oysters stewing

Cajun French: l’huitre (l’ū-eet) – oyster

 

In Louisiana oysters are eaten any way imaginable and then some, come up with another way and we will give it a try. Today for the ninth day of Christmas, we are sautéing oysters and serving them over orzo. Orzo may not be Cajun in the truest since, yet Cajuns take what is available and use it. We had locally made orzo from Pappardelle’s in Colorado and Louisiana oysters from Houma; so we decided to marry the two and dinner is served.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Seventh Day of Christmas – 7 fleur de lis

Cajun French: le pain perdu (lu pain pair-dū) – French toast

 

Fleur de Lis means flower of the lily and is a stylized design of the lily, present in threefold petals. The Acadian flag has three Fleur de Lis on a blue field which represents the French origin of the Acadians.

Traditionally, the Fleur de Lis has been used to represent French royalty and is strongly associated with St. Louis IX, King of France, and Patron of the City of New Orleans. The Fleur de Lis is a state symbol of Louisiana and is associated with many cities having French heritage including New Orleans, Lafayette, and Natchitoches.

Pain Perdu, French Toast or Lost Bread, is a favorite of Cajun children and adults as well. It is called Lost Bread since the bread used is stale and good only for bread pudding, bread crumbs or Pain Perdu. We have been known to purchase a loaf of French Bread and let it get stale so we can make Pain Perdu. Any bread may be used yet French Bread makes the best Pain Perdu.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!! Continue reading “Seventh Day of Christmas – 7 fleur de lis”

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