Cajun Food Where You Find It
Cajun French: l’huile d’olive (l’ū-eel d’ō-leev) – olive oil
Finding a new green at the Red Stick Farmers Market was exciting for us. Mizuna is not a new green, just new to us. We are sure we have had this green in salad mixtures or other dishes, yet we had never purchased it. Now that we have it, what are we going to do with it? Breakfast was going to be a wrap and the mizuna greens sounded like a fit. Our simple wrap turned into one that was almost too large to fold.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le limon (lu lee-mon) – lemon
What to do with leftover baked flounder? Since it was in pieces and not one attractive piece, we decided to make flounder cakes. Two things we did different, we used no egg or bread instead we used rice, mayonnaise and almond butter. The mayonnaise and almond butter gave the cakes a richness. We had citrus sauce leftover from our catfish, so we top the cakes with the sauce and served the cakes on a bed of mixed wilted greens.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le goujon jaune (lu goo-jon jon) – catfish (yellow)
Sweet and tender catfish come from the Outlaw Katfish Kompany, Des Allemands, Louisiana and we wanted to keep that flavor. We decided to bake the catfish and serve it on a Cajun Grain Jasmine Rice dish with a citrus topping made with Plaquemines Parish L’Hoste Navel Oranges and Bocage Honey. These items were purchased from the Red Stick Farmers Market in Baton Rouge, La.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le chou (lu shoo) – cabbage
This week at the Red Stick Farmers Market, we purchased a bunch of Chinese Cabbage leaves. The leaves were to be used as wraps; we just were not sure for what. Waiting for inspiration we placed the leaves a glass of water adding beauty and freshness to our counter. While preparing Sunday breakfast, the leaves were calling and wraps were beginning. Just wilting the leaves adds a nutty flavor to the wraps.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Green Wraps”
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!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Mujadarrah”
Cajun French: la soupe (la soop) – soup
This is a Mexican sopa seca, “dry soup”, which we have made Cajun. The reason it is called “dry soup” is that the pasta cooks in only the amount of liquid it can absorb. The dish lends itself well to being served as a side without seafood or meat. It is a great pot luck dinner dish.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Shrimp and Green Chile Cajun Pasta”
Cajun French: la pistache (la pees-tash) – peanut
Bruce, our brother-in-law, is addicted to peanut butter. So much so that Linda, his wife, hides the jar of peanut butter in various places around their home. At times even she cannot remember where the jar is hidden. Linda says that if they ever sell the house there will probably be random jars of peanut butter for the new owners. These cookies are for you Bruce and hopefully Linda won’t hide the cookies.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Bruce’s Peanut Butter et al Cookies”
Cajun French: la tomate (la tō-mat) – tomato
This breakfast started out as eggs and avocado. Sounds good yet could be boring so we started building a breakfast sandwich. First the pita bread, then the tomato and finally the mushrooms. Mayonnaise was added for flavor and then grapes for garnish. It is fun to build a sandwich without really knowing what the final product will be. Building this sandwich is what makes cooking together fun!
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le plie (lu plee) – flounder
Thanksgiving will be our first holiday since we became pescatarians. Not having turkey does not bother us, yet we were trying to decide what to prepare that would make a great presentation. We purchased a 2# flounder from the Anna Marie at the Red Stick Farmers Market and it was a beautiful fish. Stuffing the flounder was fun since as usual it was a building process. Once stuffed, we realized this was the perfect Thanksgiving dish. Now we are hoping that Melissa from the Anna Marie will have another beautiful founder for us to stuff for Thanksgiving.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: l’ail (l’a-ee) – garlic
Having crabmeat and greens in the frig and needing to use them, we decided to put them together and serve with pasta and lots of garlic. This dish will make everyone smile and go back for seconds and thirds. The dish could be turned into a casserole and would be great for a pot luck.
Mais C’est Bon!
