Cajun Food Where You Find It
Cajun French: le “spinach” (lu “spinach”) – spinach
Having fresh vegetables that needed cooking, we decided to make Veggie Rice. Sauté vegetables over rice was the plan but as always the plan evolved. Rice was cooked with fresh rosemary then combined with the vegetables and almond butter was added. Wow! The almond butter added a richness and the aroma made our mouths water.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: l’asperge (l’as-pairj) – asparagus
Fresh leeks were in our market basket this week, so we decided to make a dish focusing on the leeks. At least that is how it started. The dish evolved to include pine nuts and watercress. In the end we had a thick sauce to mix with penne, top with cheese and enjoy.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Nutty Penne”
Cajun French: la fleur (la flur) – flower
Saturday morning was stormy which meant the Red Stick Farmers Market would be held in the Galvez Parking Garage. It also meant there would be fewer farmers at the market due to the weather. Upon arriving, as we thought there were fewer farmers yet the farmers that were there had an abundance of Spring vegetables. There was an array of color – yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes and much more including broccoli flowers. We enjoy cooking with flowers and had never used broccoli flowers so of course they had to go in our market basket. We took half the flowers and decided to cook them with rice. The flowers are delicate and add sweetness to the rice. We served the rice with our Mustard Tarragon rubbed Catfish.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la moutarde (la moo-tard) – mustard
Fresh Louisiana wild caught catfish – nothing like its sweet taste. We purchased catfish from Outlaw Katfish at the Red Stick Farmers Market and were ready for some of that sweetness. We wanted to try something different and our herb garden was calling us. Fresh tarragon and Creole mustard – yes! We made a paste using the mustard as a base and rubbed one side of the fish. The fish was served with our Rice with Broccoli Flowers.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: le persil (lu pair-see) – parsley
It’s Crawfish time in south Louisiana! Fresh crawfish are abundant this time of year and we try to incorporate them into as many meals as possible. This one is a very simple yet elegant meal and is delicious. The cornbread is made using locally milled cornmeal from Papa Tom and fresh crawfish tails from the Outlaw Katfish Company.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la pacane (la pa-kan) – pecan
Leftovers.
What does it mean to you? Some people we know will not touch leftovers; others make extra just to have leftovers. For us, leftovers are the beginning of another meal. Today we had a baked sweet potato, rice, and corn – what to do? There was also fresh shrimp. Creativity started and we ended with stuffed shrimp.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Sweet Potato Stuffed Shrimp with Pecans”
Cajun French: déjeuner (dā-ju-nā) – breakfast
The smell of boiling crawfish permeates the air during Spring in south Louisiana. It is rare that we eat all the crawfish we boil. I think we intentionally boil more than needed so we have leftovers for use later. So it was Friday, we ended up with a few crawfish tails left. The tails along with an ear of corn and three potato halves would make a great omelet filling.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la patate (la pa-tat) – potato
Potato Salad – picnics, family dinners, comfort food. That’s Potato Salad.
How about potato salad with a twist? Instead of using just white potatoes, include equal amounts of sweet potatoes for a flavor twist. This is a very fresh tasting salad that pops in your mouth.
We had boiled shrimp that we added to the plate and wow what a meal!
Mais C’est Bon!
Clear blue sky, crisp Fall air, the morning was perfect for farmer market shopping. There was only one problem; the market did not open until 10 a.m. Continue reading “Elgin, TX Farmers Market”
Cajun French: le sirop (lu see-rō) – syrup
An Old LA Recipe
Both of our grandmothers were Cajun and from the same small community of Brusly, LA. Due to that, there are many foods which were cooked in a similar way. Also, there are lots of foods which are considered Cajun, or which are cooked the Cajun way, which survive today. There are a very few, however, which are unique because the common ingredients are so ubiquitous to LA – and Gateau Sirop is one.
Laurie Finding a Lost Treasure
There are recipes that bring back memories of Grandma’s kitchen smelling of warm cake and love. Gateau Sirop is the recipe that brings back wonderful memories of my Maw Maw’s kitchen and all the love she poured out. What makes this recipe so special is that it was lost for almost 12 years. In fact all of my Maw Maw’s recipes were lost. In cleaning out my grandparents dry cleaners, we found her box of recipes. It was a joyous moment! My grandmother was of Acadian decent and the Cajun language is not a written language so there were not many recipes written down. To find that box of recipes was a true treasure she gave to me and my sisters. Continue reading “Gateau Sirop”
