Cajun Food Where You Find It
Cajun French: l’olive (l’ō-leev) – Olive
As the Fourth of July Weekend approaches our thoughts turn to outdoor festivities – eating outside, jumping in a cool pool, watching fireworks.
Most often there is grilling and homemade ice cream but that leaves appetizers that fit the outdoors. We tried multi grain scoops with hummus and a black olive and wow what
an appetizer! It’s quick, easy and travels well.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: le fruit (lu frū-ee) – Fruit
Fr
uit is always among our weekly Farmers Market purchases. Toward the end of the week, we had peaches, plums, and blueberries left and decided to make a dessert tart. Ok, how do we put a Cajun twist on a dessert tart? We decided on Steen’s Pure Cane Syrup as a sweetener along with a sprinkle of raw brown sugar on top. If Meyers Lemons are available substitute 3 thin slices for the lemon juice. Place the lemon slices on top of the fruit.
This tart is an easy quick dessert.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: le récoltier (lu rā-kōl-tee-ā) – Farmer
Having to go to Zachary, LA on Saturday, the first thing we did was look for a Farmers Market in the area. Sure enough, Zachary has a Farmers Market downtown from 8-Noon on Saturdays. The market is two years old and recently moved downtown near City Hall.
Cajun French: la cocombre (la kō-kom) – Cucumber
Pinch My Salt has a great recipe for a Sweet and Spicy Dill Cucumber Salad. The salad was in a recent tweet and it sounded wonderful especially for the hot weather we have been having in south Louisiana. Like all the recipes we make we always look for a way to make it Cajun. For this one we did two things: we changed Rice Vinegar to Louisiana Cane Vinegar and added fresh Louisiana Gulf boiled shrimp. The salad tasted as good as it looked. We think we will keep a container in the fridge all summer.
Thank you Pinch My Salt for this great recipe.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: la chevrette (la shuv-ret) – shrimp
Brocato’s Eat Dat Restaurant in East New Orleans was one of the food vendors at the Vieux To Do Festival in New Orleans in early June and this recipe was inspired by the wrap from their booth. We ate lots of great food, many of our favorites, yet for us this particular dish was number one this year.
Everyone has their favorite Remoulade and Brocato’s may even make their own, for us our Remoulade of choice is Omi’s from Omi’s Gourmet Foods. We do make our own Remoulade yet sometimes it is easy to use a prepared one if it is good and suits the dish. Since this is a quick meal, we chose to use the prepared Remoulade.
Boiled shrimp was our choice since we had some in the refrigerator. Any type of cooked shrimp (boiled, sautéed, bbq, fried, etc.) will work for this dish. This is a quick and easy lunch!
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cracked wheat is high in fiber and health benefits and great for any diet.
Always being on the lookout for new items or new ways to use various ingredients, cracked wheat came to mind for our bean burgers. Although this is not a new way to use cracked wheat, for us it is new. The cracked wheat gave the burgers a nutty crunchy taste and we liked it. The dish has firmness and weight, definitely is filling.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
What is a Creole Tomato?
A true Creole Tomato is grown in the river parishes south of New Orleans. The soil and the climate make the tomato a “Creole”. The tomato is meaty, juicy, thick and a delicacy in south Louisiana. Nothing announces summer like
the Creole Tomato and snowballs. Locals wait for each to “come in season”.
We purchased Creole Tomatoes at the festival and have enjoyed them all week. Now we are down to our last big plump juicy delicacy – what to do with it? We decided to make a tuna salad and stuff the tomato which is large enough to share.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Basil gone wild!
Our basil plant is growing as fast as we can use the leaves. Knowing basil is high in Vitamin K and also has a great flavor, we try to use it as often as possible. Having fresh mushrooms and planning an egg dish, the basil was calling to us. We also had fresh sweet potato bread from Forte Grove at the Red Stick Farmers Market and it would enhance the eggs.
The breakfast is very simple yet very gourmet.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
The Saturday morning Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans was bursting with activity as well as color. The flowers and vegetables would fill an artist palate with a rainbow of colors. We always try to walk a market to see the offerings and then decide what to purchase.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
There are as many recipes for Hummus as there are for Gumbo. All good, just different. As my Dad said, “I never met a gumbo I did not like” and we are that way with Hummus, we like them all. The recipe below is one that we use at home and enjoy spicing it up with various indgredients. We have garnished with roasted sweet red peppers to this recipe. Instead of peppers you could garnish with pine nuts, garlic, or your choice of ingredients.
Hummus is a very popular Middle Eastern dip served with pita bread or chips. Hummus is chick peas and tahini with various spices.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
