Cajun Food Where You Find It
Cajun French: l’ail (l’a-ee) – garlic
Having purchased a bunch of young kale at the farmers market, we were trying to decide how to use it in a different way. Pasta sounded good since we had not made anything with pasta in a while. We also had farmers market Creole red onion, peppers and garlic; so veggie pasta it would be. There were two stuffed crabs left that would add more flavor. A side salad of tomato, avocado, and shallots would round out the meal.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: la poutine (la poo-teen) – pudding
Any leftover or stale bread we have is frozen for later use as breadcrumbs or pudding. Having accumulated various types of bread we decided to make pudding. After sorting the bread which included whole wheat, French corn bread, cranberry and walnut, and sundried tomato and garlic, we realized it was not suitable to cook with fruit. Wanting to use all the bread we decided to make a vegetable pudding. It is great as a side dish or with eggs for breakfast.
This is not the usual corn pudding recipe. Give it a try for something different with corn.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: la crabe (la krab) – crab
Des Allemandes Outlaw Katfish Kompany sells stuffed crabs, along with live crabs, soft shell crabs, and catfish, at the Red Stick Farmers Market. We enjoy making crab cakes yet when the Outlaw Katfish Kompany’s stuffed crabs are available we opt for them. Each stuffed crab is loaded with crab, seasoning and just the right amount of bread. We headed home with our usual four stuffed crabs and decided to jazz them up.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: la patate douce (la pa-tat doos) – sweet potato
Abita Jockamo IPA (India Pale Ale) is an excellent beer, reminding us of the many European beers we enjoyed while living in Germany. Although we enjoy beer, it is not something we drink every day. Yet somehow we always seem to have various types in the refrigerator mainly due to friends bringing over beer and leaving what’s left in our fridge. Finding Jockamo IPA, we decided to give it a try with Bruce’s Sweet Potato Pancake Mix and it was a great marriage.
“Jockamo is named for the tribes of dancing, singing, chanting “Mardi Gras Indians” who have marched in New Orleans for over 250 years.” When you taste this dish you will hear the drums and start singing “Iko! Iko!…Jockamo feena nay”.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: trancher (tron-shā) – slice of bread
This is another quick meal that is great for breakfast or light evening fare. In the evening serve with a crisp glass of white wine and a side of fresh fruit.
We call this one of our tower sandwiches because each ingredient builds on the other.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: la cibleme (la see-blem) – patty pan squash
A 2# white patty pan squash, from Robinson Organic Farm, reached out to us at the Red Stick Farmers Market this week. It was a beauty and a hallowed out bowl was calling. Laurie’s thoughts went to an etoufee stuffing while John’s thoughts went to a more summertime dish – a salad in the hallowed out squash. John won. Below is the dish’s progression as we built the salad and presentation.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: le vent (lu von) – wind
We saw a recipe where the shrimp were peeled and deveined with the head and tail remaining. Sounded interesting so we decided to give it a try. Laurie is the shrimp peeler so she began. It is not difficult just time consuming, thankfully we only had a dozen to “peel”. There are two advantages to shrimp peeled in this manner; plates beautifully and eats easily.
This dish reminds us of lazy days enjoying meals on the dock with gentle cooling breezes.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: l’écrevisse (l’ā-krū-vees) – crawfish
An etouffee is a spicy Cajun stew made from a roux and is soooo good!
The word Etouffee comes from the French word etouffer which means to smother.
Having a pound of Louisiana crawfish and not having made etouffee in a while, we decided to make a homemade roux and etouffee. An etouffee is served over rice and we use a Cajun jasmine rice.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: Paradis – Paradise
Paradise is anywhere you want it to be. For us, paradise is anywhere Cajunville is parked.
John says this is a drink he could get hooked on while sitting under the canopy on a lazy afternoon. This drink was developed quite by accident. Laurie is a flavored sparkling water drinker and the pineapple coconut is a new flavor. Since it was new, John decided to try a sip. His reaction – taste like the makings of a cocktail to me. So Paradise was made.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Cajun French: brûler – burn
Fresh seasonal peas and beans are one of our weekly purchases from the farmers market. Having purchased purple hull peas this week, we decided to cook them Saturday afternoon. We started the cooking process and headed off to do other things; not a good idea. We were working and totally absorbed in our project and completely forgot about the beans. All of a sudden Laurie jumped up and ran to the kitchen, smelling the burning pot on the way. Sure enough – burned pot bottom. The beans had a rather good smoky flavor – more about this later.
