Cajun Food Where You Find It
Cajun French: le poisson (lu poo-a-son) – fish
While traveling we are not always able to buy fresh fish and we had been fresh fish deprived for a while. Heading back to south Mississippi, we knew fresh fish was waiting. Laurie enjoys fish en papillote and had not had it for some time. John’s creative juices started flowing and below is the result.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la céleri (la sel-ree) – celery
Calorie overload during Mardi Gras – yes that was us. So, we were ready for some down home cooking. What better than Shrimp Etouffee – simple, easy, good Cajun cooking. We even made it easier by using dry roux. That is not always our method, but Mardi Gras wore us out; we needed easy.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la merise (la m’reez) – cherry
Shopping at farmers markets while we travel brings new and different products to our table. One such find was shishito peppers. The pepper is an East Asian variety and makes great finger food. We decided to add them to our Shrimp and ground cherries to give a sweet/hot taste. There were a few leftover so we cut off the stems, chopped them and added to eggs for an excellent scramble.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Sautéed Shishito Peppers with Shrimp and Ground Cherries”
Cajun French: le “truck” (lu “truck”) – truck
Saturdays usually mean shopping at a farmers market and breakfast out. This has become a tradition of ours no matter where we may be located. This Saturday we were in Breaux Bridge, LA and knew the Lafayette markets well, having shopped them many times. There are three farmers markets in Lafayette which is interesting for a city of its size and the markets are close together. Continue reading “Day of Surprises – Truck Stop Eating”
Cajun French: le matin (lu ma-tain) – morning
Start with melt in your mouth French bread from Champagne’s Bakery in the heart of Acadiana (Breaux Bridge). Next add a link of crawfish boudin from Poche’s Meat Market in Breaux Bridge, LA, with one crawfish tail in the entire length (we were trying to rescue the boudin). Next we added eggs (after all it was morning) and boiled shrimp and breakfast was served.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: griller (gree-ā) – toast (bread)
We were watching “A Chef’s Life” where the chef was making a mull using muscadines and John’s creative juices started flowing. Shrimp was already on the menu for dinner along with steamed veggies and Kumquats were in our frig just waiting to be used; dinner was getting better and better. Bellegarde Bakery fig and pecan bread had just been purchased from our farmers market and crostini, little toasts, was in the making. Superb dish for an entree or appetizer.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Shrimp Crostini with Pepper Kumquat Compote”
Cajun French: la patate douce (la pa-tat doos) – sweet potato
Laurie found a recipe for sweet potato black bean chili (http://bit.ly/1csOWxI) from Eating Well on Pescetarian Living Facebook Group. Immediately Laurie was interested; John not so much. But John was willing to give it a try. We adapted the recipe to our liking and it was a hit for both of us.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili with Grilled Shrimp”
Cajun French: l’année qui vien (l’an-ā kee-vee-ain) – New Year
Cabbage and Black Eyed Peas – it’s tradition on New Year’s Day. Okay we get that and enjoy the duo every January 1st no matter where we are. But sometimes we just need something different so creative brains went to work. Outcome – Creole Shrimp and Cabbage Jambalaya. We may have cooked it in an unorthodox way but it worked and was delicious!
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Creole Shrimp and Cabbage Jambalaya – New Year’s Day”
Cajun French: le coco (lu kō-kō) – coconut
Cajun…Curry…maybe not exactly but Cajuns are adaptable and we are always using interesting ingredients.
The interesting ingredient was Coconut Cream. We use coconut milk but had never tried cream and could not resist. Curry naturally followed along with cashews and turmeric and then came the rest of the ingredients. The results were amazing. The only thing we would change or John would change is using the entire can of coconut cream so there would be more sopping sauce.
Mais C’est Bon!
Cajun French: la tarte (la tart) – pie
Fennel made its appearance at the Farmers Market this week and Laurie was very excited. We like to use the entire plant and are always looking for different ways to prepare the fennel. After much discussion, we decided on a fennel pie with shrimp and other vegetables.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!! Continue reading “Fennel Pie”
