Any Cajun Recipes???

Hi,

Here's a good red beans and rice recipe we just tried for the first time last night. http://southernfood.about.com/od/beansandblackeyedpeas/r/...
It was very good, even though it takes half a day to cook.

Here's my jambalaya recipe, tried and true for years:

i package of kielbasa/andouille sausage
2 T oil
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 c diced ham
1 c chopped green or red pepper
1 c chopped celery
1 large onion, chopped
2 t or 4 cloves garlic, minced
5 c chicken broth
1/4 c minced parsley
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 t thyme, crumbled
1 c chopped canned or fresh tomatoes
2 c rice, uncooked

Cook rice according to package directions (we use brown rice, which works well). Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat oil in large skillet, slice up sausage and brown in hot skillet. Sprinkle sausage with cayenne pepper. Remove sausage from skillet and set aside. Add ham, green pepper, celery (optional), onion, and garlic to the pan and cook until the vegetables are soft. Add the chicken broth, parsley, bay leaf, and thyme; bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, until the broth is reduced to 4 cups. Put sausage, unstrained broth, the tomatoes, and rice in a casserole dish. Stir, cover and bake for 1 hour, checking every 20 minutes and adding more hot broth or water if it dries out. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

This makes a huge amount, so you might want to half it. Also, my husband spices it up with Louisiana hot sauce.

Hope this helps!

D.

Crawfish pie

1 1lb crawfish
1 stick butter
1 can cream of mushroom
1 small can evaporated milk
2 pie crusts
¼ cup green onions
1 cup white onions

-saute white onion in half of the butter
-add in cream of mushroom, simmer for 3 min
-pour into a bowl with evap. milk
-saute crawfish and green onion in other half of butter
add cajun seasoning

add to bowl mixture and pour into pie crusts
bake 350 for 20-30 min

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Roast Beef Po'boy

When you read the ingredients it sounds kind of blah but i'm telling you it is like heaven on a sandwich!
30 min 10 min prep
1 loaf French bread
1 lb roast beef, from the deli

1 lb fresh mushrooms sliced

1 (12 ounce) jar of hormel salsbury beef gravy or mushroom gravy
mayonnaise

swiss cheese (optional) or provolone cheese (optional)

1. Heat the meat in a pan until brown and saute mushrooms with olive oil.
2. then add the jar of gravy and mushrooms
3. stir on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
4. While the meat mixture is brewing slice the bread through the middle so that you have two halves to make a sandwich.
5. Mayonnaise both the top and bottom portions.
6. Pour the meat mixture onto the bottom half of the loaf and if you want cheese now is the time to add it on top.
7. Place the top half on the sandwich and wrap the whole thing in foil.
8. Place in the oven at 350 for 5-7 minutes or until toasted to your liking.
9. Serve in sections and it's messy so i prefer to use a fork!
10. enjoy.

S.,

I have an etoufee recipe that tastes great and I have received great reviews from family and friends.

Note:Do not add salt until you mix all ingredients and do a taste test, because the sausage contains alot of salt.

2-3 cans of crushed tomatoes or cream of shrimp (if you don't like tomatoes)
1pkg of crawfish tails (frozen will work)
2 pkg of sausages (you can use turkey if you want)
1 pkg of medium shrimp
3-4 stalks of green onion
1/2 onion chopped
1/2-1tbsp of chopped/minced garlic

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil or other oil
add sausage and crawfish for about 5-10 mins

::TWO Sauce Options::

*If you do the Tomato Based Sauce you will need to remove the meat from the pan (do not drain the pan) and place aside then pour the can of crushed tomato into the same heated pan and cook over a medium heat until it begins to break down, at this point the sauce is like water and you need to add flour and water a little bit at a time until it is to a creamy consistency. Once the sauce is to your liking your can add your meat, season to taste and simmer for about 15 minutes.

*Add the 2 cans of Cream of Shrimp to the meat in the heated pan and only 1/2 to 1 can of water to the mixture depending on the sauce consistency that you want, season to taste and simmer for about 15mins

We've tried this over rice and over Angel Hair Pasta with garlic bread. We now prefer the Angel Hair Pasta.. Enjoy!

~T.

Jambalaya:
First: you'll need a 7 qt cast iron pot or dutch oven for this recipe to feed 10 people. You can very easily double or triple it though!

1/4 C oil or bacon drippings
3 lbs pork, cubed
2 lbs sausage, sliced (Richards or Manda with green onion are my personal favorites, but if you can't find it in a TX store, andouille is the traditional choice, and good)
2 C onion, chopped
1 C bellpepper, chopped
1/2 C garlic, diced or minced
8 C beef or chicken stock (they're both good, but chicken is what's usually used)
1 C green onions, sliced
1/2 C parsely, chopped
Tonys
LA Hot Sauce: very definately the best for LA foods!
5 C long grain white rice (regular, not instant)

1.)In the 7 qt cast iron dutch oven: heat the oil over medium high.

2.)Saute pork until dark brown on all sides and some pieces are kinda sticking to the bottom of the pot-approximately 30 minutes. This is important: the color of jambalaya comes from the color of the meat. Add sausage and stir fry another 10-15 minutes.

3.)Tilt pot to 1 side and ladle out all oil except 1 lg cooking spoon. Add onions, pepper, garlic. Cook until veggies are carmelized but stir often because you don't want them to burn!

4.)Add stock, bring to a rolling boil, reduce heat to simmer. Cook 15 minutes for flavor to develop. Then add green onion, parsley, Tonys, and LA hot sauce. It's ok to slightly over-season because rice needs a little extra.

5.)Add rice, reduce to very low, cover and cook 30-45 minutes. Stir at 15 minute intervals. DO NOT uncover except when time to stir (or it gets gummy).

This is served with a slice of french bread, maybe a salad, and always white beans (a GREAT short cut is just canned Blue Runner white beans---the brand name actually makes a difference here; it's not a northern thing and this company is from the jambalaya capital of the world....it's canned with jambalaya in mind...just put a little onion and whatever sausage you may have left over---or some other local sausage, brown that up a little, and then pour in the undrained beans and heat up). If you can't find Blue Runner beans, I can give you a more detailed recipe on preparing them.

Etouffe:
1 lb peeled tails
1 stick butter
2 med onions (ch)
1 lg bellpepper (ch)
1 C celery (ch)
1/2 C green onions (ch)
1/3 C parsley
2 Tbs cornstarch
Tony Chacheres (to taste)

Season the crawfish with Tonys, and melt butter in a lg pan. Saute onion, peppers, and celery until tender. Add 1 C water and reduce heat, cooking 10 minutes uncovered. Add the crawfish, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook 10-15 minutes. In a small bowl, disolve cornstarch in a small amount of water and then add to the etouffe. When it thickens, add the green onions and parsely. Use Louisiana Hot Sauce liberally, and then serve over rice.

Red Beans & Rice:
(the short cut)since you're in child care and might be in a hurry, something I do to get dinner on the table by the time my husband comes home is simply this:
Slice up a couple links of sausage, chop up an onion, and saute them up a bit. Then put in 2 cans of BLUE RUNNER red beans, undrained, and a can of rotels (also undrained). stir it up, toss in some LA hot sauce, put the lid on and let it just sit on "warm" while you get the table and drinks ready. Super simple and fast, but sometimes it's just what you need in a pinch. Serving this with some cornbread rocks my husband's world.
I have lived on River Road in South Louisiana forever, until I moved here nearly 2 years ago, so if you have questions about other foods (things for date night or whatever), let me know. Another thing: if recipes are calling for a lot of tomatoes, it is not Cajun, you're going into Creole territory. (Both are good, but a different flavor and personality). Also, if something with crawfish calls for "1 stick butter" it IS truly Cajun, as that is the standard for ALL the recipes from home, lol....they never claim to be healthy recipes! If you're going to do a recipe often, you could 1/2 the stick of butter for weight reasons, but if it's just a special treat, the good thick creaminess that actually makes a Cajun dish stand out is in the "1 stick". I like to watch my husband's intake so I half the stick on a regular basis but if someone is coming over to eat, always stick to the recipe so they know how good it really is. :)