|
One thing I only recently realized is how crucial a generous dose of black pepper is to really get that Cajun flavor right. I grew up in Louisiana with a real traditional family and moved to the North in my 20's, only to realize that the food of my homeland wasn't as easy to recreate as my Maw-Maw made it look. It wasn't until I started adding an extra eight or ten cranks of the peppermill to everything that I could actually take a bite and say "mmm... tastes like Cajun." Trinity + good hot sauce (anything besides Crystal is blasphemy  ) will get you a long way there, though.TychoCelchuuu, you could veganize maque choux pretty easily: http://www.gumbopages.com/food/veg/maque-choux.html Also if you're in an area where you can get mirliton/chayote, try dicing it and sauteing with trinity + garlic + s&p + hot sauce. Top with oiled breadcrumbs, chopped green onion and a few dots of your favorite vegan butter and bake til it's all soft and creamy. Dems some good eats. Also, regular old stewed okra n' tomatoes isn't exclusively a Cajun country thing, but it's a Southern classic for a reason.
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2013 03:25
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 2, 2024 05:34 |
|
|
Breaky posted:You got any other good recipes for Mirliton? I've cooked with it now and then but I don't have much written down for it. Was always a bonus when it came in season. My go-to is pretty much the same chop + trinity + saute + breadcrumbs + bake technique I outlined above, but with a generous amount of crabmeat and/or chopped shrimp folded into the mix before baking. Don't forget lots of butter and parsley. Alternatively, you can boil them whole, allow to cool and halve, scoop the guts out, give them the same treatment, then spoon the stuffing back into the shells before topping and baking. Makes a great Christmas dinner side dish. One thing I forgot to mention — if they're on the hard side, it's useful to dribble some water or stock into the pan to hurry up the softening process.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2013 16:00
|
|
|
Gumbo z'herbes is a real treat this time of year — lovely and warming, and healthy(ish, depending on variety and amount of sausage used) against the onslaught of holiday food. Non-vegetarians want to start by acquiring a large meaty ham bone, tasso/andouille/your favorite hard sausage, and/or some pickle meat. Sautee the sausage at the bottom of a large pot until the fat renders, then remove and add some chopped onion and garlic. When they're translucent, add roughly as much flour as fat remaining in the pan, stir and let it hang out til everything turns a nice toasty brown. (You're not going for dark chocolate color here — think cappuccino.) Slice up all the greens into thin confetti strips and toss em into a pot along with a couple bay leaves, the hambone and pickle meat. Add just enough water to cover and stew, adding water as necessary, until the greens are nicely soft and dark, and all the meat has fallen off the hambone. You can start boiling the bone ahead of time to get all that delicious collagen out but I'm lazy and usually forget. Stir in the roux and sausage, plus a teaspoon or so each of file powder and cayenne, then simmer until it thickens up. Taste for seasoning (the meat will have made it pretty salty). Whatever amount of pepper you have in there already, add five more cranks. Fish out the bay leaves and serve over lots of steamed white rice. You want the final product to be soupy and loose, but not swimming in broth. I believe Ms. Chase herself recommends boiling the pickle meat separately and adding in its water spoonful by spoonful to the main pot to avoid oversalting, but I've never thought the salt level was overwhelming doing it this way. Also, again: lazy. This wouldn't be too hard to vegetarianize, I bet — just skip the meat components (duh) and make the roux with your favorite rich fat like butter or ghee. My grandma is turning over in her grave at the thought, but a combo of coconut and olive oil might do the trick for vegans. Make sure to add a splash of liquid smoke or something along those lines to make up for the lack of sausage. Fun gumbo z'herbes fact: make sure that you use an odd number of types of greens (9 is traditional) or else it's terrible luck. Hecuba fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Dec 7, 2013 |
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2013 16:53
|
|