Cajun Cooking: Street Prophets Thursday Coffee Hour
Welcome to Thursday Coffee Hour. This is an open topic thread. So grab something to drink and to munch on and sit a spell and let us know what is going on in your life. This is my first time back in 2 months after getting knocked down and into the hospital with pneumonia. Since I am now at 1,051 recipes in my original recipes books I thought maybe I should share a few with people. I am making Cajun Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage for dinner tonight. It is a recipe I have wanted to tinker with for a long time.
The word "Cajun" is derived from "Acadia," a French colony founded in the 1630s around what today we call the Canadian Maritime Provinces. By 1755, the area was under control of the British, who ousted the Acadians in Le Grand Derangement (the Great Disturbance). The Acadians went all over, and a large portion went to the then-French territories of Louisiana.
I was hungry for ribs the other day and I had my Cajun Spice Mix Recipe made so decided to do ribs with Cajun style spices. I made a Cajun Barbecue Sauce to go on the ribs. I was very happy with the way they came out. I decided to make my own spice mix in order to control the amount of salt that goes into what I cook. Here is my spice recipe and a few ways you can use it to create Cajun style recipes.
Cajun Spice Mix
Serving Size: 8 tablespoons
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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4 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano (I use Mexican oregano)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
Put all the spices into either a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Mix thoroughly. Store in a jar with lid.
Per Serving: 8 Calories; trace Fat (25.5% calories from fat); trace Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 356mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fat.
Cajun Barbecue Sauce
Serving Size: 2 cups
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Tiger Sauce or other chili sauce
2 cloves garlic -- minced fine
1 whole shallot -- minced fine
1 tablespoon low sodium Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
8 ounces no salt added tomato sauce
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon seasoned salt
¼ teaspoon seasoned pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup light brown sugar
⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper
¼ cup low sodium catsup
Heat oil in small saucepan. Add shallots and garlic and cook until tender.
Add cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Cook for 30 seconds.
Add remaining ingredients and cook until bubbling. Reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes to blend flavors.
Makes 2 cups.
Per Serving: 75 Calories; 2g Fat (21.5% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 161mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; ½ Vegetable; ½ Fat; ½ Other Carbohydrates.
Cajun Ribs
Serving Size: 8 (2 large ribs a piece)
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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5 pounds pork country-style ribs -- with bone
2 tablespoons Cajun spice -- * see recipe
½ cup Cajun Barbecue Sauce -- * see recipe
Rub Cajun spice onto all sides of the ribs. Let set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Heat oven to 350°F.
Place ribs on a broiling pan bone side down. Cook for 90 minutes.
Increase heat to 425°F.
Remove ribs from oven and brush on top and sides with Cajun barbecue sauce.
Bake ribs for 10 minutes.
Turn ribs over on one side and brush side and top again with sauce. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Turn ribs to third side and brush that side and top with remaining sauce. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Per Serving: 472 Calories; 36g Fat (70.2% calories from fat); 33g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 133mg Cholesterol; 274mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 4½ Lean Meat; 2½ Fat.
Cajun Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage Using Dried Beans
Serving Size : 8
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
6 cups water
1 pound red beans -- soaked
3 ounces ham -- diced or a ham hock
1 medium sweet onion -- diced fine
1 pound andouille sausage -- sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil -- oil
1 large sweet red pepper, whole -- seeded and diced
1 large clove garlic -- minced
4½ ounces green chilies diced -- drained
1 tablespoon Cajun spice mix -- see recipe
1 tablespoon low sodium Worcestershire sauce
1 large bay leaf, whole
2 medium Roma tomatoes -- seeded and diced
20 ounces no salt added tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces no salt added tomato paste
4 cups rice
Cover beans by one inch of water. Add ham to the beans. Let come to a boil and let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and cover and let sit for one hour.
Heat oil in large Dutch oven. Add onion and sausage and cook until sausage is cooked through and onion start to brown.
Add clove of garlic and Cajun spice mix and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant.
Add red pepper, green chilies, and Roma tomatoes. Cook for one minute.
Add water, bay leaf, and tomato sauce to beans mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for three to four hours.
Add rice and cook for 30 minutes.
You can serve with a sprinkling of cilantro or green onions if you wish.
Per Serving: 732 Calories; 10g Fat (12.0% calories from fat); 35g Protein; 124g Carbohydrate; 18g Dietary Fiber; 39mg Cholesterol; 836mg Sodium. Exchanges: 7 Grain(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; 2½ Vegetable; ½ Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
Cajun Rice
Serving Size: 6
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 cups rice -- cooked
14½ ounces no salt added diced tomatoes -- drained
8 ounces no salt added tomato sauce
4 ounces green chilies -- drained and diced
1 tablespoon Cajun spice -- *see recipe
1 small onion -- diced
2 cloves garlic -- minced
6 ounces no salt added tomato paste
1 cup frozen corn -- defrosted
Heat oven to 350°F.
Mix all ingredients in a 2 quart casserole dish. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
Per Serving : 429 Calories; 1g Fat (2.4% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 95g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 153mg Sodium. Exchanges: 5½ Grain(Starch); 2½ Vegetable; 0 Fat.
Cajun Enchiladas
Serving Size: 12
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
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2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound extra lean ground beef
20 ounces Ro-Tel diced tomatoes and green chilies -- drain liquid but set aside
1 large shallot -- minced
1 clove garlic -- minced
6 ounces no salt added tomato paste
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning -- see recipe
16 ounces fat-free refried beans
2 tablespoons pimientos -- diced
2 tablespoons black olives -- diced
1 cup instant rice
2 tablespoons light sour cream
2 tablespoons Mexican four cheese
Sauce
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 ounces mushroom caps -- diced
1 cup Spicy Tomato Juice -- see recipe
¼ teaspoon seasoned salt
⅛ teaspoon seasoned pepper
1 cup Mexican four cheese
12 medium tortilla flour
Heat oven to 350°F.
Add one cup of liquid from tomatoes to a small saucepan. Add rice and cook until done. Set aside.
Melt butter in small saucepan. Cook mushrooms until they brown and release their moisture.
Add tomato juice, salt, and pepper to saucepan. Heat until simmer and then reduce heat and let cook on low until needed.
Add oil to large frying pan. Cook beef and shallots until no pink remains in beef and shallots are softened and starting to brown.
Add tomato paste, garlic, and Cajun seasoning and cook for one minute.
Add tomatoes, beans, olives, pimentos, and rice. Cook until heated through,
Remove pan from heat and add sour cream and cheese. Mix thoroughly,
In a 13x9x2 casserole dish or 2 quart casserole dish spread ¾ cup of sauce and spread evenly.
Divide the beef mixture into 12 parts. Spread portion of beef down the center of a tortilla. Fold sides over the filling and place seam side down in casserole dish.
Place six filled tortilla in dish. Spread 1.2 of the reaming sauce over the enchiladas and spread evenly. Sprinkle with half of the realigning cheese.
Fix the reaming tortillas the same way and place on top of the first layer. Spread the reaming sauce and cheese over the top.
Cover pan and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.
Per Serving: 739 Calories; 28g Fat (34.6% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 95g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 49mg Cholesterol; 1323mg Sodium. Exchanges: 5½ Grain(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; ½ Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 4 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
Spicy Tomato Juice
Serving Size: 12
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5 pounds tomatoes -- chopped
1 small sweet onion -- diced
1 large green pepper -- chopped
1 stalk celery -- chopped
1 large carrots -- chopped
2 cups water
1 clove garlic -- chopped
½ cup parsley -- chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons low sodium Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon celery seeds
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon Tiger Sauce or other chili sauce
2 tablespoons no salt added tomato paste
8 ounces no salt added tomato sauce
In a non-reactive pan add tomatoes, green peppers, celery, carrots, parsley, garlic, onion, and water. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add sugar, salt, pepper, lemon juice, celery seeds, soy sauce, Tiger Sauce, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and Worcestershire and mix well.
Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. You can also us an immersion blender. Strain through a fine mesh strainer if you want an even smoother drink.
Per Serving: 66 Calories; 1g Fat (8.1% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 504mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2½ Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.
Comments
Guava Sauce Basic
Made this yesterday in Dominica, West Indies... right now them guavas falling off d trees.
Chop up five pounds of ripe guavas, put in a pot and fill 2/3 the way to top of guavas with water and simmer about 15 minutes.
Cool and dump in a blender and mash it up enough, but not so much the millions of seeds get mashed, strain through a colander, adding a bit of water necessary so you can get the mass to strain. Add 1 lb. of raw cane sugar, fresh squeezed lime juice to taste and simmer on very very low heat , stirring now and again, until the sauce is plenty thick.
Cool, put in recycled cottage cheese containers and freeze for future use.
OK, I like to take small portions and season it to taste... nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, turmeric and so on for chutney, or chili and lime for hot sweet and sour... or most commonly spread it on bread or crackers just the way it is. With local creole spice it good with fish and salad.
Caribbean Scorpion Red - 1,000,000 on the Scoville Scale. (Tabasco is 50,000). I know some politicians should carry this around in der purse and wash their lying mouths out with it.
From the Light House.
Cottage cheese containers take up a lot of space.
Why not freeze in heavy-duty ziploc bags? That way you can also suck the excess air out of them with a straw, creating a partial vacuum, which should lengthen their "bb Date".
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
Recycling
One of my favorites is chopped fresh pineapple with (French from Guadeloupe) cottage cheese, so I have lots of cottage cheese containers... I filled four with the recipe and they easily stack.
I try to keep away from plastic bags...
From the Light House.
Thanks for this.
The history of Acadia is actually quite interesting; the name is believed to have originated from the mythical "Arcadia".
For those interested in the history of Acadia and the Acadians, I would suggest the following reference:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/history-of-acadia/
There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
Michele, thanks for the awesome recipes!
Welcome back! Glad you're feeling better!
Michelewin, you really out-did yourself with this collection
of recipes. Thank you. I don't cook much anymore and wonder if other women, if they live by themselves and just cook for themselves, are similarly in their attitudes and a little depressed in what they cook, or if this is just by bad me.
I definitely will make me some cajun rice tomorrow.
I like so much spicy tomato sauce with peanut butter melted in it and some real chicken, the ones who are not tender, the wild ones. In Hawaii you still have wild chickens, they take long to get tender, but have real taste.
I hope you will stay stable health-wise. Would be nice to get to know you in person one day. Are you on the East or the West Coast? It would be real nice, if the US would be a little smaller...;-)
https://www.euronews.com/live
North Carolina
I currently call Winston-Salem North Carolina my home. My cat Pixie calls it her Princessdom.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. Oscar Wilde
Gumbo
I know, I know. Everyone has a gumbo recipe. But this is the recipe I got from Enola Prudhomme, the less famous oldest sibling of Chef Paul. She taught him how to cook. I make one adjustment, I do it "country style" where I use the chicken fat to sauté the onions, and she used margarine for a "heart healthy" version. Mine tastes better.
Her secret was to use a "dry roux." Dry Roux is made with regular sifted white flour that has been toasted. It is called a dry roux because toasting it will remove all of the moisture and allow you to add it to a broth without it clumping. Can be done by the cupful in a skillet, or in the oven at 310 degrees for a few hours. If done in a skillet the same care should be taken to keep the flour moving as would be done with a chocolate roux. In the oven, flour should be sifted every 1/2 hour to heat evenly. Heat can be raised to 325 after the first hour. Test by sprinkling on a white surface, color will be somewhere between sand and burnt sienna. If done by oven method, stir / sift while cooling as the flour will smoke and burn if the heat is not allowed to dissipate. It is amazingly versatile and has an almost unlimited shelf life.
Techniques are my own.
1 Whole Chicken, boiled and cut into 1" chunks
1 Pkg. Andouille Sausage cut into quarter wheels
1 Stalk (not just an individual rib) Celery, cut into 3/8" slices
6 Green Peppers, small dice
6 Chopped Yellow Onions, small dice
1/2 small box cut Okra - 1 cup (optional - I almost never use, and NEVER use more than 1 cup or else it tastes too 'green')
1 head Garlic (not just a clove) chopped
1 Tbsp. Oregano
1 Tbsp. Thyme
Pick out 10-12 Whole Bay Leaves, keep stray pieces
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Salt
Black, White, and Red Cayenne Pepper
2 cups Med brown toasted dry roux* (optional)
sliced green onions - garnish
Wash chicken, boil in 8 quart stockpot with bay leaf pieces and 1 Tablespoon salt, for an hour or until done -- Chicken will be more tender if cooled in broth before removed from the bone. -- Skim 3 Tb fat from the Chicken Broth and saute onions in it until brown (caramelized), add garlic, tsp salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, whole bay leaves, and cook some more. This is where the magic happens - much care and effort must be given toward stirring the onion mixture and keeping it moving. Spend 10 minutes with heat at 1/3 setting, then 5 minutes at 2/3+ setting, repeat. When ready it will be more than just brown, it will be a thick lava the color of molasses. I spend an hour in this stage.
Skim the fat away from the chicken broth, strain the broth and return it to the cleaned stock pot, add sauteed onion mix and boil. Cook celery and green peppers in the skillet you used for the onions, letting the juices from the veggies deglaze the remnants of the onion/garlic. Add the veggies to the broth.
Whisk in dry roux, bit by bit. The idea is to add enough to soak up the oils, and give it a little color.
Add diced chicken and sausage, simmer for several hours, until reduced and thickened. The chicken should start to disintegrate into strands.
Cool to room temperature and reheat. This sounds funny but the gumbo is never ready until you've done this step. If you're going to add okra, wait until 1/2 hour before finished. May need some additional salt to taste, serve with plain steamed white rice.
“He may not have gotten the words out but the thoughts were great.”
Thank You
I love Paul Prudhomme and watched him and Justin Wilson which is where I learned about Cajun cooking. I twas Paul Prudhomme's Fork in the Road that taught me how to adapt recipes to make healthier when my brother came and I had to do Diabetic.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. Oscar Wilde