Creole and Cajun

Recently, I had the opportunity to work in a professional kitchen at Creola Bistro, which focuses mostly on Creole and Cajun food.  Inspired by all the good eats there, I decided to take a stab at making the New Orleans fare at home.  The following books were my primary sources:

• Emeril Lagasse (EL), Emeril's A new New Orleans cooking", 1993
• Williams-Sonoma (WS), "New Orleans: Authentic recipes celebrating the foods of the world", 2005
• Paul Prudhomme (PP), "Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen", 1984
• Rima and Richard Collin (RRC), "The New Orleans Cookbook", 1975
• John Folse (JF), "The Evolution of Cajun and Creole Cuisine", 1989

All recipes for the dishes below are available in this online album.  Favorites are marked with a (*).

Dish List

• Beans, beans, beans...
• Tuesday's Red Bean Soup (EL)
• * White Beans, Rice and Smoked Sausage (RRC)
• Black-Eyed Peas with Meat and Rice (RRC; EL)
• Breads and baked goods
• * Iron Skillet Cornbread (WS)
• Buttermilk Biscuits (EL)
• * Jalapeno Corn Muffins (EL)
• Hush Puppies (JF)
• Pumpkin Soufflé (RRC)
• One pot dishes (quintessential Creole/Cajun)
• Seafood Filé Gumbo (PP)
• Gumbo Z'Herbes (WS)
• * Chicken Creole Style (JF)
• * Shrimp Etouffee (RRC)
• * Pork Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya (JF; RRC) 
• Soups and sides
• Corn Maque Choux (WS)
• * Pumpkin Soup (EL)
• Stocks
• Basic Chicken Stock (EL; JF)
• Fish Stock (EL; JF)

Preparation notes

•  Tuesday's Red Bean Soup (EL)
• I pulled the skin off of the smoked ham hawks before using them; I later asked chef Caba about this and he said it was unnecessary to do so
• the beans actually took about 80 minutes to cook through
• the Andouille sausage tasted dried out in the final product.  Creola restaurant  adds their sausage at the end of the cooking process to avoid this
• I didn't use any bacon, but instead doubled the amount of ham hock (which provided a nice amount of meat as well)
• White Beans, Rice and Smoked Sausage (RRC)
• this was a hearty and comforting dish with mild smokiness and full-bodied flavor
• The chunks of meat are strewn throughout but "light"
• I scaled the recipe down by 50% and a 3 quart pot worked well
• Instead of using a "seasoning ham" and "hambone", I used to ham hock stock and meat scraps from one half of a ham hock
• Sausage-wise, I used one andouille link
• Used Safeway-brand great northern beans.  I like to disparage Safeway's quality, but it seemed to turn out okay.
• Black-Eyed Peas with Meat and Rice (RRC; EL)
• Iron Skillet Cornbread (WS)
• scale proportions by 2/3 and worked well in my 8 inch cast-iron skillet
• Seemed slightly under salted; try 1 teaspoon next time for the 2/3 scaling
• Since no sugar is added, honey or similar is needed as a garnish
• Buttermilk Biscuits (EL)
• review: decently flaky texture; housemate Mike not a fan of the slightly sour taste
• Instead of miniature biscuits, made 3 standard size biscuits (1/2" thick before cooking) with scraps left over
• Jalapeno Corn Muffins (EL)
• review: housemate Mike and I agree it was "excellent"; sweet, despite no added sugar; nice texture with contrasting chunks of corn and  K. key/crumbly cornmeal
• The Chile Pepper lost most of its kick after cooking
• Hush Puppies (JF)
• review: decent, but a little dry inside and under salted; definitely requires butter, ketchup, etc. as garnish
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt added was insufficient despite the called-for "pinch"; try 3/4 teaspoon next time
• I yielded 12 small-medium balls from a 50% scaling of the proportions
• Some fresh jalapeno or ground chili powder would be nice
• if the batter is too liquidy, it is very hard to form and maintain the ball shapes
• Pumpkin Soufflé (RRC)
• I omitted the Cointreau out of necessity; the resulting flavor was overly mild
• scaled the recipe by 50% and it fit nicely into a single ramkin and 1.5 cup gratin dish
• because of the smaller portions, I checked the ramkin for deafness after 12 minutes (very unfair-done) and begin at 25 minutes (borderline under-done still)
• The soufflés rose from about 1 inch to 2 inches before falling back to 1 1/3" couple of minutes after coming out of oven; they achieved a medium-brown color on top
• Seafood Filé Gumbo (PP)
• I scaled down the oil to 1/3 the recipe amount for "nutrition" reasons
• omitted the Tabasco sauce because it was very piquant without
• the stock:  simmered (pre-cooked) crab carcasses, 15 shrimp shells and homemade fish stock for 45 minutes; fantastic rich taste!
• the broth of the Gumbo turned out "particulate"; was this the file powder clumping together?
• Gumbo Z'Herbes (WS)
• for the greens, used kale, chard and some arugula
• salt level: close to 1 teaspoon / Qt
• Chicken Creole Style (JF)
• due to lack thereof, omitted the mushrooms, jalapeno, margarine, basil, and Louisiana Gold (used red pepper flakes instead)
• piquant level: mild, present but not distracting
• removed excess fat from dark meat beforehand, and removed about 50% of the skin; still, the final product was slightly oily
• simmered the boneless chicken breasts for 15-20 minutes and the dark meat for about one hour; perfectly cooked
• Shrimp Etouffee (RRC)
• scaled the amounts by 33% and the shrimp by 50%; yielded approximately 1.5 servings
• I used a homemade fish-shrimp stock instead of plain water
• reduced the cooking time for the shrimp from the suggested amount
• used the lower bound on the requested liquid quantity; final product still fairly runny
  
• Pork Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya (JF; RRC)
• see separate blog post
  
• Corn Maque Choux (WS)
• scaled down to 1/3; 2 servings
• Pumpkin Soup (EL)
• pre-roasted the pumpkin for one hour at 350°; then, sliced perpendicular to fibers and measured out 2.5 cups
• reduced cream to 1/2 cup
• reduced nut butter to 1/4 cup and used almond instead of peanut; diluted with liquid before adding to main pot
• added a dash of cayenne
• superb!
  
• Basic Chicken Stock (EL; JF)
• Fish Stock (EL; JF)
• my version took the common ingredients from these 2 recipes.  I used:
• 2-3 pounds of fish heads and carcasses
• 2 onions
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• one lemon, halved
• 4 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs of parsley
• 10 peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon of thyyme
• 3-4 quarts of water
• procedure:  Blanch fish and rinse (only necessary if "off" smells present?); combine all ingredients in stockpot and bring to a boil; simmer for about 45 minutes; reduce for up to 2 hours; strain

Mashed sweet potatoes

Recipe complements of "Cooks Illustrated." It turned out fantastic --  rich flavor -- great texture.  Only potential downside:  slightly chunky in places. My only modifications:

• using 1/2 cup water instead of 3/4 cups
• 4 tablespoons of light cream

I think the amount of water could be reduced even further.  Once the potatoes were tender at around 45 minutes there was still excess moisture in the pot that needed to be evaporated off.

Marinating

Over the past 2 weeks I did a handful a dishes involving marinating (red meat, chicken, seafood, tofu, and vegetables).  Marinating serves three main purposes: first, to infuse flavor, secondly, to increase the perceived tenderness of the item, and thirdly, to increase the moisture content in the item.  I say "perceived tenderness" because several sources claim that the acid of a marinade doesn't actually significantly break down the item, but rather increases saliva production in our mouths, which contains a large amount of enzyme that actually does break down the item.

Generalizing a marinade
In my mind, there are 4 main aspects of a marinade mixture: salt, acid, duration  (of soaking the meat, tofu, etc.) and other flavoring ingredients.

• Salt:  increases moisture/juiciness of the meat and adds flavor, obviously.   In my recipes here, the salt concentration is generally between 3 and 8%, going up as high as 10% for Alton Brown's shrimp brine and also for the Mediterranean chicken marinade.
• Acid:  increases perceived tenderness of the meat.  In the recipes here, the concentration of acidic ingredient (citrus juice, vinegar, etc.) in the marinade  is usually around 35% and goes as low as 20% for the teriyaki and somewhat higher for the marinated vegetables.
• Duration:  obviously, the longer it soaks, the stronger the flavor and more tender/juicy the meat.  On the flipside, if it sits too long, it it will become too salty or overly acidic or will start to break down and become mushy.   In the recipes here, the duration is usually between 4 and 24 hours (and less than 1 hour for the seafood).  In general, the thicker the piece of meat, and the more surface area there is, the longer the duration should be.
• Other flavorings/ingredients: some of the ingredients that kept reappearing in the recipes here include: chopped herbs, spices, garlic/ginger/shallots, chile/pepper,  flavored oils, soy, mustard.

Indian-spiced roast cauliflower

From Jamie Oliver's: "Cook with Jamie".

This is a really unique way to serve cauliflower, at least in the US. I think I may have slightly overcooked the spices in the oil in the first up, but it still turned out really tasty. Here's the ingredient list:

• one head of cauliflower florets
• Sea salt
• olive oil
• butter
• cumin seed, whole
• coriander seed, whole
• dried chili
• almonds blanched, smashed (I believe I used roasted almonds, instead; how does blanching taste different?)
• lemon zest and juice

d

Black lentil soup with wheat berries and tarragon

I loved this soup -- really hearty, but with some nice herbal flavor from the tarragon. Like almost all soups, it made for excellent leftovers.

My one deviation is that I used canned chickpeas instead of dried ones. As a result, I simply added them at the end instead of soaking and simmering, etc.

Spinach and yogurt soup

In the native Turkish: "ıspanakli yoğurt çorbası."
Recipe from "The Sultan's kitchen: A Turkish cookbook", by Ozcan Ozan.

Delicious and comforting. The author describes it as "perfect for serving on a summer day"; Thomas feels like a perfect soup for a cold day, because of its creamy consistency.

On top of the spinach flavor, there is a distinct sourness from the yogurt and lemon juice as well as the paprika flavor (which, in my case of using hot paprika, gave a a solid kick).

Comparing the look of my soup to a photo in the cookbook of one of the other "yogurt soups", it's clear that mine was a little short on the yogurt and not of a smooth enough consistency. I think I may have raised the heat to high after adding the yogurt mixture which may have led to curdling (of the yogurt, or maybe of the egg yolk).

Yogurtlu Kebab (Kofta with tomato sauce and yogurt)

From Roden's "The new book of Middle Eastern food".

Delish. As Mike points out, the combination/contrast of the tomato sauce and yogurt works really well. As the recipe didn't specify specifics, I used my "half-sharp" hot paprika in the olive oil mixture on top. With this, I thought it was on the verge of being a little too intense.

The recipe calls the meat concoction "koftas", but I feel like the size of my "burgers" was much bigger than the typical kofta. Whatever, though, right?

Scaling/portion note: the amount of tomato sauce that came out of following the recipe seemed a little skimpy. Increase by 50% next time.

For the recipe, see the image below.  For the kofta part of it, mix the following:

• 2 lbs ground lamb
• 2 onions, grated
• 3 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Georgian chicken Tabaka with Badza (walnut) sauce

From Paula Wolfert's "the cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean".

Who would think that putting a heavy cast-iron skillet (brick stand in) on top of a chicken in a skillet wouldn't squeeze all of the juices out? Indeed, the chicken was nice and tender and plenty juicy.

The walnut sauce was fantastic -- rich, almost like a cream sauce, but lighter. Although the spices in the sauce were fairly exotic, the flavor was understated.

Baba Ghanoush

From Paula Wolfert's "The cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean".

Mike and I agreed that this was fantastic -- light and creamy with intense smoky eggplant flavor.

Sadly, for the 5 days after making this, my stomach was upset and I could hardly bear to look at it.

Classic tortilla soup

I mostly followed the recipe from "Authentic Mexican" by Bayless. He describes it as a "quintessentially Mexican soup". The final product received excellent reviews from my housemate Mike (as well as me).

Procedure remarks:

• in my first rendition, I forgot to include cubes of fresh cheese in the serving bowls; instead I had avocado chunks, which is just slightly less standard
• also, I forgot to serve with lime wedges, the sourness of which supposedly really bring out the flavors
• instead of using 1.5 quarts of chicken broth, I used one qt of broth and water for the remainder
• I didn't have any ready-made corn chips, so I fried sliced up, stale corn tortillas. While serving left overs the following day, I tried "oven frying" some tortilla strips by taking a tortilla, spring it on both sides of using aerosol-based olive oil and placing under an intense oven broiler for a couple of minutes. In my opinion, this worked better: the strips turned out less greasy and the cleanup was much easier than deep frying in a pot of oil. The challenge was, not over-browning them, though.
  

"Chicken Verde" with roasted poblano peppers

Thankfully, we decided to make this dish a 2nd time (with Nick and Maureen) and were able to get a  photo.

It was a huge success -- Maureen likes to call it the "green crack sauce".

I was worried that the boneless skinless chicken breasts would end up being dry and boring, but by cutting them up into thirds before cooking, I think it worked out well. The chicken was moist; the sauce was pungent and creamy and the peppers had that nice smoky flavor.

Enchiladas verdes (with chicken, spinach and mushrooms)

A very traditional dish with some (non-traditional?) additions. For the mushrooms, we used some wild chanterelles that my housemate Mike collected.

I must say, this dish was a huge hit with the crowd!

The only unsatisfying part was the "crema" that I used in the sauce. Crema is like a cross between crème fraîche, sour cream, and full cream -- but Mexican. I used the "Mexicana" brand, which included 2 types of stabilizer/emulsifier along with pure dairy.

Zucchini bread

Made this for the Christmas sing-along at Ken and Tina's house. started with this recipe and modified to make more healthy. My final ingredient list is (updated on 6/18/2010):

• 3.25 cups flour (one cup of this was whole wheat)
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups applesauce
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Bake at 350° for 45 minutes for the small loaf pan and 50-55 for the larger loaf pan.

Review for 2nd attempt:

• perfect consistency: not dry like previous time
• still plenty sweet.  Try reducing sugar to 1/2 cup next time
• both loaves stuck to their pans again (rubbed with plenty of vegetable oil).  Try using butter next time?

Review for 1st attempt:

• Was a tiny bit dry: be very careful to not over cook; maybe use more applesauce?
• Stuck to bottom of pan: be liberal with the application of grease to the pan
• Perhaps replace the water with more Apple sauce?
  

Spiced pumpkin bread

Sometimes you just get the craving for pumpkin, right?

I found this recipe from the online site of the cooking magazine that is titled after the classic French phrase. See the full recipe here http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spiced-Pumpkin-Bread-840. I made some substitutions though, to make it healthier: Instead of the specified sugar and vegetable oil, I used just one cup of sugar, 1.2 cups of apple sauce, and 1/3 cup of oil. Also, I replaced one half of the flour with whole wheat flour.

It turned out very well, and the coworkers liked it a lot.

French onion soup

Recipe source: http://www.cookography.com/2008/the-best-french-onion-soup-ever

Disclaimer: the picture below is from halfway to the process. Sadly, there is no picture of the final product (see the link above, though).

Here's a copy of the recipe:


The Best French Onion Soup
From: Cook’s Illustrated

Serves 6
Notes:
For the best flavor, make the soup a day or 2 in advance. Alternatively, the onions can be prepared through step 1, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to 3 days before proceeding with the recipe.Ingredients:
Soup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 3 pieces
6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices (Make sure you get Yellow)
Table salt
2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
1/2 cup dry sherry
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (They recommend Swanson Certified Organic Free Range Chicken Broth )
2 cups beef broth (They recommend Pacific Beef Broth)
6 sprigs fresh thyme , tied with kitchen twine
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper
Cheese Croutons
1 small baguette , cut into 1/2-inch slices
8 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)
Directions:
For the soup:
Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.
Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.)
Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.
Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.
For the croutons:
While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
To serve:
Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.