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

Italian 101

I had been avoiding this theme for some time now; mostly because it seems so commonplace, broad, and non-exotic.  With all of the tomatoes, eggplant, and summer squash in our garden, though, it didn't make sense to wait any longer.  In the end, it was a very tasty and fun several weeks of cooking and eating.

Recipe sources:

1. David Downie's "Cooking the Roman way:  Authentic recipes from the home cooks and trattorias of Rome" -- my favorite book of the bunch
2. Lidia Bastianich's "Lidia's Italy" -- good but focused on northern Italy, especially Northeast Italy
3. Marcela Hazen's "Essentials of classic Italian cooking" -- the most comprehensive of these cookbooks; unfortunately, the recipe names do not include the Italian translation
4. Biba Caggiano's "Trattoria cooking"
5. Clarissa Hyman's "Cucina Siciliana"

See this album for the recipes and photos of all of the dishes made, which I will list out here also.  The (*) symbol denotes some of my favorites:

• Primi (soups)
• * chickpea soup with porcini
• pasta and chickpea soup with rosemary and garlic
• minestrone alla Toscana (minestrone in the style of Tuscany)
• Primi (pasta)
• * linguine with clams
• * spaghetti alla amatriciana
• * pennette with cauliflower ragu
• pasta with eggplant, tomato and red chili
• spaghetti cacio e pepe (spaghetti with pepper and cheese)
• pennette with summer squash (zucchini, etc.) and ricotta
• * penne with cream sauce of ham (or prosciutto), peas, and peppers
• fresh tagliattelle with sauce of tomato and porcini
• Secondi (entrées)
• chicken cacciatore (pollo alla cacciatora)
• * coda alla vaccinara (Roman oxtail stew)
• braised pork chops with tomatoes, cream and porcini
• Contorni (vegetables and sides)
• * skillet fennel with capers
• broccoletti strascinati (boiled-sautéed broccoli rabe)
• panfried zucchini with vinegar and herbs
• * artichokes, Roman style (braised with garlic and mint)
• braised Swiss chard with cannellini beans
• gratin of artichokes
• Signor Corsi's spicy braised cabbage
• Miscellaneous
• * zucchini frittata with mint
• prosciutto with melon

General Principles:

• Primi (pasta)
• In general, stop cooking the pasta 1 minute before it reaches perfect "al dente" and finish cooking it once it has been tossed in with the sauce
• use at least 5 quarts of water to cook a standard 1 pound of dry pasta
• binders and lubricators for sauces:  diced or crushed tomato, olive oil, butter, animal fat (rendered from pancetta, etc.) cream, ricotta cheese, puréed vegetable ( e.g., roasted red pepper), pasta water, cheese ( especially Parmesan and pecorino Romano)
• cheeses should be stirred in at the very end, after pasta has been tossed with the sauce
• almost always serve grated cheese on the side
• fresh pasta is more common toward the north of Italy and dried more common toward the south
• Romans seem to be most fond of spaghetti and linguine and other long strands
• Contorni (vegetables and sides)
• Italians, especially towards Rome, love:  artichokes, fennel, broccoli (and broccoli rabe), and zucchini
• Perhaps the most common way of cooking vegetables like these is to braise or pan fry them in generous amounts of olive oil, possibly some vinegar or wine, some herbs like parsley or mint, some aromatics like garlic and onion, and maybe some red pepper

Some technical notes:

• Primi (pasta)
• linguine with clams
• used about 1.5 pounds of clams, which worked out well for 3 servings
• sauce needs salt despite no mention in the recipe
• reduced the pasta amount by 50% and the proportions seemed very nice
• didn't filter the clam juice (contrary to the recipe) and it seemed to be fine; was careful to pre-scrub the clamshells and change the soaking water several times
• was unable to perceive any hotness from the fresh chili pepper that I used (add more next time?)
• The basil is a fantastic touch
• spaghetti alla amatriciana
• fantastic; not nearly as greasy as I feared
• almost a "sweet" flavor from the guanchiale
• pennette with cauliflower ragu
• the kick from the red chili is important; don't skimp on it
• don't worry too much about cooking each of the cauliflower pieces to uniform doneness because it is nice when the sauce has some larger chunks amongst the small pieces that turn into a pulp
• pasta with eggplant, tomato and red chili
• the eggplant got overly soft during the frying process; in the sauce it almost had the same texture as the tomato -- not a good thing in my opinion
• spaghetti cacio e pepe (spaghetti with pepper and cheese)
• accidentally used a large amount of Parmesan instead of pecorino, which really doesn't have the strength of flavor needed for this simple dish
• the cheese ended up clumping terribly in the bowl and on the spoon
• would it be good to add back the pasta water after adding the cheese into the noodles?
• pennette with summer squash (zucchini, etc.) and ricotta
• used the cheaper of the 2 brands of ricotta cheese from Bianchini's ( with the built-in strainer in the tub); had to add much more water than specified (4 or 5 tablespoons)
• sauce needed salt-and-pepper despite no mention in the recipe
• used 50-50 mix of zucchini and pattypan, which worked well
• penne with cream sauce of ham (or prosciutto), peas, and peppers
• used 50-50 mix of peeled, chopped, sautéed red peppers and Trader Joe's jarred roasted, peeled peppers; the jarred ones seem to work well
• reduced the fat by roughly 1/3; was still sufficiently rich and good texture
• fresh tagliattelle with sauce of tomato and porcini
• used 50-50 mix of durum semolina and all-purpose flour
• used 2 eggs and 1 1/3 cup flour
• 2nd thinnest setting on pasta roller seemed best
• Secondi (entrées)
• chicken cacciatore (pollo alla cacciatora)
• I made the mistake of only Browning to a "brown" color instead of to a rich brown
• I used the expensive "Mary's pastured chicken" from Bianchini's market, which is supposedly truly free range 
• the meat was really not tender at all; I may have erred on the side of too short of cooking time.  Is the dark meat on the drumsticks supposed to be starting to fall off the bone?
• coda alla vaccinara (Roman oxtail stew)
• clove aroma in the sauce is fantastic
• the minced vegetables in the gravey are nice change of pace from the standard diced vegetables; it gives a more refined feel
• braised pork chops with tomatoes, cream and porcini
• used 1 inch chops instead of three-quarter inch chops
• cooked for about 45 minutes total
• the meat turned out tough and dry
• because the pan was fully covered instead of slightly ajar?
• Because I didn't flip the chops periodically?
• in any event, the sauce was fantastic
• Contorni (vegetables and sides)
• braised Swiss chard with cannellini beans
• be careful not to over cook the beans at all, otherwise they will partially disintegrate during the mixin with the other ingredients
• Signor Corsi's spicy braised cabbage
• adding some julienned carrots and sliced onion was a nice addition

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 soup

Man! These Turks really know how to make the soups. This was another soup that used egg yolk and lemon to produce a nice thicker consistency, and richer flavor. It seems to be a very common technique for the Turks.

 
 
 

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).

Red lentil soup with caramelized onions from Aleppo (Syria)

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

Simple and straightforward to make; sufficiently complex in flavor. I must admit that I thought the amount of oil called for to sauté the onions seemed excessively high. However, once the onion mixture was added to the soup it really gave it the perfect boost of flavor.

Pike Place market Seafood Soup/stew

Whenever I'm in Seattle, I feel like I have to take advantage of the availability of the fresh seafood.  Mom and I stopped by the market and picked up some goodies for a improvised soup: salmon and mahi-mahi chunks, calamari, and clams.  We also found some Jerusalem artichokes -- my first experience cooking with them.  They have the texture of potato and flavor of garlic and artichoke.

I won't give the full play-by-play for this soup since it's been a couple of weeks and I've forgotten exactly what we did, but to make the stock for this dish, I simmere/steamed  the clams in a cup or 2 of water.  All in all, I think it turned out fantastic.

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.
  

Roasted red Pepper soup

I decided to take a stab at improvising this recipe. For fun, I threw in the constraint of not using any dairy or animal products (except for some chicken stock). To thicken it, I puréed a soppy mixture of left over brown rice.

The outcome was more than satisfactory, but not quite rich enough for my liking.

Creamless cream of mushroom soup

See the recipe in the images here. From the book CookSmart. The intent of the recipe is to find a good variation on cream of mushroom soup that uses some other thickener besides cream.

Review:
- Taste: 75%
-worktime: one hour

Analysis:
- Replaced the "minute Rice" with short grain white rice (sushi rice). The mixture after puréeing the cooked rice, was incredibly thick and tasted almost gluey. And it only added about half of that mixture in with the other broth/mushroom mixture and it was still plenty thick. I postulated that perhaps minute Rice does not expand as much when cooked since it has hardly been partially cooked. However, both a 1/4 cup of minute Rice and white rice have essentially the same calorie and carbohydrate amount -- arguing against the hypothesis.

Potato and leek soup

Based on a recipe from Jamie Oliver's site (the user editable portion of the site).

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces of pancetta, roughly chopped
• one small onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 3 weeks, chopped (use white and light green parts only)
• 2 bay leaves
• ~2 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 1 pound (2 large) russet potatoes, diced
• ~1/4 cup heavy cream
  

Method:

• In a Dutch oven, or heavy pot, cook the pancetta over medium heat until slightly rendered
• add the onion, and stir to coat with fat, adding a bit of oil if needed; cook until onions are softened and translucent
• add the garlic
• add the leeks and sauté for a couple of minutes
• add the diced potatoes, season lightly with salt and pepper
• Add the bay leaves
  
• add enough chicken stock to just cover the solid ingredients
• Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes
• adjust seasoning with salt and pepper
• remove bay leaves and blend (optionally withholding one third of the solids to be added back in)
• Add in the cream and blend to mix to bring richness up to desired level
  

Analysis:

• I left out the blue cheese called for in the original recipe; was very respectable, but not spectacular without; possibly reduce the amount of cream if blue cheese is added
  
• I also didn't have the chopped chives for garnish, which would have been nice (used parsley instead)
  
• be careful not to add too much pepper! I think I hid some of the more subtle flavors with the large amounts I added.