INGREDIENTS

• 1     pound     Shrimp (heads still on)
• 1/2     pound    Butter (2 Sticks)
• 1/2    large     White or yellow Onion (small dice)
• 4     cloves     Garlic (peeled and minced)
• 1/4     cup    Worcestershire Sauce
• 1     Bottle     Abita Amber Beer (or any good craft brew amber lager)
• 1    lemon     Juiced
• Garlic powder
• Coarse Kosher Salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• CajunLand Crab/Shrimp Boil (Powdered), or Cajun seasoning

METHOD

• Lay shrimp in one layer in a large Pyrex baking dish, sprinkle with kosher salt and grind a LOT of black pepper
• In a large saucepan, melt a bit of butter and sauté onion until translucent, then add garlic for a few minutes, then the two sticks of butter.
• When butter has liquefied, add each seasoning while stirring – garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, crab boil, and Worcestershire sauce.
• Add the olive oil, squeeze in the lemon, stir, and then add about half of a bottle of beer (6-8 oz.).  It may foam up, so watch your heat on the stove.
• Keep stirring; drink the rest of the beer.
• When the foam from the beer subsides, pour the sauce over the shrimp in the baking dish; make sure the shrimp are covered by the sauce (or nearly covered).
• Place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, stir, then another 5 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and cooked.
• Remove from oven and let rest for at least five to ten minutes.
• Serve in a bowl with lots of sauce and pieces of po-boy bread for dipping.

ludes parades, a bloody mary and of course, some Popeye’s Chicken.  To celebrate, I’m beginning my day with coffee and chicory (like I do every morning) out of my purple, green and gold French Market Coffee mug.

Tonight I’ll be cooking a Fat Tuesday dinner for some clients.  While it is not New Orleans, owning a Tampa catering company allows me the opportunity to spread the word about great Creole and Cajun cuisine and also get paid for it!

Here’s our menu for tonight:

To Begin
Crab Cake and Spring Green Salad
Jumbo lump pan sautéed crab cake with Creole remoulade sauce,
served atop a salad of mixed greens
tossed with house-made Creole Mustard Vinaigrette

Main Course  – “Mardi Gras Madness”
“New Orleans Style” Barbecue Shrimp and Grits
with onions and peppers in a spicy sauce (no BBQ sauce in this dish, despite the name), served over creamy cheddar cheese grits

Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
Authentic Cajun style jambalaya with blackened chicken and spicy smoked sausage, cooked in a cast iron pot

Sliced Grilled Chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken breast, Marinated in citrus and seasonings, grilled then sliced

Grilled Seasonal Vegetables
squash, zucchini, asparagus and red onion, grilled and tossed with olive oil, salt and black pepper

Dessert
Florida Strawberry Shortcake
Fresh Plant City (local) Strawberries, on an open faced buttermilk biscuit, with Homemade whipped cream

A bowl of seafood gumbo and an Abita Amber, taken Christmas Day 2005

Here’s my gumbo recipe in five easy steps.  It is about as authentic as it comes, as I’ve taken ideas from many different people and made it simple.  The only hardware you will need to make this gumbo is a large stockpot with strainer basket, a cast iron pan (or Dutch oven) or heavy skillet  and a medium size pot to cook the rice.  For the novice, cooking gumbo can seem like a daunting task and even many Louisianans that cook this on a regular basis don’t go by a recipe; they’ve just learned to do it, as I have.  This is my best attempt to put together a methodology for an easy gumbo.  Though there are many different varieties, the chicken and sausage are common ingredients and easy to procure.  There isn’t a better dish to serve for Sunday football in the winter!

INGREDIENTS

for the gumbo:

• 2 pounds bone-in CHICKEN THIGHS
• 2 pounds Smoked SAUSAGE or Andouille
• 2 white ONIONS, chopped
• 1 green BELL PEPPER, diced
• 3 ribs CELERY, minced
• 1 bunch GREEN ONION
• 5 qts WATER (approx)
• BLACK PEPPER, SALT, CAYENNE, OREGANO, THYME and GARLIC POWDER, to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• Cooked Rice (3 cups uncooked)

for the roux:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup white flour

METHOD

PREPARE YOUR TRINITY AND INGREDIENTS
Dice a white onion, three ribs of celery and one green bell pepper.  Slice the sausage at a bias.

MAKE THE STOCK/BROTH AND COOK THE CHICKEN (IN THE STOCKPOT)
Fill a large stock pot with strainer basket ¾ way with cold water.  Add a quartered white onion, some celery and season the water with salt, pepper, cayenne and a couple bay leaves.  Bring water to a boil and add chicken thighs.  Reduce temperature and let simmer for about a half an hour, until chicken is cooked and the water becomes a broth.  Pull out the strainer and pour the broth into a bowl for later.  When cooled, pull chicken from the bones, shred and reserve for later, discarding the bones.  The chicken will be added within the last hour of the cooking.

BROWN THE SAUSAGE AND MAKE A ROUX (in cast iron pot)
Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven and brown your sausage to render the grease; then remove and reserve for later.  Add vegetable oil, then when heated, slowly add flower to make the roux.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get the sausage pieces into the roux.

BRING IT ALL TOGETHER
Heat the stockpot and add butter.  When butter is melted, add the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery) and sweat until soft, probably about 10-12 minutes.  With a large spoon, add your roux and mix it together with the trinity.  Continue to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Using a ladle, add chicken broth a little at a time and continue to stir to mix it with the roux and trinity.  Continue to add broth until you have a desired consistency and color.  The more broth added, the thinner the gumbo.

LET IT COOK!
Your gumbo can cook for as long as you want.  After a couple hours on a low simmer, you can add the sausage and the chicken back into the pot.  At this time, you’ll also want to taste it and add seasonings as necessary and toss in the green onions.

Make your rice and eat!

NOTES

• About a half hour before you are ready to serve your gumbo, begin preparing your rice.

Other Great Gumbo Links

Gumbo (Ya-Ya) eGullet Cookoff Thread – An interesting internet discussion by a bunch of people learning to make gumbo over the internet.  If you are starting from scratch and never had gumbo, you should begin here.

Feeds 4-6 as a meal or 10-12 as a party dish.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound smoked SAUSAGE, cut into cubes
• 1 pound boneless, skinless CHICKEN THIGHS
• 3 cups white RICE
• 2 slices BACON, chopped
• 2 medium yellow ONIONS, diced
• ½ green BELL PEPPER, diced
• 3 stalks CELERY, diced
• 4 green ONIONS, chopped
• 4 cloves GARLIC, minced
• 1 can (10 oz.) Rotel TOMATOES and chiles, drained
• 1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet
• 1 teaspoon each of SALT, BLACK PEPPER, CAYENNE, OREGANO and THYME
• 4 ½ cups CHICKEN STOCK (if homemade isn’t available, use Kitchen Basics)
• Cast iron DUTCH OVEN

METHOD

1.     Heat a large (5 ¼ quart or larger) cast iron Dutch oven and fry the bacon pieces to render the grease, remove and drain on paper towels.

2.     Brown the chicken in the bacon grease, remove and when cool, cut into strips.

3.     Brown the sausage for several minutes, then add the trinity of onion, celery and green pepper and cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 or 15 minutes on low heat.

4.     Add bacon, chicken, minced garlic, Rotel Tomatoes, Kitchen Bouquet, seasonings and rice, then stir all together.

5.     After rice is coated and mixed well, add the chicken stock.  Bring up to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer (low) and cover.  Set a kitchen timer and do not touch the lid for 20 minutes!  You will need to cook until the rice is soft and all liquid is absorbed.1.

6.     Lift the lid and confirm that rice is almost completely cooked and all liquid has been absorbed, then add the chopped green onion.  Fold in the onions to the mixture, turn off the burner and replace the lid and let it sit for another 10 minutes.

courtesy of Kevin and Ken Lacassin
www.NolaFoodie.com

INGREDIENTS

• sack of CRAWFISH (35 pounds)
• 1 container of commercial seafood boil (a container sold to do a sack of crawfish or hamper of crabs contains all seasonings you need for a basic boil and depending on the brand will be about 4 lbs) I like Cajun Land complete Crab-Shrimp-Crawfish Boil but Zatarains also makes a good one)
• 2 ONIONS cut in half
• 2 LEMONS cut in half
• 2 heads of GARLIC cut in half
• Optional: 3 lbs small red creamer potatoes, small ears frozen corn and smoked sausage cut into 2 inch pieces.

METHOD
1.     Start off by washing the crawfish well with water until the water runs clear. You can do this using the pot you will boil the crawfish in. After they are cleaned place them in the basket along with the onion, lemon and garlic and set aside.

2.     Add water to the pot to a level half way up the pot and place the pot on the burner.

3.     Place the potatoes in the water and light the burner. Bring to a boil. Boil potatoes until they are almost done then remove from the water and set aside. Add the commercial seafood seasoning to the pot and boil for 5 minutes to let flavors blend.

4.     At this point carefully lower the basket into the water and cover. When you add the seafood the water will stop boiling. Turn up the heat and wait for the water to come back to a rolling boil. Add the potatoes, corn and sausage when it starts to boil. When it comes to a rolling boil start the timer. Boil the crawfish 2-4 minutes (2 minutes for small and 4 minutes for large) then remove the cover and turn off the heat. Crabs would be 8-12 minutes.

5.     You will notice that boiled seafood will tend to float because of air trapped under their shells. Add enough ice to change the temperature and stop the cooking and the seafood will sink. This also allows the seasonings to soak in. Allow the crawfish to soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Test after 15 minutes and remove when they are spicy enough. To remove just lift the basket enough to drain. You can place 2 flat sticks on the basket and place the pot on the sticks so the water will drain into the pot and not on the ground.

NOTES

• For a little extra kick add 2 oz of cayenne pepper and 2 oz of hot sauce (not Tabasco) along with the commercial seasoning.
• Be careful where you dump the seasoned water, the salt will kill your grass.

courtesy of Ken Lacassin
www.NolaFoodie.com