BROILED TILAPIA WITH SWEET POTATO CRUST AND VANILLA CREAM SAUCE from Gabrielle Two 6 ounce tilapia fillets, seasoned (or substitute any mild white fish) Filling: 3 sweet potatoes, cooked and peeled (14 ounces after cooking) 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 4 teaspoons fresh orange juice 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger Crust: 3 graham crackers 1 cup roasted pecans 2 tablespoons melted butter Sauce: 5 tablespoons heavy cream 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 2 tablespoons fish stock, crab or shrimp stock, or water Pinch of seafood seasoning or Creole seasoning Grind the sweet potatoes, juices, butter, salt and ginger together and set aside. Grind the graham crackers, pecans and butter together. Cover the fish with the sweet potato mixture, then sprinkle the pecan mixture over the sweet potato mixture. Broil the fillets until golden brown, approximately 4 minutes. In a 6 inch skillet, add the cream, vanilla, seafood stock (or water) and seasoning. Bring to a boil and cook for 45 seconds, until the alcohol in the vanilla is gone and the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Pool the sauce on a plate, place the broiled fish fillet on top and serve. Yield: 2 servings.
Oysters Gabie This marvelous appetizer was created by Chef Greg Sonnier at his New Orleans restaurant Gabrielle; both the restaurant and the dish are named after Greg and Mary Sonnier's daughter. 1 lemon, halved 4 tablespoons olive oil 2 large artichokes 4 ounces pancetta, finely diced 1 tablespoon butter 1/4 cup green onions, chopped (white part only) 1 tablespoon garlic, minced 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced Salt to taste Pepper to taste 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated 16 to 20 large oysters, plus oyster liquor Place the lemon halves and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pot of boiling water. Add the artichokes and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to cool. Pull off the leaves, and scrape off the artichoke flesh at the ends. Dig out the inedible fuzzy choke with a spoon; dice the artichoke heart. Set aside with the reserved scraped flesh. Heat the oven to 450F. In a medium saute pan or skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and cook the pancetta until brown; add the remaining tablespoon of oil and the butter. Saute the green onions, garlic and parsley unitl tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add the diced artichokes and lemon juice. If the dressing seems dry, add some oyster liquor to moisten. Saute for about 2 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Remove from heat, add 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs and 1/4 cup of the cheese and toss lightly. Place 4 or 5 oysters into individual casseroles or ramekins. Top with the artichoke dressing. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bread crumbs. Bake until browned, 10-15 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of Hollandaise sauce over the dressing. Serves 4.
OYSTER SHOOTERS You can serve your freshly shucked oysters on the half-shell, topped with a couple of tablespoons of this sauce, or in shotglasses as oyster bar-type "shooters". This is the sauce that's served with oyster shooters at the Palace Café in New Orleans. 4 eggs 1/4 cup Creole mustard 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 2 cups olive oil 1/4 cup shallots, minced (about 5) 1 teaspoon coarse-grind black pepper Salt to taste In a food processor, add the eggs, mustard and vinegar. Blend for 30 seconds. Slowly add the oil while blending until all the oil is added. Finally, add the minced shallots and pepper, and blend. Add salt to taste. Put a tablespoon or so of sauce on top of each raw oyster in either a shotglass or on the half-shell. OYSTER SHOOTERS A LA UGLESICH I watched Gail Uglesich of Uglesich's Restaurant on Baronne Street make these for Martha Stewart one morning. She was kind enough to give out the recipe as she went along, but I'm guessing on total yield. It's one of the many (and often-changing) astonishing appetizers served before the astonishing entrees at Uglesich's, one of the best places to eat in the city. 2 cups olive oil (not extra-virgin) 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 4 tablespoons Steen's cane syrup 1 teaspoon each of salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, minced (dried, not packed in oil) 2 dozen large freshly shucked oysters, in their own liquor Shuck the oysters, reserving the shells. Mix the first 8 ingredients, and let the marinade sit. The longer it sits, the better it gets. Sauté oysters over medium heat in four batches in about 1/2 cup of the marinade for each batch, until they just start to curl. Do not overcook! Place each oyster back in a shell. Drizzle a little bit of the hot marinade from the pan onto each oyster. Keep warm until all batches are done. Serve 4 oysters per person, on the half-shell, on a bed of romaine lettuce. YIELD: 6 appetizer servings.
Chef John Folse's Shrimp Remoulade 1 1/2 cups heavy-duty mayonnaise 1/2 cup Creole mustard 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tsp hot pepper sauce (Chef Folse likes Louisiana Gold, but Tabasco will do) 1/2 cup finely diced green onions 1/4 cup finely diced celery 2 tbsp minced garlic 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley 1/2 tbsp lemon juice salt and cracked black pepper to taste 3 dozen 21-25 count boiled shrimp, peeled and deveined In a mixing bowl, combine all of the above ingredients, whisking well to incorporate the seasonings. Once blended, cover and place in the refrigerator, preferably overnight. A minimum of four hours will be required for flavor to be developed. When ready, remove from refrigerator and adjust seasonings to taste. Place six shrimp on a leaf of romaine or other colored lettuce and spoon a generous serving of remoulade sauce on top of the shrimp. Do not sauce shrimp prior to service, as they will lose their firm texture. Serves 6. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's the shrimp remoulade recipe from the 131-year-old Tujague's Restaurant, on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. Tujague's Shrimp Remoulade 1 cup ketchup 2 tablespoons horseradish 2 tablespoons yellow mustard 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce Dash Tabasco 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped 2 raw eggs, beaten 1 gallon water 1 package crab boil 3 tablespoons salt 36 large raw shrimp Shredded lettuce Mix the first seven ingredients in a glass bowl. Chill in the refrigerator 4 hours. In a large pot, bring the water, crab boil and salt to a full boil. Add shrimp. When the water returns to the boil, turn off the heat and let the shrimp sit for 5 minutes to absorb the seasonings. Drain the shrimp, cool and then peel them. Place 6 shrimp on a plate lined with shredded lettuce and top with 4 tablespoons of the sauce. Repeat 5 more times. Serves 6.
SHRIMP AND TASSO PASTA This recipe is also excellent with oysters, scallops, or even crawfish. (If you like smoked oysters, try it substituting 2 dozen oysters for the shrimp; the fresh oysters stay nice and plump, and the dish gets its smoky flavor from the tasso.) If you can't get tasso, you can substitute a cured smoked ham, but it really won't be the same. 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, OR 1 pound crawfish tails, OR 1 pound scallops, OR 2 dozen fresh shucked oysters 1/2 pound tasso, cut in 1/4 inch dice 1 pint heavy cream 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon white pepper 2 teaspoons fresh basil, or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves 1 pound spaghetti, fresh if possible 1/2 cup green onions, chopped 1/2 cup parsley, chopped Pour the cream into a large heavy skillet and place over medium heat. Stir the cream when it begins to rise to keep it from overflowing; when it comes to a boil, add the tasso, salt, peppers and herbs and let simmer for 8-10 minutes. The cream sauce should be fairly thick, especially if you're using oysters (the liquid from the oysters will thin it out). You can prepare the sauce ahead to this point. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and drop in the pasta. Cook until just al dente. Meanwhile, return the sauce to a simmer, stir in the shrimp (or oysters, scallops, crawfish, etc.), green onions and parsley and cook until the shrimp turn pink (or until the oysters curl around the edges), about 3-4 minutes. Drain the pasta and divide among bowls. Ladle the sauce over and toss; serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 4-6.
SHRIMP AND ANDOUILLE CHEESECAKE With Creole Mustard-Tomato Coulis, from Emeril's Restaurant Just one of the many culinary innovations created by Chef Emeril Lagasse (one of my heroes) is his penchant for taking sweet, dessert-type dishes and turning them into savory dishes. On his menu at Emeril's and NOLA, you'll see savory bread puddings, cheesecakes and sabayon sauces. Last time I dined at Emeril's I was hoping to see this dish on the menu, but I happily settled for the savory lobster cheesecake he offered that night. I learned to make this by watching Chef Emeril make this on the brilliant "Great Chefs" TV show on PBS and taking copious notes, and lemme tell ya ... it's fantastic. For the crust: 1 cup plain, unseasoned bread crumbs 1 cup Parmagiano Reggiano cheese, coarsely grated 1/4 teaspoon Creole seasoning 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly warm Combine the cheese, bread crumbs and Creole seasoning in a bowl. Add the melted butter and mix together just until the butter is evenly incorporated and the mixture is moist. Spread around the bottom of a 9-inch springform cake pan, and press down with your hands to form the crust. For the filling: 1 pound andouille, diced 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 cup onion, chopped 1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced 1 tablespoon garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning 1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined and roughly chopped 1-1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature 1-1/2 cups smoked Gouda cheese, grated 1/2 cup heavy cream 4 whole eggs, beaten 1/2 teaspoon salt About 16 turns freshly ground black pepper In a large skillet, sauté the andouille until slightly browned. Drain off the rendered fat, and reserve. In another skillet, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions, peppers and garlic until the onions are translucent, about 3 or 4 minutes. Add the shrimp and sauté lightly -- the shrimp will bake in the cheesecake, and you don't want them overcooked and tough. Add the andouille and incorporate. In the bowl of a mixer (a nice KitchenAid makes this easy), mix the cream cheese, smoked Gouda cheese and cream. Use the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the andouille-shrimp-vegetable mixture. Add the eggs and mix them in. Scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple fo times during mixing. Add the salt and pepper. Pour into the springform pan over the crust. Prepare a bain marie in a baking dish with 1 inch of warm water, seal the bottom and sides of the pan with aluminum foil to prevent leakage, and set the pan in the bain marie. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 65 minutes, or until the cheesecake has set. It should be browned on the top and feel firm to the touch. For the coulis: 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 tablespoon garlic, minced 2 tablespoons shallots, minced 8 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced, with their juice 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning 3 tablespoons Creole mustard In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic and shallot until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the Creole seasoning and Creole mustard, stir. Purée in a food processor or blender, and strain. Let cool to room temperature. Presentation Place a pool of about 1/4 cup coulis on each plate. Place a slice of cheesecake on the coulis. Sprinkle freshly chopped chives over and around the cake. Top the cheesecake with about a tablespoon of coarsely grated Parmagiano Reggiano cheese. Garnish the back of the cheesecake slice with an edible flower, and place a few smaller edible flowers around the coulis. Sprinkle Creole seasoning around the rim of the plate. Enjoy!! Serves 12.
SHRIMP TCHEFUNCTE from the Palace Café The Tchefuncte River, located north of New Orleans, was named after a local Native American tribe that once inhabited the area. The word "meunière" is French for "miller's wife", and refers to a style of cooking whereby food (usually fish) is seasoned, lightly dusted with flour and sautéed simply in butter. The sauce made from these drippings is combined with lemon juice and parsley. This Creole version, as prepared by the Palace Café in New Orleans, is adapted from this and enhanced to create a creamy blend of tastes. Rice Pilaf: 4 tablespoons butter 3 cups converted rice 1 medium onion, medium dice 6 cups chicken stock Heat a 5 quart saucepan, then add butter and melt. Add onions and rice. Brown rice and onion on high heat, stirring constantly. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and stir. Reduce heat to low and let simmer, cover and cook for approximateliy 20 minutes. Check for firmness, uncover and let sit for 10 minutes. Meunière sauce: 3 lemons, peeled and quartered 7 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 3 tablespoons Crystal hot sauce 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (UK: single cream) 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon white pepper Preparing the meuniere sauce: In a large sauté pan combine the lemons, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and whipping cream. Blend with a wire whisk over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes. As you stir, press gently on the lemon quarters to slowly release the juices. Slowly add the butter by pinching off a little bit at a time and squeezing it through your fingers into the sauce pan, stirring constantly (this is called mounting the butter). As you add the last of the butter, remove from heat and continue to stir. Taste, then season with salt and pepper. Strain through a fine strainer. The sauce is now ready to serve; cover and keep warm. Sautéed Shrimp: 3 cups white button mushrooms (or mix/substitute crimini or shiitake mushrooms if you like) 60 medium shrimp Salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 cups chopped green onions (scallions) 6 tablespoons butter Wash shrimp in cold water and season with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a medium sauté pan, then add shrimp, green onions and mushrooms. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly until shrimp just turn pink. When ready to serve, add the meunière sauce and heat through -- do not overcook the shrimp! To serve: Place the rice in a ring mold or cup (a shallow coffee cup will work fine). Invert the cup over the corner of the plate and lift slowly. Spoon Shrimp Tchefuncte around 3/4 of the rice. Yield: 6 servings
ROUND STEAK AND GRAVY WITH ONIONS This is Cajun food at its simplest. You've probably never heard of this dish, nor are you likely to see it on a menu or in a cookbook. However, as Cajun cook and food writer Marcelle Bienvenu said, it's almost certain that if you asked any native of southwest Louisiana "who lives along Bayou Lafourche or Bayou Têche or on the prairies near Ville Platte or Crowley about this dish, he would confess that round steak in gravy is one of his favorites." 1 two-pound round steak, not too thick, with the round bone with the marrow in the middle 3 large onions, sliced 2 bell peppers, chopped Few pinches sugar 1 cup beef stock or water Salt, cayenne and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. White rice Cut the steak into 3/4" squares, and season well with salt and cayenne pepper. In a deep iron pot, put enough cooking oil just to cover the bottom and get the oil fairly hot. Add the meat and brown it well, almost to the point where you worry you may burn it. You can sprinkle a little sugar in the pot as well, to help the meat turn a nice shade of brown. Add the stock or water, and scrape up all the little brown bits that stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the onions and peppers, reduce the heat, cover and cook for about 1 hour until the meat is tender. Stir occasionally, and add a little more stock or water if you want more gravy. To serve, spoon the steak and gravy over white rice, and serve maque choux on the side Pronounced "MOCK SHOE", this is a dish that the Cajuns got from the Native American tribes that populated southwest Louisiana. It's wonderful, and you can vary the recipe by adding chicken, crawfish tails or even crabmeat. But most of the time I like it just like this ... 1 dozen ears fresh sweet corn 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter 1-1/2 cups onions, finely chopped 1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped 1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped 3 ribs celery, finely chopped 3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 4 tablespoons sugar 1 cup evaporated milk Shuck the corn and remove all of the cornsilk. Hold each cob over a bowl and cut the kernels away in layers (don't cut whole kernels), then scrape the knife along the cob to get all of the "milk" out of it. Melt the butter in a large saucepan or pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery and tomatoes and saute until the onions are transparent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the salt and peppers, then add the corn and milk from the cobs, the sugar and evaporated milk and stir well. Reduce heat to medium and cook until the corn is tender, about 10-15 more minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serves 8-10.
PANNÉED VEAL CUTLETS Simple, yet oh so good. It had been years since I had had this, and I recently had this at the venerable Mandina's Restaurant in Mid-City, New Orleans. The breaded, pan-fried cutlet was bigger than my shoe, and was heavenly. Comfort food! 1/2 cup flour 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper 8 veal cutlets, pounded to about 1/4" 2 eggs 1 cup whole milk 1 cup bread crumbs 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning 1/2 cup peanut oil Combine salt, pepper and flour. Combine bread crumbs and Creole seasoning. Beat the eggs, and add to the milk. Prepare standard 3-station breading setup. Dredge the veal cutlets in the seasoned flour, dip the chops in the egg/milk mixture, then roll in the bread crumbs, coating the cutlet thoroughly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and cook the chops until done, about 2 minutes per side, until the breading is nicely browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately. If desired, top with crabmeat sauce (recipe below). YIELD: 8 servings. This is wonderful over pannéed veal, or over fried, broiled or grilled fish or just about anything you can think of. 1/2 cup olive oil 4 tablespoons flour 1/2 cup onion, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 1/4 cup red bell pepper, small dice 1/4 cup green bell pepper, small dice 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups crab stock or fish stock 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco Salt to taste 1 pound lump crabmeat 2 tablespoons green onions, chopped 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped Make a blond roux with 4 tablespoons of the oil and the 4 tablespoons flour. In a medium saucepan, heat the remaining oil over medium heat and sauté the onion, celery and bell pepper for one minute. Add garlic and sauté for one minute. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the stock, wine, Creole seasoning, paprika, Tabasco and salt. Whisk in the roux and cook until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Add the crabmeat, green onion and parsley. Simmer for 1 minute, and keep warm. YIELD: 8 servings.
CREOLE ROAST BEEF for PO-BOYS I'm afraid I never tasted good roast beef until I was in college. As good as all the other food was in my household as I was growing up ... well, let's just say that the roast beef didn't really speak to me. Then one day when I was over by my friend Dean's house, he said with great enthusiasm that his mother had just made some "roast beast". I gulped, silently. There was no way in hell that the abomination I came to know as roast beef would ever pass my lips, but I didn't want to be rude to my friend. I took a little bit to be polite ... and oh, my GAWD. It was phenomenal. Tender, almost buttery, and swimming in an intensely delicious gravy. THIS, my friends, is why people in New Orleans rave about their roast beef poor boys. This is why places like Mother's are world-renowned for the quality and greatness of their roast beef, particularly for what they call "debris", little tiny shredded bits of beef in gravy. Heavenly. I never learned how to make it myself, but thanks to the generosity of Wendy, a good Metry girl who sent me this recipe, we now have roast beast to share. Technically, you aren't roasting this roast beef, although you're using a cut of meat referred to as a "roast"; what you're doing is braising in the classic manner, with a little bit more liquid than is traditional, and then using that liquid to make the killer, killer gravy. By the way, you can braise the beef in plain water, but if you use a homemade brown beef stock like the recipe calls for, the gravy will be 600,000 times better. Of course, you don't have to serve this on a po-boy, you can just serve slices or chunks of it on a plate as well. But as many New Orleanians and visitors will tell you, there just ain't nothin' like a great roast beef po-boy when you take a bite and the gravy just runs down your chin ... If you have any leftover gravy, you can use it to make the original poor boy sandwich -- fried potatoes and gravy on French, with mayonnaise. Use either good thick French fries or make brabant potatoes, slather them with rich roast beef gravy and dig in. It's unbelievably good, cheap and a carbohydrate rush so big it oughta be illegal. 1 beef shoulder roast, about 5 pounds 1/4 pound piece of salt pork, sliced into 1/4-inch strips 6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced 3 cups minced onion 1 tablespooon salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning blend 1/4 cup lard, bacon drippings or solid shortening (e.g., Crisco) 6 carrots, diced 6 ribs celery, sliced 1 tablespoon minced parsley 2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme 1 cup good red wine 6 to 7 cups boiling water 2 beef marrow bones 2 to 3 quarts beef stock or water, boiling (but don't use water ... if you're going to go to all this trouble, MAKE THE STOCK!) Cut a pattern of incisions across the top of the roast every couple of inches, each long and deep enough to hold a slice of salt pork. Combine half the garlic, 1 cup of the onion (mince this finely), 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the black pepper, and push this mixture into the slits you've made for the salt pork. Press salt pork into the beef and tie it securely, trying to make the shape of the roast as even as possible for even cooking. In a pot broad and deep enough to hold the roast with room to spare, melt the lard over medium heat. Brown the roast well all around, keeping the salt pork inside. Add all remaining seasonings, carrots, celery, parsley and thyme to the pot, cooking until the onions are limp. Add wine and enough boiling beef stock or water to nearly cover beef. Add bones. Cover pot and simmer 4 hours, until beef is very tender. Remove beef from pot to another dish that will hold dripping juices. Raise heat under liquid and boil hard, uncovered, 45 minutes. While boiling down the gravy, baste the roast so it doesn't dry out. Remove salt pork strips from beef and slice it as best you can (it will fall into chunks and shreds; the smaller you shred it, the more it'll be like the legendary "debris" from Mother's), putting the pieces into a separate serving or storage dish. Strain the gravy, season it to taste with salt, freshly ground pepper and optionally a small pinch or two of cayenne and pour it over the beef. There should be about a quart of gravy. The resulting mixture should be sloppy, luscious and profoundly beefy. Serve on fresh, crisp crusted New Orleans-style French bread -- average po-boy size is at least nine inches. Make sure the French bread (a good baguette will do) is not chewy. The bread must be crispy on the outside and light on the inside. Serve your roast beef po-boys dressed (with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc.) or with nuttin' on it, but "mynez" (mayonnaise, that is) really is a must. I like mixing plenty of horseradish into my mayonnaise, by the way. Optionally, you could serve this as a plate lunch or dinner with vegetables and potatoes as well. YIELD: enough roast beef debris for about 10-12 good-sized poor boys.
