Lily's Oyster Stew - a weekend recipe

Oyster stew is a Louisiana staple, but is prepared and eaten everywhere the succulent sea creature is found. Like gumbo, there are many variations, some heartier than others. Here is one of Lily’s versions. The recipe is included in Lily's Little Cajun Cookbook, now available in ebook format on Smashwords.com.


Lily’s Oyster Stew

Ingredients

1 stick butter

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely diced

2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning, plus more to taste

2 pints oysters (with liquor), drained and liquor reserved

1 quart seafood stock

1 10-ounce can of tomatoes, pureed

1 quart half-and-half

¼ cup white wine or brandy

Garlic croutons

Directions

In a large 2-gallon stockpot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and carrot and cook, stirring constantly, until onions are translucent. Add 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning and stir to combine. Add oyster liquor, seafood stock and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes. Add half-and-half and bring back to a simmer. Add oysters and cook until their edges begin to curl. Add wine or brandy and adjust seasoning to taste. Serve immediately in hot soup bowls garnished with croutons, green onions, parsley and paprika.

Eric'sWeb

Mom's Pineapple Pie - a weekend recipe

Mom’s Pineapple Pie


My favorite pie has always been pineapple. My mother would bake pineapple pie for me whenever I came home from college. On holidays, I would have three, one from my mother and one each from my two grandmothers. They were all good, but different. While looking through some of Mother’s old cookbooks, I stumbled on her pineapple pie recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

1 c. sugar
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp. flour
2 egg yolks, well beaten
2 c. evaporated milk
½ stick butter
1 large can crushed pineapple, drained
1 tsp vanilla or pineapple juice

Combine sugar and flour in saucepan; add salt, egg yolks, milk and butter. Stir until smooth; cook over low heat until thick. Add pineapple and vanilla; remove from heat. Pour into one 9-inch cooked pie shell. Top with meringue.

Fiction South

Crawfish Etouffee - a weekend recipe

Perhaps the quintessential dish served in the Big Easy is Etouffee, made with either shrimp or crawfish. There are as many variations of this dish, but here is my favorite:

■ ½-cup cooking oil
■ 2 cups finely chopped white onion
■ 1 large bell pepper, medium diced
■ 1 stalk of celery, medium diced
■ 2 cups whole tomatoes, mashed
■ 2 cups tomato juice
■ 1/4 cup lemon juice
■ 6 tablespoons roux
■ 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
■ 1/4 cup minced parsley
■ ½ cup chopped leaf of garlic, or green onion tops
■ 2 cloves of minced garlic
■ 1/4 tablespoon of red pepper
■ 1/4 tablespoon of salt, or to taste
■ 1/4 tablespoon of pepper, or to taste
■ 1 pound of cleaned and de-veined crawfish

Pour oil into a heavy skillet and sauté onions, bell pepper, and celery until limp. Do not overcook. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, lemon juice, roux and Worcestershire.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium hat and add parsley, garlic leaf, garlic cloves, red pepper, and salt and pepper. Cook for about five minutes, then add crawfish and cook for fifteen more minutes. Simmer until ready to serve. Over rice, this dish serves four.

Hey, and read my book Murder Etouffee for more recipes, southern short stories and a taste of the French Quarter.

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Oyster Omelet - a recipe

When I first moved to Oklahoma City, there was only one seafood restaurant. Herman’s, the lone venue, served mostly fried catfish and shrimp because there were no shipments of fresh seafood from the coasts at that time. Thank goodness, things have changed!

It is now possible to enjoy fresh seafood at many restaurants in the area. Marilyn and I like Pearl’s for its Cajun and Creole fare. Every Saturday and Sunday, they have a brunch featuring several variations of New Orleans-style breakfasts. While they do not serve this dish at Pearl’s, here is one of my personal breakfast favorites.

Oyster Omelet

2 doz. Oysters
1 tbsp butter
4 shallots
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp minced bell pepper
2 tbsp minced celery
2 bay leaves
4 eggs
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan and add minced garlic, bay leaves, pepper and celery. Drain the liquid from the oysters and put them into the butter with the seasoning. Lower heat and cook about three minutes. Beat the eggs, add salt and pepper and turn them into saucepan with oyster mixture. Do not stir. When lightly browned, turn onto hot platter and garnish with chopped parsley.

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Oysters Rockefeller - a recipe

Antoine’s is just one of many wonderful restaurants in New Orleans but it is universally accepted as the one that created the recipe for Oysters Rockefeller. Marilyn was lucky enough to find a difficult to find edition of Antoine’s Restaurant – since 1840 Cookbook published in 1979 and written by Roy F. Guste, Jr., a fifth generation proprietor of the fabled restaurant. Antoine’s recipe for Oysters Rockefeller is a secret but Guste, Jr. provides some insight into its creation.

According to Guste, Jr. the recipe for Oysters Rockefeller was created by Jules Alciatore, his Great-Grandfather. Snails from Europe were in short supply at the time. Unlike snails, oysters were abundant in New Orleans but almost no one had experimented with eating them. Alciatore concocted a sauce that was so rich and magnificent that he named it after John Rockefeller, one of the richest men in the world at the time. Guste, Jr. estimated that the restaurant had already served more than three and a half million servings by 1979.

Guste, Jr. went on to say that “As many times as I have seen recipes printed in books and articles, I can honestly say that I have never found the original outside of Antoine’s.”

This is likely true as recipes are many for the fabled dish. Here is the best version of the dish that I could find, at http://www.gumbopages.com/food/app/erstas-rock.html. Check out this site as it features even more history on the recipe. To taste the real thing, you’ll still have to visit the Big Easy.

Oysters Rockefeller

Two dozen fresh oysters on the half shell, oyster liquor reserved
4 springs flat-leaf Italian parsley
4 green onions (including the green part)
A handful of fresh celery leaves
At least 6 fresh tarragon leaves
At least 6 fresh chervil leaves
1/2 cup dried fresh French bread crumbs (homemade, not out of a can)
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (hey, it's supposed to be "rich enough for Rockefeller"!) Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Tabasco or Crystal hot sauce, to taste
2 tablespoons Herbsaint or Pernod (optional)
Rock salt or kosher salt

Mince together the parsley, green onions, celery leaves, tarragon and chervil as finely as you possibly can. Take as much time as you need. Mince them more finely than anything you've ever minced in your life. Mix this together with the bread crumbs and the softened butter into a mortar and mix the whole thing together into a smooth paste, but do leave a little texture to it.

(You can do this in a blender or food processor, but you'll leave a lot of it behind, stuck to the inside, and it'll be just easier to do it by hand in a mortar; you'll have an easier time getting it all out, and you'll have the satisfaction of serving something truly hand-made.) Season to taste with salt and pepper, Tabasco or Crystal and, if you like, the Herbsaint.

Preheat your broiler. Lower the top rack to the middle of the oven. Spread the rock salt (preferable) or kosher salt over a large baking sheet; this will keep the oysters level under the broiler, so that they won't tip over. Moisten the salt very slightly. Plant the shells in the salt, making sure they're level. Place one oyster in each shell, plus a little bit of oyster liquor. Spoon an equal amount of the prepared herb/butter mixture over each oyster.

Place the baking sheet on the middle rack and broil until the edges of the oysters have curled and the herb butter is bubbling, about five minutes. Watch carefully to make sure you don't overdo it. Serve immediately.

YIELD: Six servings of four oysters each (regular people-sized serving), or four servings of six oysters each (New Orleanian-sized serving)

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce - a recipe

Marilyn and I collect old New Orleans cook books and this week she found Creole Feast – 15 Master Chefs of New Orleans Reveal Their Secrets. This extraordinary cookbook was published in 1978 and written by Nathaniel Burton and Rudolph Lombard. It features a recipe of one of my favorite desserts, one I always order whenever visiting the Crescent City.

This recipe is by Austin Leslie, master chef and one-time owner of Chez Helene, a wonderful New Orleans restaurant no longer in business. Leslie died in September, 2005 after being trapped in an attic for two days by Hurricane Katrina. He was the first person to be honored by a jazz funeral after Katrina in what was then a largely deserted Big Easy.

Austin Leslie was the inspiration for the short-lived television show Frank’s Place. He was also known as the Godfather of Fried Chicken and if you are like me, an aficionado of that particular dish, you really should read the book, if only for his personal description of the absolute best way to cut up a chicken and fry it

Chicken wasn’t the only thing Austin Leslie knew how to cook, he could also prepare absolutely wonderful deserts. I’ve published other bread pudding recipes and every one is slightly different. If you enjoy bread pudding as much as I, give this one a try because it is a good one.

Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

1 loaf stale French bread
¼ can evaporated milk
1 pound butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
¼ pound raisins
1 small can crush pineapple
3 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
¼ cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wet the bread and squeeze the water out of it. Melt the butter and mix with all other ingredients. Pour mixture into a well-greased 4 x 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 2 ½ hours. The pudding will rise in the first hour. After an hour, remove pan from oven and stir the mixture to tighten it. Return to the oven for the second hour of cooking.

Rum Sauce

¼ stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
½ cup rum

Place all ingredients in double boiler and cook for 10 minutes. Beat until fluffy. Serves 10

French Hunter's Meal - a weekend recipe

Here is an incredibly easy meal to prepare that is often eaten on Louisiana hunting trips in front of an open fire. It is hearty and very tasty.

1 can Lima beans
1 pkg. Spaghetti
1 large can tomatoes
1 lb. cubed beef or pork, cooked
1 can whole corn

Cook spaghetti, drain and rinse. Add other ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot over toast or biscuits, using part of juice of meat for liquid. Serves six.

Eric'sWeb

Lily's Famous Eggplant Dressing

The best Cajun cook I ever knew was my former mother-in-law Lily. Every meal was an experience and always served up in authentic fashion. One of my favorite side dishes was her famous eggplant dressing that she prepared, like all her other culinary creations, sans cookbook.

I watched her make this dish many times and I’m recounting it now from memory, but I think it is pretty close.

2 large purple eggplants, cubed and diced
5 slices of bacon
¾ pound ground pork
1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
Salt to taste
1 large can whole tomatoes
2 ½ cups cooked rice
French bread crumbs
1 ½ cups onion, garlic, sweet pepper, chopped

Cook the eggplants in salted water until soft. Drain, mash and set aside. Sauté bacon in large cast-iron skillet and then add onion, garlic and sweet pepper mixture. Sauté until vegetables are wilted and then add to eggplants.

Cook the ground pork until brown, drain the fat and then stir in the eggplant mixture. Add the can of tomatoes, salt and pepper and bread crumbs. Mix well and then simmer on medium-low heat for about twenty minutes.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, add the rice and more bread crumbs and then bake at 350 degrees for thirty minutes. Enjoy.

Fiction South

Dirty Rice Dressing - a recipe

Dirty rice is a Cajun specialty. Here is an authentic recipe for Dirty Rice Dressing from the French Acadian Cookbook published by the Louisiana Acadian Handicraft Museum, Inc. in 1955. The recipe was contributed by Dr. W.E. Hunt of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

1 cup rice

1 clove chopped garlic
1 pound ground meat

Salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste
1 pound ground giblets

(from fowl or separate giblets)

Pinch of thyme and sweet basil
1 cup chopped onion

1 bunch green onions and tops chopped
½ cup chopped bell pepper

1 tablespoon minced parsley
½ cup chopped celery

Cook rice in double boiler until fluffy, using enough salted water to 1 inch above rice. Allow to cook unstirred until all water is gone. In one skillet sauté ground meat and giblets in ¼ pound butter until brown; in another skillet sauté onions, pepper, celery and seasoning in ¼ pound butter. Add other ingredients. In large pan mix all above ingredients well, using natural gravy from fowl to moisten.

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Mavis' Fried Okra

Cajun and Creole cuisine is known and loved throughout the world but native Louisianans have a dirty little secret – they love fried foods. From fried oysters to fried turkey, there is little they haven’t tried to fry. One of my favorite dishes that my Mother prepared almost every Sunday was fried okra.

Roll the okra in flour then dip in a mixture of egg and buttermilk. Batter the okra with corn meal and then fry in hot oil until brown all over. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
My Mother had a large cast iron skillet she used to fry things in. While my Grandmothers fried with lard (pig fat) my mother began using vegetable oil once it was widely available. Personally, I prefer the vegetable oil. Try it and enjoy.

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Shrimp Arnaud - a recipe

I have found New Orleans Recipes, a great old cookbook by Mary Moore Bremer. The book I have is the Tenth Edition published in 1944. Unlike most modern cookbooks, this one presents its recipes in a simple way that encourages intuitive cooking. Here is Bremer’s recipe for Shrimp Arnaud.

Six tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of vinegar and one tablespoon of paprika, one half teaspoon of white pepper, one half teaspoon of salt, four tablespoons of Creole mustard, on half heart of celery, chopped fine, one half white onion, chopped fine, and a little chopped parsley.

Mix well. Chill; Serve on cold boiled shrimp, about twelve to a serving.

Enthrone on crisp, chopped lettuce.

Eric's Website