The FrangloSaxon Cooks

Louisiana Cuisines

Shrimp Stuffed Artichokes

by Leave a Comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhenever I cook artichokes I never fail to wonder just who was the first person hungry enough to figure out that there’s a little tiny bump of eatable veg at the base of the leaf and some more buried deep in the center. Between the spiked leaves and the hard stem you have sawing and snipping and finally – no, it’s not ready to eat….it’s just ready to start cooking.

It reminds me of the Steve Martin joke about reserve seating in hell. He said it would be for the designers of the artichoke and the CD jewel box wrapper. He wasn’t kidding.

So after you’ve sawed and hedge clipped your artichokes, drop some rosemary and lemon into some water and start heating it like this:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhile that’s going, mix the rest of the ingredients, stuff and steam. You can use a spoon to get the stuffing in but I’ve found that fingers do the best job. You’ll find this recipe to be pretty standard for Italian stuffed artichokes. The addition of the shrimp gives a gulf coast feel and although some people use other herbs, I think rosemary is the most complimentary. Just be sure and use the ground version as it mixes better with the bread crumbs.

These things are surprisingly filling so I sometimes get the smaller artichokes if they’re to be the appetizer for a multiple course meal. If you do go that route this amount of stuffing will be good for six or seven small artichokes.

Print
Stuffed Artichokes
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Italian, Creole
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 4 globe artichokes
  • 1⅓ cup Italian breadcrumbs
  • 6 tablespoons minced parsley
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. pepper
  • ½ cup grated parmesan plus 4 tablespoons extra for topping
  • ¼ tsp. ground rosemary
  • ½ cup diced raw shrimp
  • lemon slices & fresh rosemary for the pot
  • melted butter
Instructions
  1. Cut off the stem at the bottom making it even with the rest of the artichoke.
  2. Trim off about ⅓rd of the tops of each leaf.
  3. Gently insert your thumbs down into each leaf pulling it out from the body just enough to create space for the filling.
  4. Rub all the cut edges with a lemon.
  5. Put several slices of lemon and a couple of spears of rosemary into the bottom of a steamer or covered pot. Add about an inch of water.
  6. Mix together breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, parmesan, rosemary and shrimp. Note that diced shrimp has a tendency to look diced after you've cut it up but still be connected. So do the mixing with your hands. If you end up with large shrimp clumps just get some scissors and cut them up.
  7. Carefully insert the stuffing into the leaves, put the artichokes into the pot on the stove top over medium heat and cook for about 30 minutes or until a knife can be inserted easily.
  8. Remove from pot and place in a pan.
  9. Pour a little melted butter over them. Sprinkle with parmesan and breadcrumbs and run under the broiler for a few minutes to brown.
Notes
If you don't have fresh rosemary to put in the boiling water it's ok to add a teaspoon of dried or even ground.

 

Quiche Lorraine

by Leave a Comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI hesitated before including this because it’s not really southern and it isn’t exactly creole but we sure ate a hell of a lot of it back in the day. God knows who but somebody discovered it in the 70s and it was ubiquitous for decades. Took me quite a few years before I could work back up to eating it again. Bad quiche, good quiche, low fat quiche (which was real bad) and quiche with boulder like chunks of undercooked broccoli protruding from the top. Quiche at church socials, quiche at debutante parties…quiche, quiche, quiche.

In a nutshell it suffered at the hands of over enthusiastic quiche improvers in America. All you have to do is think about some of the weirder additions to pizza and you’ll get the picture. In short, a simple European dish got horsewhipped with inappropriate ingredients until it was unrecognizable. People never stop to think that dishes evolved the way they did because they tasted best that way.

So here you have the original – fresh eggs, bacon and gruyere in a crispy crust. It’s a perfect formula and you should never mess with that. Ask the Coca Cola Corporation. They learned the hard way.

Full disclosure. I do cheat occasionally by adding goat cheese or lump crab meat but these are venial sins which are easily forgiven when you taste the results.

Print
Quiche Lorraine
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: Southern
 
Ingredients
  • For the crust:
  • 1¼ cup all purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 2 to 6 tablespoons ice water
  • 1 egg white, beaten
  • For the filling:
  • 1 9” pastry shell blind baked at 350 for about 15 minutes
  • 8 oz bacon cut into ½” pieces (or pork belly), about 4 slices
  • 2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup onions
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 tsp. cornstarch
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. ground black pepper
  • pinch of cayenne
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 4 oz. grated cheese (1/2 cup) Gruyere (or Comte or Fontina)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. For the crust:
  3. Pulse the flour and salt together in a food processor then add the butter and pulse just a few times. The butter should be broken up but the chunks should still be pretty big, maybe ½ an inch or the size of a big pea.
  4. Add just enough of the ice water for the mixture to stick together but not be smooth.
  5. Form into a ball and refrigerate for an hour then roll out and place in pie pan that has been lined with foil.
  6. Refrigerate dough lined pan for half an hour, then freeze for 15 minutes.
  7. Line the dough with foil and place pie weights inside. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the bottom begins to brown.
  8. Remove & let cool then brush interior with egg white.
  9. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
  10. For the filling:
  11. Saute bacon till brown and remove.
  12. Saute onions in bacon grease for a few minutes till soft.
  13. Whisk eggs, cream, milk and seasonings together.
  14. Sprinkle cheese and bacon and onions over the bottom and cover with liquid.
  15. Cook for about 35 minutes.
Notes
Getting crust right is a minor art form that gets easier the more times you do it. For this basic butter crust you want the resulting dough to be shaggy. The amount of water this takes can vary due to the weather or the type of flour. The best way to know if you've added enough water is to stick your hand in the bowl and squeeze. It should hold together. What you're shooting for is a dough that can be rolled out in one piece. If you're having to patch holes or tears in the bottom you run the risk of the filling leaking out and burning on the bottom of the pie pan underneath the crust.

Due to variations in egg volume and depending upon how many extras you put in, you may end up with a little more egg mixture than necessary. Just fill the crust gradually and stop slightly below the level of the top. Better to toss a small amount of liquid than to clean it off the bottom of a cookie sheet, or God forbid, your oven.

Check for doneness by inserting knife halfway to the crust, not the middle of the tart. The middle will still be a little jiggly but will continue to cook as it cools.

Optional Additions & Substitutions:
1/2 cup of lump Crabmeat (replacing the bacon) + ½ tsp. dry sherry + chives
1 diced Leek (replacing the onion) + ½ cup goat cheese + ½ tsp. vermouth