Carine Clary, Author at The FrangloSaxon Cooks

Crabapple Jelly

November 11, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Who remembers crabapple jelly made from their grandmother’s back yard tree? I do, and my granny wasn’t even much of a cook. Although she grew up on a farm, she ditched it early for life in the big city and this life didn’t include spending the fall in a hot kitchen canning produce. However, she always made an exception for crabapples because it was wasteful not to use them and mostly because you can’t buy crabapple jelly.

Best of all her method was not the labor intensive jelly bag dripping, ball jar sterilizing ordeal most frequently described in cookbooks. This is a recipe which will yield a couple of jars of beautiful garnet colored jelly which will be your go to fall breakfast treat. And you don’t even have to peel the apples since the color comes from their skin.

Start with two pounds of apples cut into quarters and cored. Dump them into a pot with just enough water to cover. Since the apples will float you can put a plate on top and then pour in the water or just guesstimate like I do. Whatever your method it should not be a giant pot of water with a few floating apple carcasses. In other words it shouldn’t look like a ferry accident in a third world country.

Next turn the heat to medium and boil down to mush, about 20 to 30 minutes. You may stir vigorously or not as you please because at some point the fruit will fall apart like a cheap suit and then it’s done.

And here’s where granny makes it easy. Instead of the jelly bag and the overnight draining ordeal you will simply ladle the apple mush juice into a very fine mesh strainer like this:

Most of the liquid will drain out in half an hour at the longest. Resist the urge to press down on it with a spoon or you will release solids into the juice which will cloud the final product. Keep doing this until all the mush is drained then pour into a pan with the sugar and lemon juice. Boil on medium heat until it coats a spoon. Ideally this spoon will be a sterling specimen which you’ve put into the freezer ahead of time. Once coating is achieved pour into clean jelly jars and refrigerate. You’ll also note that no pectin is called for. That’s because apples (all varieties) are packed with it and congeal well without it. For this reason the jelly should be barely off the heat when you pour it into the jars.

And that’s it folks. Easy small batch jelly from your own harvest.

Crabapple Jelly

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Southern

Serves: 2 small jars

Ingredients

2 lbs. crabapples
⅔ cup white sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
Optional lemon zest to taste

Instructions

Remove stem ends, core & cut up apples into quarters.
Place in a pot & cover with water.
Boil over medium heat until apples are mush.
Drain through a fine mesh strainer for about 20 minutes. Do not press down on the apples as doing so will cloud the jelly.
Discard the cooked apples. This should yield 2½ cups juices. If there is less juice you will need less sugar. Taste as you add. Too much sugar dulls the flavor.
Once all the juice has drained remove to a pan, add sugar, lemon juice and boil over medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes until thickened. Mixture should coat a spoon lightly.
Let cool for a minute or two then pour into jelly jars. This sets up fast so don't leave it in the pot for longer than that.

Carrot Souffle

November 1, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

When you’re from Louisiana Carrot Soufflé means one thing. Picadilly Cafeteria’s carrot soufflé. Sweet and creamy it’s a dessert-like vegetable side. But it still has redeeming nutritional qualities so I’m posting this version for its many fans. It’s relatively simple and fast and can be made hours ahead of time. Yes, it will fall a bit. No, it will not affect the flavor so you can make it first thing on Thanksgiving and set it aside while you work on other dishes. Just put it in a slow oven for a few before serving and it will be fine.

What’s different? Start with butter

So what are the differences between this recipe and the newspaper versions they print every year? Well, for starters I use butter not margarine, and I add less sugar. Butter is healthier and tastes better so that’s a no-brainer. Less sugar is also a no-brainer since carrots are naturally sweet and don’t need all that much sweetening (except for the couple of teaspoons of Steen’s Cane Syrup which makes it more complex). And the orange zest and orange flower water brighten the flavor. If you don’t have orange flower water you can use juice from the orange.

Add orange rind and juice

However, if you have a home bar and make Ramos Gin Fizzes you should have orange flower water. Check it out before buying. If you’re a Baptist check your secret stash in the garage, the one behind the tackle box, and if you can’t find it ask your teen-aged son. He’ll know.

But back to the prep. You’ll notice that this makes a slightly smaller amount than the typical recipe. There are two reasons for this. It is so sweet that smaller servings are more appropriate and the smaller amount goes into a smaller souffle pan which cooks up and warms up somewhat faster.

Smooth or chunky – your choice

One final word. If you make this in a food processor you can control the level to which it’s puréed. If you like pumpkin pie smooth you can do that, but if you prefer chunkier you can just pulse a few times. Doing it by hand or with a mixer will always result in a coarser consistency. Both taste great so it’s your choice.

Here’s the non-pimped-up version of the soufflé as it will look in real life without its perky little mint Fascinator up top.

Carrot Souffle

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Carrot Souffle

Ingredients

1.5 lbs. carrots, chopped
⅔ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cane or sorghum syrup
Zest of one medium orange
1 tsp. orange flower water (or juice)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon
1 tablespoon flour
2 large eggs separated
6 tablespoons butter, melted
powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Steam or boil carrots until very soft. Let them drain & cool enough until they stop steaming.
Put in food processor with all other ingredients except egg whites and process until smooth.
Beat egg whites until very light & frothy but not stiff, two to three minutes.
Fold into the carrot mixture and pour into a 1.5 quart ungreased baking dish and cook until brown on top about one hour.
Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce

October 25, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

As Thanksgiving approaches I’m posting some side dish recipes like this one for Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce. Most sides can benefit from a few minor changes. Given a couple of tricks this will be cauliflower’s best version of itself.

The Secret to nonwatery cauliflower

Too often have I seen cauliflower prepared where it’s floating on a sea of water and covered with slices of Kraft Singles or Velveeta sauce. Amazingly this can actually taste sort of OK. However, with minimal attention to detail it can taste absolutely delicious, so keep reading for the details…

Which are twofold. You must under cook the cauliflower a little and when it’s done let it drain for at least 15 minutes. The steam needs to evaporate and the water should be mostly gone so that it doesn’t end up in the bottom of the dish diluting the cheese sauce. The other detail is putting less cheese in the sauce and more on top.

To start bring some salted water to a boil, put the largest pieces in and boil for a couple of minutes before adding the small ones. This way they’ll all be cooked to the same consistency. That consistency should be such that a fork goes in easily but still meets a little resistance. It will continue to soften as it cools and will cook a little more while under the broiler.

After boiling remove the cauliflower, drain well and assemble in a chafing dish as shown below. You can boil the whole head and just pour the sauce over it as we did when I was growing up. However, laying it out flat has several advantages. It’s easier to serve, it has a higher sauce to veg ratio, and best of all you get that wonderful broiler browned cheese on top.

What kind of cheese and how to deploy it

And as for cheese, it doesn’t have to be fancy. A sharp Cracker Barrel or Tillamook cheddar will taste great. When you look at the recipe you’ll see that I put a little less in the sauce and a little more on top because browned is better.

And if you are making this to take to someone else’s house for dinner wrap it up as it appears above and brown it after arriving.

Now it’s done, and as you can see, small adjustments elevate a boring side dish to first runner up in the Thanksgiving beauty contest.

Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Southern

Ingredients

1 medium head cauliflower
For the sauce:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. mustard powder
grating of fresh nutmeg
1 crushed clove of garlic
pinch of cayenne
1 cup chicken broth
¼ cup cream
½ cup grated cheese
½ cup grated cheese for the topping

Instructions

For the Cauliflower:
Cut up and boil or steam. Cook the larger pieces for a couple of minutes before adding the smaller ones so all will be cooked the same. This should be about 7 to 10 minutes but watch carefully. They should be just slightly under cooked. A fork should be able to pierce them but there should be some resistance.
Drain for 15 minutes in colander. This is key. You want all the steam to evaporate & all the water to drain off.
For the sauce:
Melt the butter in a sauce pan.
Whisk in the flour, salt, mustard, cayenne and garlic & cook for a minute over medium heat.
Slowly add the chicken broth & cream & cook until thickened.
Add the cheese & remove garlic.
Assembly:
Place the large pieces of cauliflower in a shallow baking dish and fill in the holes with the smaller pieces.
Spoon the sauce over it & top with cheese, some paprika and some fresh ground black pepper.
Run under the broiler until browned.

Notes

You may use 1¼ cups of milk for the sauce.

Barbecue Shrimp

September 26, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Barbecue Shrimp is New Orleans’ best contribution to messy, but deliciously worth it, bar food. It’s the dish where large contented shrimp swim their last lap in a lake of butter and seasonings before being consumed by equally contented diners.

The History

The birth story of Barbecue Shrimp starts with a man who allegedly went into Pascal’s Manale requesting a shrimp dish he’d eaten in Chicago. Fortunately, he didn’t get it. What he did get was a version of the following recipe which was even better.

It’s basically shrimp, butter, and garlic but in addition to the butter and garlic, the dish almost always has Worcestershire sauce. My problem is that I’m not a big fan of Worcestershire sauce and as I’ve made Barbecue Shrimp over time I’ve continually decreased the amount. It seemed as if the less I added the more I liked it until finally in a much delayed ‘duh’ moment it occurred to me to find out what’s actually in Worcestershire Sauce.

Turns out that the main ingredient is fermented anchovies which I love but it also has vinegar, tamarind and some other flavorings which I don’t love. That’s when it hit me. Fish sauce is nothing but anchovies and salt. So I subbed out the Worcestershire for a tablespoon of Red Boat Fish Sauce and I loved it. However, if you’re addicted to the Worcestershire sauce you can amend the recipe below by adding a couple of tablespoons of it to the dish.

The rest is just a matter of a little chopping, melting, sauteing and you’re ready to go.

The Prep

You start by melting the butter, olive oil, and seasonings and cooking them over medium heat for a very short time, no more than two to three minutes because you don’t want the garlic to brown. Then you take the pan off the heat and set it aside so that the flavors can absorb into the oils. You’ll see in the picture that the rosemary is on the stem (torn off a bush near the Walmart parking lot – thanks guys!). The rosemary can be chopped but I like to do it this way since you get the flavor without little sticky spikes in the sauce. Just lift the stems out before serving. You’ll also see a piece of bacon in there. It was leftover and alone in the fridge so I threw it in for a little extra flavor in the sauce.

Once the sauce has been heated and rested put it back on the burner over medium heat. Arrange the shrimp evenly in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes on each side till done. This can be made without head-on shrimp but the head fat does add flavor so get it if you are able to.

Slice the lemon and run under the broiler. This contributes to both good looks and good taste. Broiling the lemon slices renders the inside almost syrupy. Squeeze that out on the French bread, dip it in the sauce and you’ll see how good a simple dish can be.

Last but not least make sure your diners have bibs or giant dish towel sized napkins (like the one below) to soak up the splatter. Now get your face directly over the plate and start slurping.

Barbecue Shrimp

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Creole

Ingredients

12 jumbo shrimp head-on & unpeeled (1 lb.)
1 stick butter
⅓ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1½ tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic, very finely minced
1 tablespoon. paprika
Several stems of rosemary (or 2 tablespoons rosemary, minced)
½ teaspoon cayenne (or red pepper flakes)
1 crushed bay leaf (or ¼ tsp. ground)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
lemon slices, charred

Instructions

Melt the butter and olive oil in a saucepan.
Add the fish sauce, ground pepper, paprika, garlic, rosemary, and lemon juice.
Mix well, cook over medium heat for several minutes then take off the burner and let it sit for about twenty minutes to let the garlic soften and the flavors develop.
Cut quarter-inch thick slices of lemon, lay on a cookie sheet & run under a broiler until caramelized. Set aside.
Turn the heat on under the sauce then add the shrimp & cook until done about 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove and serve in bowls with toasted french bread & lemon slices.

Notes

If you prefer you may substitute thyme for the rosemary. Since thyme leaves are soft they can be left in the sauce.