Carine Clary, Author at The FrangloSaxon Cooks

Shrimp Stuffed Bell Peppers

February 18, 2016 by Carine Clary 2 Comments

Two categories of Stuffed Bell peppers

They are Shrimp stuffed Bell Peppers and Meat of your choice stuffed bell peppers.

Shrimp is my favorite and we’re in the Lenten season so a posting with shrimp is a no-brainer. This is a simple recipe that requires a skill set that consists largely of boiling and stirring. You boil the rice, you parboil the peppers, then stir some veg and shrimp into the rice stuffing and you’re done. After you’ve boiled, stirred & stuffed you sprinkle the top with crumbs and shredded cheese, run it under the broiler and it’s done. It’s a healthy dish that even junk food junkies will eat because who doesn’t like crunchy toasted cheese-covered anything?

In addition to the filling, you also have two presentation options. You may slice off the top and fill, or you may slice vertically and lay the peppers on their backs. My favorite is the vertical slice since it doubles the available space for the topping, however, the horizontal upstanding stuffed pepper is better for freezing. And these freeze very well which can make it worthwhile to double or triple up the recipe.

The Prep

The prep method is outlined below and involves boiling the rice, parboiling the peppers, sauteeing the veg and seasonings, adding the shrimp, stuffing the peppers, sliding them into the oven and waiting for the house to smell good.

If you’re making the standing version pictured above hollow out the peppers by laying them on their side and slice off the top leaving an opening about two inches wide. Shake out the seeds and remove the white membrane. You can do this with a knife but to get a nice smooth interior remove any straggling pieces with a spoon. One of those serrated grapefruit spoons is perfect. I use a spoon that was unintentionally serrated when I dropped it into a running disposal. Fortunately, the original owner is long gone and unaware of the fate of her maimed sterling teaspoon.

The Seasonings

Although this is a fairly simple dish it differs from many others in that it’s more intensely flavored with herbs, nutmeg and cayenne. The herb I specify is thyme, but marjoram is a wonderful substitute if you have it, and fresh is best if you do. Finally, you may use any color pepper and top it with any kind of cheese. I strongly recommend using panko for the topping since it starts crunchy and stays crunchy, but dried breadcrumbs are fine too.

And if you’re looking for other lenten recipes you can’t do better than The Catholic Foodie. I kid you not. Only in Louisiana would you have a Catholic themed website with great food. Go there for more lent friendly recipes including this interesting African offering by Gertruda Domayo from Tanzania.

Shrimp Stuffed Bell Peppers

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Creole

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the rice:
⅔ cup boiled rice
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh)
For the bell peppers:
4 medium sized bell peppers (any color)
For the stuffing:
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup finely chopped onion (or the white parts of green onions)
2 tsp. minced parsley
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1½ tsps. ground thyme
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg
black pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
½ lb. small shrimp (or chopped large)
Breadcrumbs or Panko
Shredded Cheese (any kind)
Paprika for dusting the top

Instructions

For the Rice:
Boil rice in ⅔ cups water until done. Stir in the cream, parsley & tomatoes and set aside.
For the Peppers:
Cut off the tops and remove seeds & membranes from the inside, then place in a couple of inches of salted water. Cover, bring to a boil and cook for 4 minutes. The peppers should still be very firm.
Place upright in a greased baking dish or lay sideways if you are slicing the peppers vertically.
For the stuffing:
Melt butter and saute onion, garlic, and seasonings for about 5 minutes until soft.
Fold in the rice & tomato mixture, then raw shrimp. If you have larger shrimp cut them into small chunks.
Spoon into the peppers, top with breadcrumbs and cheese, and place in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until brown on top.

Notes

To make this vegetarian double the amount of chopped tomato.
If you end up with extra stuffing, you can cook it alone in a greased pyrex custard cup.

Cornbread

February 11, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Sometimes the simple things turn out to be the most complex and so it is with cornbread. If you’re from the south you more than likely have numerous relatives who will repeat their cornbread recipe to you like it’s the Nicene Creed. I had one grandmother who was cracked on the subject of white flour in cornbread. As in, it didn’t belong and the people who used it were, and I quote, “No better than Yankees.”

Following the corn bread crumbs

Well. That’s clear enough then. The problem with the complete white flour proscription is the excessive grit factor. William Makepeace Thackeray put it best when he described his first (and probably last) experience with cornbread as akin to “biting into a pin cushion.” Apparently this occurred on a trip to New Orleans back in the 1850s, a trip that elicited fulgent praise for all local foods save this one.

My other grandmother’s recipe was similar to the first’s but for the fact that she took one small step down the slippery slope to cornbread hell by adding a meager tablespoon of flour to the mix. This was better but still a little gravely for my taste.

Essential Ingredients

So I experimented and after endless pans of cornbread came up with this rejiggering of ingredients that include one quarter cup flour. One-third cup is too much, but a quarter smooths things out while leaving the cornbread acceptably coarse-textured. It has no sugar – that really would be a bridge too far and tastes nothing like those awful “corn muffins” they sell in New York diners.

As for the other ingredients you want full-fat buttermilk which Borden now sells as “Bulgarian” but whatever they’re calling it it’s thick like the old version they used to sell. If you can’t get it buy plain yogurt and thin it very slightly, however, buttermilk is by far the best. It should be just pourable. And as for the cornmeal it should be exactly that, meal, not flour, and the cornmeal should be medium or fine grind.

This cornbread is delicious plain but as you can see the version here has been doctored up somewhat by the addition of a cup of corn and a couple of tablespoons of minced onion and bell pepper respectively. The black specks are ground smoked ancho chilis which if you don’t have them you can substitute cayenne to taste. You can go to about a cup and a third of fixins and it will still fit in the nine-inch skillet. Just don’t forget to get that skillet smoking hot before you pour in the batter.

And if you pour it into hot chicken or duck fat you’ll feel like Tracy Morgan who said he loved his cornbread so much he wanted to take it out behind a middle school and get it pregnant. Uh huh. You know it. That’s this cornbread.

And if you like it – Combine it with Chili for a one-stop meal:

Chili Cornbread Casserole

Cornbread

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Southern

Ingredients

¾ cup stone ground cornmeal (medium or fine grind)
¼ cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400. Thoroughly grease (with oil, lard or bacon grease) a 9” cast iron skillet, or heavy baking pan and put in the oven to preheat. Preheating the pan is optional but it creates a crisper bottom, if you like that.
Mix all dry ingredients and make a well in the middle.
Whisk together the egg and buttermilk, pour into the well & mix.
Sprinkle a little paprika on top.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until brown

Notes

One excellent pan greaser is leftover duck fat. I have a glass jar of it in the freezer and it's good for many things, this being one of them. You may also use chicken fat, goose fat or bacon fat.

Another way to make it is Texas style with kernels from an ear of corn, a couple of tablespoons each of diced onion, hatch chilis and bell pepper.

Satsuma Sweet Rolls

January 28, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

If you took a poll in Louisiana to name its favorite citrus, Satsuma would win in a landslide. Our love affair with what’s also called ‘honey citrus’ started back in the eighteenth century when Jesuits began cultivation on their property in Plaquemines Parish. The fruits ripen just in time to be dropped into your kid’s Christmas stocking and as the season ends you should try to scoop up the last ones and use them in this piquant and less sugary version of the traditional breakfast sweet roll.

First you start with some satsumas like the ones you see below. They should be soft but not too soft. There should be some give in the body but avoid the specimens that are brown & shriveled around the stem end.

Next mix up the dough and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk. While you’re waiting for that, mix up the glaze that you’ll be using for the tops & bottoms of the rolls.

Once the dough has risen roll it out into a fairly thin rectangle, about 12 to 14 inches in length. Brush it with the melted butter then sprinkle the cinnamon/brown sugar/citrus rind evenly over the whole area. Drain any liquid from the raisins you’ve soaked and distribute them along with the nuts over the sugar mixture.

Now carefully start to roll it up lengthwise as tightly as possible and pinch the edge to seal. The individual rolls should be about 2 inches in width and they can be cut with an extremely sharp serrated knife or you can do what we always did growing up. Tear off about a foot of dental floss, lift up the roll, slide it under and then bring the two ends together over the roll and cut through that way. Just keep sliding and slicing till you reach the end. Waxed dental floss is great for this and I’ll bet the mint flavored kind might even add a little bite. If it’s all you’ve got why not?

Once cut up place them in the pan into which you’ve spread a bit of the glaze. Leave space in between and put them in a warm place to rise. When they’ve expanded put them in the oven and bake until done. You may optionally brush some melted butter on top if you like.

You’ll notice from the pictures that I put half the batch in a 9″ cast iron skillet and the rest in a cake pan. Either is fine. If you have a proper jelly roll pan you can line them up and do the whole recipe in one pan. However, two round pans are nice since you can easily freeze one for later or gift it to a fellow fruit lover. And one final word about the glaze. Should you be one of those people whose sweet rolls must be topped with a quarter inch of white sticky stuff go ahead and add a lot of powdered sugar to the glaze. Keep adding until it’s a nice spreadable consistency. But seriously, it’s after the holidays and you’ve probably wolfed down enough sugar to deplete the supply of an entire parish so maybe you should think about just going lite this time.

Below you see the finished product with some extra glaze for swishing the broken up pieces of roll in, and don’t forget to lick the plate. Saves on dish washing!

Satsuma Sweet Rolls

Author: Carine Clary

Ingredients

For the rolls:
2¼ tsps. yeast
1¼ cup warm milk (110 degrees)
¼ cup melted butter
1 large egg
¼ cup white sugar
¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. dark rum (or bourbon)
3½ cups all purpose flour sifted
several gratings of nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
For the filling:**
Melted butter for spreading on dough (about 2 tablespoons)
1 cup raisins soaked in 2 tablespoons of rum plus enough water to cover, overnight
1½ cups chopped & toasted nuts
2½ tsps. cinnamon
Zest from one satsuma (2 tsps.)
⅔ cup brown sugar
Pinch of salt
For the glaze:***
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup (or corn syrup)*
2 tsps. orange flower water (or juice from the satsumas)
zest from one satsuma

Instructions

For the dough:
Whisk the yeast into the warm milk and let proof for 10 minutes or so.
Add cooled melted butter, then whisk in egg, sugar, salt, vanilla and rum.
Add nutmeg and cinnamon to flour and fold into the wet ingredients.
Turn out onto the counter top and knead, then put into a greased covered dish and let rise till doubled.
Punch down and roll out.
For the filling:
Soak the raisins in the rum for several hours or overnight then drain.
Mix cinnamon, brown sugar, satsuma zest & salt.
Lightly toast the pecans in a 300 degree oven.
For the glaze:
Melt the butter and sir in the sugar and syrup until no crystals are visible.
Add satsuma juice and zest.
Assembly:
Butter the pans and put a few tablespoons of the glaze on the bottom.
Place the cut rolls in the pan with space between them.
Let rise until doubled.
Bake in a 350 degree oven until brown on top.
After the rolls have cooled for a few minutes brush with the glaze.

Notes

*I don't recommend using cane or sorghum syrup because they overwhelm the delicate orange flavor.

**Alternate filling: ½ c. melted butter; 8 Tablespoons orange marmalade; 1 c. brown sugar; ¼ tsp salt.

***Alternate Glaze: zest of 2 oranges; powdered sugar; milk, melted butter; orange flower water. If you do make this alternate glaze just use it on top and place the rolls in a greased pan.

Fried Grits

January 17, 2016 by Carine Clary Leave a Comment

Simple and savory, fried grits are one of those southern staples that unaccountably went out of style. I had never had them growing up or heard of them until I started cooking for myself after college and stumbled across a description of them in a book and thought, “Mmm….sounds good…” and how could it not? Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside and good for soaking up gravy it’s a perfect side for things like smothered chicken and Cajun classics like crawfish etoufee.

It instantly became part of my permanent repertoire after the first time I made it. Then a funny thing happened on the way to my rediscovery of this neglected southern classic.

Polenta. Increasingly during the nineties it became the nouvelle go to starch in Italian and fusion restaurants. It’s actually more northern Italian which is why it never appeared on menus much before that time, but after awhile I was running into it everywhere and it was nice to see this variation of an old favorite becoming a hit all across the country.

For this recipe I wanted the creamiest and most savory side I could get and that involves chicken broth and heavy cream. Because you are working with cold grits you can make them the night before and cover them with plastic wrap then slice and fry for supper the next day.

The quickest prep for this dish involves setting up three adjoining pans (and kitchen suppliers make special three set connected pans for just this purpose), add the flour, egg, and bread crumbs to each, place next to the fry pan and start your assembly line.

Once you’ve sliced, dipped and rolled them all you need to do is to lower them slowly into the fat with the usual instruction not to crowd the pan. All cooks should just internalize this for all forms of frying since crowding creates steam and lowers the temperature of the oil. It’s the culinary equivalent of the old sign warning you to “Beware. Bridge ices in cold weather.” Always and everywhere. Same with crowded skillets – just don’t.

You can also pour the grits into a glass casserole dish, let them chill, then cut them into rounds before dipping & frying as seen below:

The final useful tip is to place the finished product on a wire rack, over a cookie sheet in a slightly warm oven. This keeps all the sides crisp while the whole batch is cooking and crisp is the whole point!

Fried Grits

Author: Carine Clary

Cuisine: Southern

Ingredients

For the grits:
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups chicken broth
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup quick cook grits
Salt and pepper to taste
For the breading:
1 large egg beaten plus 1 tsp. water
½ cup flour
1½ cups Panko (or bread crumbs)
½ tsp. garlic granules (or powder)
2 tsps. minced parsley (fresh or dried)
Vegetable oil

Instructions

For the grits:
Bring the cream, chicken broth, and butter to a simmer.
Add grits and stir for 20 minutes until soft.
Pour into loaf pan.
Preparation:
Let cool and slice into 1 inch slices or squares according to your preference.
Add the garlic granules and parsley to the flour then dredge the slices in it, dip in the egg wash, and roll in panko
Pour about one inch of oil in a frying pan and heat to 350 or until you can see heat ripples in the oil.
Fry until brown on both sides.
Drain on a rack and hold in a warm oven until all the slices are fried.

Notes

Freezes well. Just let them cool off then securely wrap in foil. Unwrap and lay on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes.
Works fine if you halve the ingredients.