The FrangloSaxon Cooks

Louisiana Cuisines

Crawfish Monica

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Crawfish MonicaWhat says Jazz Fest to you right after the music? The food! And besides the smoked turkey wings and gumbo what says it the most? Crawfish Monica.  So if you can’t make it to the food tent consider your kitchen your very own tent and make it like this.

Invented on a whim by chef Pierre Hilzim and named after his wife Monica, Crawfish Monica was born in the 80s and is now served at Jazz Fest and available to order from their company Kajun Kettle.

My version is very similar but since I also love fennel in all its forms I decided to add it and it’s good (if you like fennel.)

I also did a version with leeks instead of green onions but the taste wasn’t different enough to warrant the trouble and expense of the leeks so it was back to green onions. The only other variation was the use of lemon juice only instead of wine and lemon juice. If you have wine by all means use it but the lemon serves well. And one other thing – I like lots of crawfish so I only use half a pound of the rotini instead of the whole box, but you can always add more if you need or want to stretch it.

To get started you will chop up all the choppable items including the root of the fennel bulb as you see below:

Crawfish MonicaThere’s a hard part at the base that needs to be removed, the rest you just chop into small pieces so it will cook quickly. You’ll want to keep the feathery top for garnish and extra flavor.

Once the veg has softened add the cream, spices and crawfish (I get the bagged kind) and set it aside to let the flavors meld while you boil the pasta. I use rotini because it’s traditional and those little kinks hold the sauce well. However, it’s also great for parties while eating on the hoof since you can eat it with a spoon like this:

Crawfish MonicaSo happy listening &  Crawfish Monica eating during this latest Jazz Fest season!

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Crawfish Monica
Author: 
Cuisine: Creole Italian
 
Ingredients
  • For the sauce:
  • 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
  • 1 cup sliced green onions (white part, reserve green tops)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 diced fennel bulb (retain tops)
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
  • 1 tsp. ground fennel
  • 1 tsp. ground thyme
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • ¼ cup lemon juice, scant (or half lemon juice/half white wine)
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 lb. crawfish meat tail meat
  • 1 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, civided, half for sauce, half for topping
  • For the Pasta:
  • ½ lb. Rotini
Instructions
  1. For the sauce:
  2. In a large pot melt the butter and add the green onions, garlic, and fennel. Cook over medium heat until softened but not brown, about 5 to 7 minutes.
  3. Add parsley, ground spices, salt and red pepper flakes and cream.
  4. Stir in crawfish meat with the fat and gradually add the lemon juice tasting it along the way. You may prefer a little less than ¼ cup.
  5. Once the crawfish is heated through add the cheese.
  6. For the pasta:
  7. Boil the rotini in salted water according to package directions, let drain for several minutes and add to the sauce.
  8. To serve:
  9. Place in serving dish or individual bowls and add reserved parsley & cheese to taste.

Soup Maque Choux

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMaque Choux is the traditional south Louisiana dish that lets you eat your way through all the corn, bell peppers, and tomatoes that summer generously provides. Sauteed in a little bacon fat and cooked down in chicken broth it’s a side dish that even the vegetable phobic will like. In short, if your backyard vegetable garden looks like the Little Shop of Horrors this will give you an incentive to harvest and cook.

My original thought was to post the traditional recipe minus the weirder modern accretions like toasted sesame oil, heavy cream and jalapenos. Ideally be prepared with ingredients already in your garden or kitchen. Once you’ve picked or bought them it’s time to start making the Soup Maque Choux. The idea for transforming it into a soup came to mind in mid prep and it turned out to be a good one. I went for a light base (no heavy cream) but with plenty of veg to make it filling.

To start you need to roast the corn which I did in the oven. Just rinse or soak the unshucked cobs for a minute and lay them directly on the rack in a medium oven. No need to wrap in foil, the damp shuck will provide enough cover to steam. If anyone nearby has the bbq pit fired up you could throw the cobs on for some extra flavor.  After about 30 minutes they’ll come out looking like this after which you’ll cut the kernels off and transfer to a bowl.

Soup Macque ChouxWhile the corn is roasting (wherever it is roasting), throw the bacon in a big soup pot and cook until brown. Remove & set aside. Then add the butter and throw in all the veg you’ve chopped (except for the tomato) and saute for over medium heat for five minutes or so.

Soup Macque ChouxNext add the flour and stir in well. When that’s done gradually add half the chicken broth and half the corn kernels.

Soup Macque ChouxStir to incorporate and then for the last step dump the remaining chicken broth into a blender with the rest of the corn. Puree the hell out of it and put a strainer over the pot and pour. Press down and try to extract as much corn goodness as you can out of the broth before you toss the remains. Add the seasonings, stir well and cover. You should let it bubble over low heat for at least twenty minutes but it can go for longer.

To serve ladle it into the bowl and mound the fresh chopped tomato in the middle with the crispy bacon on top. Anoint with paprika or cayenne or both and be sure and position your head directly above the bowl as there will be drips as you slurp your way to the bottom.

Soup Macque Choux

 

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Soup Maque Choux
Author: 
Cuisine: Cajun & Southern
 
Ingredients
  • 4 ears of corn
  • 2 rashers of bacon
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • ½ cup onion, diced
  • ½ cup green bell pepper, diced
  • ½ cup red bell pepper, diced
  • 4 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade, if canned, use 2 cans)
  • 2 inch piece of thyme or ½ tsp. dried
  • salt & cayenne pepper to taste
  • several gratings of nutmeg
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Soak the partially shucked corn in water and place in a 350 oven for 20 minutes.
  2. While the corn is cooking cut the bacon into small pieces, place in a pot over medium heat and fry until brown.
  3. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and add butter then stir in onion and bell pepper.
  4. Add flour & cook for a minute then gradually add chicken broth.
  5. When the corn is cooked cut the kernels off of 2 ears.
  6. Put one can (2 cups) of chicken broth into a blender, add the corn and puree.
  7. Put a strainer over the soup pot and add. Discard the contents of the strainer.
  8. Add the remaining two cups of broth and cut corn, season to taste, cover and let simmer on low for 20 to 30 minutes.
  9. Garnish with diced tomato and serve.
Notes
If you have some bird's eye peppers feel free to slice one and drop in the pot.

 

Coconut Shrimp Busters

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAsk anyone from Caddo parish to name their favorite local spot for home cooking and you’ll likely get a short list headed up by Herby K’s. Herby’s was founded by Herbert Busi and he had a feel for branding that would do a hip hop producer proud. He gave the restaurant his nickname, Herby K, and the best joint in Shreveport was born.

Shrimp Busters soon followed. The Shrimp Buster marries Louisiana frying skills and South Pacific style butterflied shrimp in an early version of fusion cooking that is still packin’ em in on Pierre Avenue in Shreveport.

It began after the Civil War when Cesare Luchini moved to Louisiana from Italy and started a construction company that later built a restaurant serving the nearby railroad workers on the Kansas City Southern’s Flying Crow. That was 1936. By 1946 soldiers returning from the war were requesting a local version of the butterflied shrimp they’d come to enjoy in the South Pacific and Herby K’s was quick to comply.

My version is cooked in coconut oil which imparts a subtle flavor and is not at all greasy. It’s probably too expensive to do commercially at a price point that’s viable for a local diner trying to keep it real, but you can make it at home. I shallow fry the shrimp in batches and drain them on paper towels or grocery bags then transfer to a wire cooling rack and put in the oven while the rest are cooking. This keeps them dry and crispy.

Herby’s has their own sauce but I came up with a butter based alternative. It’s made with clarified butter, crushed garlic and lemon zest to taste. I remove the garlic before serving so there are none of those undercooked chunks of raw garlic to bite down on and make you unkissable for the next twenty four hours. It can also be swabbed onto the toast as well as being used for dipping. I included my version of a catsup based sauce below for those who prefer it.

To prepare the shrimp peel down to the tail leaving one section of shell attached. This will anchor the tail and keep it attached while frying.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANext dry them off well. Then take a meat pounder or even a coke bottle, oil the bottom and hit it lightly just enough to flatten it a bit. Then season to taste, dredge in rice flour, dip in the egg, and finally in the Panko/coconut breading mix. (I sometimes save a little of the shredded coconut for sprinkling on top. If you do that you can either leave it raw or toast it as I did.) Let it set for a few minutes then drop into about an inch of 350 degree oil and fry until brown on both sides. They cook fast so stick around. Try to push the tail into the hot fat while it’s cooking. If it’s crispy you can eat it too.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASloppy seconds.

To maintain my rigorous commitment to testing each and every batch of busters I powered my way thru about a pound before sharing the rest. They were all good and so was the extra toasted coconut on top. In the unlikely event that there are shrimp survivors you may freeze them in foil and warm in the oven. They will still taste pretty good.

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Coconut Shrimp Busters
Author: 
Cuisine: Southern
 
Ingredients
  • For the shrimp:
  • 2 lbs. jumbo shrimp
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • ½ cup rice flour
  • 2 cups Panko (or more if required)
  • ⅔ cup flaked coconut
  • Salt, Black pepper, toasted garlic granules & Cayenne to taste
  • Coconut oil (enough for an inch of oil in whatever size pan you are using)
  • For the Lemon Butter Garlic sauce:
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • lemon juice or rind
  • For the catsup sauce:
  • ½ cup catsup
  • 1 tablespoon horseradish
  • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
  1. For the shrimp:
  2. Prepare three containers or plates. The first with rice flour, the second with beaten eggs, and the third with Panko/coconut breading.
  3. Peel shrimp leaving the tail attached and dry off.
  4. Cut the shrimp down the back till you can lay them out almost flat & blot dry with a paper towel.
  5. Gently flatten with the bottom of an oiled meat tenderizer or glass jar.
  6. Season to taste
  7. Dip in flour, then egg, then breading.
  8. Put about an inch of oil in a pan and heat to 350.
  9. Once oil is hot add shrimp. Fry till brown on both sides about 1 minute per side.
  10. Lemon Butter Garlic Sauce:
  11. Melt butter & skim off the white solids that rise to the top.
  12. Add the crushed garlic and let simmer over an extremely low heat for 10 minutes.
  13. Grate lemon rind over sauce.
  14. Remove garlic and serve.
  15. Catsup Sauce:
  16. Stir ingredients together and serve.
Notes
Rice flour is called for because it fries up crispier, but if you don't have it you may used cake flour or all purpose flour.

 

Shrimp Etouffee

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATwo things separate this version of shrimp étouffée from most of the others. A rich shrimp stock and smoked bacon fat in the roux. Without these it will be good but not “I’ve eaten this now I can die” good.

For years I made my shrimp and crawfish étouffées with a vegetable oil roux and water for the broth, and for years I wondered why it stubbornly remained mediocre. It wasn’t bad enough to completely rethink but it lacked pizzazz.

Finally a friend suggested shrimp stock and then asked me, “By the way, how do you make it?”

“With heads of course.” I answered.

“No kidding,” she replied. “I would have expected that. But do you sauté them first?”

I was stumped. “Sauté?”

“In a pan with no water?”

“Right,” she said. “In a pan with no water. Don’t you brown your bones before you make soup? Well, it’s the same thing here. Develop the flavor by cooking them in a little olive oil then throw in the other fixins, and then add the water. Believe me you’ll taste the difference.” And I did.

The second variation was to replace the vegetable oil with butter and to spike the butter with bacon fat. The rest of the recipe is pretty standard and easy. It doubles and triples up for crowds and if you have shrimp stock premade it’s very fast.

Which brings me to the topic of making stock ahead of time. Unfortunately, there is no decent commercial shrimp stock. If you want to whip up gumbo, étouffée, shrimp stew or a host of other such dishes at the last minute you need stock. And ultimately, the easiest way to have it is to make it in bulk and freeze it. When you stumble on fresh head-on shrimp buy a lot, make a lot, and freeze it in one or two cup amounts. That way you will always be prepared. It beats water by a mile. See those little flecks of orange fat in the shot below? See the pot of bright orange stock? That’s head fat! All that screaming highway cone orange color came from those little flecks in the heads. Nuff said.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAs for the shrimp you can use any kind but I prefer the small ones. You’ll probably be eating this with a spoon so bite size is best and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Every time I buy small shrimp I’m reminded of my friend Elizabeth who attempted to explain to a recalcitrant fish counter attendant at Balducci’s in Greenwich Village the importance of matching the size of the shrimp to the recipe. He didn’t know what gumbo was, he wasn’t sure if they had any small shrimps but he was sure he didn’t want to check. His final response, “Whazza matta? You don’t got enough money fa jumbo?” At that point she gave up. She got the jumbo and chopped it into smaller pieces which is what I do when I can’t find the small size.

So here it is. I know the recipe looks menacingly long but take my word for it. It’s easy. Most of the ingredients are only condiments so if you’ve made the stock ahead of time it’s almost like fast food.

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Shrimp Etouffee
Author: 
Cuisine: Creole
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • For the stock:
  • Shells & heads from 2 lbs. of shrimp
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 pods garlic, crushed
  • 3 cloves (or more if desired)
  • ⅓ cup celery (include leaves if possible)
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled & cut into chunks
  • ½ of a medium onion cut into quarters
  • 3 sprigs parsley, including stems
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ½ tsp. black pepper or whole peppercorns
  • 5 cups water (or to cover)
  • For the etouffee:
  • 2 slices bacon
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • ⅓ cup flour
  • 1 cup onion, diced
  • ½ cup bell pepper (any color), diced
  • ½ cup celery, diced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1½ cups small shrimp, peeled & deveined
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • ½ tsp. ground thyme
  • a few gratings of nutmeg
  • ½ cup green onion tops, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon parsley, minced
  • 1 cup shrimp stock (or chicken broth)
  • 2 cups hot water (approximately, as needed for thinning the gravy depending on how thick you like it)
Instructions
  1. For the stock:
  2. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the pan.
  3. Add the heads and shells and stir over medium heat until pink, about 10 minutes. They should give off a noticeable aroma. This develops flavor.
  4. Add water, veg, bay leaf, garlic, and cloves.
  5. Boil for 30 minutes.
  6. Strain and reserve.
  7. For the etouffee:
  8. Dice bacon and fry over a low heat until brown then remove.
  9. Stir the butter into the bacon fat until melted.
  10. Whisk in the flour and keep stirring until you get a medium brown roux about the color of a football.
  11. Whisk in the tomato paste then add the onion, bell pepper, celery, thyme, nutmeg and garlic and stir over medium heat until soft, about 15 minutes. (keep in mind that the more finely you chop the veg, the more quickly it cooks.)
  12. Next add the shrimp stock and cook for about 10 minutes.
  13. Now add the shrimp, black & cayenne peppers, lemon juice, bay leaf, & parsley.
  14. Let it simmer on a very low heat for about 10 minutes.
  15. At this point check the thickness of the gravy and add hot water as desired.
  16. Serve with boiled rice.
  17. Garnish with green onion.
Notes
You may make this with any size shrimp. I prefer medium to small because it's in a broth or gravy and you eat it with a spoon. If you're using large or jumbo shrimp you can cut them into smaller chunks.

For crawfish etouffee just substitute crawfish for the shrimp. If you have crawfish stock great. If not shrimp stock is fine.