CAJUN CHRISTMAS 2017
Table of Contents Sweet Potato Pancakes
4
Crawfish Pie
6
Ya Momma’s Gumbo
8
Jambalaya
10
Bread Puddin’ with Chantilly Cream
14
Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal
16
SWEET POTATO PANCAKES Makes 18 to 20 delicious pancakes
The Ingredients • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup mashed sweet potato
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Chopped pecans, for serving (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
The Steps • Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter, then set aside to cool. • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, milk, and sugar, mixing until completely combined. Stir in the mashed sweet potato. • Pour in the melted butter and mix until fully incorporated. Fold in the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. (Don’t overmix the batter. It’s okay for the batter to be lumpy.) Let the batter rest for 5 minutes. • Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add a pat of butter — just enough to coat the surface. • Once hot, use a 1/4 cup measure to pour batter into the skillet. Cook until the undersides are golden, the edges look to be set, and bubbles form and burst on the surface of the pancake, 2 to 3 minutes. • Flip and cook the other side until golden-brown, about another 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining pancakes. • Serve the pancakes immediately with maple syrup and pecans, or your favorite topping.
4 | Cajun Christmas
JAMBALAYA Makes 4 delicious servings
The Ingredients Seasoning Mix
Jambalaya
• 4 small bay leaves
• 4 tablespoons margarine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces tasso, diced
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 6 ounces smoked andouille sausages
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 1/2 cups onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 1/2 cups celery, chopped
• 1 teaspoon gumbo file (optional)
• 1 cup bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 4 cups beef stock or chicken stock
The Steps Seasoning Mix • Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Jambalaya • Using a large, heavy skillet, melt margarine over high heat. Add tasso and andouille, and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. • Add onions, celery, bell pepper, seasoning mix and garlic. Stir and cook 10-12 minutes until well browned, scraping the bottom of the pan well. • Stir in rice and cook 5 minutes, again scraping the pan bottom often. Add stock. • Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 20 minutes, until rice is tender but still a bit crunchy. • Stir a bit towards the end of the cooking time. • Remove bay leaves and serve.
December 2018 | 7
CRAWFISH PIE Makes 12 delicious servings
The Ingredients
• Basic Pie Dough, divided into 12 balls and chilled • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter • 1/4 cup minced onions • 1/4 cup minced green bell peppers • 1/4 cup minced red bell peppers • 1/4 cup minced celery • 1 1/2 tablespoons Emerilís Creole Seasoning • 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic • 1 pound (2 cups) peeled crawfish tails • 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce • 1/4 cup chopped green onions • 1/2 cup heavy cream • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten in separate cups • 2 tablespoons bread crumbs • 2 tablespoons olive oil
The Steps • Prepare the basic pie dough and refrigerate. • Melt the butter in a medium skillet over high heat. • When the butter sizzles, add the onions, green and red peppers, celery, Creole Seasoning and salt and sauté, shaking the skillet or stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and crawfish tails and cook, stirring occasionally and shaking the skillet, for 2 minutes. Stir in the hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire, and green onions, and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the cream. Stir in 1 of the beaten eggs slowly just a little at a time (if you add it too quickly, you’ll have scrambled eggs). • Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the bread crumbs. Makes 3 cups. • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. • Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a floured surface, roll out each ball into a thin circle of dough, about 1/8 inch thick. Trim edges of each circle to form a round of dough about 5 inches in circumference. • Brush a 1/4-inch border around the edges of each dough square with the remaining egg. Place about 1/4 cup of the crawfish filling toward the corner of each square and fold the dough over to form a triangle. Crimp the edges with a floured fork and place the pies on the baking sheet. Brush the top of each pie with olive oil. Bake until lightly browned, for about 25 minutes. • To serve, wrap the hot pies in paper towels or paper napkins. Serve with mugs of cold beer (Dixie or Abita are New Orleans favorites) and you’ve got your own crawfish festival.
December 2018 | 9
Ya Momma’s GUMBO Makes 6 delicious servings
The Ingredients • Butter
• 2 teaspoons gumbo filé
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 pounds sausage
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 to 2 green bell peppers chopped
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 48 ounce containers chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 jar of dry roux (I used Kary's Dry Roux)
The Steps • In a large skillet, sauté your sausage over medium high heat until browned. Set aside. • Using the grease from your sausage, sauté your vegetables until they start to soften. • Add seasonings. • Move seasoned veggies and sausage to a large pot. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. • Begin to mix in your dry roux a little at a time, making sure to mix thoroughly. Add roux until you like the thickness and darkness. • Taste and adjust your seasonings and roux as needed. • Cut chicken thighs into cubes. Season with salt and pepper. • Bring the roux down to a simmer. Add chicken and let simmer until chicken is cooked through. • Serve over a bed of rice
* This is my mother's recipe. Everything is a estimated since she does not typically follow a recipe/measure ingredients. Gotta go with the flow in this one!
10 | Cajun Christmas
BREAD PUDDIN’ WITH CHANTILLY CREAM Makes 8 delicious servings
The Ingredients Bread Puddin'
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans, dry roasted
• 3 large eggs
• 5 cups very stale plain white bread cubes
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
Chantilly Cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon brandy
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons dairy sour cream
The Steps Bread Puddin' • In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs on high speed until extremely frothy, about 3 minutes (or with a metal whisk for about 6 minutes). • Add the sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and butter and beat on high until well blended. Beat in the milk, then stir in the raisins and pecans. • Place the bread cubes in a greased loaf pan. • Pour the egg mixture over them and toss until the bread is soaked. Let sit until you see only a narrow bead of liquid around the pan’s edges, about 45 minutes, patting the bread down into the liquid occasionally. • Place in a preheated 350° oven. Immediately lower the heat to 300° and bake 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 425° and bake until pudding is well browned and puffy, about 15 to 20 minutes more. • To serve, spoon in 1/2 cup hot bread pudding and top with ¼ cup Chantilly Cream.
Chantilly Cream • Combine cream vanilla, brandy and Grand Marnier in the bowl and beat with electric mixer on medium speed 1 minute. • Add the sugar and sour cream and beat on medium just until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Do not overbeat. Overbeating will make the cream grainy.
December 2018 | 13
MERRY CHRISTMAS ya filthy animal
Here’s a picture of me acting I just finished Here’s a picture of me acting likelike I just finished cooking. cooking. But let’s be real. This is all set up But let’s be real. This is all set up for the picture. for the picture. Everything has already been Everything has already been cooked, photographed, and cooked, photographed and eaten (yes, I ate all eaten (yes, I But ate Ialllook thecute, food).right? But I Iflook cute,holding right? the food). you’re Designing a cookbook hashands been at a dream of mineyou for this cookbook in your this moment, mean quite a bit me.isI only had step a handful a few years now andtothis my first towardofthat these made. Designing a cookbook has been dream. I wanted to share that first step with the people a dream of mine for a few years now and this who have pushed me to pursue my passions. I hope is my first step toward that dream. I wanted to youshare all enjoy miniwith cookbooks. These recipes that these first step the people who meanare the most to me. I love each and everyI love one you of you seriously quite tasty. Merry Christmas!! guys! so much! I hope you enjoy this little cookbook. But seriously, make all of these recipes. They’re quite tasty. Merry Christmas fam!
December 2018 | 15