Does anyone have any cajun recipes?

Crawfish Etouffee

1/2 c oil or margarine
1/2 flour
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely chopped
3 fat cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 c fairly rich shrimp broth
1 T lemon
1/2 c crawfish fat (substitute 3-4 T
crawfish liquid or crawfish stock)*
1 T lemon juice
1 t salt (omit if using crawfish stock)
1 T fresh parsley (1 t dried)
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t thyme
1 bay leaf
1 lb frozen crawfish, all liquid included
2 large scallion tops, sliced
cooked converted rice

Make a medium dark roux by whisking the flour into the oil over medium
heat and cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture is the color
of chocolate. Add the onion along with the celery and garlic, and
sautee over medium low heat until vegetables are tender, about 10
minutes. Slowly add the shrimp stock, and bring to a boil. Lower heat
to a simmer, and add lemon juice, crawfish fat/stock/liquid, and the
spices. Simmer 15 minutes. Add the crawfish and any liquid, bring to
a rapid simmer, reduce to a low simmer, add the scallions, and simmer
just until the crawfish are tender, about 10 minutes. Adjust
seasonings. To serve, mound some rice in a plate, and ladle some of
the etouffee on top. This recipe makes about 4 servings.

Note: Crawfish fat gives the dish its characteristic flavor. In New
Orleans, it can be bought in the stores, but it’s tough to find
elsewhere, so substitute. If you do find it, keep it refrigerated, as
it is very perishable. By crawfish liquid, I mean any run off from
frozen crawfish. Whenever you use crawfish for another reason (making
Cajun popcorn, say), you should save any liquid from the inside of the
package that remains after defrosting. This liquid is mainly water,
but it will be orange in color from the crawfish fat and meat.
Finally, to make crawfish stock, take a dozen or so crawfish heads left
over from a crawfish boil, and cover with some of the left over cooking
liquid or water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for
several hours. At the end of simmering, strain the stock, and reduce
in half. Be careful when using this stock because it will be very
salty. Omit any salt from the recipe, and adjust at the end.
————————————————————————————

Biscuit Topped Seafood Gumbo Pie

Gumbo:
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 pound smoked sausage, sliced
3/4 pound cooked bonelss ham steak, cut into 2 by 1/4 inch strips
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small celery rib, minced
3 tablespoons rice
2 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 pound shrimp, shelled
1/2 pound okra, sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Biscuit topping:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 1/2 tablespoons cold butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

Make the gumbo: In a heavy medium skillet, combine 3 tablespoons of the oil
with the flour and cook over moderatly low heat, stirring occasionally,
until the roux is dark mahogany in color, about 1 hour. Do not let burn.
Immediately remove from heat.

In a medium flameproof casserole, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the
remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Add the sliced sausage and cook over moderate
heat until well browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted
spoon. Add the ham strips to the casserole and cook until lightly browned,
about 7 minutes; add to the plate with the sausage slices.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the onion to the casserole. Cook
over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until softened and translucent,
about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderately low and add the garlic,
green and red bell peppers, celery and rice. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes
longer.

Reheat the brown roux if necessary. Scrape it into the casserole with
the vegetables and rice. Stir in the chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring
to a boil over high heat. Add the sausages and ham, reduce the heat to
moderately low and cook, covered, for 25 minutes.

Stir in the cayenne, shrimp and okra and season with salt and black pepper
to taste. Cook, stirring once or twice, for 2 minutes. Remove from the
heat.

Make the topping: Preheat the oven to 450F. In a medium bowl, combine the
flour, baking soda and salt. Cut in the 5 1/2 tablespoons of the butter
until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the buttermilk until
a soft dough forms.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/2 inch thick. Using
a 2 1/2 inch round cutter, stamp out 12 biscuits.

Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Pour the hot gumbo into a shallow
9 inch round baking dish. Arrange the bicuits on top and brush with the
melted butter. Bake until the biscuits are puffed and golden brown, about
20 minutes.
—————————–End Recipe—————————-

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

1 package chicken thighs (6 count)
1/2 package Hilshire Farms Polish Kielbasa (or other smoked sausage), sliced
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped
3 large white onions, chopped (DO NOT use a food processor)
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/4 cup peanut oil
2 cups white rice (regular white rice. NOT Minute rice!!!)
2 1/2 cups water
1 12oz beer (Budweiser works fine)
flour to coat chicken
1 1/2 teaspoons Rosemary
1 teaspoon Thyme
A handful of chopped parsley (hard to put too much)
Salt to taste
Lots of cayenne pepper

Start off by washing the chicken and placing it skin side
down on a plate (you can remove the skin if you want). Now,
depending on how spicy you want it, coat the chicken with
Cayenne pepper until very red (I use a LOT of Cayenne in
mine). Don’t worry about getting it too hot, since this is
the majority of the pepper you are going to add and it will cook
into the rest of the dish. Turn the chicken pieces over and
lightly coat the skin side. Let sit for 15 minutes or so to
soak it all up.

Heat the oil in the bottom of a large heavy cast iron or
aluminum pot (don’t use thin aluminum or stainless steel since
the rice will tend to stick and burn if you’re not really careful).
Place the flour in a paper bag (season the flour lightly with salt, cayenne
pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, etc). Place a couple of pieces
of chicken at a time into the bag and shake to coat.

Fry the chicken in the oil until golden brown. Don’t worry about
cooking it all the way through just yet. Remove the chicken.
Now place the onions, celery, garlic and bellpepper into the pot
(along with a bit more oil if necessary) and saute them until the
onions are transparent, scraping the bottom of the pot often. Add
the rosemary, thyme and parsley and cook for a minute or so.

Place the sausage slices, chicken, and a little water into the pot
and mix well with the vegetables. Turn heat low, cover and simmer for
about 30 minutes (until the chicken is tender). Stir the mixture frequently,
always scraping the bottom to keep things from burning (break the
chicken up a bit with the spatula as it cooks. It should break up
naturally as the dish cooks, but this just helps things a little).

When the chicken is cooked, add the washed rice and stir it into
everything for a couple of minutes. Pour the warm beer and
the water in and stir things for another minute or so.
Taste it at this point and adjust the salt if necessary.
Now, keeping the heat low, cover the pot and cook until the rice
is tender (anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour). Stir the
mixture every now and then, scraping the bottom of the pot.