Does anyone have a recipe for milk based seafood gumbo?
30 years ago I lived in Houston and there was club there called the Men’s Club. I ate there at lunch every Friday because they served a gumbo made with white sauce instead of the Cajun roux base. I loved it. Does anyone have a clue as to how I can get that or another white sauce based seafood gumbo? I think today the place in Houston called the Men’s Club is a strip joint. It wasn’t when I was there.
Seafood Gumbo
This gumbo uses a very small amount of roux, so that it remains light. You may omit the okra if you like, and thicken the gumbo with filé powder instead — it’ll still be good, but will have a quite different flavor.
Ingredients
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup flour
2 medium onions, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
3 ribs celery, finely diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
4 tomatoes (or 8 Roma tomatoes), seeded and diced (if you like tomatoes in your gumbo)
1 cup tomato purée (see above)
2 pounds okra, chopped
4 quarts shrimp stock, crab stock or fish stock
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning blend
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 dozen oysters, freshly shucked, liquor reserved
4 blue crabs, cleaned (optional)
1 pound fresh lump crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage
1 tablespoon filé powder (if okra isn’t used)
8 cups cooked long-grain white rice
Method
In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil and add the flour. Stir constantly until a light brown roux is formed, then add the onions, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Sauté until the onions become translucent and the vegetables are tender. Add the tomatoes and tomato purée, if you wish, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. (I know I sound like a broken record, but I’m not one of those people who likes tomatoes in my gumbo, but lots of people do. Your mileage may vary.)
Add the seasonings, and about 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and continue to cook another 10 minutes. Add the okra, and cook for another 10 minutes, then add the stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook another 30 minutes.
(If you wish a more rustic gumbo, you may add whole blue crabs. Remove the hard top shell from the crabs (reserving for stuffed crabs or for shellfish stock), and break each crab in two down the middle. Remove the claws. Add to the stock.) With the gumbo on very low heat, add the shrimp 10 minutes before serving, the oysters and oyster liquor 5 minutes before serving, and the crabmeat just before serving (don’t cook the crabmeat, just stir until it is heated through). Taste and correct seasonings.
If you don’t like okra, or if you just prefer to make a filé gumbo, remove from heat and sprinkle the filé powder on the surface of the gumbo, then cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Then uncover and stir to mix. Be careful if there are leftovers — filé doesn’t reheat all that well, and you must be careful to reheat gently. If the gumbo comes back to a boil after the filé has been added, it will get stringy.
Place about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of rice in each bowl and ladle the gumbo over and around it. Serve with plenty of french bread and good beer or white wine.
YIELD: About 10-12 entrée servings or 20-24 appetizer servings (omit hard shell crabs if serving cups of gumbo as an appetizer).
Has anyone ever made REAL cajun/ creole food?
Can you give me an awesome recipe for a theme luncheon we have coming up… I need a really good recipe – preferably one that you have tried and liked before…
I am from New Orleans and these are some of the easier creole recipes you can make. Enjoy them.
CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE GUMBO
4 pounds chicken
10 cups chicken broth
1 cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon thyme
1 cup flour
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pint drained oysters (optional)
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 Tablespoons green onions, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 Tablespoon parsley, chopped
Season the chicken with garlic salt and red pepper. Set aside. In a large pot, make a dark roux by combining flour and oil, stirring constantly. Add bell pepper, onion and celery to the roux and cook until soft (5-6 minutes). Add chicken broth and chicken pieces. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, stir in thyme and cook for 1 hour. Add sausage and cook for another hour until chicken tender. Adjust seasoning if needed. Add green onion and parsley. Stir well. Add oysters if you choose to add them (Actually, I usually don’t!)
CREAM OF CRAWFISH SOUP
1 stick butter
½ cup grated onion
½ cup flour
1 pound crawfish tails
½ bunch green onions
2 cups Half and Half
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon red pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
In a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in onion and sauté for five minutes. Stir in flour. Cook about 2 minutes until mixture thickens. Add hot chicken stock and stir well. Simmer for 5 minutes stirring constantly.
In a food processor, grind crawfish and green onions. Add to soup base. Mix well and simmer for 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Add Half and Half and cream and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in seasonings and remove pot from heat.
SHRIMP REMOULADE
The Old Roosevelt Hotel’s recipe
2 egg yolks
1 cup Creole mustard
¼ cup vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cups salad oil
1 bunch minced green onions
½ stalk celery, minced
4 pounds boiled shrimp, peeled, deveined
Blend the egg yolks, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Slowly add oil, beating constantly. Once thickened, add green onions and celery. Mix sauce with shrimp and refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.
BLACK EYED PEAS
Fresh will be out of season, so look for dried or look in your freeezer section and you may find them frozen by Pic’d Sweet.
2 quarts. water (or chicken broth)
1 # hickory bacon, cut in pieces
1 # smoked sausage, chunked
1 smoked ham hock
2 cups diced onions
¾ cup diced celery
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon thyme
1 Tablespoon sweet basil
4 bay leaves
1 # black eyed peas
3 Tablespoons bacon drippings
Salt and black pepper to taste
6 cups cooked long-grain rice
Rinse the peas well under cold running water and set them aside to drain. In a 5-quart heavy aluminum Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid bring the two quarts of water or broth to a rapid boil. Drop into the water the bacon, smoked sausage and ham hock.
Bring the water to a slow boil and cook the meats for 15 minutes (covered) until they form a rich flavored stock. Stir in the onions, celery, garlic powder, thyme, sweet basil, and bay leaves, cover and cook over medium heat until the vegetables soften —about 15 minutes.
Stir in the black eyed peas and the bacon drippings well, making sure the mixture is uniformly blended. Bring the peas to a boil, but immediately reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until rich and creamy, stirring so they don’t stick. (dried peas take about two hours on a very low fire).
About 20 minutes before serving, sprinkle in the salt and pepper and season the peas to taste. Remember—you already have salt in the bacon as well as in the smoked sausage, so you may not need to add much more.
“Fresh” blackeyed peas, unlike the dried variety, need to be cooked for only 20 to 30 minutes before they are ready to serve.
Serve over rice
JAMBALAYA
This is a great short cut version of jambalaya that uses canned broths and is one of the easiest recipes you will ever make. It is great for pot luck lunches/dinners because it is not expensive to make and serves a lot of people. Just don’t tell my grandma I am taking short cuts!
1 pound sausage
2 pounds peeled shrimp or 3-4 cooked, chopped chicken
1 can Campbell’s beef bouillon
1 can Campbell’s french onion soup
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 stick butter
1 ¼ cups chopped bell pepper
¼ cup chopped green onion
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 pound (orange box) Uncle Ben’s
season to taste
Mix cubed chicken and sliced sausage and all other ingredients in baking pan, bake covered 350 for 1 hour and 15 min. Stir every 15-20 min.
SHRIMP CREOLE
2 pounds peeled/deveined shrimp
2 Tablespoons cooking oil
1 large onion (finely chopped)
1 clove of garlic (chopped)
2 Tablespoons chopped green pepper
1 Tablespoon flour
8 ounces tomato sauce
12- 16 ounces of water
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
thyme
salt and pepper
Heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. Add garlic and green pepper, sauté two minutes. Stir in flour until well blended. Stir in tomato sauce. Simmer for five minutes. Stir in water, thyme, salt, pepper, parsley and shrimp. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.
And if you want an authentic creole dessert:
Pralines
2 1/4 c sugar
1 c whole milk
3/4 can evap milk
1 heaping c pecans
1 tea vanilla
2 Table butter
Cook sugar, milk, evaporated milk and butter, stirring constantly, over medium heat to soft ball stage. Add vanilla. Slowly add pecans stirring constantly. Cool 15 minutes. Pour 2" apart on waxed paper and cool.
or
Buttered Pecan Pie
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup light corn syrup
¾ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups toasted pecans
9” pie shell
Preheat oven to 375. In a medium saucepan, heat butter over low heat until it turns golden-amber; do not burn. Immediately pour in cream to stop cooking and pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Blend in brown sugar, salt, corn syrup and vanilla. Beat in eggs by hand until well blended. Stir in pecans.
Pour into shell (crimp edges as high as possible) and cover edges with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until filling is set and pastry golden. Cool at least 2 hours before serving.
To toast pecans: spread pecans on cookie sheet and bake in 375 degree oven for 5-10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.
Catfish Po-Boy Sandwich
http://www.CajunCookingTV.com –
Cajun Catfish Po-Boy from the Cajun Recipes collection at Cajun Cooking TV.
This is the kind of stuff we eat for lunch here in Louisiana. You should try it, it’s easy and oh so good!
cajun food
cajun recipes
cajun cooking
cajun cooking tv
beryl stokes
fish sandwich
cajun poboy
cajun po-boy
cajun po boy
Duration : 0:8:53
The Excalibur Hotel and Casino is a Grand Las Vegas Hotel
There are many New Orleans Hotels but for a Boutique Hotel in the very heart of New Orleans there is one that holds a higher standard, The Bienville House on the edge of the French Quarter. It is a very distinctive property with style and grace.
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This lovely hotel started as a grain warehouse but it has gone through many manifestations since then to become the boutique hotel it is today.
In the beginning it was Planter’s Rice Mill, then Thompson’s Rice Mill and Southern Syrup Manufacturing. Then, in 1985, the building was completely transformed into the North American Hotel. The original advertising stated it was a delightful summer residence for Ladies and Gentlemen. Unfortunately the hotels owners went their separate ways and the building was divided into a boarder’s hotel and a fire house. Then it was converted to 20 luxury apartments and started the rival of Decatur Street. In 1972, after surviving a fire from across the street, it was purchased by the Monteleone Family.
The location of the Bienville hotel on Decatur Street mixes the old and new of the charming French Quarter. With its lovely wrought iron balconies this intimate property is the closest to the French Quarter and therefore many attractions are close by. Some of them include Aquarium of the Americas, Canal Place Shopping Center (including Saks Fifth Avenue and Brooks Brothers), Woldenberg Park, IMAX Theater and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. From this New Orleans hotel you can be spellbound by the stars at the Hard Rock Café while still enjoying the historic French quarter with it’s many famous eateries and scenery.
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AAA has awarded it the coveted Three Diamond title and the Bienville is a member of the Historic Hotels of America. This boutique hotel consistently works hard to go beyond the standards that are demanded of that title.
They have a restaurant, the Louisiana Heritage Café that also serves as a school of cooking. In its casual setting it offers seafood, pasta, soup and salads in the New Orleans tradition. Some of Chef Faroldi’s dishes include Seafood Beignets with Remoulade Sauce, Blackened Catfish topped with Crawfish Etouffée and the famous “Rajun Cajun” Omelets. It is located on the first floor of the hotel and serves three meals a day.
The culinary lessons at the Louisiana Heritage Café can be for individuals or groups. Anyone can attend these lessons. The delicious fare is typically Cajun and Creole and while the chef is preparing the dishes he offers historic stories that will compliment his presentation.
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They have what they call The Corporate Executive Option to give all business travelers a satisfying experience. Then, after a successful day, the business traveler is mere steps from the city’s greatest restaurants, jazz establishments and shops. This plan offers the best rates with superior accommodations and many amenities. In your room you will find plenty of space to work with large desks, phones with data ports and cable TV. Included in this option is express check-in and check-out. You can count on the staff’s support to help arrange a small meeting or a corporate reception. You couldn’t do better than these elegant surroundings with state of the art equipment.
When you are thinking of taking a trip to Las Vegas, consider the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. It has everything you would expect of any Las Vegas Hotel. There is world class dining, plenty of entertainment and lots of casino action.
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For Entertainment you can choose The Tournament Of Kings dinner show with jousting and dancing maidens. Or how about Thunder from Down Under with the hottest hunks from Australia. If you need a good laugh catch Louie Andersons show Larger Than Life.
In this Castle naturally the buffet is King. There enough entrees to please everyone. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and don’t miss the Champagne Sunday Brunch. The Steakhouse At Camelot has won awards from Zagat for it’s food and service. They offer the most tender beef and fresh seafood that is flown in everyday. You can arrange to have a private dining room.
At Sir Galahads, order their prime aged beef that has been seasoned in rock salt and ground pepper. It is then slow roasted and sliced right at your table. Here too, there are private rooms available.
If you feel like Italian food, go to Regale Italian Eatery. They have all the usual food you would find in an Italian Restaurant. You will find, pizza, pasta and lasagna along with their specialties like shrimp scampi, chicken and veal. Try their famous Family Style Dinner while you are there.
Then there is the Sherwood Forest Grille and the Village Food Court both with more affordable prices. Perfect for when you just want a quick bite.
The Royal Treatment Spa is the place to be if you want to feel like a King or Queen. It has 13,000 square feet and overlooks the pool area. It is a world class spa and will pamper you with its wide variety of treatments. You can work out in the fitness center or get pampered in one of its eleven treatment rooms.
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Excalibur’s full-service catering staff can help you plan any kind of special event from small meetings to grand galas.
For other activities other than gambling or eating, there are 17 shops on the Castle Walk, a gaming arcade, a gorgeous pool and plenty world class golf courses to choose from.
The Excalibur Hotel and Casino is a Las Vegas Hotel that will cater to all of your needs.
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Mary Hanna
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