Crabby Christmas

How was your Christmas?
Ours was a little weird.

Christmas Eve was so warm that when we went for a walk, we came back home sweaty and wishing we had worn shorts.

The day after Christmas, there's such a damp, bone-chilling cold that sitting in front of a portable heater I still can't warm up.

At 2:45 AM Christmas morning, something woke The Husband and I.  It wasn't Santa on the roof.  No creatures stirring.  It was thunder and wind.  And something didn't feel right.  I don't know what exactly.  But I felt it.  Having lived in Joplin, MO for a few years, I've picked up on signs.  The tangible and intangible that all point to one thing.  Tornado.

The Husband turned on the TV to an alert.  A tornado warning.  The cell heading just to our South.

I did what I learned to do living those years in tornado alley.

Peed.  And put on a bra.

Because if a tornado hits, I am NOT going to be the poor disheveled interviewed victim with no bra who needs to pee.

I sat on the couch watching the weather reports, wringing my hands.  Heart racing.  Shallow breathing.  I didn't leave Joplin to come back home to this shit.  On Christmas no less.

Around 3:15 the storm was well on us.  The wind was whipping.  City lights bouncing off the clouds gave me visual proof that those gut feelings were right.  The way the clouds looked.  The way they moved.  I'd seen it before.  Not good.

It passed.  And no tornado touched down.

We went through a few more rounds of the same.  With the same outcome.  Others throughout the day would not be so lucky.

We "did presents" before 4 AM since the storms woke up The Boy.  Not much sleep was had after that.

By 8:30 AM, I was loopy.  Making breakfast, singing to my new Queen's Greatest Hits.  And drinking the blackberry moonshine Santa left.

Good thinking, Santa.

I'd been up since before 3.  8:30 was more like mid-day, right?

We postponed Christmas dinner until the 26th since it was unsafe for anyone to travel.

Back to work tomorrow.  Back to normal.

Creamy Crab, Corn, and Tasso Soup

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Creamy Crab, Corn, & Tasso Soup

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
8 oz tasso*, diced
1 can creamed corn
1 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 shakes Tony's Creole Seasoning
hot sauce, to taste
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 cup cooked crab
chopped green onion

Heat butter and olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat.  When hot, add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, celery, and tasso and saute until the vegetables are tender.

Stir in creamed corn, chicken stock, half and half, and seasonings.  Lower heat to medium low and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Do not boil.

Gently stir in the cooked crab.  Simmer a few minutes to heat through.  Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.  Serve with green onion sprinkled over the top.

*Tasso (TAH-so) is a seasoned, smoked meat (usually pork) used for seasoning Cajun dishes.  Highly smoked sausage can be used in its place.

One Plus One Equals Three

If you're Southern
or even if you only know a teensy weensy little bit about the South
you know that we can't welcome a new year without some black eyed peas.

 And cabbage.
From an intestinal view (and, really, who wants that?), these food traditions seem like a nightmare.  But it's all done with hopes for luck and prosperity during the year to come.


Black eyed peas seem to be overlooked the rest of the year and I think that's a shame.  I like their size--smaller than a lot of the more common legumes.  I like their earthiness.  And I like that they make me think of my brother.


As the youngest in my family, my brother Doodle was always a cutie.  In a rascally way.  When he was very small, my mom placed a bowl of black eyed peas in front of him.  He stared at his dinner.  Wrinkled up his round little face.  And asked, "chocolate chip beans?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's start the New Year off right:

Black Eyed Peas in Sauce Piquante. 

Piquante (pee kont) means "prickly" in French.
The spices in sauce piquante are prickly on your taste buds.  Sauce piquante is a spicy stew-like dish that can be made with any meat, game, or seafood.

Chicken or Rabbit Sauce Piquante

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My mom and dad are like Jack Sprat and his missus.  Mom likes to keep her food from touching.  Dad mixes his whole plate together.

I took a cue from dad and mixed two dishes:
Black Eyed Peas & Tasso
plus
Tasso Sauce Piquante
*source for tasso: cajungrocer.com

Making this a three-fer...
Make the black eyed peas w/ tasso, serve as is

or
Make the tasso sauce piquante, serve over rice

or
Combine the two.

I promise--no chocolate chips involved.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Black Eyed Peas in Sauce Piquante
for the black eyed peas:
1 lb dried black eyed peas
1/4 lb tasso, diced
3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp Tony's
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Rinse and pick through the black eyed peas.  Soak overnight.  Drain and place in a large pot along with the rest of the ingredients, except for the salt.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Add the salt.  Simmer an additional 30 minutes and check for  doneness and seasoning.


for the tasso sauce piquante:
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 TBSP flour
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1/4 lb tasso, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste

Heat oil in a cast iron or stainless steel pot.  When hot, sprinkle in the flour.  Make a roux by cooking and stirring.  When the roux is the color of copper, quickly add the onion, bell pepper, and celery.  Saute untill softened.  Add the tasso and garlic and saute a few more minutes.  Stir in in the diced tomatoes and juices, tomato sauce, salt, and cayenne.  Simmer about 45 minutes.  Serve over rice or combine with the black eyed peas above.

If combining, drain most of the liquid from the black eyed peas.  Gently stir into the sauce piquante.  Simmer together for 15-20 minutes.  Serve with cornbread.


How to make a Cajun roux

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I'm going down to NOLA for the New Year. 
See Ya In the Gumbo Potluck #12 will run until Friday night (Dec. 30th), then resume Sunday, January 8th, 2012.


Yall have a safe one.
Yall have a good one.



Linking up this week with:
Tuesdays at the Table @ All the Small Stuff
Tuesday's Tasty Tidbts @ Permanent Posies
Hearth & Soul @ Mom's Sunday Cafe
Turning the Table Thursday @ Around My Family Table
What's Cooking Thursday @ Feeding Four

Burn, Baby, Blacken

Do I have something tasty for you today?  Mais, yeah!

Doesn't come without mixed feelings though.

I used tasso.  Again.  There were leftovers from when I made the shrimp & tasso pasta a few weeks ago.  There it was.  Burning a hole--which is definitely not something I want going down in my freezer, I tell ya.  I feel a little guilty using such a localized ingredient.  Again.  (Ok, so all guilt was forgotten while I was eating.)  If you have access to andouille sausage, sub that.  I also think a (very) smoked sausage would work.   Guilt eased.

A little.

See, I'm on the fence because blackening is so...I don't know. 
So.

Chef Paul Prudhomme, bless his heart, started burning blackening redfish in the early 1980s.  And it spread like smoky, spicy wildfire across the country. 

You know two sides to a coin, every rose having its thorn and all that? 


Well, this human feeding frenzy on reds is thought by some to have caused depletions in redfish populations.  So much so that the Louisiana legislature had to pass fishing restrictions.  Although the LSU AGCenter notes that redfish populations were declining slightly before the blackened redfish trend.  We all know through various newsworthy events (and may even be tired of hearing about them) the kind of damage humankind can do to our beloved Gulf of Mexico.  And I'm not normally one to rant and beat my chest over terribly serious topics here.  But I can't help but find it unsettling--the idea that the proverbial "we" pigged out on blackened redfish so much that it may have been destructive to their populations.


My big issue with blackening, though--all about image, baby.  When the blackening craze was at maximum, people far and wide thought that this is what Cajuns eat.  Everyday.  All the time.  People started blackening everything under the sun--tuna, tilapia, shrimp, chicken, venison, each other.  People thought that this was real Cajun food, cher. 

Black, burnt-looking, super spicy food indicative of Cajun cooking?  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  If you've been around here for a while, you know it gets under my skin how people equate Cajun with taste bud killing spiciness.  Or food becomes "Cajun" just because it has some hot sauce on it.     

But, doggit, the proof's on the plate.  And the truth is: plates get cleaned when something blackened is on them.

Important: Blackening should be done outside.  Unless you want every smoke detector in the place whining at you and every scrap of fabric smelling like a spice factory fire for days afterwards.

I don't know.  Maybe you're into those kinds of things. 
Kinky.

Also important: Blackening requires super high heat.  So you'll need to use a pan that can tolerate it.  Cast iron is best and is traditionally used.  (Although, let me stress again: blackening is not traditional.)

This was my inspiration for the sauce, along with my leftover tasso.
I use Creole mustard in as many things as possible.

Saute some onion, bell pepper, garlic, and finely diced tasso.  Add Creole mustard & cream.  Season to taste and allow to simmer.

On to the blackening seasoning.  Sure, you can buy it.  I won't judge you either.  But I like to control everything things.  I also like to make use of what's in my spice cabinet rather than cramming another jar into it.


This is a standard blackening seasoning.  I'll tell you a little secret.  The secret behind how/why blackening seasoning works.  It's all in the paprika.

Set a pan over high heat while you work on the chicken. 

Important too: whatever you're blackening, it can't be too thick.  The outside will burn before the inside is cooked through.  I sliced the chicken breasts into tenders to make sure this wouldn't happen.  You could also halve them horizontally.

Brush the chicken on both sides with melted butter and dredge in blackening seasoning.  Press the seasoning into the chicken.

My pot has been sitting over high heat getting white hot.  Well, as white hot as a black cast iron pot can get.  Ideally, a skillet would be better.  I'm thinking Christmas, maybe?

Drizzle a little melted butter where you'll place the chicken pieces and have at it.  But step aside quickly.  Two words: smoke inhalation.

Cook the chicken on one side until nice and blackened and flip.  Repeat on the second side.  If you have to cook in batches, keep what's cooked in a warm oven until serving.

Plate up, sauce up, allons manger!

Printable Version
Blackened Chicken w/ Creole Mustard Tasso Sauce

~MM

For the sauce:
1 Tbsp olive oil
about 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
about 1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
heaping 1/4 c diced tasso
1/4 c Creole mustard
3/4 c whipping cream
salt & pepper

Saute vegetables & tasso in olive oil.  Stir in the mustard.  Stir in the cream.  Season to taste with salt & pepper.  Simmer to thicken.

For the chicken:
1 lb chicken, sliced no more than 1/2" thick
blackening seasoning (recipe below)
5 Tbsp melted butter

Outdoors, begin heating up a pan over high heat.  While the pan heats up, brush each piece of chicken with melted butter.  Dredge in blackening seasoning and press the seasoning into the chicken.

When your pan is super hot, drizzle melted butter where you will place the chicken.  Add the chicken to the pan and cook until blackened.  Flip and blacken the second side.  If you need to cook in batches, place the chicken in a warm oven while you cook additional batches.

Plate up the chicken and spoon the sauce over the top.

Standard Blackening Seasoning
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano

Combine all spices.  Store in an airtight container.  Makes about 1/3 cup.

Linking up this week with:
 
Food On Friday: Mustard @ Carole's Chatter
Make a Food-"e"-Friend Monday @ The Saturday Evening Pot
Tuesdays at the Table @ All The Small Stuff
Tasty Tuesday @ Naptime Creations
Hearth and Soul vol 62 @ Mom's Sunday Cafe
Delectable Tuesday @ Home Sweet Farm
Let's Do Brunch @ The 21st Century Housewife
Turning the Table Thursday @ Around My Family Table
What's Cooking Thursday @ Feeding Four
Simply Delish @ KB & Whitesnakes Home
Potluck Friday @ EKat's Kitchen
Fresh Food Friday @ la bella vita
Friday Food @ Mom Trends

shrimp and tasso pasta

If you are a Cajun food purist, close your eyes.
Stick your fingers in your ears.
La la la.  Can't hear me.
Run away if you feel the need.

That'll just leave more for me.

This week, it's pasta with a decadent, creamy sauce.

Pasta and creamy sauces are relatively new to Cajun cuisine--maybe since around the early to mid 80s.  And "Cajun" dishes made with pasta and cream sauces are really restaurant inventions.  I get it.  You can only eat so much rice!

I'm serving up this pasta with a creamy shrimp and tasso (tah-so) sauce. 
The Husband said he could've eaten the sauce as a soup.

Tasso with shrimp is a beautiful thing.  They go well together in jambalaya, in shrimp & grits, on pizza, in omelettes, over pasta.... 


Tasso is highly seasoned, highly smoked pork. 

It's usually diced and added to many Cajun dishes as a seasoning.

Tasso may be hard to find outside of South Louisiana.  CajunGrocer.com carries several brands and ships all over the United States. 
(I'm not being paid or compensated in any way--Cajun Grocer has no clue I exist.) 

Mise en place for Shrimp & Tasso Pasta:

Olive oil and butter in which to cook The Trinity + garlic,

diced tasso,

salt, pepper, Tony's (another Trinity?), dried basil & oregano,

flour for thickening

shrimp stock, evaporated milk and cream

cooked pasta

green onions, 1 small red &

1 small yellow tomato for garnish (optional)

I am thinking of turning this into

Creamy Shrimp & Tasso Soup

The shrimp stock really added a lot of flavor to the sauce. 

Save your shells in the freezer and make a batch!

After tossing everything together, I decided that it was mighty pale.

Grabbed some green onion and

a red and a yellow tomato from the garden...

And totally overdid it.

Overdid it on eating too!

Ca c'est bon!

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Shrimp & Tasso Pasta

from Ms. enPlace

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

about 1 cup diced tasso

1 small onion, finely chopped

1-2 ribs celery, finely chopped

1 small bell pepper, finely chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

salt, pepper, and Tony's, to taste

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

2 Tbsp flour

1 cup shrimp stock

6 oz heavy cream

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk, divided

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

3/4 lb pasta, cooked by package directions

green onion and chopped tomatoes for garnish

Saute the tasso in the oil and butter until browned.  Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper and saute until softened.  Add the garlic, salt, pepper, Tony's, basil, and oregano and saute a few minutes longer.  Sprinkle the flour over the seasoning mixture and stir, cooking for a couple of minutes.

Stir while slowly adding the shrimp stock, cream, and 6 oz of evaporated milk.  Keep the rest of the evaporated milk for thinning out the sauce as it simmers.

Simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes.  After simmering, if the sauce is too thick, add more evaporated milk to get the consistency you'd like.  Add the shrimp and any juices to the pan and cook until the shrimp are no longer pink.  Toss with cooked pasta.  Garnish with chopped green onion and tomatoes. 

It's been a long time since I've linked with Presto Pasta Nights. It's time!

This week's edition is hosted by Simona of Briciole


Also linking with:
Make a Food-"e"-Friend Monday @ The Saturday Evening Pot
Tuesdays at the Table @ All The Small Stuff
Tasty Tuesday @ Naptime Creations
Hearth and Soul vol 60 @ Mom's Sunday Cafe
Delectable Tuesday @ Home Sweet Farm
Made it on Monday #21 @ Lark's Country Heart
Turning the Table Thursday @ Around My Family Table
What's Cooking Thursday @ Feeding Four
Potluck Friday @ EKat's Kitchen
Foodie Friday @ Little Brick Ranch
Fresh Food Friday @ la bella vita
Friday Food @ Mom Trends

Simply Delish @ KB & Whitesnakes Home

Smotherin'

Not just a word used to describe the oppressive Southern summer heat. Smothering is also something that can be done to food.

Last week's entry was about Crawfish Etouffee, or smothered crawfish--a definitely Cajun dish. But Cajuns don't hold the deed to smothering. Smothered foods can be found all over the South. Vegetables like cabbage, potatoes, green beans (which are really fruit), okra (also fruit), and squash (again, fruit) can be smothered. Meats and poultry can be smothered too.

As I'm typing this, I'm (as one of my uncles would say) fat, dumb, and happy after eating a lunch of smothered sausage over rice from Ruby's Cafe in downtown Eunice.

Smothered dishes may just be the epitome of Southern country cookin'...you know...the "low & slow," hearty, soul-pleasin' kinda thing that comes straight outta Mawmaw's kitchen. No fancy or hard to find ingredients. Just simple, straight-forward, stripped bare food that you'd swear has a little magic thrown in. The type of thing Marcel Proust made a name for himself with...one taste and you are sucked back into childhood, remembering all of those good, solid, comforting things.


I checked a few books devoted to culinary terms and was shocked (annoyed) to find the term "smother" neglected. But then the simple backwater ways of Southern folk are often dismissed. So, here's the best definition (I use the term loosely) I can come up with. When food is smothered it is usually first browned in a small amount of oil (or other fat source). This is especially true of meat and poultry. Onions are usually added. Sometimes bell pepper, celery and garlic, depending on the cook. A small amount of water is added to the pot after browning and the contents are simmered over a low heat for a somewhat lengthy amount of time. Especially by the watches of today's 30 minute meal crowd. At least an hour for smothered meats, preferably more.

This ain't fast and it sure ain't pretty when it's done. What matters is that it's tasty. And why wouldn't it be? First you caramelize the natural sugars in the food. Simply reading the word "caramelize" makes me start to drool. Then, you cook the hell out of it in its own juices along with onions, etc. until it is so tender you could feed it to a baby. Then, you either shake your head in disbelief over how good it is or cry over the amount of care and time put into it. Depends on how emotional you are. I'm a head shaker.


Smothered potatoes are a great side dish. But my husband came across a version of smothered potatoes--in some obscure email--that I like even more and use as an entree. Originally, this was supposed to be cooked in a rice cooker. But my thinking was that if I have to dirty a pot to brown everything in anyway, I may as well just continue using said pot to smother everything in too. I'm smart like that. Plus, I'm much too handsy with my food.


One note: tasso (tah-so) is used in this recipe. It's an ingredient common to S LA and may be difficult to locate in other places. It can be omitted...just add a bit more sausage. Tasso is a cured, seasoned, and highly smoked meat--traditionally pork, but can also be made from beef. Some people equate it to beef jerky, but that's not accurate at all. Some people think of it as a smokey sausage, but it isn't a sausage at all either. It gives an intense smoky flavor to jambalaya, red beans & rice, some seafood dishes, and sauces. It is used as a flavoring rather than eaten alone.

Smothered Potatoes with Andouille and Tasso
from Ms. enPlace

1 lb andouille sausage (or smoked pork sausage), diced into bite size pieces
1/2 lb tasso, diced into bite size pieces
2 lbs white or red potatoes, peeled and diced
7 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp Cajun/Creole Seasoning, or to taste
3/4-1/2 stick of butter, cut into pieces
1 envelope of onion soup mix
2 cups water

Brown the andouille and tasso in a heavy pot. Add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes to soften. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring often, until browned. Add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Simmer for 45-50 minutes, or until potatoes are done.

The mise en place for Smothered Potatoes with Andouille and Tasso. I'm considering cutting back on the butter.

Brown the andouille (or smoked sausage) and tasso.

Add the onions and garlic and saute until soft. I don't know why, but for some dishes I prefer to slice the onions rather than chop. It really doesn't matter here, though.

Add the potatoes and cook, stirring often, until they get some color on 'em.

Add the rest of onion soup mix, Cajun seasoning, butter, and water. Stir together and simmer.

Keep simmering for about 45-50 minutes, or until potatoes are done. growing up, I always thought smothering referred to the food being "smothered" in an abundance of onions because my mom uses a ton of 'em. Someone recently told me that the term "smother" refers to smothering the whole dish by covering it. I don't cover this, but you're sure welcome to give it a shot.

Not so pretty. Especially if your potatoes get a little overdone. But it'll taste good. Head shakin' good.