Sometimes it Really is in the Water

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

You've heard the saying, "It must be in the water" in reference to local anomalies. Well, for gumbo, jambalaya and anything else made with water in New Orleans, that may well be true.

If you've been to NOLA, chances are you've gone home and tried to recreate a recipe for something fabulous you dined on while visiting. You may have headed to a local restaurant serving up NOLA favorites in search of that elusive flavor. It probably wasn't "just quite right", though and you were left feeling unfulfilled and trying to figure out what was missing.

It might be the water. If you don't live in or near NOLA, there's one way to find out if the water is the missing ingredient; visit Kitchen Witch Cookbooks and buy a gallon of authentic New Orleans water and have it delivered to your home. Then, try that recipe for gumbo again and see if the flavor isn't reminiscent of your trip.

Kitchen Witch Cookbooks is a bookshop in the French Quarter of New Orleans that specializes in "rare, hard to find, out of print and pre-owned books on food and cooking" - exactly my kind of shop! Please visit their website and read about them - their tag line is "Rebuilding New Orleans, One Book at a Time" - worth a look, for sure.

I made some of my own gumbo yesterday (chicken and sausage), and although it was better than usual, I bet it would have been fantastic with a gallon of that water.

Now what?

So, what to do with all that produce we bought? So far I have made more gumbo (can't ever get enough of that), fresh salsa, chili with an extra helping of veggies, the corn on the cob was your basic slathered-in-butter feast, cantaloupe was eaten as-is and with cottage cheese, and on the chopping block next is peach pie, a Georgia Cheesecake Pie, apple pie, breaded and fried squash, ratatouille, the acorn squash will be simply roasted, the baby yellow tomatoes are great in a salad and those cherries are just fine as is.

We had the angel food cake with freshly whipped cream and the shoo fly pie didn't last long enough for me to know exactly who ate it.

Click the linked words above for recipes and here are two more:


Fresh SalsaPrintable Recipe

3 large ripe tomatoes skinned, seeded, and chopped
1 small white onion chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
jalapeno or Serrano chiles (as many as you like) stemmed,
seeded, and chopped (or 1 small can of chopped mild green chiles)
1/4c. chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
1 lime-juiced
1t. kosher salt
1t. sugar if the tomatoes are acidic

Combine all and mix well.
Allow flavors to blend for at least 1 hr.
Taste for seasoning and serve at room temperature.
Refrigerate unused portion.

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Anne's Ratatouille
Printable Recipe

1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T olive oil
1 small eggplant cubed
1 medium zucchini cubed
1 medium green pepper seeded and diced
1 can (15 oz.) tomatoes, chopped and undrained
10 mushrooms (white button) sliced
1 t each basil and oregano
1 t salt
1 T parsley chopped
1/3 c Parmesan

In a large skillet cook onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent.
Add remaining ingredients except cheese and stir well. Cook on low, stirring once in awhile, about 25 minutes until tender and liquid has evaporated.
Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Serve warm or cold.

Throw Me Somethin', Mista!

The title of this post, should anyone need to know, is the proper, and most common Mardi Gras parade chant. This is the official Mardi Gras site, full of information and history. Very interesting if you have the time to look.


I've already thrown out a couple recipes suitable for Mardi Gras, Gumbo and Cajun BBQ Shrimp.

Here are a few more and a link to the recipe for the Mardi Gras classic~King Cake.

Jumping Joe's Jambalaya

1 pound chicken, de-boned and cut in 1" cubes
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
1 pound shrimp, cooked (21-25 count)
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
2 medium onion, chopped
2 green pepper, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. parsley
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 cup okra, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cups rice, cooked

Cut chicken and slice sausage. Chop onion and green pepper.
Put all in crock pot. Add remaining ingredients, except shrimp
and rice. Cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. Thirty
minutes before eating, add cooked shrimp and cooked rice, and
allow to heat. Can be cooked on high for 3-4 hours instead.
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Smoked Andouille Sausage in Red Gravy

6 tb Unsalted butter
1/2 c Chopped green peppers
1 1/2 lb Andouille smoked sausage (2-inch pieces)
1 ts Minced garlic
8 ts Tomato sauce
3 c Onions
1/4 c Chopped parsley
6 1/2 c Pork or beef stock
1 c Chopped green onion tops
1 1/2 ts Cayenne pepper
3 ts Cooked rice
3/4 ts Salt
1/2 c Chopped celery

Melt butter in Dutch oven. Add sausage cover and cook without stirring about 7
minutes. Turn over and sprinkle 2 c. of onions on top. Cover and cook another 7
minutes. Should be dark brown sediment on pan bottom. Add 3/4 c. of stock and
scrape bottom. Add pepper and salt stirring scraping and turning. Cover and cook 2
minutes scraping once. Add celery green peppers and garlic. Cover and cook 3
minutes scraping once. Add tomato sauce and cook uncovered 5 minutes scrapping
occasionally. Add 1/2 c. onions. Cook 8 minutes until large puddles of oil have
broken out and tomato mixture is thick. Stir only if sticking. Add parsley and 1/2
c. of the green onions. Add 3-1/4 c. more stock and scrape. Cook 20 minutes until
liquid is thick dark red gravy. Stir occasionally. Stir in remaining stock and
onions. Bring to boil reduce heat and simmer stirring frequently about 14 minutes
until gravy is noticeably thicker but still juicy. Remove from heat and serve
immediately.
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What is a King Cake?

A king cake is a traditional Mardi-Gras treat, brightly decorated in the colors of
Rex: purple, green and gold. The cake, which is similar to a rich sweet bread or
coffee cake contains a special surprise-- a tiny baby doll contained within one of
the slices. Custom dictates that the "lucky" recipient who gets the piece with the
baby throws the next Mardi-Gras party (or bakes the next King Cake).

King Cake Recipe

Gumbo in Honor of NOLA

My next-door neighborbbrought me some beautiful okra last night that was grown by a friend of hers. My immediate thought was gumbo. I'll be making it today and sharing it with her and her husband.

Of course, one can hardly think of gumbo without being reminded of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina; at least I can't. The losses to life and property there are horrendous, and the culinary losses significant. The American Culinary Federation has many members affected by Katrina and you can read about it at their page: ACF Disaster Relief Information.

This is the recipe that is a variation on what I was taught in culinary school. Many people prefer it spicier~I recommend added cayenne if that is your choice. Gumbo, to those in Louisiana, is like Marinara to Italians; everyone has their own recipe, and everyone's own recipe is "the only way to make it". This is how I like it-right or wrong. The photo shows added sausage, which is perfectly delicious, about 1/2 a pound does the trick.

Anne's Chicken Gumbo
Printable Recipe

1/2 cup butter or oil
1/2 cup flour
1 large onion - medium dice
4 stalks celery - medium dice
2 large green peppers - medium dice
1 red pepper - medium dice
1 yellow pepper - medium dice
8 cups chicken stock
1 cup tomato puree
4 tomatoes concasse (peeled seeded diced)
2c. okra cut in 1" slices
1 pound boneless skinless chicken (breast or thigh) cooked and diced
2 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 Tablespoon dried basil
1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano
pinch Thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 Tablespoon filé powder (ground sassafras leaves)
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 bay leaf
cooked rice for serving

1. Heat butter or oil in a large pot - add flour and cook until mixture is the color of a copper penny - not a new penny - an old one - nice and dark.
2. Add onion, celery and peppers - cook for several minutes until they begin to 'weep'.
3. Add stock slowly while stirring and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender - about 20 minutes.
4. Add all tomato products and simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. Add chicken, okra and all seasonings except filé powder.
6. Bring to a boil - reduce heat and simmer 15 min.
7. Turn heat off and add filé powder - stir well, remove bay leaf and serve.

For seafood gumbo:

Use 1/2 pound shrimp and 1/2 pound scallops in place of
chicken. Add during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
Use fish stock if available (otherwise chicken is fine) and replace parsley with chervil and add 2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning.