Posted on 05/14/2011 8:08:36 AM PDT by libertarian27
Welcome to the 23rd installment of the FR Weekly Cooking (Recipes) Thread.
Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or two - or all of them:)! for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' recipe stack of Family favorites?
Here's the place to share and explore your next favorite recipe.
Excellent, but try a pork butt. its cheaper and has more flavor.
Man, I do this sort of thing all the time in a crock pot for taco and burrito fillings.
Delicious and so simple.
Classic Jambalaya (per Louis Messarveaux...and, yes, he was pure Cajun)
1 large pot or overlarge skillet, with cover
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, 30-40 ct
1 lb Andouille sausage (or sweet Italian, if you don't like heat), cut into small cubes, bigger than diced
1 medium-large onion, well chopped
1 large bell pepper, well chopped (green, traditionally, but in reality any colour you like)
2-3 stalks celery, well chopped
1 full cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
16 oz shrimp or chicken stock (canned is ok, fresh is better)
6-8 oz tomato sauce
2 bay leaves
6 large cloves garlic, finely chopped (or 6 tsp minced garlic in oil)
2 tsp ground cumin (if you grind cumin seeds yourself, grind the day before using, trust me on this)
cajun seasoning (Tony Chachere or Zatarain's) to taste. Note: neither of these contain MSG.
In large pot, saute veggies uncovered, on medium, in 2-3 TBSP butter until soft, roughly 5 minutes.
Add sausage and brown it for 5 minutes.
Add garlic, cajun seasoning, rice, shrimp or chicken stock, tomato sauce and bay leaves. Stir well until mixed.
Bring pot to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until liquid is ALMOST (not completely!) gone. Tip: do NOT peek until 8 minutes have passed, then once every 2 minutes thereafter until condition above is met. Stir in the cumin at your first peek.
Stir in the shrimp, leaving 2 or 3 on top, re-cover, and cook until shrimp on top are pink throughout (could be 3-5 minutes, could be less -- you have to peek every minute or two).
Remove from heat. Drain any remaining liquid through a strainer. Serve in covered bowl along with French bread and butter. Have some ground cayenne available for those who like it spicy...or if you happen to have any Cajuns in the house.
Bon appetit, mes amis!
MMMM thanks. That looks great.
Got some tongue today at the farmer’s market as well from a local rancher. I plan to brine it with a sour orange brine and then braise it down like conchinita for tacos.
Here is my jambalaya. Cajun by way of the SC low country and tweeked a bit by me.
Critchfield Jambalaya
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped celery
1 large (32 oz at least) can crushed tomatoes
1 or 2 chopped hot peppers (your call on how hot a pepper and how much)
½ cup chopped parsley
2 cup or so chicken stock
1 cup chopped andouille sausage or ham or tasso
1lb chopped chicken
1 lb whole and peeled shrimp
Worcestershire sauce
soy sauce
hot sauce
rice
Sauté the vegetables until soft in a large pot that will be the finished cooking vessel. Deglaze with a bit of the stock and add the tomatoes. Keep a pinch or two of parsley for each serving to top and add the rest to the pot. Add more of stock and or water so that it is a bit thinner than you would want. Simmer on a back burner for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, brown the sausage and remove. Brown the chicken in the sausage pan and remove. Deglaze the pan with a little stock and add the meats (except shrimp) and deglazed elements to the tomato mix. Stir and simmer until desired thickness, about a half hour. Should be chili thick, but not your Mom’s idea of chili, i.e. no Skyline gravy. Add a half tsp of soy, a tbsp of Worcestershire and Tabasco to taste. Adjust as needed, but no more soy. It skews the flavor too much.
Now as for rice, there are three ways to think about it. You can add water to the stew in an amount 1.5 the amount of rice and a tad more, bring to boil, cover and cook 35 minutes before checking. This is the most risky.
Next, you could make a risotto with the stew as your liquid being added to the rice. Second easiest, but easy to make gummy if not careful. You know how to make risotto though.
Easiest is to make rice on the side and add to pot as desired.
Once rice is incorporated, no matter how, add the shrimp on the top of the contents, cover and cook about five minutes until shrimp are done. Give it a good stir.
Serve in bowl, sprinkle of parsley and extra hot sauce on the side and French bread.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Carnitas make a great filling for your tacos, tortas and burritos. They are chewy with crispy pieces on the outside. Carnitas are also tasty alone or with a little crema and salsa.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
Ingredients:
3 lbs pork (shoulder or butt)
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf (laurel)
1 onion, peeled and quartered
3 cups orange juice
Broth to cover meat
Lard or oil for frying
salt to taste
Preparation:
In a large pot, brown the pork on both sides. Carefully add in the orange juice, then add broth to cover meat. Add in garlic, bay leaf and the onion. Bring the liquid to a boil then turn it down to a simmer for 2 1/2 hours. At the end of the cooking time, turn up the heat to help evaporate the excess liquid. When the liquid is gone, and just the fat is left, use tongs to break up the meat into smaller chunks (think golf-ball size or smaller) and begin to fry them in the remaining fat. Add a few sprinkles of salt while you are doing this.
The pork is ready when the edges of the chunks become browned and crispy. You can serve it as-is in the larger chunks, or you can remove it from the pot and chop it up (using a clever or two clever’s) into smaller pieces to use as a filling for tacos or burritos.
I like this with fresh diced white onion,diced serranos,cilantro and a squeeze of lime on top.
Salsa Verde is also an appropriate finish.
There is NOTHING better than Chicken Picatta. Your recipe sounds like it has all the right ingredients!
My husband’s family is French Canadian, and he’s talked about this for many years. Unfortunately he had the name wrong. He’s very excited that I’m going to try it. Apparently it was a regular item on his mother’s table.
I found out about it from MsBehavin, a French Acadian
I asked Louis once why he didn't use whole tomatos and why he was sparing with the tomato sauce. His reply, rendered as accurately as possible, "De shrimp are no' fond of de acid".
Also, I made a typo in the recipe. Should read: 1-2 tsp ground cumin. Me, I love cumin, so the more the better, but 2 tsps might be overkill for some folks, esp. Yankees... ;^)
I’m not so sure shrimp no fonda da acid.
I do them as a scampi.
I get olive oil going in a skillet, add garlic and red pepper flakes and let that bloom, then add crushed tomato and white wine. Reduce the sauce.
Add butter to thicken the sauce. Add the shrimp.
Plate over linguini with garlic bread on the side
Yes. Come to think of it that's what I did use. We went to two local supermarkets and couldn't find boneless pork loin so I used the pork butt instead.
I think Carnitas are on Pastry Parrot's website too. They looked YUMMY! Maybe next weekend...!
No reason to question him though. His food was unbelievably good.
I like tongue just boiled and sliced. Hubby won’t have it in the house so haven’t had it in years. Fickle. I also miss sweetbreads and brains, etc. but you just can’t find innards in the store now days.
Recipe: Vietnamese Sugar Cane Shrimp (Chao Tom)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pound raw shrimp (smaller shrimp)
3 cloves garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
3 dashes fish sauce
1 egg white, beaten until frothy
2 dashes white pepper powder
2 teaspoons lard or cooking oil
Sugar cane (skin peeled and quartered into 5-inch length)
Method:
Rinse and devein the shrimp and pat dry the shrimp thoroughly with paper towels. Put the shrimp, garlic, white pepper, lard/cooking oil into a food processor and blend well to form a smooth paste. Transfer the shrimp paste into a bowl.
Beat the egg white with an electronic hand beater(I use a food processor) until frothy. Combine the shrimp paste with beaten egg white and blend well. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and then divide the shrimp paste into four (4) equal portions.
Oil both hands and wrap the shrimp paste around the sugar cane. Shape them nicely and leave 1.5 inch of the sugar cane exposed. Heat up a wok of oil and deep fry(I oil them and do them on the grill *charcoal is best*) the chao tom until golden brown. Serve immediately.
(I like to serve them with lettuce for wrappers along with Thai basil, sprouts, julienned cucumber and carrot. Pull the shrimp into chunks by hand and roll them up with the other stuff like a burrito in the Lettuce then dip in the sauce as you eat)
Hey, He likes it his way.
I’m sure it rocks!
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