CRAWFISH PASTA

Crawfish Pasta
Note: If you don’t have crawfish available in your area, this recipe works well with shrimp, oysters, or lump crabmeat. Just replace the crawfish with one pound of your seafood of choice.Makes 4 to 6 servings.

1 pound fresh pasta (rotelle is preferred, but use your favorite shape)
1 stick butter (do not use margarine)
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 to 10 cloves garlic, chopped (to your taste)
1 pound crawfish tails, boiled and peeled
1 pint half-and-half

1 to 2 tablespoons Creole seasoning

Cook pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain, then rinse under cool water. Drain again, thoroughly.
Melt the butter in a large pot and sauté onions and garlic for 3 minutes. Add the seafood and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the half-and-half, then add several big pinches of Creole seasoning, tasting before the next pinch until you think it’s right.

Cook for 5 to 10 minutes over medium heat until the sauce thickens. Add the pasta and toss well. Let it sit for 10 minutes or so over very low heat, stirring often. Serve immediately with hot French bread.

DEVILSHLY CANDIED PECANS

Devilishly Candied Pecans

Yields 2 cups of candied pecans.

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 teaspoon water

2  cups pecan halves

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Whisk together the egg white and water until soft peaks form. Stir in the pecans, coating thoroughly. Combine sugar, salt, and cayenne.

On a lightly greased baking sheet, spread out pecans. Sprinkle with sugar mixture and bake at 225º F for one hour, stirring occasionally. Cool, then store in an airtight container.

FLEISCHMAN'S YEAST KING CAKE

Fleischmann’s Yeast King Cake

A traditional King Cake is circular in shape to represent a crown, and decorated with sugar tinted in the classic Carnival colors---green, gold, and purple, symbolizing faith, power, and justice. 

Serves 10 to 12

Ingredients

4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, in all

1 cup sugar

2 packages Fleischmann’s Rapid Rise Yeast

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 stick salted butter plus 1/4 cup melted butter

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Powdered Sugar Glaze (recipe follows)

Colored Sugars (recipe follows)

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and un-dissolved yeast. Heat milk, water, and stick of butter until very warm, about 120°F to 130°F.

Add to flour, yeast, and sugar mixture and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer. Add eggs and 1/2 cup of the remaining flour, and salt. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour to make a stiff batter.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours. Punch dough down and remove to a lightly floured surface. Divide into 3 equal portions. Roll each to 28x4 inches. Brush with melted butter, then sprinkle evenly with the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon.

Beginning at the long end, roll each up tightly as for a jelly-roll. Pinch seams to form long ropes. Braid, then form into an oval. Pinch ends together to seal. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Bake at 375°F for 30 to 40 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from baking sheet and cool on a wire rack. Brush with powdered sugar glaze and sprinkle with the colored sugars.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

Makes 2 cups

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 to 3 tablespoons whole milk

Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and combine with the powdered sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon of milk. The mixture should be thick enough to stay in place when placed on the cooled king cake.

Colored Sugars

Makes 1 1/2 cups

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided into 1/2 cup measures

green, yellow, red, and blue food colorings

Divide sugar into three zip-top plastic bags or sealed jars. To one bag/jar add 8 drops of green food coloring. To the second, add 8 drops of yellow food coloring. In a small dish mix 8 drops of blue food coloring and 16 drops of red food coloring, and add it to the third bag. Mix sugars and colors together thoroughly in each bag.

TURKEY BONE GUMBO

Day-After-Thanksgiving Turkey and Sausage Gumbo
Makes 6 to 7 Servings

1 pound andouille or other smoked sausage, such as kielbasa, sliced into 1/4-inch half-moons
vegetable oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 quarts turkey stock, preferably homemade
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
meat picked from leftover smoked or roasted turkey carcass(es)
heaping 1/2 cup chopped green onions
heaping 1/2 cup minced parsley
hot cooked Louisiana rice
filé powder

Place the sausage and 1 tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven and brown over high heat. When browned, remove the sausage to a paper towel-lined plate. Pour the remaining fat into a measuring cup, then add sufficient vegetable oil to make 1/2 cup. Pour the fat and oil mixture back into the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to low. Reserve the sausage.

Add to the flour and stir constantly over low to medium heat to make a dark roux—preferably a chocolate-colored one, which will take about 40 minutes on low heat or 20 minutes over high heat.

Add the onions, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to the roux and continue stirring until the onions are translucent and have begun to brown.

Heat 3 quarts turkey stock to a boil and slowly add to the roux/vegetable mixture, whisking to incorporate. Add the salt, pepper, Tabasco, thyme, and Creole seasoning. Return to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour. Add the turkey and the sausage. Simmer for another hour.

Add the green onions and the parsley and heat through, about 5 minutes. Serve with hot rice and filé powder.

CAJUN TAILGATE BURGER

Cajun Tailgate Burger

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Dress this burger classically with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and mustard or get creative and make it your own with unexpected ingredients such as jalapeños and guacamole or grilled onions and blue cheese.

2 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

4 pickled jalapeños, chopped

3 tablespoons liquid from a jar of jalapeños

1 tablespoon onion juice

1 tablespoon garlic juice

2 cloves roasted garlic, mashed

2 tablespoons hot sauce

2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning mix

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup dry fine Italian-style breadcrumbs

2 large eggs

1 round bread, such as Vienna, muffuletta, or sourdough, 10 to 12 inches in diameter, cut in half horizontally

2 tablespoons butter, melted

6 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated

4 large lettuce leaves

1 large tomato, preferably Creole, sliced

mayonnaise

Dijon mustard

Combine ground beef, jalapeños, liquid from jalapeños, onion juice, garlic juice, garlic, hot sauce, Cajun seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, breadcrumbs, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, mix well. Let stand for at least 1 hour, covered, in refrigerator.

Shape mixture into a large patty, about 1 inch larger than bread and 1 1/2 inches thick. Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for medium heat.

Grill patty to desired doneness, about 10 minutes on each side for medium or internal temperature reaches 130°F. Butter each half of bread and place, buttered side up, on grill. Toast for 3 to 4 minutes. Assemble burger on bread and dress as desired with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and mustard or other combinations. Cut into wedges to serve.

PEACH CRISP

Peach Crisp

Now that we are starting to get those wonderful peaches at the Farmer's Market from Chilton County, Alabama, it's time to start thinking about cobblers, brown betties and one of our favorites crisps. 

1 cup sugar or less, depending on the sweetness of the peaches

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granola without dried fruit — don't leave this out as this is the "crisp" part

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

3 lbs. peaches, peeled and sliced 3/4-inch thick

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Accompaniment: vanilla-bean ice cream

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Stir together sugar, flour, granola, spices and salt in a bowl, then work in butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until mixture forms small clumps.  Spread peaches in a lightly buttered 13-by-9-inch (2-1/2- to 3-quart) baking dish. Toss peaches with juice and top with crumb mixture.

Bake in middle of oven until topping is golden and peaches are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool slightly and serve warm.

Makes 6 servings.

FRIED CATFISH

Fried Catfish

Makes about 4 servings

1 pound catfish fillets, cut into 1- x 3-inch strips

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons yellow mustard

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 to 4 dashes hot sauce

2 cups corn flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Solid vegetable shortening, heated to 360 degrees

Thinly sliced yellow onions

Season the fish with salt and pepper. Place the strips in a bowl with milk, mustard, lemon juice, and hot sauce. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Put the corn flour and cornstarch into a brown paper bag. Remove the catfish from the marinade, a few pieces at a time, allowing the marinade to drip off a bit. Put the strips in the bag and shake well to coat each piece.

Drop a few pieces of fish at a time into the hot oil. When they pop to the surface and are golden brown, remove and drain on paper towels. Scatter the onions over the fish and serve.

*

For fried shrimp, Papa used 2 egg yolks whisked with 2/3 cup milk seasoned with salt and cayenne. The shrimp were then dredged in the egg wash then in all-purpose flour. Shake off any excess batter and flour and deep-fry in 365-degree vegetable oil.