Cajun Food Recipes

The Cajuns were not exactly well received by the French Aristocracy present in New Orleans, and so most of them were forced to settle down in the swampy marshlands to the south and west of the city. Since they were pretty much used to the delicious French food served by the aristocracy, they were then forced to adapt these recipes to only those ingredients that could be grown in the swamps, and the seafood and game that was available locally.

The most popular of all these ingredients are oysters, shrimp, and other forms of seafood, crawfish, turkey, alligator, duck, chicken, pork and turtle. Shrimp and crawfish are probably the most popular and all these dishes are generally served with rice, which is the staple diet of the Cajuns.

Most of these dishes use bell pepper, onions and celery, which are generally sautéed together. This combination is also called the ‘Cajun trinity’ and can be used in most of the recipes. Most Cajun dishes also contain a roux, which is a mix of flour and oil and is cooked to the desired texture and color. To this, vegetables, meat and spices are added. This roux serves as a sort of thickening agent also.

Etouffee is another very popular dish and is usually a seafood dish that contains anything from crawfish to shrimp to crabmeat. Gumbo and Jambalaya are also two very popular Cajun dishes. So, here are two of my favorite Cajun recipes:

Crawfish Etouffee Recipe
Ingredients:

• ½ a cup of margarine or oil.
• ½ a cup of flour.
• 1 large finely chopped onion.
• 1 large finely chopped celery stalk.
• 3 cloves of minced garlic.
• 1 lemon.
• 2 ½ cups of shrimp broth, fairly rich.
• ½ a cup of crawfish fat.
• 1 tsp of lemon juice.
• 1 tsp salt.
• 1 tsp fresh parsley.
• ½ a tsp cayenne pepper.
• ½ a tsp black pepper.
• ½ tsp thyme.
• 1 bay leaf.
• 1 lb crawfish.
• 2 large scallion tops.
• Cooked rice.

Procedure:

Start by making a medium dark roux. Whisk the flour along with the oil over a medium flame and cook and stir constantly, till the mixture becomes a rich chocolate color. Add the onions along with the garlic and celery and then sauté this over a medium flame for about ten minutes until the vegetable become tender.

Next, slowly add the shrimp stock and then bring the mix to a boil. Lower the heat and then add the lemon juice, the spices and the crawfish fat. Add the crawfish and then bring the mixture to a rapid simmer. Next, lower it to a low simmer and then add the scallions and keep simmering for about ten minutes, till the crawfish become tender. Pour in the seasonings.

While serving, put the rice in a mound on the plate and then ladle some of this Etouffee on top.

The Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya Recipe
Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs, 1 packet.
• ½ a package of Hilshire Farms Polish Kielbasa (or any other smoked sausage).
• ½ a bell pepper, chopped.
• 5 chopped stalks of celery.
• 3 large onions, chopped.
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped.
• ¼ cup of peanut oil.
• 2 cups of white rice.
• Water, 2 ½ cups.
• 12 ounces of beer.
• Flour to coat the chicken.
• 1 ½ tsp of rosemary.
• 1 tsp thyme.
• Chopped parsley.
• Salt.
• Cayenne pepper.

Procedure:

Wash the chicken and the place it skin side down on a platter. Depending on how spicy you want the dish to be, coat this chicken with the cayenne pepper until it turns red. Don’t worry about it becoming too spicy; most of the peppers that you will be adding will get cooked into the rest of the dish. Turn the pieces of chicken over and lightly coat the other side. Let it sit aside for 15 minutes and then let it soak it up.

Heat the oil at the bottom of an aluminum pot. Place the flour in a bag (season it with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder). Place a few pieces of chicken in the bag and then shake it well to coat the chicken.

Fry the chicken until it turns golden brown. Don’t worry about it getting cooked completely as yet. Take the chicken out and then place the garlic, onions, bell peppers and celery in the pot and sauté them. Add the thyme, parsley and rosemary and then cook for a minute.

Place the slices of sausage and the chicken and a bit of water in the pot and then mix with the vegetables. Turn the heat on low and cover the pot and let it simmer for about half an hour. Keep stirring the mixture and make sure you scrape the bottom every now and then to keep any of the ingredients from getting burnt.

Once the chicken is well cooked, add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes. Pour the beer and the water and stir again for another couple of minutes. Add a bit of salt to taste. Now, keep the heat on low and cover the pot until the rice becomes tender. Stir the mixture constantly and keep scraping at the bottom of the pot.