Louisiana Recipes We Love

Although everyone has their favorite places and their favorite dishes, there is really no place in Louisiana that doesn’t have good food. Let’s face it – Louisiana tastes good.

My grandparents lived in Natchitoches when I was a child. And that meant meat pies to me. We would get into the car very early in the morning and drive from New Orleans – sometimes with my cousin in tow – all the way to Natchitoches. We would stop when we got close and begin the meat pie experience.

In New Orleans, eating red beans and rice is akin to communion on Mondays. Everyone’s red beans and rice is different, but it all tastes good, and it joins us all in a common experience even though we may not be at the same table. Shrimp Creole is not something that we can leave out. Made in the spring when fresh tomatoes and fresh shrimp are in season at the same time, the flavors just pop. In Cajun country, gâteau de sirop is a celebration of sugar. It is an enigma, for as much sugar and syrup that it contains, it is not too sweet. It stays fresh, and screams Louisiana.

Crabmeat ravigote allows us to really celebrate fresh crabmeat without too much added to it. And that happens to be how I like to eat crab. I am happy eating it right out of the shell, but when being slightly more formal, crabmeat dressed lightly and eaten with a fork delivers much the same effect. On the sweet side, a strawberry shortcake with Louisiana strawberries makes this time of year a real treat.

Louisiana has corn growing everywhere. Being able to accompany grilled corn with a delicious finish is just what we do in Louisiana. We take the flavor right to the edge, without going too far. And for me, fresh okra is one of the rites of spring. I love pickled okra made quickly instead of cucumber pickles on sandwiches or instead of cucumber pickles in tuna salad and always in a Bloody Mary.

You can eat your way around the state and celebrate Louisiana. Your stomach will thank you.

Red Beans & Rice

A plate of red beans and rice, especially on Mondays, is part of the identity of New Orleanians. The dish was so important to trumpet player Louis Armstrong that he signed his letters with “Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours.”

1 pound dried Louisiana red beans
2 tablespoons bacon fat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 large ham bone with a bit of meat on the bone
2 cups ham, diced
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (Louis Armstrong liked to use ketchup)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Creole or Cajun seasoning without salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooked white rice
Hot sauce on the table

Soak the beans in water overnight. Drain.

In a heavy Dutch oven, heat the bacon fat and brown the chopped onions. About 10 minutes. Add the peppers and celery and cook another 5 minutes, stirring as necessary. Add the beans, the ham bone, ham, the Ro-Tel tomatoes, vinegar, thyme and the Creole seasoning.

Cover with cold water, allowing for at least an inch of water over the level of the beans. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour covered, checking to see if more water may be needed and stirring occasionally.

Remove about a cup of beans and mash them. Return them to the pot. Cook, covered, on very low heat for at least 2 more hours. Stir occasionally. Check for doneness by tasting a spoon of beans. If they taste soft and creamy, they are ready. If the beans are not all soft, cook for another hour and check again. Adjust salt and pepper. The ham meat may be salty, so do not worry that it won’t be salty enough. Serve over cooked rice. Serves 4-6

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Natchitoches Meat Pie

These wonderful and traditional hand pies can be made of any ground meat or a combination of meats.

Dough

5¾ cups flour, with additional flour for work surface and baking sheet
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup butter or if you are very traditional, lard, cut into 20 pieces
2 large eggs
1½ cups whole milk

Filling

2 tablespoons of neutral vegetable oil, divided, plus more for frying
1 pound ground beef
1½ tablespoons Creole or Cajun seasoning without salt
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons flour
1 small onion, finely chopped
¼ cup green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 small celery stalk, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons hot sauce (optional)
1 egg to form the pies

The Dough Whisk together flour, kosher salt and baking powder in a large bowl to combine the ingredients into a uniform mixture. Mix together the small pieces of butter and flour until the flour becomes crumbly like wet sand. Do not use your hands. Use a hand pastry cutter. Combine the eggs and milk in a separate bowl, whisking them into a uniform mixture. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a fork. The dough will be shaggy. Place on a floured work surface. Flour your hands and clap off any additional flour, then knead until the dough is soft and smooth. About 1½ minutes. Shape into a thick circle and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled – at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

The Filling Place 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Heat until the oil begins to shimmer. Add the ground beef, seasoning, and salt. Cook, stirring often to break it up, until meat is browned thoroughly  – about 5 minutes. Transfer the cooked meat to a bowl.  Add flour, tossing with a spoon until the meat is coated with the flour. Set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat without wiping the skillet. When the oil begins to shimmer add the onion. Cook until the onions soften and become translucent, stirring to keep them from sticking. Then add the bell pepper, celery and garlic. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 minutes. Combine the vegetables and beef in bowl. (Add hot sauce if you are using.) Set aside and allow to cool for 15 minutes so that you can handle the mixture.

To form the pies Whisk together egg and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl, and set aside. Flour the work surface and divide the chilled dough into 16 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball. With a rolling pin, roll out each piece into a 6-inch round, about ¹⁄₈ inch thick. For each pie, spoon 2 tablespoons of the filling into the center of each dough circle. Lightly brush the edges of each pie crust with the egg mixture, and fold each round in half over the filling to form a half-circle. Crimp edges with a fork to seal. Place on a lightly floured parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining dough balls and freeze pies, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.

Pour vegetable oil into a large pan to a depth of 2 inches or use a deep fryer and follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat oil to 370°F. Retrieve the pies from the refrigerator. Working in batches, fry chilled pies, turning once, until golden brown. This should be 1 to 2 minutes per side, adjusting the heat as needed to maintain temperature. Do not overcrowd. Wait for the oil to return to temperature before adding new pies. Drain on a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Serve immediately. Makes 16 individual meat pies

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Grilled Corn with Chimichurri- Style Mayonnaise

Use holders to keep everyone’s hands clean. If you don’t have enough, leave the stem on the corn as a natural holder and just use one on the other end.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons cilantro, minced
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ears of fresh corn, shucked
Salt and pepper for the table

Prepare your fire so that the coal is on the high side of medium. A gas grill should be set at medium. If it’s a rainy day, set your broiler going.

Place the mayonnaise, garlic, cilantro and cumin in a bowl. Mix well. Then mix in the olive oil thoroughly with a whisk. Brush each of the ears of corn with the mixture using a pastry brush.

Grill directly on the grill rack or about 4 inches from your broiler flame. The total cooking time will be from 4 to 6 minutes, but you must keep turning the corn. Brush on additional sauce as needed. There will be scattered char over the kernels which only adds to the flavor.

Remove from the grill or broiler and brush on one last coating of the sauce before serving. Serve with salt and pepper on the table. Makes 12 ears of corn

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Gâteau de Sirop

Surprisingly, the syrup does not make this cake too sweet. But it does help make it moist. If there is any leftover, just keep it in an airtight container.

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooking oil
1 cup cane syrup
2 cups sifted flour
1¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup boiling water
Whipped cream if desired

Preheat oven to 325 F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together eggs, sugar, cooking oil, syrup and hot sauce at medium speed for 5 minutes. Blend all dry ingredients in a bowl, whisking to make the mixture uniform. Once blended, add the dry ingredients a little at a time while the beater is on medium until all the ingredients are incorporated. Add 1 cup boiling water. Continue beating for 2 minutes until well mixed.

Pour into a greased and floured 9×12 pan. Bake in the preheated oven. Test for doneness at 35 minutes. If a toothpick stuck into the cake is clean when removed, the cake is done. If the cake is not done when tested, cook another 10 minutes. Cool for 2 hours. Cut into squares to serve.

Store in a closed container and refrigerate after cooling to allow the flavor to mellow. It is best if refrigerated overnight but a couple of hours will do. Cut and serve with whipped cream. Leftover cake can be cured with more syrup. The cake will absorb it and stay very moist. Keep covered when not serving. Serves 6-8

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Strawberry Shortcake

Although whipped cream is the traditional topping for this cake, when you are short of time, créme fraîche or vanilla ice cream are fun alternatives.

Shortcake

11/2 cups flour
1 cup masa
2 tablespoons sugar, more for finishing
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into a dice
2/3 cup whole milk

Topping

11/2 pounds of strawberries, stemmed and quartered
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Shortcake Preheat oven to 400 F.  Stir together the dry ingredients with a whisk, making sure to incorporate them well.

Add the chilled butter and using a fork or pastry cutter, mix the flour and butter until the dough is like sand. Add the milk and mix together until a rough shaggy dough is formed.

Flour the counter and your hands, clapping away any extra flour. Knead lightly until the dough comes together. Shape into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with a cookie cutter or a glass.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Split open.

Topping While the shortcakes are baking, place the strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar. Stir and allow to macerate until ready to serve.

Divide the strawberries among the 6 shortcakes, top with the top of the split shortcake and finish with a dollop of whipped cream. Serves 6

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Refrigerator Pickled Okra

If you’re lucky to have okra growing in your backyard, you know how delicious just-picked tender okra can be. If you grow different varieties, you can pack a beautiful jar of pickled okra with alternating red and green okra. Old recipes used different varieties, naming them by their type. The red ones were known as pink lady’s fingers.

11/2 pounds of small, fresh okra
3 large garlic cloves, peeled
3 bay leaves
15 peppercorns
1 cup distilled cider vinegar
11/2 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
3 pint jars

Make sure that your jars are clean.

Pick through the okra and make sure that the stems are cut short and there are no blemished okra.

In each jar place a garlic clove, a bay leaf and 5 peppercorns.

Place the okra standing upright with the pointy end down in the jars.

In a pot with a spout, bring the vinegar, water and salt to a boil. When it reaches a hard boil, remove from heat and pour into the jars. Place the caps on the jars and place in the refrigerator. They will be eaten before you know it. Makes 3 pints

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Shrimp Creole

You can substitute frozen shrimp for fresh shrimp in this recipe, but be sure to fully defrost them before adding them or they will make the dish watery.

4 tablespoons butter
1 bay leaf
1 large onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1½ cups diced fresh tomatoes with liquid
Hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco, to taste
2 pounds large uncooked shrimp, peeled with tail on
5 cups hot cooked rice, for serving
2 green onions, sliced for garnish

Add butter to a large skillet. Heat until the butter begins to foam. Add the bay leaf and allow it to cook in the butter for 1 minute. Add onions and cook for 10 minutes. Add the celery, bell pepper and garlic and sauté until the vegetables are beginning to soften, about 10 minutes.

Add the thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne. Stir. Sprinkle flour over the vegetable mixture and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices and the hot sauce. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring  occasionally. (If the tomato mixture appears to be too thick, add a few tablespoons of wine until it returns to a pourable consistency.) Cook an extra 5 minutes.

Remove bay leaf. Add shrimp and cook until pink, 3-4 minutes.

Serve over hot cooked rice and garnish with sliced green onion. Serves 4 to 6

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Crabmeat Ravigote

Dijon mustard can be salty, and so is crabmeat, so don’t worry if you decide that no salt is needed. Also you can use homemade mayonnaise or store-bought, just make sure that it is good quality.

Dressing

1/2 cup good mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon chopped capers
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh lemon balm
Salt and pepper

Salad

1 pound cooked lump crabmeat
1 shallot, finely minced
1 tender stalk celery, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika for garnish
11/2 cups chopped parsley for garnish

Dressing Place all of the ingredients, except salt and pepper, together in one bowl. Mix thoroughly. Check for salt and pepper. Chill while making the salad.

Salad Place the crabmeat in a bowl and break apart the crabmeat looking for shells. Remove any shells that you find. Add the minced shallot and the chopped celery. Toss together.

Add the chilled dressing and toss to ensure that all of the salad is coated. Sprinkle the salad with the paprika through a small sieve. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve. Serves 6 to 8