Creamy
Cucumber
Salad Dressing
1/4 c sour cream
1/3 c plain yogurt
1 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3
cucumbers, thinly sliced
1
Vidalia or red onion, thinly sliced
Combine
dressing ingredients. Toss with cucumber and onion, chill 2
hours. ©
1984 John Albrecht, CEC
Ingredients
French
Dressing
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
3/4 c oil (walnut, Vegetable, peanut or olive)
4 c boiled new (waxy) potatoes
2 c mayonnaise or sour cream, a blend of both, or plain yogurt
Garnish
(any, many or none)
Chopped hard boiled eggs
Chopped cucumber
Chopped celery
Pickle relish
Chopped caper
Horseradish
Parsley
Onion tops
Watercress
Olives
Bell pepper
Onion
Marinate
warm potatoes in French dressing, cool one hour or more. Add mayonnaise
and any
combination of garnishes, finish with watercress. © 1984 John Albrecht, CEC
Chicken
and Sausage
Gumbo
Ingredients
3 lb.
fryer-8 cut
2 lb sausage-fresh or smoked
2 tbsp. oil
4 tbsp flour
1 c onion
diced
1/2 c. bell pepper diced
1/2 c. celery diced
2 cloves garlic minced
3 tomatoes diced
2 bay leaves
1/4 c. onion tops diced
1/4 c. fresh parsley chopped
1 c. chicken stock
red, white and black peppers
hot sauce to taste
2 tsp basil
2 tsp thyme
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
2 cups
cooked rice
If
the
sausage is fresh, brown sausage first, then the chicken in oil. If the
sausage
is smoked, brown just the chicken, remove from pot. Boil grease until
the water
evaporates (clarify the fat), then add flour and make a medium dark
roux. Add
celery, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Simmer, 4 minutes, add tomato,
basil
and thyme, ground peppers, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and bay
leaves. Put
chicken and sausage back in and simmer at least 30 minutes, or until
chicken is
done. Add cooked rice, onion tops and parsley, adjust seasoning with
peppers,
bring back to a simmer and serve.Serves between four and six. ©
1984
John Albrecht, CEC
Okra, Shrimp
and Andouille Gumbo
Ingredients
1/3 c.
light oil
2# cut okra
2 c. chopped onions
1 c. celery
1 c. bell pepper
2 c. chopped tomatoes
1 # smoked or Andouille sausage
5 # peeled head on shrimp (make a stock with the shells)
1/2 c. chopped green onions
2 tbsp minced garlic
10 c. seafood or shrimp stock
Salt, white pepper, leaf thyme, cayenne pepper, black pepper
Saute half the okra in hot oil, season with white, red, and black
pepper and
cook until browned. Stir in the onions, celery, bell pepper, and
garlic.
Cook about five minutes. Add 1 c. of the stock and simmer another five
minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes and two more cups of stock. Simmer, add the
remaining
okra, leaf thyme, season with red, white and red pepper, and then the
last of
the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce and add sausage. Simmer 45 minutes,
add
shrimp and green onions. Skim the surface for excess oil, serve over
rice.
Serves about eight. © 1984 John Albrecht, CEC
Crawfish Etouffee
Ingredients
1
#
crawfish tails (fat pack if available)
1/4 # butter
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 medium onion - diced
1/2 bell pepper- diced
3 stalks celery- diced
2 pods garlic or 1 tsp- minced
1 tsp sweet basil
1 tsp leaf thyme
1/4 c. diced parsley
1/4 c. diced onion tops
1/2 c. shrimp or seafood stock, water if unavailable
Red, white, black pepper, and salt to taste
Sauté
flour and butter together to form a blonde roux. Add celery, onion,
bell pepper
and garlic, sauté until the onions clear. Add shrimp stock and
fat if
available. Add basil and thyme, some pepper. Simmer 20 minutes minimum.
Ten
minutes before serving, add crawfish tails and bring back to a light
simmer.
Adjust salt and peppers to taste. Immediately before serving, stir in
onion
tops and parsley. Serve on hot
Down South
Jambalaya (Chicken and Sausage)
Ingredients
6
chicken
breasts or one whole chicken, cut up into bite size pieces
1
pound
of sliced sausage
3
tablespoons of oil
1
cup
chopped green pepper
1
cup
chopped onion
1
tablespoon chopped or minced garlic
3
teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1
cup
tomato sauce
Salt
and
Pepper to taste
4
cups
of
chicken broth
2
1/2
cups uncooked rice
In
a large
pot, brown the meat in the
oil. Remove
meat and sauté vegetables until onions are clear. Add
Worcestershire sauce,
chicken broth, tomato sauce, seasonings, and simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in
meat and rice. Cover and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat, stirring
occasionally. Then cook 20 more minutes on very low heat without
stirring.
Servings: Approximately 8
Shrimp
Fettuccine from Fresh Shrimp
5
#
head
on Shrimp
1/2
#
butter
1/2
#
flour
1
bunch
onion tops, chopped, white and green separated
1
carrot
2
sprigs
celery
1
qt
heavy whipping cream
4
tbsp
butter
4
tsp
chopped garlic
Black
pepper, salt
Chopped
fresh parsley
3
#
fettucini, linquini, angel hair pasta, or other pasta, cooked and set
aside
Peel
and
devein shrimp. Put heads, shells, celery, root ends and cutoff of the
onion
tops, carrot in small stock pot, cover with water and bring to a
simmer. Turn
off fire and let steep for 20 minutes, strain and replace into stock
pot, bring
to simmer, allow to reduce by half. Combine flour and butter and cook
to a
light blond roux. Add small amounts of roux to hot stock until it
reaches a
thick but not pasty sauce. Simmer 10 minutes or more.
Saute
onion whites and garlic in 4 oz butter. Add peeled shrimp. When lightly
cooked
add shrimp to sauce and bring to a simmer. Add heavy cream, return to
simmer,
add Parmesan cheese, black pepper and salt to taste.
Reheat
your pasta (hot water or steamer) and spoon shrimp sauce over drained
pasta.
Garnish with fresh parsley. ©
1984 John Albrecht, CEC
Traditional
Red Beans and Rice
Ingredients:
1
#
red
kidney beans
1/2 c. bacon drippings (or other oil)
1 c. chopped onions
1 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. chopped bell pepper
1/4 c. diced garlic
1 c. sliced green onion tops
1/2 c. chopped parsley
2 c. diced ham
3 links Andouille or other smoked sausage
Salt, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce and Cajun Chef liquid hot sauce to
taste
The beans will cook faster if they have been allowed to soak overnight.
You can
either cook them long and slow, as in a crock pot, or, by the following
method.
If the beans have not been soaked overnight, prep the beans only by
covering
them with about 2 inches, bring them to a boil, cover and remove from
the heat
and let soak for 1 hour. Cook as follows if whether the beans have
soaked
overnight or for the 1 hour.
Heat the bacon fat and sauté the onions, celery and bell pepper,
garlic and
ham. Sauté until the onions are clear, (about 5 minutes) add the
sausage and
beans. Cook another 5 minutes. Cover the beans with water or chicken
stock,
bring to a boil and allow to boil for about 2 hour. Stir occasionally
to avoid
burning the bottom of the pot. Reduce heat and let simmer about another
hour.
Stir occasionally during this hour (no stirring is needed in a crock
pot, throw
in the ingredients, turn it on and come back in six or seven hours).
Add salt,
cayenne, Cajun Chef hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce. If the beans have
not
creamed, take a spoon and smash them on the side of the pot. Add
parsley and
onion tops just before serving over cooked rice. Note: This dish gets
better
the second day. ©
1984 John Albrecht, CEC
Blackened Fish
Ingredients
Filet
of
firm fish (Red, Drum, Tuna, Sheephead, Grouper)
3 oz. butter melted
Seasoning mix (Salt, cayenne, white and black pepper, chili powder,
garlic,
thyme, cumin and or other seasonings).
Preferably
in a cast iron skillet, and outside or under a good hood, heat the
skillet
extremely hot. Pat the filet dry, press the seasoning into the flesh,
pass the
seasoned fish through the melted butter and drop into hot skillet. When
the fish
turns white on the edges, (about 4 minutes) turn it over. Remove the
fish and
dribble fresh butter on the fish. © 1984
John Albrecht, CEC