Crabmeat Imperial

Crabmeat Imperial


One of South Louisiana's finest seafood is our fat blue crab-in any form it is a delicacy. This is my favorite way to enjoy the best of our fresh blue crabs-using jumbo, lump white crabmeat. Spend the money for the freshest and the best. It is worth every cent. Keep it simple so that the flavor of the sweet crabmeat is never obscured. Be sure to remove any shell from the crabmeat.
Serve this dish with a fresh spinach salad with Creole tomatoes, our best New Orleans French bread and maybe a crisp Chardonnay. With this you will have an "imperial meal", fit for a king ("...or a queen, if that's all you have")!

1 lb. fresh, jumbo, lump crabmeat
1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper
3 tbsp. diced red pimentos
1/4 cup minced scallions
1 cup Bechamel sauce*
Salt, white pepper, cayenne to taste
2 tbsp. cognac or sherry
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
4 tbsp. butter

A. Bechamel Sauce* (medium white sauce):
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. butter
salt, white pepper, cayenne to taste

Place all ingredients in microwave measuring cup and microwave on high for 2 min. Whisk with a wire whisk and microwave for another 2 min. Adjust seasonings lightly to taste. Set aside.

B. Crabmeat: Saute scallions, bell pepper and pimentos in 3 tbsp. margarine or butter for 3 min. Add Bechamel sauce, cognac and mix well. Add lump crabmeat and lightly toss to coat-be gentle to avoid breaking up lumps. Place in ramkins, top with breadcrumbs and dot with butter. Bake at 375 for 15 min. or until bubbly.
(serves four)

Bon appetit,
PabloSansBlague

Eggs Sardou for those special mornings.

Eggs Sardou recipe from
La Bonne Cuisine Cookbook.

This is a favorite local dish. Of course this is not something you just throw together. However it does make a great breakfast for those special mornings. Hope you enjoy it. Let me know.

(Have your Hollandaise sauce ready before you begin your eggs.)

EGGS SARDOU

4 artichoke bottoms
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup half-and-half cream
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs, poached
3/4 cup Hollandaise Sauce (see Index)
Paprika

In a small saucepan warm the artichoke bottoms in salted water and place them in a greased baking dish. In a separate saucepan saute the green onion in the butter; blend in the flour, stirring constantly. Gradually pour in the cream and cook until thickened. Combine the spinach, lemon juice, cheese, salt, and pepper, add to the cream sauce, and mix well. Place 1/4 of the spinach mixture on each artichoke bottom and keep them warm in the oven. Poach the eggs and place 1 egg on each filled artichoke bottom. Serve the eggs immediately topped with the Hollandaise Sauce and sprinkled with paprika. The Hollandaise Sauce may be kept warm by placing the blender jar in tepid water. Serves 2.



HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 pound of melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

In the top half of double boiler, heat egg yolks and lemon juice. Cook very slowly in double boiler over low heat, never allowing water in bottom pan to come to a boil. Add butter, a little at a time, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When mixture thickens, add salt and pepper.


Just a reminder Chef Tom Weaver of "The Court of Two Sisters Restaurant" will be interviewed tomorrow, Monday August 22. I should be posting the podcast later this week. If anyone has suggestions regarding who they would like interviewed let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Snowball fun on a hot New Orleans night.

Thought I'd have a little fun and post a recent trip to Sal's Snowball stand. New Orleans has a love affair with Snowballs. People have favorite Snowball stands. Some like their ice real fine, like me. My wife of course likes her's rough. Some like the particular flavors a stand has. While other consider the outing to be a social event. A chance to visit with people in the neighborhood.
Check out these flavors. Everything has lots of flavor in New Orleans even our Snowballs. If you look carefully you'll see Brandy was not a big seller. But hey!, it is New Orleans. Worth a try.

New Orleanians are knwon for making the act of eating an event. We don't eat, we dine. This is not meant to sound pretentious. We dine whether we are eating at Galatoire's fine restaurant or at Sal's Snowballs. It is just the way we look at food, people and relationships.

Trout St. Charles

Hello again from New Orleans. Thanks for all your encouraging comments. For the visitor from the UK I have some advice. I read your comment about oysters being too expensive. Try this. Very finely, and that is the key, chop canned (tinned) artichoke hearts or bottoms. This is an interesting substitute for oysters. My wife tells me it will not taste the same but will be a very interesting dish. Let me know if you try it.

For the gentleman interesting in see more of my garden. I'll see if I can photograph a nice okra flower with some okra ready for pick'in. Okra flowers by the way are really pretty if you haven't seen them before.

If any of you have any questions about New Orleans food please leave a comment and I'll get back to you. This way everyone will have the benifit of your question. Also if you have ideas how I can make this blog better let me know. I have an appointment with Chef Tom Weaver at The Court of Two Sisters on Monday August 22 for an interview. If you have any questions for him let me know.

I need to go now it is raining and the thunder is getting bad. You see my office has a metal roof and I don't think this is the place to be during a thunderstorm. Take care.

Trout St. Charles recipe from
La Bonne Cuisine Cookbook.

Trout St. Charles

2/3 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
Dash of cayenne
3 cup light cream
1/2 cup dry white wine
20 ounces trout fillets
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Toasted slivered almonds
Parsley

In a saucepan melt 1/2 cup of the butter. Blend in flour, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and cayenne. Gradually add the cream and wine, stirring, until thick and smooth. Keep the mixture warm. Place the trout, skin side down, in a buttered shallow baking pan. Melt the remaining butter. Brush the trout with the melted butter and season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and pepper. Place the pan on the top shelf of the broiler. Broil for 5 to 6 minutes. Just before serving, pour the sauce over the trout and garnish with the almonds and parsley. Serves 3-4.

Hope you enjoy.

New Orleans growing season

The more I think about this blog the more I realize I should have named it New Orleans culture. To understand New Orleans food is to understand New Orleans culture. New Orleans food is more than just a grocery list, it is what makes New Orleans, New Orleans. It is impossible to talk about one without the other.

One aspect of New Orleans is our weather. We are subtropical and have a long growing season. We start planting tomatos as early as late February sometimes. Surely by March 15th all plants are in the ground. Eggplants like the one pictured was planted some time in June and will produce none stop til probabaly around November. Plants like eggplant and okra like it hot so we plant those late. By the end of summer we'll have our second crop of tomatos planted for the fall. Tomatos will also produce until late November or so.

So you see a large part of cooking is what you have access to. In New Orleans we have access to fresh food most of the year. In addition we have the Gulf of Mexico 80 miles south. We also have Lake Pontchartrain just north of the city. Some of the best crabs in the country come out of this lake.

I had dinner with two good neighbors, Brock and Paul last night. Paul, who has a cajun heritage, was telling us of one of the dishes he ate as a kid. I asked Paul if he would like to be a contributor to this blog and he agreed. You will all be in for a great treat when Paul tells his stories and recipes.

Well off to get cleaned up from yard work. My wife and I are going to reward ourselves with a "SNOBALL". Snoballs. That sounds like my next post. Happy cooking!

Oyster Patties great as hors d'oeuvres

Oyster Patties recipe from La Bonne Cuisine Cookbook.

Can be used as an hors d'oeuvre if small patty shells are used.
Especially attractive in a chafing dish surrounded by patty shells.
This is a real favorite at New Orleans parties.

Oyster Patties

1/2 CUp butter
1 large onion chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 pints oysters (reserve liquor), chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Cayenne to taste
3 cups thick White Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 dozen large patty shells

In a heavy saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, green onion, garlic, and parsley and saute' until limp and translucent. Add the oysters and cook until the oysters are curled. Add the salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne. In another saucepan make a thick White Sauce. Add the White Sauce to the oyster mixture gradually. Thin the mixture with oyster liquor if necessary. Heat the patty shells at 350°F until they are piping hot. Fill the shells with the hot oyster mixture and serve them immediately. Serves 12.

I will be changing the look of my blog soon. Changing to a white background with black text. This will make printing out the recipes easier.

Next recipe in line is Artichoke squares. Probably my all time fav. These things are really good. I could make a meal of them.