Recipe if you like....

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

As I am from Louisiana and love to cook, I often like to throw recipes out there, but as my family and friends are from TN, they usually don't like them lol. So here is a Cajun one from my grandpa. Gumbo recipe to follow...

 

Red Beans and Rice

 

4 squirrels or / 4 duck breasts or / 3 rabbits or / 4 pcs dark meat chicken

One pack smoked sausage sliced into slivers

One large onion or 2 tbsp onion powder

One lb dry red beans

Two bay leaves

2 tbsp garlic powder or 4 large fresh cloves chopped

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp paprika

¾ cup rice

3tbsp Crisco

3/4 cup flour

Tabasco to taste

Boil your red beans for 1.5 hours. Drain and add back to pot. Add 8-10 cups new water. Start to boil with all seasoning, onion, garlic, bay leaves and squirrel or other meat besides sausage.

Start a roux (roux, common in gumbo and many southern Louisiana dishes is just flour and grease cooked until browned and is a thickening agent) in a skillet. To make your roux, get Crisco hot in skillet, add flour gradually, and continuously stir for 20 (to one hour) minutes untill brown. Add roux to your red beans. This will thicken the whole dish.

Once roux is added, you can take out squirrel skeleton or any unwanted bones from other meats if wanted. Add Tabasco to taste, rice, and add sausage and cook for 30 minutes on medium low.

 

Side of your best cast iron cornbread or my favorite - spinach bread. Cant beat it. I even take a side of fresh greens picked out of garden, slow boiled with smoked hamhock on the side. Either way, im half country half Cajun. Enjoy

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

PS, reason im posting is cause I got in the cooking mood and its on the stove now lol.

[RED333]

Sounds great, what time do we eat?

[DaveS]

Sounds good. Today may be a good day for RB and Rice. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

 

DaveS

[hipower]

Dang. Sounds good. Also getting me in the mood for some gumbo.

[-boatman-]

Recipe delivered to my wife and waiting on the gumbo recipe. Thanks

[TrickyNicky]

Now that's a gumbo I can get behind. I'm not much for sea food, most gumbos I encounter have at least shrimp in them which automatically disqualifies them for me.

I'll send this along to my sister and request it for the next family dinner.

[peejman]

A coworker is from Louisiana and is a great cook.  I've gotten a few recipes from him and while they're all rather involved and take a while to prepare, they're excellent. 

 

Making your own roux isn't the easiest thing...   Be very patient and very careful with the heat.  It'll go from a beautiful peanut buttery brown to burnt black really quick.  And that'll really piss you off when you've been standing at the stove stirring for the last 45 mins...

[cj0e]

Since you like cornbread along side - I'll throw in a "simple sweet yellow cornbread" recipe:

 

 

 

"Simple Sweet Yellow Cornbread"

Ingredients:

DRY:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Yellow Cornmeal
2/3 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Salt
3 1/2 Tsp Baking POWDER (make sure it's fresh! Old powder is no good)

WET:
1 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Large Egg

Requires:
Greased Cast Iron cooking vessel (I use a 12" round skillet - greased with Crisco or bacon grease if I have it)
Oven

Prep:
1: Preheat greased cast iron skillet in oven at 400 degrees F
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl
3. Add milk and vegetable oil and egg - mix thoroughly - batter should be smooth with very few lumps
4. Carefully pour into cast iron skillet
5. Bake at 400 degrees F for 17 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted will come out clean.

 

Options:

Can "spike" the cornbread by adding your choice of diced (fine) peppers. I like green chiles and chipotle, but Jalepeno works too.

Edited November 18, 2013 by cj0e

[DaveS]

I've had almost every variety of cornbread known and in my opinion, just good old buttermilk cornbread cooked in my cast iron skillet is unbeatable. Every now and then I like to throw in a little jalapeno pepper and shredded cheddar.

 

Whisk together the following and set aside;

 

1/4 cup cooking oil

1 egg

1 1/3 cups Buttermilk

 

heat oven to 450

 

Take your cast iron skillet and put a little oil in it and stick it in the oven. Keep an eye on the skillet and when the oil gets hot, mix;

 

2 cups of Cornmeal in to the above ingredients. Mix well.

 

Just as soon as the oil in the skillet starts to smoke, remove it from the oven using a good set of pot holders, and pour/spoon your cornmeal mix into the skillet. If you got your oil hot enough it will start frying your mix. That's what you want.

 

Place in oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

 

Serve hot with butter.

 

BE VERY CAREFUL AS YOUR SKILLET WILL BE VERY HOT!!!

 

DaveS

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Sorry coming back so late.... Gumbo....

 

Saucepan with 1/2 cup Crisco and 1/4 cup flour

Heat oil and slowly add flour

Slowly brown rouix  on about 6

When rouix is about ready (dark tan to brown) add two large minced garlic cloves and one whole onion

In large pot have 8 cups water boiling

Add in one whole frozen bag of cut okra or 1lb fresh cut okra

Also add in either 6 dark meat thighs, one lb Cajun sausage, 1 lb crawfish tails, some fresh crab, or any other meats you prefer. I prefer some snapper boiled to pieces with crab and shrimp or crawfish. Also good is sausage and chicken, sausage and shrimp, or chicken and deer. (rabbit, duck, any meat)

 

Add your darkened rouix.

Stir and add a chopped green pepper (1 pepper)

Add in two bay leaves

Add in either a prefixed gumbo mixture seasoning or from scratch as I do:

2tsp cumin

2tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

2tsp tabasco

1/4 tsp thyme

2tsp black pepper

1tsp dried basil

2 tsp salt

3 tblsp gumbo File

[Guest Southern Christian Armed]

Coming next is my grandpas Jambalaya

[DaveS]

Coming next is my grandpas Jambalaya

I can't wait!

 

Dave