Just in time for your New Years’ menu planning, this meaty side dish keys on the flavor of cabbage smothered down in a smoky, spicy casserole. Unlike any cabbage dish you’ve tasted before, this one will call you back for seconds. Cabbage plays a popular role in Cajun and Creole cooking with an endless variety…
Creole Smothered Green Beans with Andouille Sausage
This Creole Smothered Green Beans is the one you’ll always see on our holiday table. It’s simply green beans straight out of a can, but it’s uncanny how these green beans–sautéed up in smoky bacon grease, smothered down in spicy andouille, and spiked with Cajun seasonings–will bring “thanks” to your Thanksgiving table. This Creole Smothered…
White Beans with Hambone: The Instant Pot Version
Smoky, meaty, warming, and filling with a depth of Cajun spice, my White Beans infused with a flavor-packed hambone is comfort in a bowl. There are times that my sole purpose for baking a whole bone-in ham is for the hambone. While I don’t profess that you go to that extreme, I do expect that…
Tomato Cheese Tart
One bite of the flaky piecrust infused with herbs and cheeses and topped deliciously with ripe heirloom tomatoes will unlock your taste buds and send them to that delicious culinary hiding place in your brain. You know where I mean, and you know that you don’t visit that place as often as you like, or…
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Sunday dinner is for basic, comfort food, and my wife, Roxanne, brought out the bells this past weekend. There is something about the sweet flavor of bell peppers stuffed with a meaty medley of pork, beef, aromatics, herbs, and spices that rings true to the culture of Cajun cooking. This is a recipe that is…
Summer Squash Soup
Slow simmered and puréed into a smooth, bisque-like creaminess, my Summer Squash Soup explodes with the fresh flavors of the season. Spiced with a light hand, I love how the vegetables shine brightly with just a hint of mint and the gentle bite of sweet onion. While I confess to eating lighter in the heat…
Crabmeat-Stuffed Artichoke
When I saw the large artichokes stacked high at the produce stand, I knew in an instant that crabmeat-stuffed artichoke would be the perfect dish for a summertime appetizer. It was time to get stuffing. Though hardly Cajun, globe artichokes are actually a cultivated variety of thistle. But, in the hands of an adventurous cook, the…
Fried Green Tomato Shrimp Rémoulade
When I glance at a menu and see anything featuring rémoulade sauce, I’m salivating. Usually, it’s a straightforward shrimp appetizer served on a bed of shredded iceberg that in the hands of a cook that has their rémoulade repertoire figured out is well worth ordering. But recently I was astounded to find a spin on shrimp rémoulade…
Stuffed Goo-Gootz
At the first hint of cool weather, cucuzza squash starts showing up at the farmer’s markets and produce stands around Acadiana. Some folks are unfamiliar with this elongated green squash variety, but those in the know look forward to it every autumn season. Time for a Stuffed Goo-Gootz. For most of us, cucuzza is pronounced…
Okra and Tomatoes with Stewed Chicken and Sausage
Here’s the thing–okra is a vegetable of extremes. For the most part, folks tend to categorize okra as a “love it or hate it” relationship. It’s hard to be indifferent about okra. True Southerners, and especially good Cajun cooks, identify strongly with okra. But, even within okra circles there are those that love it in…