In Louisiana chicken belong in dirty rice. That's the just the way it is. Most people won't know recognize the livers unless they're in really big chunks. Word to the wise. Shrimp is a rare addition but quite good. You'll notice that the sausage casserole and the dirty rice look similar. They are. Dirty rice is frequently used as "rice dressing" for turkey or chicken.
If it doesn't look "dirty" it's not dirty rice.
For plain dirty rice just leave out the shrimp. Oh so good. Serves 6
This is a launching pad recipe!
You can play around with it endlessly. Use smoked sausage, Italian sausage or kielbasa instead of ground sausage, add red or green bell pepper, use green onions instead of or in addition to the common onion, use tomato juice instead of chicken broth, top with cheese or stir cheese into the casserole, Top with sliced tomatoes just before serving.... It’s an invitation to creativity.
1 pound ground hot pork sausage
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup celery, sliced
1 clove chopped garlic
black pepper
Two (14-oz) cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
Dry white wine
Fry sausage in a skillet, stirring constantly, but do not brown. Saute' onions, celery and garlic in sausage grease. Drain sausage and add to onions, celery and garlic. Add uncooked rice; pour in chicken broth. Add black pepper to taste. Remove from skillet and bake in 3-quart casserole in 350 degree oven for one hour. Stir to fluff up the rice before serving.
Servings: 6
Traditionally used at Christmas and for weddings. Follow the directions! You will need a LOT of good Myers Rum. Don't stint on it. Soak the fruit mixture at least a month before you make the cake. If you're still in search of a decent fruit cake look no further. It's wildly different and beautiful; Noir comme la nuit.
1 lb. butter or margarine, softened
1 lb. dark brown sugar
1 dozen eggs
1 lb. flour
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. burnt sugar (found in Caribbean markets) or substitute molasses
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup Rum (Meyers)
Dried Fruit Mixture:
1 lb. prunes
1 lb. golden raisins
1 lb. black currants
1 lb. cherries
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until pale yellow. Add 2 eggs at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla and burnt sugar (or molasses). In a medium bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add slowly to the large bowl, mixing well. The batter will be very heavy. Add about 2 cups of the fruit mixture (more or less according to taste). Mix well.
Pour into well greased and floured Bundt cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about an 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. (It will begin to pull away from the edges as well. The hole in the bundt cake pan helps assure it gets cooked in the middle.)
Once the cake is cooled (do not remove it from the tin), pour approximately 1/4 cup of rum over it. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Check the cake every 2 to 3 days. If it becomes "dry" add some more rum. Continue in this manner for 1 month. (You might not have to add any rum to it after 2 weeks, but keep checking it.)
Fruit Mixture: Chop fruit in blender or food processor. Put into a jar which can be tightly sealed. Cover the contents with rum and seal the jar.
Keep in a cool, dark place. This should be done at least 1 month in advance of the cake. If you don't use all of the fruit mixture, don't worry...it will keep for years! It's also a great topping for vanilla ice cream.
Some add a fried oyster to each bowl. If you like dip your oyster in beaten egg, then in flour, then fry. It's that simple. I don't do it.
One quart oysters and their juices (the juices are also known as "liquor"
1/2 lb. butter
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Cup Green Onions minced.
1 Gallon Half and Half. (Or half cream and half milk.
Salt, pepper, dashes of Worcestershire Sauce and Tabasco to taste.
Sprinkle of nutmeg (optional) for each serving.
Divide the oysters in half. Puree half of them in a blender and set aside.
Cook green onions and garlic for one minute in the butter on medium low heat. Pour your onions, garlic and butter into a large stock pot.
Add the remaining oysters and their juices to the pot and all your gallon of half and half. (Cut any very large oysters in half..) Add the pureed oysters, seasonings and cream and bring just to a boil over medium-low heat. Stir now and again to make sure the soup doesn’t seize to the bottom . (If you use a heavy pot it probably won’t stick-just stir to reassure yourself-and I, gentle reader, require some reassurance because this stuff is expensive, luxurious, glorious even, and must not be spoiled. Immediately reduce the heat to a bare simmer. Taste for seasoning. Just a whiff of nutmeg sprinkled on each bowl is virtuous. AMEN.
WARNING: These are SO good one dear lady was requested to make these for 200 people-it was her daughter’s wedding and couldn’t say "No". It took three days. Vita Brevis, Ars Longa. The house smelled like Italy for a week. Being too good a cook comes with a price.
General observations for good meatballs:
Handle the meat gently; don’t pack it. The object is to keep them tender, yet firm enough not to fall apart. Mix your meat and seasonings with your hands, gently but thoroughly. Use an ice cream scoop to dip out each meatball; put the meatballs on a foil or paper-covered cookie sheet (to minimumize clean-up); then roll each into a round ball.No ice cream scoop? No problem, use a Tablespoon; just make those 10 meatballs about the same size. Keep nearby a bowl of water in which to dip your hands, preventing the meat from sticking to them.
Alternatively. use the Spicy Marinara Sauce found in the Pasta section instead of this one. Both are equally good, the spicy one has a bit more flavor. Do use the pan in which you fried your meatballs to fry your sauce ingredients-those crusty bits left behind from frying the meatballs harbor a good deal of flavor.
Serve with 1 pound pasta of choice.
1 pound lean ground beef, preferably chuck
1 medium onion, minced
3 or 4 toes garlic, minced
½ small green pepper (optional), minced
2 eggs
3-inch piece stale French bread, soaked in water, squeezed out well
Salt and pepper and chopped parsley
½ to 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Olive oil for pan-frying, you do not deep-fry these. You may need to add a little from time to time
Place all ingredients except bread crumbs in a large bowl and mix gently but thoroughly. Add bread crumbs to tighten the consistency of the meat and add Parmesan cheese if desired.
Make a small patty. Fry in olive oil, and taste for seasoning. Adjust salt, pepper or bread crumbs if necessary.
Shape mixture into 10 balls. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and brown the meatballs. After browning, move meatballs to the pan in which the gravy is to be cooked. Stir the sauce carefully so as not to cut into the meatballs.
Tomato Gravy
about 1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
3 or 4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 to ½ green bell pepper, chopped (optional)
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 or 2 Tbsp sugar
Oregano and sweet basil to taste
1 (16 ounce) can canned plum tomatoes in puree with basil, slightly chopped
Salt and pepper
Chopped fresh Italian Parsley
In the same skillet in which the meatballs were fried, heat olive oil and fry onions, garlic and green pepper until soft. Scrape up browned pieces of meat while frying vegetables. Do not let the garlic burn or it will taste bitter.
Add tomato paste, sugar, oregano, basil and parsley. Fry until slightly brown, being sure not to burn the paste. Add plum tomatoes to the skillet. Mix well and let simmer a couple of minutes to evaporate some of the liquid.
Transfer this mixture to a large saucepan. Fill each empty tomato and tomato paste can twice with water; add to sauce. You may add a splash of wine when adding the water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add parsley. Cover saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until thick or the consistency you prefer.
At this point you can put hot meatballs and sauce into a Dutch Oven together and bake, covered for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Highly reccommended.
Variation: Brown Italian sausages or chicken pieces (wings in particular) as you would the meatballs, then place them in the pan with sauce to be cooked. Proceed as for meatballs.
To add to your confusion. The plum tomatoes in puree with basil are entirely optional. You can use a can of tomato puree or a can of diced tomatoes and a can of puree. If you want to reduce the water called for in the recipe because you used extra tomatoes feel free, it really doesn’t matter much.
This is a very old fashioned and rarely seen now. Highly recommended.
Pearl onions are not absolutely essential. This is how to prepare them: Drop pearl onions into boiling water to cover. Return to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour off the water. When the onions are cool enough to handle just slip off the skins and trim off the root ends. This only takes a minute. Finish for the dish as described, they will be "glazed". Doing pearl onions this way is how the little onions for coq au vin is done.
This recipe teaches several basic things and is a good exercise for the careful cook. The onion stuck with a whole clove is a wonderful flavor that reminds me of the flavor of the old Campbell’s beef consumme-this is how they got that flavor.
1 chicken (about 3 ½ pounds), cut into 8 pieces as for frying.
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground pepper
Dash of ground mace
8 Tbsp. Unsalted butter
1 tsp oil
½ cup freshly chopped cooked ham
2 big carrots, peeled and chpped
1 clove
1 medium yellow onion
3 parsley sprigs
3/4 cup chicken stock or broth
12 small "pearl" onions peeled and trimmed
½ tsp sugar
1/4 cup dry vermouth
½ cup chopped green onions-about 1 bunch
1 Tbsp. Chopped parsley
4 eggs
6 Tbsp. Flour
1 tsp. Baking powder
½ cup heavy cream
Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt, pepper and mace; let stand at least 30 minutes or overnight. Heat 3 Tbsp butter and 1 tsp. Oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat.
Add ham and carrots; cook until carrots soften, about 5 minutes. Transfer mix to bowl and set aside.
Melt another 3 Tbsp butter in the same skillet, medium heat. Arrange as many chicken pieces as will fit in one layer in skillet, skin side down. Saute until golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Turn pieces and repeat 5 to 6 minutes for other side. Put aside; brown remaining pieces and remove. Put in ham and carrot. Stick clove into middle of yellow onion. Add parsley sprigs and pour in stock, scraping pot.
Remember: scraping the pot "deglazes" it-all those bits of flavor remaining in it are loosened to become part of your dish-very important!
Return chicken to skillet. Heat over medium till boiling, reduce to simmer, and cook covered 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 2-inch deep, 2-quart baking dish. Melt remaining butter in skillet and add pearl onions; sprinkle with sugar. Saute, stirring often, till onions are golden. Carefully pour vermouth into skillet; go on cooking onions uncovered, shaking skillet occasionally till liquid is absorbed and onions tender, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Put chicken in baking dish, skin side up. With a slotted spoon, add ham and carrots to baking dish and then pour remaining liquid and onions over chicken. Sprinkle with chopped green onions and parsley. Remove parsley sprigs and yellow onion with clove.
In a blender, blend eggs, then add flour, baking powder, cream and reserved pan juices and mix till smooth. Pour this custard mixture evenly over chicken; bake till custard is golden brown and puffed, about 30 minutes. Serve at once.
NOTE: No blender? Just whisk the egg/flour baking powder and reserved pan juices together until there are no lumps. Push through a fine wire mesh strainer to remove lumps if any dare show themselves.
Don’t mess with cheese souffles, they always fall anyway-that’s the way they’re supposed to be. These will shrink a little but not fall. You can try other cheeses too. Swiss or a combination of Swiss and Parmesan would be good. Part Parmesan with Cheddar is also a winner. Almost any cheese you can grate will behave well. Very soft cheeses like Gorgonzola or Brie will be troublesome but can be done successfully if you buzz them up with the other ingredients in a processor. Think, Act, Enjoy.
Serve whenever you would quiche.
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup Sherry
3 well-beaten eggs
pinch salt
½ tsp dry mustard powder
cayenne
1 1/2 Tbsp. Melted butter
1 1/4 cups grated Cheddar-I like the white kind
Good handful of minced chives or green onions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Soak bread crumbs in liquids 5 minutes or so; add all else and stir till blended. Turn into 6 large buttered custard cups (you can also make do with coffee cups if you’re not afraid to cook in them). Set in a pan of warm water-the water should come up almost to the level outside the cup as that of the cheese mixture on the inside of the cup. Bake for an hour or so or until a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. Serves 6. Best hot.
Serve in the cups.
