Asparagus and Crawfish with Glazed Hollandaise
Seared Scallops with Artichokes
Asparagus and Crawfish with Glazed Hollandaise
Seared Scallops with Artichokes
In too many restaurants, the appetizers are dramatically better than the much more expensive entrées. Here’s why I think this is: most chefs make up their menus from the top down. By the time they get to the main courses, they often have used up all their inspirations on the first courses. And they revert to mere trend-following when they get to the steaks, chicken, and fish. The best chefs have enough in their heads to devise menus full of interesting food. But the less-than-best chefs are also out there, working.
Also, chefs like to play around with very expensive ingredients. You can make a legitimate dish of mostly jumbo lump crabmeat if the serving is appetizer size. It’s quite another matter when you need to put a half-pound of crabmeat on the plate.
Finally, appetizers must be brilliant. A meal that starts with a hit has a man on base, and you can figure out the rest of this metaphor. A spectacular first course often casts a glow on an underperforming entrée that might disguise its shortcomings. At least in the mind of the beholder.
No course lends itself more readily to invention and rule breaking than the appetizer. You can go hot or cold or in between. Use any method of cooking any ingredient in any presentation. Your guests may well be turned on by some fantastic creation. But even if they aren’t, the risk to their appetites is small. You have the entire remainder of the meal to make up for it with safer dishes. So go nuts on the first course.
The most pervasive appetizer tradition is to center it on seafood. There is a logic to this: Seafood is light, much of it can be served cold, and you can use intense, palate-perking sauces.
Louisiana seafood is a great resource for creating appetizers. The number of oyster dishes alone is dizzying (as I will prove shortly). The local crabmeat is almost absurdly delectable, even when eaten straight out of the container. The three major varieties of shrimp are all the equals of any other in the world.
When seafood will be the entrée, the meal is more interesting when it starts with something else. So we welcome duck breasts, sausages, sweetbreads, meat-filled dumplings, and other light meat dishes into the appetizer universe.
Hot and Cold, Soft and Crunchy, Mild and Spicy
A chef I know uses a predictable pattern in all his wine-dinner menus. He starts with something cold, then serves a hot dish, then another cold item, followed by another hot item. If he could get away with it, he’d keep the pattern going all the way through the dessert.
My suspicion is that he does this mainly for logistical reasons. A cold dish can be prepared in advance, shoved into the refrigerator, and pulled out when it’s time to send it out. This gives him more time to get the hot dishes ready. But there’s a good taste reason for the strategy: contrast. Creating contrasts among flavors, spice levels, textures, colors, temperatures, and ingredients is a fine art. It’s one of the things that separates the great chefs from the ordinary ones.
Since you have much more latitude in the appetizer course than in any other, think about what will follow it and create an appetizer that will force a gustatory shift when you and your guests move on.
Crabmeat St. Francis was created by the legendary New Orleans chef Warren Leruth, whose restaurant in Gretna was the premier haute-Creole place to eat in the 1960s and 1970s. Warren once told me that the biggest thing he missed about not having the restaurant anymore was that he couldn’t eat crabmeat St. Francis whenever he wanted to. It was one of the most celebrated of his dishes—fantastic appetizer.
4 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups crab stock (see recipe, this page)
¼ cup dry white wine
4 bay leaves
1½ sticks (12 Tbsp.) butter
1 large green onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup chopped white onion
¾ cup hearts of celery, chopped
½ tsp. thyme
Generous pinch of celery seed
1¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cayenne
¼ tsp. ground white pepper
½ cup flour
1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
4 egg yolks
2 lb. fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
½ cup bread crumbs
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a saucepan, bring the cream, crab stock, wine, and bay leaves to a simmer and hold there.
2. Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining ingredients up to (but not including) the flour and sauté until the vegetables are translucent.
3. Make a blond roux by adding the flour to the vegetables and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until the flour is no longer raw and just starting to brown.
4. Whisk in the cream-and-stock mixture. Lower the heat, add the parsley, and gently simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
5. Remove the skillet from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time.
6. Place 2 oz. of the lump crabmeat in each of 16 ramekins or baking shells. Top each with a ½ cup of the sauce, sprinkle lightly with the bread crumbs, and bake until the top is browned and bubbly, 10–12 minutes. SERVES SIXTEEN.
This and shrimp rémoulade (see Shrimp Rémoulade with Two Sauces, this page) are the most popular cold appetizers in traditional New Orleans restaurants. The word “ravigote” means “revived,” the original idea being that you could add this tangy sauce to some crabmeat or fish that was on the edge of freshness and resurrect it. Of course, it was quickly noticed that it also tasted great with vividly fresh crabmeat.
½ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. Creole mustard
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
1 green onion, green parts only, finely chopped
3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped
2 Tbsp. small capers, drained
½ tsp. dried dill
½ tsp. dried tarragon
⅛ tsp. salt
Pinch of ground white pepper
Dash of Tabasco
1 lb. fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
1. Whisk all of the ingredients except the crabmeat together in a bowl.
2. Gently stir the crabmeat into the sauce. It’s best if you let the mixture sit for an hour or two, refrigerated, before serving. SERVES EIGHT.
One of my radio listeners once told me that in his opinion the ultimate way to eat jumbo lump crabmeat was to open the box, reach in, and just start eating. I really cannot argue with that, but it doesn’t make for much of a recipe. Here, however, is a popular dish all along the Gulf Coast that is about as close to naked as a lump of crabmeat can get.
1 lb. fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
1 small white onion, chopped
½ cup olive oil
6 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. small capers, drained
¼ cup water
¼ tsp. salt
4 dashes of Tabasco
2 ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced
Gently blend together all of the ingredients except the tomatoes in a non-metallic bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Serve cold over slices of ripe tomato. SERVES FOUR TO SIX.
Here’s a rich crabmeat-and-pasta dish that makes a good appetizer or entrée. Resist the temptation to roll these things up so tight that the crabmeat can’t escape; you want to see some of it wandering around on the plate. Do you know how you can tell that this is a New Orleans recipe and not one from Italy? The cheese. Italians would never put this much cheese (if any) in a seafood dish. In New Orleans, not adding the cheese would be unthinkable.
Fifteen 4-inch pasta squares, preferably fresh, or 15 big pasta tubes, such as cannelloni or manicotti (include a few extra squares or tubes, since some will inevitably break as you roll or stuff them)
3 cups heavy whipping cream
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
⅛ tsp. ground white pepper
½ tsp. chopped garlic
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. crushed red pepper
1 lb. fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
1 Tbsp. fresh chopped basil
¼ cup shredded mozzarella
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Boil the cream in a large saucepan and reduce by half. (Don’t let it foam over.) Pour about two-thirds of the reduced cream into a skillet. To the cream remaining in the saucepan, whisk in the Parmesan cheese and white pepper to finish the sauce. Keep warm on the side.
3. Add the garlic, salt, crushed red pepper, and crabmeat to the cream in the skillet. Simmer over low heat, stirring until the crab is well incorporated. Add the basil and mozzarella, and stir very lightly until the cheese begins to melt. Remove from the heat.
4. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the crab mixture onto the lower third of each pasta sheet. Roll them into tubes about an inch in diameter and place seam side down in a large baking dish. If using pasta tubes, spoon about 3 tablespoons of the crab mixture into the tubes. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of sauce over each cannelloni.
5. Bake the cannelloni until the sauce starts to bubble and the pasta edges brown lightly, 3–5 minutes. SERVES TWELVE AS AN APPETIZER OR SIX AS AN ENTREE.
Although the crab cake (an import from Maryland, rarely seen in New Orleans before about 1990) has largely overshadowed similar local dishes, these are not half bad when made with the kind of good crabmeat we have around here. A case in point is this recipe, which I like to serve as a side dish to pasta, entrée salads, or fried seafood. It is also one of the relatively few dishes in this collection that begin with what is known around New Orleans as the holy trinity: yellow onion, bell pepper, and celery.
1½ sticks (12 Tbsp.) butter
¼ cup chopped yellow onion
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
¼ cup chopped celery
¼ cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. yellow mustard
¼ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp. curry powder
1 lb. fresh jumbo lump crabmeat
3 Tbsp. chopped green onion
2 tsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1½ cups bread crumbs
2 lemons, cut into wedges
White rémoulade sauce (see Shrimp Rémoulade with Two Sauces, this page) or tartar sauce
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Melt 1 stick (8 tablespoons) of the butter in a skillet until it bubbles. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery, and sauté until soft.
2. Add the wine, lemon juice, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and curry powder, and bring to a boil, stirring to blend. When the liquid is reduced by half, add the crab, green onion, Creole seasoning, and salt. Stir gently, trying not to break up the lumps of crabmeat too much. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the bread crumbs and gently stir until just mixed.
3. Although you can make the resulting mixture into cakes or balls (which you then bake on a pan in the oven, or even deep fry), I find it comes out better if you bake it inside clean crab shells or gratin dishes. Top each piece with about ½ a teaspoon of the remaining butter. Bake until the tops bubble and brown, 10–12 minutes
4. Serve with lemon wedges and white rémoulade sauce or tartar sauce. SERVES SIX TO EIGHT.
Perhaps the strangest request for a recipe I’ve ever received came from Bernard Guste, the fifth-generation proprietor of Antoine’s. He wanted my recipe for oysters Rockefeller. His reason was that since Antoine’s own recipe (remember, they invented the dish) is a secret, they needed something to give the many people who ask for it. He told me that my recipe is embarrassingly close to the real thing. I’m flattered. And if I say so myself, he’s right. It took me about 50 tries to create a match for the flavor of Antoine’s great specialty.
Oysters Rockefeller never did include either spinach or Mornay (white cheese) sauce, which most recipes call for. It does include green food coloring—an atrocity now but common a century ago, when this dish was created. The Peychaud’s bitters, a New Orleans specialty, can be ordered from the Sazerac Company (https://thesazeracgiftshop.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2).
Oysters Rockefeller has always been among my favorite Creole-French dishes and one that creates its own special occasion whenever you make it.
4 dozen fresh, shucked oysters, with their liquor
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1½ cups chopped green onion, green parts only
1 cup chopped fresh fennel
1 cup chopped watercress
½ tsp. chopped fresh garlic
3 anchovy fillets
¼ cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground white pepper
½ tsp. cayenne
2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters (optional; see headnote)
2 drops of green food coloring (optional, but authentic)
2 sticks (16 Tbsp.) butter
1 cup flour
1½ cups very fine, fresh bread crumbs
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Drain the oysters, reserving the liquor. Pour the oyster liquor into a 2-cup measuring cup, add enough cold water to make 2 cups, and set aside.
2. Working in small batches, process the vegetables and anchovies together in a food processor to a near-puree, using the oyster water to help things along.
3. Combine the vegetable puree and any remaining oyster water in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the excess water has evaporated but the greens remain very moist. Stir in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne, bitters, and food coloring.
4. Make a blond roux by heating the butter in a medium saucepan over mediumlow heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring often, until the mixture just begins to brown. Add the roux to the greens and stir until the sauce takes on a different, lighter texture. Then mix in the bread crumbs.
5. Place the oysters on individual half shells or in small ovenproof ramekins or gratin dishes. Top each oyster with a generous tablespoon (or more) of the sauce. Bake until the sauce just begins to brown, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
If you are using oyster shells, serve on a bed of rock salt or on a napkin to keep the shells from rocking. SERVES EIGHT.
Every food writer of my generation has a Julia Child story. Mine involves this dish. Chef André Poirot at Begue’s at the Royal Sonesta Hotel cooked it for a small dinner party for Julia in the mid-1980s. I sat across the table from her and heard her declare, in her distinctive voice, “Divine! Very creative!” (We were not to hear any more such praise during the remainder of that meal.)
A savory custard holds together the traditional ingredients for oysters Rockefeller.
OYSTERS
1 lb. fresh spinach, well washed, stems removed
1¼ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 dozen fresh, shucked oysters, with their liquor
1 Tbsp. butter, softened
5 eggs
3 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. Pernod
Pinch of nutmeg Pinch of ground white pepper
SAUCE
6 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 Tbsp. chopped shallots
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter, melted
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and ground white pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Blanch the spinach for 1 minute in 2 quarts of boiling water seasoned with 1 teaspoon of the salt. Drain and douse the spinach with cold water. Drain again and set aside.
2. Bring the white wine and oyster liquor to a light boil in a medium skillet and poach the oysters in it for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, let the oysters cool a bit, and chop coarsely. Strain the poaching liquid and reserve.
3. Lightly grease the insides of six 6-ounce ramekins with the butter. Line the insides of these with leaves of cooked spinach, draping the ends of the leaves over the sides. Divide the chopped oysters among all the cups.
4. Whisk the poaching liquid, eggs, cream, Pernod, nutmeg, pepper, and remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt together in a bowl. Pour the mixture over the oysters in the cups. Fold the spinach leaves over the custard.
5. Arrange the ramekins in a large baking dish. Pour in enough hot water to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake until the custard is just set, about 40 minutes.
6. While the flans are baking, make the sauce. Boil the wine and shallots together in a saucepan until the wine is reduced to 1 tablespoon. Add the heavy whipping cream and reduce until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Whisk in the butter, lemon juice, and season to taste with salt and white pepper. Strain the sauce, discarding solids, and keep warm.
7. Allow the ramekins to cool for a few minutes after baking, then unmold onto serving plates. Spoon the sauce over the flans. SERVES SIX.
Not enough restaurants make oysters Bienville anymore, which is a shame. This classic baked-on-the-shell dish, named for the founder of New Orleans, is seriously delicious. However, there’s no gold standard for the dish. Nobody is sure who invented it, in fact. Arnaud’s, Antoine’s, and Commander’s all make claims. Pascal’s Manale and Delmonico are also famous for their versions.
I’m persuaded that the ingredient list must contain bacon, shrimp, mushrooms, bell peppers, sherry, a light roux, Parmesan cheese, a milder cheese, and bread crumbs. Other ingredients lurk in the background. You can bake oysters Bienville classically on the shells, but I find they’re just as good made in a small casserole or gratin dish. I serve them that way at Thanksgiving instead of oyster dressing.
When cooking, oysters release a lot of water, resulting in a watery sauce. The solution is to use more bread crumbs than looks or feels right. And to have the sauce fully cooked and hot before it goes into the oven, so that the dish is cooked mostly by heat from above.
4 dozen fresh, shucked large oysters, with their liquor
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) butter
1 lb. small shrimp (50 count), peeled, rinsed, and coarsely chopped
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
½ lb. small white mushrooms, coarsely chopped
¼ cup dry sherry
4 strips lean bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
2 green onions, finely chopped
½ cup flour
⅔ cup milk, hot
2 egg yolks
⅔ cup finely shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
¼ tsp. salt
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Drain the oysters, reserving the liquor. Put the oyster liquor into a 1-cup measuring cup and add enough water, if necessary, to make 1 cup liquid.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon of the butter in a medium skillet until it bubbles. Sauté the chopped shrimp until it just turns pink. Remove and set aside. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the skillet and heat until it bubbles. Add the celery, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Sauté until they get tender. Add the sherry and bring to a boil for about a minute.
3. Add the bacon, green onions, and reserved shrimp. Cook for another minute, then add the reserved oyster liquor. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes more. The sauce should be wet but not sloshy. Remove from heat.
4. Heat the remaining butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, to make a blond roux. When you see the first hints of browning, remove from the heat and whisk in the milk to form a béchamel. (It will have the texture of mashed potatoes.) Add the egg yolks to the béchamel, stirring quickly to combine it before the eggs have a chance to set. Add the mozzarella slowly to the béchamel, stirring until the cheese melts.
5. Add the béchamel to the shrimp mixture in the skillet and stir to combine.
6. Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan, Creole seasoning, and salt together in a bowl. Stir two-thirds of this mixture into the sauced shrimp. Set the remaining bread-crumb mixture aside.
7. Cover the bottom of a shallow baking dish with oysters, leaving just a little space between them. Top with the Bienville sauce. Sprinkle the top with the remaining bread-crumb mixture. Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the top is browned, 15–20 minutes (depending on the size of the baking dish). SERVES EIGHT TO TWELVE.
After Bienville and Rockefeller, this garlic-and-bread-crumby concoction is the most popular in the pantheon of local oyster dishes. The most famous version of the dish is Oysters Mosca, named for the restaurant that made it popular, but every restaurant that’s even slightly Italianate makes a version of it, plus plenty of others. My version is a little spicier than most, inspired by the recipe used at La Cuisine. The ideal side dish with this is Pasta Bordelaise (see recipe, this page).
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
24 fresh, shucked large oysters, partially drained
2 Tbsp. finely chopped garlic
2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
½ tsp. crushed red pepper
2 cups bread crumbs
⅔ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Pour a little of the olive oil into the bottom of a baking dish of almost any size, from a small gratin dish to a pie plate. Arrange the oysters in the dish, leaving about ½ inch of space between them.
2. Sprinkle the oysters with the garlic, parsley, lemon juice, and crushed red pepper. Combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over the oysters.
3. Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the bread crumbs on top brown, about 10–15 minutes (depending on the size of the baking dish). SERVES SIX.
Next to the Holy Grail, the most difficult thing in the world to find is a recipe from a restaurant that is no longer in business. I’m asked for them at the rate of about one a week. I think I have been asked for this one at least a hundred times.
Corinne Dunbar’s was a unique restaurant on St. Charles Avenue that operated more like a private home. It had a fixed menu each day, and you never knew what you’d be served. But you hoped it would be oysters Dunbar, the restaurant’s most famous dish. It was an oyster-and-artichoke casserole, and although I have never been able to obtain an authentic recipe from original sources, I’ve managed to piece together enough facts about it to come up with this one. At the very least, it seems close to what I remember from the one time I went to Dunbar’s in the early 1970s.
2 dozen fresh, shucked oysters, with their liquor
2 Tbsp. salt, plus more to taste
Juice of 1 lemon
4 large artichokes
1 stick (8 Tbsp.) plus 2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
¼ cup finely chopped green onion
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
¼ tsp. Tabasco
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ cup bread crumbs
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Drain the oysters, reserving the liquor. Put the oyster liquor into a 1-cup measuring cup and add enough water, if necessary, to make 1 cup liquid.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil with the 2 tablespoons of salt and half the lemon juice. Cook the artichokes until tender, then remove from the water and set aside to cool.
3. Using a spoon, scrape the meat from the tough outer artichoke leaves into a bowl and discard the leaves. Pull off the tender inner leaves and reserve them whole. Remove the fuzzy “choke” from the artichoke bottom, chop the bottom into medium dice, and reserve.
4. In a skillet, melt the stick of butter until it bubbles. Add the flour and cook, stirring often, to form a loose blond roux. Add the green onion and cook until tender.
5. Add the reserved oyster liquor and mushrooms. Bring to a light boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the mushrooms are tender and the liquid is very thick. Add the oysters and cook for 2 minutes more. Season to taste with Tabasco, salt, and pepper.
6. Scatter the reserved artichoke leaves and meat evenly in a baking dish. Pour the sauced oyster mixture over the artichokes and top with bread crumbs. Dot the top with the remaining butter and bake until the bread crumbs are browned and the rapid bubbling of the liquid contents has begun to slow, 12–15 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes. SERVES FOUR TO SIX.
Among the most distinctive of New Orleans dishes are oysters served with various kinds of brown sauces. There must be a dozen such dishes, and I’ve never met one I didn’t like. This one is my attempt to recapture a dish served at a long-gone Central Business District café called Guertin’s.
1 quart fresh, shucked oysters, with their liquor
1½ sticks (12 Tbsp.) butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 green onions, green parts only, finely chopped
½ very ripe green bell pepper, chopped
½ stalk celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. Louisiana hot sauce, such as Crystal Hot Sauce
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup flour
1 cup chicken stock, warm (see recipe, this page)
1. Drain the oysters, reserving the liquor. Put the oyster liquor into a 1-cup measuring cup and add enough water, if necessary, to make 1 cup liquid.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat until it bubbles. Sauté the vegetables until they turn tender, then add the oysters. Cook until the edges begin to curl, 3–4 minutes.
3. Add the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lemon juice, Creole seasoning, and salt, bring to a boil, and hold there for about a minute.
4. Sprinkle the flour into the skillet and gently stir until the flour is fully incorporated into the sauce. This should make for a very thick mixture.
5. Warm the reserved oyster liquor in a small saucepan and gradually add it to the skillet. Add just enough warm chicken stock, again gradually, until the mixture has a stewlike consistency. Adjust seasonings and serve immediately over toast or pasta. SERVES EIGHT AS AN APPETIZER OR FOUR AS AN ENTREE.
The Windsor Court Grill Room invented this very unusual baked oyster dish some years ago. After a few changes of chefs, managers, and owners, the memory of the dish has departed from their kitchen. Thank goodness we did this one on one of my television features. It’s one of the most unusual of the many baked oyster dishes in New Orleans. The sauce is rich with cheese, sharp with horseradish, and crusty with bread crumbs. Although the classic restaurant way to serve this is on the shells, it comes out just fine in gratin dishes.
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 Tbsp. herbes de Provence
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
1 small onion, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 whole clove
2 cups milk
Few drops Tabasco (optional)
¾ stick (6 Tbsp.) unsalted butter
6 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp. prepared horseradish, drained
Pinch grated nutmeg
24 fresh, shucked oysters, with their shells
1. In a bowl, combine the butter, bread crumbs, ½ cup of the Parmesan cheese, herbes de Provence, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Place the onion, bay leaf, clove, milk, and Tabasco in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and strain. Reserve the liquid and keep warm.
3. Melt ½ stick butter in a medium sauté pan over low heat. When the butter is foamy, add the flour and make a blond roux. Remove from the heat when the first signs of browning appear. Whisk in the strained milk until the the sauce is fluffy and dry. Add the remaining ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese, horseradish, and nutmeg. Season with salt, pepper, and a few drops Tabasco sauce, to taste.
4. Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Fill a bowl with cold water and ice cubes. Poach the oysters in the boiling water until their edges curl. Remove with a slotted spoon and plunge immediately into the ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and set aside.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place a layer of rock salt about ½ inch deep in 2 metal baking pans. Press half of the shells onto the salt. Spoon 1 tablespoon of sauce into each shell, then top with an oyster. Cover with 1 tablespoon more of sauce, then sprinkle the bread crumb mixture from step 1 on top. Bake for 10 minutes, or until a golden crust forms. SERVES FOUR TO SIX.
Roland Huet was one of the most skillful French chefs ever to work in New Orleans. Born and trained in the Loire Valley of France, he fetched up in the 1960s at Galatoire’s in the French Quarter. Chris Ansel—one of the family managers of Galatoire’s—left in the 1970s to open his own restaurant, Christian’s. Roland created the menu that would make Christian’s an essential restaurant. On the menu was this baked oyster appetizer. It remained until the restaurant came to an end with Hurricane Katrina.
½ cup water
48 fresh, shucked medium oysters, with their shells
1 bunch curly-leaf parsley, bottom stems removed
3 cloves garlic
8 oz. small mushrooms, well washed
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Generous pinch nutmeg
1 lb. softened butter
1 cup French bread crumbs
French bread
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Bring the water to a light boil in a small skillet. Add the oysters and poach for 2 minutes. Strain the pan contents, reserving oysters and liquid. Return the liquid to a light boil and reduce by about a third.
3. Put the parsley, garlic, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and nutmeg into a food processor, and process into a very fine mixture. Add the butter and process into a coarse, gritty puree.
4. Add the bread crumbs and the reserved stock from the oysters and process only long enough to mix everything thoroughly.
5. Place 6 oysters in the bottom of each of 8 small gratin dishes. With a spatula, lightly pack down enough sauce to cover the oysters completely, filling the dishes nearly to the top. (You can prepare the dish to this point and hold in the refrigerator. Take them out of the refrigerator a half-hour before the final baking.)
6. Bake the gratins of oysters until the tops are distinctly browned and crusty and the sauce is heaving and steaming. Serve immediately with hot French bread for getting up the extra sauce. MAKES EIGHT APPETIZERS.
In 1997, my wife ordered me to enter the National Oyster Cooking Competition with this dish. The event takes place in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, where the Chesapeake Bay oysters are almost identical to the ones we have in Louisiana. I came in second. But I think you’ll enjoy this, one of my favorite fancy ways to eat oysters. The sauce is the best part, so make sure you provide lots of fresh, hot French bread to sop it up.
2 dozen fresh oysters, the larger the better, preferably freshly shucked, with their liquor
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tsp. mixed dried peppercorns (black, white, green, pink)
8 sprigs fresh thyme
Pinch of saffron threads
¼ tsp. salt
1. Drain the oysters, reserving the liquor. Pour the oyster liquor into a 1-cup measuring cup and add enough water, if necessary, to make 1 cup liquid. Set oysters aside.
2. Combine the cream, peppercorns, 2 sprigs of the thyme, and the saffron in a stainless steel or porcelain 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer. (Watch to make sure the pan doesn’t boil over, which cream likes to do.) Add the reserved oyster liquor and return to a simmer. Cook until the liquid is reduced to about 1 cup, about 30 minutes.
3. Add 6 oysters to the reduced sauce and let them cook until the sauce resumes bubbling, about 2–3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or a skimmer, remove the oysters from the pan and keep warm while you cook the remaining oysters in batches of 6.
4. When all the oysters are cooked, plunge them back into the sauce for a few seconds to warm them back up. Arrange 3–6 oysters (depending on size) on plates. Spoon a little extra sauce over the oysters, stirring the pan to distribute the peppercorns and herbs. Garnish each plate with the remaining thyme sprigs. SERVES FOUR TO EIGHT.
This is the first dish I ever impressed anybody with. Even if you feel yourself very maladroit in the kitchen, you can get the same effect. This is a very easy dish to prepare. All you need is fat, fresh oysters and thick-sliced, smoky bacon.
2 sticks (16 Tbsp.) butter
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. salt
½ tsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
4 dozen fresh, shucked large oysters, drained
12 slices bacon, each cut crosswise into quarters
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over very low heat. Once the bubbles subside, skim the foam off the top. Keep the butter over the lowest possible heat on your stovetop.
2. Pour the oil into a deep, wide pan to a depth of about an inch. Heat over medium-high heat until temperature reaches 375 degrees F.
3. Meanwhile, combine the flour, salt, and Creole seasoning in a wide bowl.
4. Skewer the oysters and bacon on 8-inch-long metal or bamboo skewers, alternating each oyster with a square of bacon. Arrange them so they’re barely touching. Coat the brochettes with the seasoned flour and shake off the excess.
5. Fry the brochettes, turning once, until the oysters are golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Keep them warm while you cook the remaining brochettes.
6. Carefully add the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce to the warm butter in the skillet. Careful! This may make the butter foam up again and perhaps splatter.
7. Use a fork to unskewer the brochettes onto serving plates. Stir the butter sauce to get some of the browned solids at the bottom and spoon about 2 tablespoons of the sauce over each brochette. MAKES EIGHT APPETIZERS.
This is a dazzling dish for shrimp lovers. The lemon really stands out, and the bit of smoky richness from the ham and the touch of red pepper at the end bring it to the culinary border of Italy and Louisiana.
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
24 large shrimp (16–20 count), peeled and deveined
½ stick (4 Tbsp.) butter
¼ cup chopped shallots
10 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped
2 oz. lean, smoky ham, thinly sliced and cut into ribbons
½ cup dry white wine
¼ cup lemon juice
2 dashes of Tabasco
½ tsp. salt
8 thin slices French bread, toasted
8 thin slices lemon, for garnish
1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic cloves and sauté until the garlic begins to brown. Remove and discard garlic.
2. Add the shrimp to the oil and sauté over medium-high heat until they just begin to turn pink. Add the butter, shallots, parsley, and ham, and cook until the shallots are soft.
3. Add the wine and lemon juice, season with the Tabasco and salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the liquid by about two-thirds.
4. Place the French bread on individual plates. Place 3 shrimp on each slice and spoon the sauce over all. Garnish each serving with a lemon slice. SERVES EIGHT.
The flavors of shrimp and fennel have always worked well together for my palate. This is a great light appetizer with a big and slightly offbeat flavor.
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. large shrimp (16–20 count), peeled and deveined
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
½ cup dry white wine
2 Tbsp. Herbsaint or Pernod
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried chervil
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 dashes of Tabasco
1 tsp. lemon juice
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
1. Heat the oil in a skillet until it shimmers. Sauté the shrimp and fennel until the shrimp just begin to turn pink. Add the garlic, shallots, white wine, and Herbsaint or Pernod. Boil for about a minute.
2. Lower the heat to maintain a simmer. Add the thyme, chervil, salt, pepper, Tabasco, and lemon juice. Cook until the sauce thickens. Garnish with the parsley. SERVES SIX.
Every summer the Upperline Restaurant has a Garlic Festival—a terrific menu of original dishes using garlic in all its delightful gustatory guises. This one is from the event’s early days, compliments of the deft hand of the late chef Tom Cowman.
GARLIC MAYONNAISE
½ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. Dijon or Creole mustard
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. chopped garlic
SHRIMP
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. chili powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. chopped garlic
½ lb. small-to-medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ medium onion, sliced thinly
Four 2-inch squares Jalapeño-Cheese Cornbread (see recipe, this page)
1. To make the garlic mayonnaise: Whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl. It’s better to make this a day ahead of time and refrigerate to let the flavors blend.
2. To prepare the shrimp: Mix the oil, spices, and garlic together in a bowl. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 1–2 hours.
3. Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, the marinade, and the onion, and cook until the shrimp are pink and firm, 4–5 minutes, depending on the size of the shrimp.
4. Split the cornbread squares and spread both halves with ¼ cup of the garlic mayonnaise. Put 2 cornbread halves on each of 4 plates and spoon the shrimp over the bread. SERVES FOUR.
The late chef Jamie Shannon’s too short career brought many good dishes to the menu at Commander’s Palace. This is one of his best. It looks simple, but it explodes with flavor. Tasso is a Cajun-style ham that is cured to be very spicy, smoky, and salty. It’s used more as a seasoning than as a meat. I’d recommend chef Paul Prudhomme’s brand, which is available in specialty food stores and by mail order (see Food Sources, this page).
6 Tbsp. butter, softened
Pinch of chopped garlic
Pinch of chopped shallots (or onion)
1 Tbsp. Louisiana hot sauce, such as Crystal Hot Sauce
1 tsp. heavy whipping cream
24 jumbo shrimp (20–25 count), peeled and deveined
4 oz. tasso, cut into matchstick-size pieces
Vegetable oil, for frying
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. salt
¼ cup pepper jelly
Pickled okra or pickled green beans, for garnish
1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Sauté the garlic and shallots for a minute. Add the hot sauce and bring to a boil. Cook until very little liquid is left. Add the cream and cook about 1 minute more.
2. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the remaining butter until it takes on a creamy consistency. (This is a New Orleans version of beurre blanc.) Keep warm.
3. Cut a slit down the back of each shrimp and insert a strip of tasso. Close the slit with a toothpick.
4. Pour the oil to a depth of ½ inch into a large, deep skillet and heat to about 375 degrees F. Meanwhile, mix the flour and salt together in a wide bowl. Dust the skewered shrimp with the seasoned flour. Fry the shrimp, in batches, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
5. Transfer the cooked shrimp to a bowl, add the sauce, and toss to coat.
6. Spread a thin film of pepper jelly on the bottom of each of 8 small dishes and arrange 3 shrimp on each plate. Garnish with pickled okra or pickled green beans. SERVES EIGHT.
Crawfish bisque is traditionally served with stuffed crawfish heads, but I find both the stuffing (while making) and the unstuffing (while eating) of the heads to be inconvenient and messy. Instead, I make small boulettes, or balls, with all the same ingredients except the head shells. These also make great appetizers when served with hollandaise, white rémoulade (see Shrimp Rémoulade with Two Sauces, this page), or tartar sauce.
1 cup cooked crawfish tails, peeled
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. chopped celery
1 tsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tsp. chopped red bell pepper
1 tsp. chopped green onion tops
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
Vegetable oil, for frying
1. Chop the crawfish tails very fine in a food processor. Add the egg yolk and process to blend.
2. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, parsley, bell pepper, and green onion, and sauté until tender. Add the crawfish-egg mixture and warm through.
3. Add the bread crumbs a little at a time to stiffen the mixture. (You may not need all the bread crumbs.) Transfer the crawfish mixture to a bowl and set aside.
4. Mix the flour, salt, and Creole seasoning together in a wide bowl.
5. Pour the oil into a large, deep skillet to a depth of ½ inch and heat over medium-high heat until the temperature reaches 375 degrees F. Divide the crawfish mixture into 16 equal portions and shape them into balls. Roll them in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess. Fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
If you’re serving this in Crawfish Bisque (see recipe, this page), drop 1–2 boulettes into each serving of bisque at the table or serve the boulettes on the side. MAKES ABOUT SIXTEEN BOULETTES.
Chef Raymond Toups—then the executive chef of the Rib Room at the Omni Royal Orleans hotel—prepared this recipe once on my old television show. Afterward, so many people came in to order it that the kitchen nicknamed it the “TV Special.” It’s a terrific combination of flavors. I wouldn’t bother making it except at the height of crawfish season, March through June. It’s best served with rice, but it’s also good with pasta.
1 oz. dried morel mushrooms (or 4 oz. fresh, if you’re lucky enough to have them)
2 Tbsp. butter
1½ lb. fresh crawfish tails
1 Tbsp. chopped shallots
1 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon
1 tsp. chopped fresh chives
¼ tsp. salt
Pinch of cayenne
1½ cups cooked long-grain rice
1. Soak the morels in water to reconstitute them. Change the water several times to remove any sand.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the crawfish meat and morels, and cook until they’re hot all the way through—about 2 minutes. Add the shallots, tarragon, chives, salt, and cayenne, and cook for about 1 minute more.
3. Divide the rice among 8 plates and spoon the crawfish mixture over it. SERVES EIGHT.
This is what I came up with when I tried to build my favorite aspects of some of my favorite crawfish appetizers into a single dish. Don’t attempt this when crawfish are out of season. Freshness is essential. Best: crawfish you boil (without crab boil) and peel yourself. Worst: imported thawed, frozen, cooked crawfish.
MARINADE
¼ cup dry white wine
Juice of ½ lemon
2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. yellow mustard
1 tsp. Tabasco Garlic Pepper Sauce
CRAWFISH
1½ cups cooked crawfish tails, peeled
½ stick (4 Tbsp.) butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. brandy
1 cup half-and-half, warmed
½ tsp. dried tarragon
½ tsp. dried chervil
½ tsp. dried dill
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground white pepper
18 slices French bread, toasted
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk all of the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add the crawfish meat and toss to coat. Marinate for about 5 minutes.
2. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it bubbles, then stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, to make a light roux. Cook until the texture changes, about 5 minutes, but don’t allow the roux to brown.
3. Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Lower the heat to the lowest setting, stir in the brandy, and cook for about a minute. Add the half-and-half and whisk until the sauce thickens. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the French bread and simmer, stirring once or twice, for about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the crawfish gently. Continue to simmer until the crawfish is heated through.
5. Divide the crawfish mixture among 4–6 ramekins or gratin dishes. Bake until the sauce begins to bubble and brown around the edges, 3–5 minutes. Serve immediately with the French bread. SERVES FOUR TO SIX.
Asparagus and Crawfish with Glazed Hollandaise
The best time to make this dish is April and early May, when both crawfish and asparagus are excellent and inexpensive. The flavor blend, enriched by the hollandaise, is remarkable.
1 lb. asparagus, the tough bottom inch or two cut off
½ cup cooked crawfish tails, peeled
2 Tbsp. finely shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup Hollandaise (see recipe, this page)
Cayenne
1. The best way to cook the asparagus is in a steamer, but it can also be done in a large skillet. If you’re using a skillet, bring ½ inch of water to a slow boil and drop in the asparagus. Let the asparagus cook about 2 minutes, until crisptender, then remove, being careful not to break them. Run cold water over the asparagus to stop the cooking, then drain.
2. Preheat the broiler. Arrange the asparagus in a single layer, all parallel to one another, on a broiler pan. Sprinkle the crawfish and the Parmesan across the centers of the asparagus spears. Pour the hollandaise over the centers of the spears, leaving the tips clean.
3. Broil the asparagus until the hollandaise begins to turn light brown on top, about 3 minutes. Remove from the oven. Use a long metal spatula to transfer 6–10 spears at a time to a serving dish, making sure the topping stays intact. Sprinkle lightly with cayenne. SERVES EIGHT.
Seared Scallops with Artichokes
This is a signature dish at the Pelican Club, where chef Richard Hughes calls it by the misleading name scallop-stuffed artichokes. (The recipe uses only the artichoke bottoms and some of the leaves; the rest of the artichoke can be used for other recipes.) Sophisticated in both flavor and appearance, this dish is best made with dry-pack (also known as day-boat) scallops, which have not been processed for a long shelf life. Be careful not to overcook the scallops. Use high heat and get them out of the pan while they’re still bulging.
4 small whole artichokes
GARLIC BEURRE BLANC
½ cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
1 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
1 head garlic, roasted until semisoft
1½ sticks (12 Tbsp.) butter, softened
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
SCALLOPS
¼ cup clarified butter (see recipe, this page)
1 lb. day-boat sea scallops, medium-large
VINAIGRETTE
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon
1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
GARNISH
1 tomato, finely diced
1. Wash and then steam the artichokes until tender, 20–30 minutes. Pull off and save 24 perfect leaves. Clean and remove the artichoke bottoms and set aside.
2. To make the garlic beurre blanc: Bring the wine and vinegar to a boil in a medium skillet. Lower the heat to a low simmer and add the cream. Puree the roasted garlic with the side of a kitchen knife and add to the skillet. Whisk in the softened butter, a little at a time, until the mixture takes on a creamy consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and reserve.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the clarified butter in a medium skillet over high heat. Add the sea scallops, in batches, and sauté until they are lightly browned but still bulging, about 1½ minutes per side. Add more butter to the skillet, as needed, to complete the cooking.
4. Combine all the vinaigrette ingredients except for the olive oil in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the oil.
5. Place an artichoke bottom on each of 4 plates. Surround each bottom with 8 artichoke leaves. Drizzle some of the vinaigrette over the artichokes. Divide the scallops among the 4 plates and spoon 2 tablespoons of the garlic beurre blanc over each. Garnish with the diced tomato. SERVES FOUR.
Chicken Livers with Bacon and Pepper Jelly
It’s time for chicken livers to return to the menus of New Orleans restaurants. We used to get them all the time in all sorts of dishes but rarely anymore. A particular favorite of mine was the chicken liver omelet at the Coffee Pot. The Praline Connection made a hit with pepper jelly–coated fried chicken livers. I borrowed that idea as well as the old rumaki concept from Chinese restaurants to give you this dish. It’s absolutely spectacular served over a plate of red beans and rice.
24 chicken livers
12 slices bacon
¼ cup pepper jelly
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 green onion, finely chopped
½ tsp. salt
1. Preheat the broiler. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil.
2. Rinse the chicken livers. Cut the bacon strips, crosswise, in half. Cook the livers and bacon in the pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove, drain, and cool for a few minutes on paper towels. Roll the chicken livers and bacon on the paper towels to dry them.
3. Whisk the pepper jelly, lemon juice, green onion, and salt together in a small bowl. Roll the chicken livers in the pepper-jelly mixture to coat well. Place each liver atop a half-slice of bacon and roll it up. Skewer 4–6 bacon-wrapped livers together on metal or bamboo skewers, leaving about ½ inch between each liver.
4. Place the skewers on the broiler rack and broil until the bacon is crispy on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn and broil for another 3–4 minutes, or until the second side turns crispy.
5. Remove livers from skewers and serve, as is, as an appetizer. Or unload the skewers on top of red beans and rice for a unique alternative to sausage. SERVES FOUR TO SIX.
Spicy meat pies—big as your hand, shaped like a half-moon—are a major specialty in the central Louisiana town of Natchitoches (pronounced “NAK-uh-tish”). That French colonial city boasts being even older than New Orleans. We get our share of meat pies at the Jazz Festival and the like, but the temptation to make them at home is strong. I must warn you that this is not easy. The filling is straightforward, but the dough is a little work (as is all pie dough). And then you have to deep-fry, never any fun. (They can also be baked, but they’re not quite the same that way.) Still, these things are so good that your guests will think they’re worth the work, even if you decide otherwise.
You can make the pies up ahead of time and freeze them, and fry them when ready to serve. They will taste better if you make the meat mixture the day before and refrigerate it.
FILLING
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. flour
1 large onion, chopped
½ green bell pepper, chopped
1 lb. lean ground pork
1 lb. ground beef round
1 Tbsp. salt-free Creole seasoning (best: Bayou Bang)
½ tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 ribs celery, chopped
12 sprigs parsley, leaves only, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
CRUST
½ tsp. salt
4 cups self-rising flour
6 Tbsp. Crisco
2 egg yolks
1½ cups milk
2 quarts vegetable oil
1. Heat the oil and the flour together in a heavy, large skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, to make a medium-brown roux. Add the onion when the color is right and sauté until the onion begins to brown slightly. Add the bell pepper. Cook for another minute.
2. Add the pork, beef, Creole seasoning, salt, and cayenne. Sauté, breaking it up as you go, until well browned. Pour off any rendered fat.
3. Lower the heat and add the celery, parsley, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce. Continue to cook for another 5 or 6 minutes, stirring now and then to keep anything from forming clumps.
4. Remove the meat mixture to a big metal pan to cool for a few minutes. Cover and refrigerate.
5. Crust: In a bowl, blend the salt into the flour, then cut in the Crisco and blend with a whisk till it disappears and makes the flour slightly crumbly.
6. Blend the egg yolks into the milk and add the milk mixture to the flour. Stir with a kitchen fork till mixed in, then with a rubber spatula to eliminate most of the dry flour. Stir as little as possible.
7. Dump the dough onto a clean, floured work surface and roll out about ¼ inch thick. Fold the dough into thirds, to make three layers. Roll out again, this time to the thickness of two stacked quarters. (This will make it pretty wide; you might want to cut it in half.) Cut out circles about 6 inches in diameter. Handling the dough as little as possible, roll out the leftover dough to cut another batch of circles.
8. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture onto one half of a dough circle. Moisten the edge of the circle with a little water. Fold the circle over into a half-moon and press down the edges with a fork to seal.
9. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy, deep kettle to 350 degrees F. Fry no more than 2 pies at a time until golden brown. Let the heat of the oil recover between batches. MAKES EIGHTEEN TO TWENTY-FOUR PIES.
Frog’s legs are delicious, mild, and easy to love, even on a first try. The smaller they are, the better. I like to marinate them in buttermilk, like fried chicken, before cooking.
FROG’S LEGS
8 pairs of small fresh frogs’ legs
1½ cups buttermilk
1 tsp. Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground white pepper
¼ tsp. dried thyme
½ cup clarified butter (see recipe, this page)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 lemons, halved, for garnish
PERSILLADE SAUCE
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
Leaves from 15 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, chopped
¼ tsp. salt
1. Rinse the frogs’ legs, then place them in a food storage bag with the buttermilk and green pepper sauce, and let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
2. To make the persillade sauce: Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the chopped garlic and parsley, and cook until the parsley is wilted and the garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat. Transfer the parsley mixture to a small food processor or blender. Add the ¼ teaspoon salt and puree. Transfer the mixture into one corner of a small plastic sandwich bag.
3. Combine the flour, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and thyme in a wide bowl. Shake the excess buttermilk off the frogs’ legs and coat them lightly with the flour mixture.
4. Heat the clarified butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the crushed garlic. When the butter is bubbling, add the frogs’ legs and sauté until golden, turning once. Transfer the frogs’ legs to paper towels to drain. Carefully add the vinegar to the skillet and whisk to make a sauce.
5. Arrange 2 frogs’ legs on each of 4 plates. Spoon some of the butter sauce over the legs, trying to avoid picking up the solids on the bottom of the pan. With scissors, snip off the corner of the plastic bag with the parsley sauce. Squeeze out lines of the persillade across the frogs’ legs. Garnish with lemon halves. SERVES FOUR.
Seafood and birds rarely taste especially good together. We get around that here by having smoky andouille sausage make the introductions. As quails never seem substantial enough for a dinner entrée, I say serve this as an appetizer, especially if the main course is fish.
STUFFED QUAILS
¼ lb. andouille (see this page) or other smoked sausage
4 green onions, finely chopped
½ red bell pepper, diced
1 tsp. dried basil
1 cup jumbo lump crabmeat
1 cup shrimp, crab, or chicken stock (see recipe, this page)
2 cups bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten separately
8 baby quails, rib and backbones removed
4 tsp. butter, softened
EGGPLANT
1 eggplant, at least 2½ inches in diameter, peeled and cut into ¼-inch-thick rounds
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. salt-free Creole seasoning
1 Tbsp. salt
¼ cup milk
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
SAUCE
2 green onions, chopped
½ cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
Pinch of dried sage
Pinch of dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the andouille, green onions, bell pepper, and basil in a large skillet over medium heat until the sausage is lightly browned. Pour off any excess fat.
2. Add the crabmeat and stock and bring to a boil. Gently stir to combine everything without breaking up the crab lumps. Over medium-high heat, reduce the liquid by about one-third.
3. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the bread crumbs to make a thick stuffing. Cool the stuffing in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Then mix one of the eggs into the stuffing.
4. Fill each of the quails with some of the stuffing and arrange them in a roasting pan, breast side up. Dot each quail with ½ teaspoon of the butter. Roast until golden brown, 12–15 minutes. (If you have a convection oven, set it to convect.)
5. Meanwhile, cut each slice of eggplant into perfect circles with a 2-inch cookie or biscuit cutter and set aside. Combine the flour, Creole seasoning, and salt in a wide bowl. Whisk the milk and remaining egg together in another bowl. Dip eggplant rounds into the egg mixture, then into the flour mixture.
6. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over high heat and sauté the eggplant until golden brown on both sides. Drain the eggplant on paper towels and keep warm.
7. Transfer the roasted quail to a platter and keep warm. To make the sauce: Place the roasting pan over a burner on medium-high heat. Add the green onions and cook until they begin to brown. Add the wine and bring it to a boil, whisking to dissolve the crusty bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste, and herbs, and return to a boil. Reduce to about 1 cup. Season to taste with salt and pepper and strain the sauce through a fine sieve.
8. Spoon some of the sauce over each of 8 warmed dinner plates. Arrange a few eggplant rounds on the sauce and top with a stuffed quail. SERVES EIGHT.
Mirliton and Root Vegetable Gratin
This dish is a variation on the French classic gratin Savoyard and uses mirlitons, a favorite vegetable around New Orleans, which are called chayote elsewhere.
2 slices lemon
2 whole cloves
1 tsp. black peppercorns
1 rutabaga, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch-thick slices
2 lb. carrots, peeled and cut on the bias into ¼-inch-thick coins
2 lb. parsnips, prepared the same way as the carrots (substitute turnips)
4 mirlitons, halved, seed removed, sliced ¼ inch thick
3 cloves garlic
1½ cups grated Gruyere cheese
1½ cups finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp white pepper
Pinch nutmeg
1 pint whipping cream
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Bring a large saucepan of water to a rolling boil with the lemon, cloves, and peppercorns. Add the rutabaga slices (it helps to do this in a large sieve or a chinoise), boil for about 2 minutes, then remove and drain. Repeat with the carrots, parsnips, and mirlitons. (The mirlitons will only require about 1 minute.)
3. Crush the garlic cloves and use them to wipe the inside of a 2-inch-deep, 12 by 9-inch glass baking dish. Discard what’s left of the garlic.
4. Layer the vegetables in the baking dish in the order listed, sprinkling a mixture of the cheeses between the layers. Season with white pepper and (sparingly) nutmeg. The cheeses will provide all the salt this needs.
5. Combine the whipping cream and the egg yolks thoroughly. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour.
6. Remove the foil, sprinkle bread crumbs in a thin layer over the top, and return to the oven. Continue baking, uncovered, until the crust browns.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to rest and cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. This is better warm than hot. MAKES ABOUT TWELVE SIDE PORTIONS.
