Innholdsfortegnelse for March - April 2017 i Louisiana Cookin'

BRUNCH IS MY FAVORITE meal to host with family and friends. Everybody is lively, Champagne is a must, and everything just seems more fun. I’ll usually pick dishes that can be mostly prepared the night before so I can wake up and have a leisurely morning before guests arrive. The classic exception to the make-ahead brunch is the perfectly poached egg. Its simply decadent richness takes any dish over the top. I’ll order an egg dish at a restaurant nearly every time, but was never consistently able to recreate it at home. Until now, that is. Thanks to 2012 Chef to Watch Brad McGehee’s foolproof technique on page 82, I’m a poaching pro. Whether you stay at home or go out to your favorite restaurant, you’ve got to admit that…

CRAWFISH IS ONE of the essential seasons of Louisiana. It helps bridge the gap between Carnival season and football season, and coincides with most of festival season. For a few months out of the year, crawfish highlight seasonal menus and give us a reason for parties. The fresh-water crustaceans are an unusual kind of Cajun delicacy, one that can be measured by the sack and boiled in spicy stock. A crawfish boil is the Cajun block party. It is a gathering of friends, families, neighbors, or co-workers. Many around the state think of it as a ritual. There are “boil masters” and award-winning eaters. Indeed after the boil, it’s rare that there are leftovers. Good Samaritans in the group will help peel any remaining crawfish to reserve the meat. From…

 A SALAD, OPINES ENGLISH diarist John Evelyn at the end of the 17th century, is not only cool and refreshing but has properties that “contribute to morals, temperance, and chastity.” An inveterate salad eater myself, I can attest to some (but alas, not all) of his claims. Evelyn, gentleman scientist and renowned gardener, also imbibed deeply of European culture and learning. Like many men of his philosophical eminence, he was profoundly interested in food. One of the most extravagant paeans on any victual, his Acetaria: A Discourse on Sallets (1699) signaled not only the return of interest in leafy cuisine but included much already known on the subject. While primordial humans certainly had the habit of being herbivorous, Evelyn’s affirmation of salads seemed slightly novel because the appetite for…

Dining out is quite the event in Louisiana, and even more so when the weekend rolls around. Saturday and Sunday mean it’s time for brunch, that decadent meal we enjoy after sleeping in and lingering for hours with Champagne and Bloody Marys. No matter which corner of the state you’re in, there are amazing restaurants hosting epic weekend meals. It’s no surprise that brunch is such a beloved tradition in the Bayou State. While food historians will debate it, the meal was said to have been invented in 19th-century New Orleans by Madame Bégué, who offered a late (11 a.m.) or second breakfast at her family restaurant. In the century and a half since, eateries all across the state have perfected brunch with too-good-to-pass-up drink specials, lively music from local…

THE STORIES BEHIND many of New Orleans’ traditional foods are fascinating, but perhaps none more so than calas. The rice fritters are not only delicious treats covered in powdered sugar, they were once of vital importance to many enslaved African women living in the city during Spanish rule in the late 1700s. Cala vendors would sell the treats in the French Quarter on Sundays, calling out “Belles calas! Tout chaud!” (Beautiful calas! All hot!) Not all vendors were enslaved, but many were, and they could use their cala earnings to buy their freedom. Cala vendors slowly vanished during the 20th century, although the fritters remained popular as treats to be enjoyed at home and at The Old Coffeepot Restaurant. Calas recently saw a revival in New Orleans, popping up on…

“THE BOOK IS MORE THAN JUST A RECIPE BOOK. THIS ONE’S DIFFERENT. I GO BACK TO THE PEOPLE, THE CULTURE, THE STORIES, AND THE TRADITIONS.”–GEORGE GRAHAM FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS, George Graham has explored the depths of Cajun and Creole cooking through his blog, Acadiana Table. The Lafayette resident and former restaurateur started the blog to share the stories of Cajun and Creole culinary culture to the world. Now, in his first cookbook, Acadiana Table: Cajun and Creole Home Cooking from the Heart of Louisiana (Harvard Common Press, 2016), George brings his blog to life with a beautifully photographed tribute to the culinary traditions of the Bayou State. The 320-page tome is not only an impressive collection of some of Louisiana’s most beloved dishes—Crawfish-Head Bisque, Baked Mirliton Squash with…

WILL THEY BE BIG? Will they be small? Will there be enough to go around? I’m talking about crawfish, of course. It turns out that those massive floods we had last year may have a bigger impact on crawfish season than we knew. Experts are saying that flooding upsets the natural growth and reproduction of crawfish, so right now we are waiting to see if crawfish season is going to be a boom or bust. I don’t know about you, but I will fully enjoy whatever Mother Nature bestows. So are the many crawfish-focused restaurants and markets statewide. But what if you could find a place that only opens from January to May—crawfish season—five days a week, and what if you had to drive to the middle of nowhere (that’s…

OVER THE COURSE of the city’s rich history, New Orleans’ position at the mouth of the Mississippi River has made it one of the largest immigration ports in the country. As a result, there are countless Old World traditions carried on today that are part of the fabric of the city—not the least of which are the bountiful tri-level St. Joseph’s altars brimming with multi-shaped baked goods, pastas, seafood, fruits, candles, and more. The altars, which observe the Catholic feast day of St. Joseph on March 19, arrived during the 1880s when impoverished Sicilians settled in the Crescent City. The custom began centuries ago as a way for Sicilians to express thanks to St. Joseph for saving them from famine. As the story goes, Sicily, located at the toe of…

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WE LOVE GALETTES both for their rustic charm and their versatility. With a great dough recipe (like this one), you can turn just about any seasonal fruit or vegetable into a beautiful free-form pie. Galettes give you the artistic freedom to mix and match whatever flavors sound best to you at the moment. For example, if you don’t have (or don’t care for) Gorgonzola cheese, go ahead and substitute a milder one, like chèvre. Don’t have hazelnuts? Don’t sweat it. Louisiana pecans are a great alternative. And let’s just say you have some fresh herbs around the house, like thyme, oregano, or marjoram—chop them up and add them to the basil. As the farmers’ market bounty grows throughout the season, you’ll find yourself reaching for this recipe over and over…

POACHING IS A simple technique that elevates eggs into luxurious treats. Ubiquitous on breakfast and brunch menus, poached eggs are cooked by slipping them into a pot of simmering water until they are delicately set with opaque, silky whites and golden, runny yolks. Once you’ve mastered this skill, you can enjoy poached eggs any time you want. Cooking a perfectly poached egg may seem daunting, but it can be successfully and easily executed by following just a few simple steps. We sat down with 2012 Chef to Watch Brad McGehee at Blue Line Sandwich Co. in Metairie to find out the best technique for poaching eggs, his favorite ways to serve them, and his killer recipe for Corned Beef Hash. With these pro tips and a bit of practice, you’ll…

GROWING UP IN a Sicilian-New Orleanian family, Sunday get-togethers were a big part of Chef Nick Lama’s childhood, and a tradition that influences his menu at Avo in Uptown New Orleans. Everyone jumped in to help cook whatever was in season—crawfish in the spring, barbecues in the summer. Nick has special Lenten memories of all of the cookies and sweets that would go into building St. Joseph's Day altars (for more on those, see page 27). One of his favorites was his grandmother’s traditional Sicilian cucidati (fig cookies, pronounced koochi-dahti). Like Mexican wedding cookies or Russian tea cookies, these are not especially sweet, and taste even better when eaten with coffee. Starting last year, Nick, his family, and friends erected a St. Joseph’s altar at Avo to celebrate the custom…

AT RESTAURANT SAGE in Monroe, Chef Blake Phillips is creating innovative yet familiar dishes featuring locally sourced ingredients. A Monroe native, Blake was always fascinated by cooking. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin, Texas, and subsequently working at a resort in Winter Park, Colorado, he moved to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, where he spent nearly a decade at several restaurants, including Mike’s on the Avenue. He returned to his hometown a couple of years ago to become a part of the burgeoning culinary scene. At Restaurant Sage, Blake and his team make everything from scratch using as many local ingredients as possible from his network of local farmers and growers. That includes things like peaches, tomatoes, and duck eggs, as…