Crawfish Etouffee

This is one of my favorite Louisiana foods and it is so easy to make.  

1 lb. crawfish peeled and deveined (get them pre-prepared at your seafood market)

1 onion (medium)

1 bell pepper (medium)

2 stalks of celery

1 stick real butter

4 tbs. of flour

two cans or one box of chicken stock

water as needed to thin

creole seasoning

pepper and salt to taste

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed 6 quart sauce pan.  Add chopped vegetables and sautee until soft - about 8 - 10 minutes on medium heat.

Add crawfish tails with all the fat and juice.  Cook until the tails feel a little firmer.  Add flour and stir.  Let flour mixture cook for a few minutes to get the raw flour flavor out

Add chicken stock. Stir vigorously to get the roux to break up.  Bring to a boil and then simmer.  Add seasonings as desired.  For additional flavor you can use a tablespoon of chicken base or chicken bullion  cubes (3 - 4) instead of salt.  

Serve over rice or put it in a pie shell with rice to make a crawfish pie!

Ron’s Perfect Biscuits

My mother’s biscuit recipe is on this blog, Doris’ Biscuits, but this is my modified version   I have trouble getting consistent biscuits her way   These are no fail   

2 1/2 cup White Lilly self rising flour 

1 stick butter frozen then grated

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup cold milk or buttermilk

Put flour and baking powder in bowl and mix together. Grate frozen butter over flour

Stir grated butter into flour. Add milk and stir very little.   Flour a board heavily and put mixture out on flour. With Floured hands pat dough into a small rectangle.  Fold over itself three times for flaky layers.  Pat out to height of biscuit cutter.  Cut all biscuits.  Reform dough scraps and cut rest of biscuits.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 450 degrees in a skillet or on a heavy baking sheet pan. 

Tomato Gravy

My mom made this many Sunday nights to put over her homemade biscuits   Nothing better This gravy is one reason to can you own tomatoes   

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 to 3/4 cup plain flour

One quart home canned tomatoes or one large can of quality diced tomatoes

Make roux with oil and flour.  Stir constantly on medium fire till the color is  brown like the color of a brown paper sack. Do not let it burn. 

Add tomatoes and stir.  Add water to your desired consistency.  Cook until tomatoes are mostly broken up.  Season with pepper and salt as needed.

King Cake

This is a really easy and delicious King cake recipe compliments of my favorite lawyer was and Renaissance man Michael Wyatt. King cake is a Lousiana tradition eaten from Twelfth Night on January 6 through Mardi Gras. After making it, a small plastic baby is inserted in the cake.  The person who finds the baby throws the next King cake party

Mix:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. dry milk
1 package rapid rise yeast

Add: 1 cup hot water & stir


Add: 1 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 c. oil

Add: 1 to 1 1/4 cup flour. Knead until spongy. Let rise 25 minutes.

Separate the dough into two and roll them out until they're long and about 4 inches wide
Mix: ½ stick melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 T flour
Roll up – pinch – seal well
Braid the two rolls together
Let rise 15 minutes.


Bake at 350º, 17 min.

To decorate the cake, mix up a simple frosting with a lot of powdered sugar and a little milk (I also add vanilla extract). Add the frosting while the cake is still hot and sprinkle purple, gold, and green sugar on top. You can find the sugar at most craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby.

As for king cake babies, you can buy them online, or if you're lucky, you can find them in some party stores with the stuff for baby showers.

Maggie's Cornbread

 My grandmother Maggie Mae Blalock Morgan made this nearly every day.  Easy to make and delicious.

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients. Then add milk and oil.  Bake in as greased skillet at 425 degrees until golden   About 20 minutes.

Best when cold and crumbled in a glass of cold milk.

Abel's Jambalaya

There are many types of jambalaya recipes -- brown to red in color -- chicken and sausage -- seafood. They are all delicious.  The recipe I am sharing with you is the one that my father, Billy Abel, used to make at our family sporting goods store, the Land of Sports.  We often fed many customers and friends at lunch time.  The meat in the jambalaya depended greatly on what was in season and what people brought us from their hunts.  Rabbit, Squirrel, and even alligator tail meat make excellent protein for this dish.  However, the go-to meat for this jambalaya is chicken and smoked sausage, which is what this recipe calls for.

This is the easiest and cheapest one-pot meal you can make.

2-3 lbs chicken meat -- I recommend boneless chicken thighs and breasts for ease (though my dad always made his with bone-in chicken)
2 lbs of smoked sausage -- I like Manda's -  cut in half rounds about 1/2 inch thick
3 cups of rice (parboiled - like Uncle Ben's converted) -- this is important for the novice -- otherwise you may end up with the worst jambalaya ever -- both crunchy and mushy -- awful
6 cups chicken stock
1 large onion diced
1 large bell pepper diced
3 stalks celery diced
Oil to coat the bottom of a heavy bottomed 6- 8 quart pot
Creole Seasoning to taste.  You can use black pepper and salt instead if you prefer.

Pour enough oil to cover the bottom of the pot.  Put in cut chicken breasts and thighs  -- I usually quarter them unless the pieces are huge -- they will be large but you can break them up as you cook.  Season liberally with creole seasoning.  The meat will be juicier if you resist the urge to cut them into small, bite-sized chunks.  Brown the chicken well on medium-high  to high heat, stirring with a heavy spatula frequently.  A brown fond will form on the bottom of the pot.  This is what you want for the color and flavor.

Once the chicken is browned and your have used your spatula to cut it into smaller pieces, add your cut sausage and brown this also, add another lighter coat of seasoning.

When chicken and sausage have browned, add the onion, bell pepper, and celery - again add another light covering of seasoning.  Stir and cover to let soften.

Next, add rice.  Stir so that the rice is coated with the oil that is in the pot.

Next, add your chicken stock  Stir well and lower heat to medium.  Cover pot.  Stir every 5 minutes or so until all the moisture is taken up by the rice.  At this time, test the rice to make sure it is soft enough.  If you like it softer, you can add a half-cup more of stock (or water) and stir.  Turn off heat and let it sit for about 20 minutes before serving.

Serve with french bread and enjoy.

Key Lime Pie

Beth's favorite dessert is Key Lime Pie -- she prefers this to cake on her birthday.  This is a really easy recipe.  Little prep time required.  


1 package of whole graham crackers - pounded or food processed into crumbs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 cup key lime or regular lime juice
2 whole large eggs

Mix sugar and graham cracker crumbs in a pie plate.  Add melted butter and mix together.  Press mixture into the pie plate for the crust.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, mix the condensed milk, lime juice and eggs together.  Pour mixture in the baked pie crust.  Bake the whole pie for 15 minutes more.  Let pie cool and place in the refrigerator until cold.

Serve with whipped cream and some lime zest on top.