Category Archives: Acadiana food blog

Gazpacho – Cold Soup for Hot Days of Summer!

29 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Acadiana food blog, Carolyn Wright Blog, Carolyn Wright Food Blogger, Gazpacho

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I guess it was in the peak of our “little drought” in June, when the tomatoes were at their peak…I was trying my best to keep the plants from frying in the sun and at the same time – trying to find (and invent) ways to use them all!  That is when you are “up to your ears” in wonderful Heirloom Tomatoes of all colors – and if you have your own plants (and, of course,  I always get carried away in early spring when it is time to plant!) you are finding every sunny windowsill lined and baskets on the countertops full of these juicy summer miracles.

After you have gotten over the thrill of another year of ripe tomato sandwiches (made with real – not light mayo on fresh slices of Evangeline Maid white bread) with a touch of salt and pepper, tomato salads, stuffed tomatoes, tomatoes in everything you cook, you might even decide to put some up in canning jars – just to ensure that you can enjoy them longer!  Yes, I did put up a whole pot of creole tomatoes and plan on making them last as long as I can!!

 

It was at the end of one of those long hot days, when I just had to have a cold soup…one that I could make and keep in the fridge for the week –  to bring along to work for a cool light lunch (Maybe with one of those decadent tomato sandwiches!).  With all of the tomatoes sitting on my counter and something had to be done with them!…a Gazpacho was the first and most logical soup that popped into my mind….

I use the recipe that I picked up at The Hub City Farmer’s Market from “Linda Jo”, from Youngsville, La,  who makes homemade salsa.  It is so easy and comes out perfect every time!  Now, of course, not everyone will be fortunate enough to have a pantry full of Linda Jo’s Salsa….so just use your favorite or make your own!

Ingredients:

1 cucumber seeded and chopped, but not peeled

1 red pepper and 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 ripe tomatoes – chopped

3 cups tomato juice

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 16 ounce jar of Linda Jo’s Salsa (or your favorite brand)

small bunch of cilantro – chopped finely

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mix well and chill before serving…best if chilled overnight!

Will keep well in fridge for a week.

This cold soup is a favorite in my family…so I can promise that it would work for yours!!  Enjoy….

7 Day Gumbo Marathon – Day 1…Hen, Sausage and Tasso Gumbo

20 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in Acadiana food blog, Carolyn Wright Blog, lafayette, la food blog, Sausage and Tasso Gumbo

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This past week, I watched the weather like a child waiting for Christmas morning! A cold front was on the way – finally!  There is a local saying, “You wouldn’t want to be a chicken in South Louisiana when the first cold front of the season finally comes through”!   When the wind turns north and the temperatures drop below 50 degrees for the first time, there is a run on chickens at the local markets!  You can be sure, if you look in anyone’s basket, you will see some sort of makings for a gumbo…and for that first front, usually a chicken or hen and sausage.

Gumbo season always stirs up old debates on ingredients for gumbos – Chicken or Hen?  Sausage or Andouille?  Roux or Orkra…do you combine the two?  Roasted or Smoked Duck?  And like any good cajun lady, surely I have my opinions – all based on “family history”, of course…

Chicken or Hen – Use a chicken, if you are in a rush; On all other occasions, use a hen (yes, a tough old fat hen!)  Just plan on cooking the thing for hours and hours, but you can’t beat the flavor.

Sausage or Andouille – I like them both, but if you are cooking a duck gumbo – always use andouille!  Straight from my son’s mouth…

Roux or Okra…combine the two?  Never in my house!  I was brought up to believe that it was just about sacrilegious to mix roux and okra in a gumbo – generations of Arnauds and Millers (my mother’s family) have engrained this into my soul!  Now, I love Okra Gumbo as much as I love Roux Gumbo, just never add one to the other!  PERIOD.  (of course, that is in my house!  A lot of great cooks do combine both, I am just not one of them)

Roasted or Smoked Duck – I like both, just depends on time and what you are in the mood for!  Smoked is fantastic, but sometimes you just want the roasted flavor and to taste the wonderful gaminess of the duck.

Now, about that “Marathon”?  For the next week, I will be blogging about different types of gumbos – seven to be exact!  Yes, seven different gumbos in seven days…

Day One:  Hen, Sausage and Tasso Gumbo:

1 hen, cut into pieces

3 lbs of smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces (try to always use smoked sausage from South Louisiana – others just do not taste the same and tend to give the gumbo an “odd” flavor)

1 lb of Tasso, cut into very small pieces

1/4 cup canola oil

4 medium onions, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

2 cups celery, chopped

1 cup of dark roux – You can make your own using 1 cup canola oil and 1 cup of flour:  Blend in a large heavy pot and cook on medium high fire – stirring constantly (and I mean “constantly” because it gets very hot and can scorch easily!)  Continue stirring until it is deep dark copper-colored – takes about 45 minutes; Let cool slightly before using (make sure that you keep stirring occasionally while it is cooling down, because it will keep cooking) OR use any jar of prepared cajun roux

3 quarts of chicken stock

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Heat oil in stock pot or other large heavy pot

Brown hen on medium high heat until all side are deep brown, turning often

Stir in smoked sausage and tasso and continue to brown for about another 30 minutes, stirring and scraping bottom of pot

Remove all meat onto a clean platter or tray

Add chopped vegetables to pot (with all drippings from meat remaining), scraping bottom often; cook for 15 minutes until onions are transparent

Add chicken stock and roux;  Bring to a boil, stirring, making sure that the roux has dissolved completely in stock

Return chicken, sausage and tasso to pot

Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a medium, low heat.

Cook until the big ole hen in tender!  (At least 2-4 hours)  Adding additional water as the gumbo cooks down – depends on how thick or soupy you want it to be…

Degrease the gumbo in the end – Very Important, because you will end up with a lot of fat floating on the top.  Remove as much as you can!

Serve with white rice, chopped green onions and crispy fresh bread…

Last night, I was asked by a close friend, “what would your last meal would be?”
At the time, I thought of so many things that I love and couldn’t pick just one dish.   But after cooking tonight, it’s easy…for sure – good old hen, sausage and tasso gumbo! Last meal? Would take my sweet time and do it up right….

About

14 Wednesday Sep 2011

Posted by in Acadiana food blog, Carolyn Wright Blog, food

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I have long been inspired by my Mother’s love of cooking and the way that she created a safe and warm enviroment for our family.   She always searched for the best and freshest ingredients, no matter which country road or field that might lead her to.   She and my grandmother would pack up my brother and I to head out in search of a sack of okra, fresh corn, tomatoes or anything else they could find.  Always stopping to visit relatives along the way… I loved those long summer days!

The rich, deep aromas that would fill the air, as soon as you walked in our home, still linger in my head.  She instilled within me, a  longtime passion for cooking and discovering new ways to make food work!

Always searching for new restaurants, but still loving and supporting my old favorites.  Food and cooking bring me back to past memories and constantly creates new ones.  To me, cooking is about life, love, family and friends.  It’s about having fun in the moment, that leads to memories that last a lifetime.

Crabmeat in the Fridge

12 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by in Acadiana food blog, Carolyn Wright Blog, food, food blog, lafayette, la food blog, Louisiana food blog, south louisiana food, Uncategorized

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It’s tough to get back into the swing of things, on a Monday morning, after a great weekend with friends, family, food and great weather!  Dragging myself out of bed, walking out to the front of the walkway in my pj’s to pick up the paper….can’t start the morning without the paper and a cup of coffee. Neighbors don’t even notice me anymore! While going to the refrigerator to get milk for my coffee (so I can read the paper to see what the rest of the world is doing, or not doing!) I see this little container of lonely jumbo lump crabmeat sitting in the middle of the upper shelf.  Totally untouched and forgotten…and did I mention expensive?  Buying this crabmeat on Saturday morning  seemed like a good idea, at the time.   I fully intended on treating someone to a “crabmeat something or another”!  Bringing it to some party or treating my husband to a Godchaux Salad, maybe.  But here it sat, untouched and unused.  You know, it’s never the same after you freeze it!  God forbid… I could hear my mother’s voice.  Looking to see what else I forgot to use (because Monday is not my best day to go to the store and usually a busy day at work), I saw Half and Half cream, a jar of pimentos and wonderful butter.  All the makings of my version of Crabmeat Imperial.  Simple, easy and delicious.  So, that’s when supper became a breakfast thought that lasted throughout the day.   Here it is, folks:

1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat

4 oz butter

2 cups half and half cream

1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

3 oz jar sliced pimentos

Splash of any white wine you might have (or might be drinking!)

Salt and pepper to taste

It’s optional to add a few dashes of tabasco or hot sauce, a little lemon juice, fresh herbs or a few grates of fresh parmesan cheese.  Just remember, this is not about the cheese, it’s about the crabmeat!

Empty the container of crabmeat into a colander and “gently, very gently” feel the lumps and remove any shells.  This is very important!  Nothing worse than enjoying a delicious crab dish, then starting to feel shells in your mouth….

Melt the butter in a skillet over a medium fire.  Slowly blend in the flour, stirring constantly, until it is nice, thick and smooth.  Make sure that all of the lumps are gone!  Slowly pour in the half and half cream, stirring as you pour.  This is when you could add, just a splash (no more than a 1/4 cup) of white wine. Continue to stir constantly until this becomes thick and velvety.  Add your pimentos.  Blend well.  Add your seasonings.  Finally, again…”gently” add in your crabmeat.  Make sure that you don’t break all of the beautiful white lumps!  Just sort of toss with your spoon, rather than stirring.   Pour this wonderful mixture into one baking dish or several ramekins.   Now, tonight, I decided that I had to add breadcrumbs to the top.  After rummaging through my pantry, not finding any ready-made, I took a piece of sliced bread (any bread will do) and put it in the toaster on high.  Cooled it, crumbled it up and added it to the top.  Just to add a nice crunch.  Bake at 375 degrees until bubbly and the top is nice and golden brown.  About 25 minutes.

As I was sitting down with my hubby (to eat in our laps as we watched “Mantrackers” on TV) WAIT… Did I really just say that?  Must have, oh well! After all of that “thraka” you would like to think that we could set a nice little place setting on one of our tables and eat like Ozzie and Harriet , but nooooo, tonight we are eating in front of the t.v…we don’t even have tv trays…perfect!
Even with that thought in mind, I couldn’t help but think that this worked…and when food works, it’s all good!  One happy husband and one happy Monday!

PS..I’ve got to get someone to hold this iPhone or a camera while I cook!  These pics are taken while I am holding my iPhone with my chin, snapping pictures, while I cook…not an easy task for a normal human being with only two arms and one neck!  (In my right mind I can’t ask my husband, who has had a triple bypass, to not go out and exercise while I am preparing to feed him food laden with butter and cream…he might call the cops on me!)  Have to figure this one out!

Me…Food Blogging?

11 Sunday Sep 2011

Posted by in Acadiana food blog, Carolyn Wright Blog, cochon Lafayette, food blog, lafayette, la food blog, Louisiana food blog, restaurants in lafayette, louisiana, restaurants in south louisiana, River Ranch, south louisiana food

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Today is as good of a day as any to start this new adventure and let the whole world into my life as a long time food lover and cook.  Some call themselves “foodies”, but I don’t really like that word,  a little too trendy…and what does that really mean?  Not to knock those that love that term, I just prefer to say simply that I love good food and will cook just about anything.  And I can get a little obsessive, like when looking for a piece of pork belly and ending up buying a 60 pound case!  Anyone need a piece of pork belly?  But it did make a knockout Porchetta…later on that one.  Am I sure about opening up my “food life”  for public scutiny…not really, but this is a passion that I am willing to share,  Anyway, why not!  Do what you love and love what you do…isn’t that on some t-shirt somewhere…

Last night we went with a couple of close friends to a pre-opening party for the new restauant, Cochon, in Lafayette.  Chef Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski are officially opening this coming Thursday, September 15th.  Just couldn’t be a more beautiful setting overlooking the Vermilion River.  As we walked in, we were greeted with the most cheerful waiters with trays full of samples from the menu.