Category Archives: cajun food

Creole Onion Soup Hits the Spot!

22 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in cajun food, Carolyn Wright Blog, creole food, Creole Onion Soup

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Soup again? 

Guess, it’s just the time of the year that screams…”SOUP”!  Even though the weather has been mild, in South Louisiana, so far – I just love making soup in January…and I love French Onion Soup.  But, when I see “Creole Onion Soup” on a menu…well, my heart stops!  Maybe, it’s because you just don’t see it that often or  maybe –  it’s just that good… Whatever the reason, if a restaurant has it on their menu, try it!  It is similar to French Onion Soup, except it is creamier (but without cream) and there isn’t a thick crust of cheese on top.

Don’t be mistaken into thinking or reading that it is “a short cut” to making a great onion soup…because, if you do it right – it’s not!  Yea, you still need to peel and slice a small mountain of fresh onions and cook them down slowly..but so worth the effort! 

Ingredients:

3 lbs medium Vidalia or other “sweet” onions – sliced very thinly using either a mandolin, food processor or by hand (have your goggles ready!)

1 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup dry white wine (Justin Wilson was right on this one…never cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink!)  Looks like a little more than a cup – just noticed! Guess, it worked…

1/2 gallon beef stock – homemade or using concentrated beef stock

1 can beef consomme’

1 cup of water

3 springs fresh thyme – if you can’t get fresh, just omit

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1 clove garlic – chopped

1 loaf of baguette bread or small french bread – cut into small rounds, buttered lightly and toasted in oven

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Melt butter and olive oil in medium size dutch oven or soup pot;

Add onions (it will look like they won’t fit…but they will cook down quite a bit!)

Stir onions well – to make sure that they are all coated with the butter and olive oil;

Cook on high heat – stirring frequently – just until onions begin to saute’, then lower  to a medium heat;

Add salt and sugar – continue to cook and stir often until onions begin to carmelize (about 1 hour).  If onions begin to brown or cook too quickly, turn heat down;

Add chopped garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes;

Very slowly, add flour to onions (about 1/4 cup at a time) stirring and blending well in between additions, until all flour has been added;

Stir flour and onion mixture, stirring constantly (being careful not to break up the onions), for another 10 minutes;

Slowly, add wine – stirring and blending into mixture as you pour;

Cook over medium heat, stirring and scraping bottoms and sides of pot to delgaze, for about 10 minutes;

Add beef broth, consomme’ and water – stir to blend and combine into soup;

Add fresh thyme, bay leaf, cayenne and black pepper;

Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer – cook for 30 minutes;

Turn off heat, cover and let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving;

Place a piece of toasted bread round (or two!) in the bottom of a bowl and pour soup on top…

I promise…it’s good! 

So good, that when my husband, Robert, started eating his bowl of soup (In front of the TV…on his lap!)  I could hear him moaning…”That is sooo good – no, delicious!”  then a little louder…”what kind of cheese did you use?”  To my, “No cheese!”; then…”is that sherry in the soup?”  “No, white wine!” …Finally, “man, I need another bowl of that stuff!” And my final warning…”remember, onions and your heart burn!”  Surprise…he ignored me and had the second bowl! 

That good….

Portuguese Kale and White Bean Soup…Cajun Style!

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in cajun food, Carolyn Wright Blog, Portuguese Kale and White Bean Soup

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After coming home from the Hub City Farmer’s Market this past Saturday morning, looking at the beautiful “3 Kale Mix” from Gotreaux’s Family Farm, I knew instantly what I wanted to do…cool January Day and a quiet house – Soup Day!!!  Not just any soup – the Portuguese Kale and White Bean Soup that I have made a couple of times before…yes,  I had just the recipe.

Robert, my husband, just happened to have cooked a big pot of white beans on Thursday, so I knew they would be great with the Kale…and I always keep a package of Savoies Pork Sausage in my fridge (what good Cajun girl doesn’t?)!  Fresh tomatoes from my “front porch garden” – thought that they would never turn red!  But, they did…and I  just had to use those precious “3” in something that would really be wonderful – If you ever watched “3” (yes, only 3!) tomatoes slowly grow, and slowly turn light pink, then red…and then your plant is done – you know what I mean!!!  To top off all of these ingredients – my herbs are still doing great and thriving on the porch – and those fresh herbs are sooo important in the flavor of this soup.  But, don’t ever not cook this soup if you don’t have fresh herbs…you can, now, buy them at almost every market or use dry herbs.

Looked like I had all of the ingredients for this wonderful special soup…

Ingredients:

Kale – 1 bunch chopped

3 fresh tomatoes – chopped or 1 can of whole tomatoes chopped

(Just look at those precious tomatoes!)

1 package of dried white beans – cooked or 2 cans of cannellini or any type of canned white beans

2 quarts of homemade chicken stock or 2 quarts of chicken stock made from dry or concentrated chicken stock

1 pound of Savoies Smoked Pork Sausage or any other type of smoked sausage you can find – chopped into bite size, small pieces

3 medium potatoes – chopped into small pieces

2 Onions – finely chopped

1 Bell Pepper – finely chopped

3 cloves garlic – chopped

Bouquet Garni – 6 stems of fresh parsley, 6 stems of fresh lemon thyme and 4 fresh sage leaves tied together and removed after soup in cooked or use 1 tsp of each herb dried

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp black pepper

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Heat olive oil in medium size soup pot or dutch oven on medium heat

Add chopped sausage and stir frequently until browned

Add kale, onions and bell peppers and continue to cook on a medium low heat until all veggies are soft

Stir in tomatoes and potatoes – cook for 15 minutes, stirring often

Add chicken stock and white beans –  blend all ingredients well

Stir in Bouquet Garni or dried herbs and pepper – you shouldn’t need any additional salt, because the sausage contains a lot of salt

Bring to a boil, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes

Turn off heat and let soup sit for at least 30 more minutes

Serve with any good fresh “crusty” bread…enjoy!!!!

My oldest daughter, Kimberly, came by and loved it so much, that she took some home for supper and asked if I could freeze some for nights when she wanted something warm to eat…which, of course, I was thrilled to do!! Then, brought some to my precious Anne Marie, who just had her first baby (and I miss her like crazy, at work!).  I even had enough to freeze a few containers to keep…Imagine!

So, if you want to know if a Cajun girl can cook a “Portuguese Soup”…of course we can!!!  Works for everyone I know!

Cabbage Rolls – Bring in the New Year….Every Year!

12 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in Cabbage Rolls, cajun food, Carolyn Wright Blog

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Cabbage Rolls have been a traditional New Year’s Day meal in our family, for as long as I can remember…can I say – a long time!!! My mother learned to make these delicious little bundles from my grandmother (her mother-in-law) in the 1960’s and they have been a family tradition ever since! At some point in time, I sat by my mother and made her measure everything so that we would not lose this great treasure….The recipe comes out perfect every time – Just as it was written!!!

So what happens when my husband and I decide (for the first time ever!) to go out-of-town for the whole New Year holiday? Meaning that I won’t be home to make the “Annual Cabbage Roll Feast”… (This always consists of cabbage rolls, black-eyed peas, potato salad and a Honey Ham.)

Well, after my children all decide that I need to either stay home or make the cabbage rolls ahead of time (which I didn’t have the time to do)….. My oldest daughter, Kimberly, painfully pulls out the recipe that I had given to her years ago and decides that maybe it is time for her to give it a try… Many phone calls later, I am thrilled to report that she was successful with her very first attempt! She just didn’t know what to do with all of the rolls….the recipe makes about 100! She ran out of cabbage and saved the leftover meat mixture for me…I was sooo happy, because I just had to make – even the smallest of batches for my year to get off to the right start! Not just ready to pass the torch on making the “family cabbage rolls”, just yet….but it sure feels good to have a “back up”!

Ingredients:

4 lbs. ground beef
4 large onions chopped finely
1 1/2 cans whole tomatoes – cut up with juice
2 cans tomato soup
3 cups raw rice
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 cups shredded par-boiled cabbage (use the center portions of the whole head of cabbage after removing the leaves that you will use for the rolls)
5 heads of cabbage

In a large pot, fill with water and bring to a boil;
Have a large cookie sheet or some other shallow pan near the stove to put the leaves of cabbage on;

Remove a few of the tough outer leaves off of each head of cabbage and lin the bottom and sides of a large pot that you will be cooking the rolls in;

Remove center core of cabbage, and drop the whole head into boiling water;

After a few minutes start to remove the outer leaves with tongs and place leaves on pan;


Continue removing until the leaves begin to get too small to use;
Remove the par-boiled center and use for shredding into meat mixture;

Mix all ingredients in a very large bowl;

Place an ice cream scoop full on each leaf and roll ends in, then roll from the sides;
Start  layering your Dutch oven or large pan with cabbage rolls until it is full or you run out of the mixture or cabbage leaves;

Once the pot is full of rolls, add water to cover about 1/2 way up to the top of the rolls;


Place in 350 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Take one out to test for doneness (rice should be done). If rice is still a little crunchy, let cook for another 30 minutes.

Remove pot from oven, take lid off so that they will stop cooking and drain any of the liquid remaining in pot. Or, once they have cooled enough to be handled, you could carefully remove cabbage rolls from pot and place in another large container or in containers to be given to a few close friends and family….I can assure you they will be thrilled!

The last time I made cabbage rolls with my grandmother, she was 95…Still living in her home, doing quite well for herself – but wanted “her” cabbage rolls – and it is quite an undertaking, needless to say!  She knew that I made them just like she did, so she called me and asked me to come over to help her….I prepared all of the cabbage and mixture – as she looked on,  telling me..”yea, that’s how you do it”!  Then, finally came her favorite part…the rolling.  Now, she was a tiny woman and wanted to do this part of the process at her kitchen bar area…To get up, I had to give her a little “boost” up so that she could sit on one of her bar stools to roll with me.  We sat at that counter in her kitchen, laughing and telling stories as we rolled 96 of these precious cabbage rolls (and yes, she counted!).  When they were done, she ate a few, put some in the refrigerator for later, let me take home about a dozen…then carefully wrapped the rest separately in saran wrap, to put in zip locks, in her freezer for God only knows how long!  All I know, is that she wasn’t sharing with anyone…she was stashing them away for when she had that “envie” for one of “her” cabbage rolls.

I cherish the memories of that particular day with her – always will…

Cabbage Rolls have been working in my family for a long time – New Year’s Day or any old day!!!