RV Cajun Cooking

Cajun French:  le cachat (lu ka-sha) – squash

Spring time means squash blossoms!

We get excited when squash blossoms are available at the farmers market.  They are fragile flowers yet so much fun to cook with.  The first ones of the season are always for stuffing.  Unlike most recipes, we do not batter and deep fry; we stuff and pan fry.  Pan frying allows the flavor of the squash and its flower to blossom to its fullest flavor.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French:  l’huile d’olive (l’ū-eel d’ō-leev) – olive oil

Pasta?  Yes, please.

Pasta is very versatile and can be a main dish, side dish or snack.  This salad fits all three descriptions.  The salad is a great lunch during the heat of the summer or an afternoon snack while enjoying the spring breezes.  It is also one of the best potluck dishes for a crowd.  Anytime, anywhere this is a great dish!

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French:  la patate (la pa-tat) – potato

Fresh lump crabmeat is an advantage of living in south Louisiana and we enjoy it whenever we are able.  We purchased a pound of lump crabmeat this past Saturday from the Outlaw Katfish Company at the Red Stick Farmers Market.  Not wanting to freeze the crab we have been enjoying it in various ways.  Also having fresh mushrooms we decided to stuff the mushroom caps and serve them with pasta.  The Zapp’s Potato Chips adds a crunch and kick to the caps.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French:  le riz (lu ree) – rice

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.  What to do with that little bit of leftovers; combine them and make a great side dish.  Rice is a staple in Cajun kitchens and at Cajun meals yet sometimes there is just a little rice left, not enough for one serving much less for a family.  When that happens we just see what other vegetables we have and start combining and soon we have Veggie Rice.  This is a quick, easy, and time saving dish.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French:  bourrer (boor-ā) – stuff

“Have you tried pop up shrimp?”  We were asked this question and had no idea what Letti was talking about.  What she meant was dried shrimp and no we had never used them.  We were familiar with the shrimp and knew many Cajuns used them in gumbos; yet we had not tried them.  Never ones to let something go; we purchased a package of dried Louisiana shrimp and put it in the pantry.  Last night that bag of shrimp was staring at us and so it was time to give them a try.  They are different and not like any shrimp we have used before.  In researching we found the dried shrimp are used in oriental cooking especially in soups and stews.  We decided to go Italian with them and stuff pasta shells.  The taste is definitely different and we will probably give them another try in some other cuisine.  The saga continues….

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French:  la feve (la fev) – pea

Cajun Caviar, Texas Caviar, Poor Man’s Caviar as many names as there are recipes.  Ours was born out of necessity – friends called and invited us to dinner that night.  We never go anywhere without bringing a dish, what to bring?  After searching the pantry we decided on black eye peas with shrimp, then we saw the avocado on the counter and that sounded refreshing.  So our version of Cajun Caviar was born.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French: la confiture aux figues (la kon-fee-tūr ō feeg) – fig preserve

Brussels Sprouts are one of those love/hate vegetables. We are on the love side and enjoy them from steamed to cooked in a sauce and everything in between. It is Spring time and in south Louisiana that means strawberries and they were abundant at the Red Stick Farmers Market. Besides fresh strawberries, Spring also means Abita Strawberry Beer, one of their seasonal beers. Home from the market we had Brussels Sprouts and fresh strawberries and in the frig we had Abita Strawberry Beer and fig preserves. Below is the dish that evolved from those ingredients. It is sweet with a hint of savory from Camp Dog Cajun Seasoning.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French: le chien (lu shee-ain) – dog

There is a new dog in the house or at least on the pantry shelf – Camp Dog Cajun Seasoning.  Our pantry has a shelf of nothing except Cajun and Creole Seasonings and we use all of them.  Of course, we have our favorites yet are always interested in new versions.  Enter Camp Dog and he hopped right up on the shelf.  We received a can of Camp Dog Cajun Seasoning in the mail and have been trying it on everything from eggs to Brussels Sprouts.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

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Cajun French: la casserole (la kas-rol) – casserole

Farmers markets not only offer fresh local items, they also offer local homemade items. Finding fresh homemade vegetarian tamales at the Red Stick Farmers Market made our mouth’s water. We purchased six warm tamales and knew lunch was ready. Very few times we can remember being disappointed with a farmers market purchase, yet the tamales are now on that list. The vegetables tasted like a bag of frozen mixed vegetables that was defrosted and added to the tamales – no taste except the mesa. What to do with the tamales? We are victims of the “starving children in China” generation – eat all your food. Deciding the tamales needed sauce and seasoning, a casserole was in the works blending Cajun with Mexican.

Mais C’est Bon!

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Cajun French: la patate douce (la pa-tat doos) – sweet potato

Sweet, brings a smile, and then the pepper pops, a larger smile and finally ends with a salty kiss.

Sweet and savory gives all sorts of flavors to your mouth. This recipe does just that. Wanting to use Zapp’s Potato Chips as a topping, just did not know on what. Deciding to bake sweet potatoes we realized Zapp’s would be great with the sweetness of the potatoes. There are so many flavors of Zapp’s that it could be hard to decide which to use. Our decision was easy since we had Cajun Crawtators in the pantry. With Zapp’s the option are limitless, kick imagination in and enjoy!

Mais C’est Bon!

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