Cajun Flavor - Cajun Food, Seasonings, Spices, & Hot Sauces

1. Sauté vegetables in bacon fat or margarine, until tender.
2. Brown ground beef (and chicken livers).
3. Combine all ingredients in one pot and cover with water.
4. Boil about 1 minute while stirring.
5. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 25 - 30 minutes, until rice is fluffy and dry.

Cajun "Smashed" Potatoes

1. Peel red potatoes. If they are large, you may want to cut potatoes in half or quarters in order to reduce cooking time
2. In large pan, bring about 1 gallon of water to a boil.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of Tony Chachere's Famous Creole Seasoning (or your favorite brand of cajun/creole seasoning).
4. Add peeled potatoes. The water should cover the potatoes. If not, add more water.
5. Boil potatoes until tender (about 10 - 15 minutes)
6. When potatoes are tender, remove from water and put in large mixing bowl.
7. If desired soften or melt the cheese. Generally, when added to the hot potatoes, the cheese will melt on its own.
8. If desired cut up 1/2 of an onion and cook until tender.
9. Add cheese, butter and milk to the potatoes (also add onions if desired).
10. Use hand mixer (or fork) to mash and cream potatoes to desired consistency. For creamier potatoes, add additional milk while mixing.

Serve hot.
For even spicier potatoes, add some of the seasoned water instead of the milk when mixing the potatoes.

Corn and Seafood Bisque

1 teaspoon garlic or garlic powder
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cups milk
2 cups water
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 Tablespoon of Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
1/2 pound or more of crawfish (Note - this tastes great with crawfish, shrimp, crab meat, or any mixture thereof. You can also use cut up chicken, but personally I like the seafood a little better.)
15 ounce can of corn (your preference of whole kernel or cream-style corn)
1/2 cup Tony Chachere's White Gravy Mix
1. Cut up onions and cook on low heat in melted butter and garlic until onions are tender.
2. In a saucepan, whisk Tony Chachere's White Gravy Mix with water and milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. Reduce heat, simmer and add corn, Tony Chachere's Original Seasoning , onions/garlic/butter, and seafood.
4. Cook for about 5 minutes (until meat is cooked).

To adjust consistency to your taste, either add a little extra milk OR a little extra White Gravy Mix.
Serve hot and enjoy
For additional zest, spice up your meal with a little hot sauce.

Shrimp Etouffee

1 stick butter or margarine
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves minced garlic (or garlic powder)
1 small chopped bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 hot pepper (or several drops of Tabasco Pepper Sauce)
2 Tablespoons of flour
1 pound peeled shrimp (or peeled crawfish tails, or chopped boneless chicken)
Cooked rice
1. Melt butter in heavy pan and sauté vegetables until soft (onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery and pepper sauce)
2. Add flour, stir constantly until golden brown.
3. Add crawfish tails (salt and pepper to taste)
4. Add one cup water or shrimp stock and bring to a boil
5. Lower temperature and simmer for 10 minutes
6. Add parsley and simmer 5 minutes
7. Serve over rice

For additional zest, spice up your meal with a little hot sauce or cajun seasoning.

Cajun Blackened Chicken Recipe

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 4 to 8 teaspoons Andy Roos Cajun Blackened Seasoning (more or less, to taste)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• Salt, to taste
1. Pour Worcestershire sauce over chicken breasts.
2. Coat chicken breasts liberally with Cajun Blackened Seasoning. (If desired, also add a dash of salt.) Rub spices into meat thoroughly. Marinate for at least 20 minutes.
3. Add cooking oil to your heavy-bottomed skillet and place on high heat until the skillet is very hot (use your vent).
4. Add chicken breasts to the hot skillet.
5. Turn after about 2 minutes. Cook on second side for about 2 minutes. (Cooking time may vary depending on the thickness of the meat.)
6. Serve hot and enjoy the flavor!!!

Note: You may use this same recipe for Blackened Fish (catfish, redfish, trout, tilapia, etc.) or Blackened Shrimp.

Crawfish Casserole

1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup of chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 pounds of peeled crawfish tales (or peeled shrimp)
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of bell pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of shrimp soup
2 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
1. Chop vegetables and sauté in butter until tender
2. Add crawfish and cook for 4 minutes
3. Add cream of mushroom soup, cream of shrimp soup, creole seasoning, 1 cup water and cooked rice
4. Heat thoroughly
5. Pour into casserole dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake 25 minutes at 375 degrees

For additional zest, spice up your meal with a little hot sauce or cajun seasoning.

Pecan Pie

2 eggs
1 cup dark or light Karo syrup
1/2 cup sugar (scant)
2 Tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup pecans
1 unbaked pie shell (not deep dish size)
1. Beat eggs well
2. Mix sugar, starch and salt
3. Add beaten eggs
4. Stir in syrup
5. Stir in pecans
6. Pour into unbaked pie shell
7. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35 - 40 minutes (will be soupy when hot, but will congeal as it cools)

If desired, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Creole Coffee Ice Cream Punch

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups CDM Coffee & Chicory, strongly brewed and cooled
1/4 cup bourbon
1 pint vanilla or coffee ice cream

Directions:
In a large bowl, beat eggs at high speed until slightly thickened. Gradually add sugar, beating until the mixture is smooth and quite thick. Add the coffee with chicory and the bourbon; mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into punch bowl or pitcher. Spoon in ice cream; stir well. Allow the ice cream to melt slightly to flavor the punch, then serve it immediately. Makes about 14 servings.

Gumbo

For shrimp and okra gumbo:
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 tablespoons of flour
l large chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
5 or 6 cloves, chopped garlic
1 cup of chopped green pepper
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of tomatoes ("Rotel" tomatoes for a spicier taste!)
1 pound, fresh sliced okra (or 2 boxes of frozen sliced okra)
2 pounds of fresh shrimp
2 - 3 cups water
salt & pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1 bay leaf

For seafood gumbo, add to the above:
1 small can of crabmeat or 3 fresh gumbo crabs
1 jar oysters

Slowly stir the flour into heated oil in a heavy cast iron skillet. Continue to stir until the flour is dark brown. Add the next 4 ingredients; stir until onions are clear. Add tomato sauce. Stir until it gets crumbly or dry. Fry okra in another skillet until it is no longer sticky or stringy. Add tomatoes and fried okra. Cook slowly, adding 2 to 3 cups of water--a little at a time. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in one teaspoon of sugar. Cook for about an hour on a low fire, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of pot; adding water if necessary. Add the shrimp and the bay leaf (and if desired, the oysters and crabmeat). Cook another 30 minutes to an hour, adding seasoning to taste. Serve over boiled or steamed rice.