A Creole Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at our house has a distinctly New Orleans flavor. Most people assume that's because my husband hails from the Crescent City, but, truth be told, I was doing the Creole Thanksgiving thing long before I met him. (I joke that's why he married me, and, quite frankly I'm not altogether sure it's not true.!)

Back in November 1987, Bon Appetit magazine featured "Thanksgiving with a Creole Touch," and, dog eared and gravy stained, it's been my Turkey Day Bible ever since. Of course over the years I've changed the recipes substantially and adjusted the menu and seasonings to suit our specific tastes. However, the two main courses, Creole Roast Turkey and Jambalaya Stuffing, remain essentially the same. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

A few words about the turkey. I'm not a turkey snob when it comes to the actual bird, but rather believe it's all in the preparation. Over the years I've tried them all -- organic, free-range, fresh off the farm, happy birds, Kosher turkey, the old reliable Butterball, and the $5 Thanksgiving gobbler special from Ralph's. Truth be told, we can't tell the difference. However, I swear by my "method." I'm a briner. I think brining insures a moist, juicy, turkey and is more than worth the trouble. I use a large ice chest, fill it with enough cold water to cover the turkey, add about 2 cups of Kosher salt to the water, and plop the thawed bird inside for about 12 hours. (Overnight the night before T'Day will work well.) Every few hours you might want to add a tray of ice cubes to the mix, just so it stays cold, but other than that just leave it alone until cooking time, dry it, inside and out, and prepare as below. (For more specifics on brining, here's a link.)

Jambalaya is a Creole dish with French and Spanish influences (think Paella, southern style). This recipe will work well inside the turkey and out, and it makes a lovely stand alone dish for any occasion, be it festive or just family fare. My recipe uses sausage and shrimp, but crab, chicken, even leftover ham or turkey can be used with equal success.

About the sausage. It's worth it to seek out real Audouille sausage. We have a great source here in Los Angeles, The Sausage Kitchen over on Pico, but if you can't find it at a local butchery or meat market, Savorie's makes a totally acceptable Andoullie that is available online by mail order.

Finally, a word about the spices. You will need to experiment and adjust them to your taste, depending to a great extent on how spicy your sausage is. (Andouille can vary greatly in hotness according to who makes it.) The pepper measurements I have specified are less than was called for in the original recipe, and we like spicy foods, so that should tell you something! My best suggestion is taste as you go along. (Such a chore, but somebody has to do it!)

JAMBALAYA STUFFING
(Serves 8)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pound Andouille sausage, sliced
2 red bell peppers, diced
1 large sweet onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon file powder
5 cups chicken stock (canned low-sodium is perfectly fine)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups long-grain rice
1 cup sliced green onion
1 pound shelled shrimp, deveined, tails removed (Or 1 pound crab meat)

Heat oil in heavy 5-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add Andouille and stir until crisp and brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to bowl using slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Add bell peppers, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, black pepper, white pepper, file, and cayenne pepper to saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Mix in chicken stock, tomatoes and salt. Bring to boil. Stir in rice. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until rice has absorbed all the liquid, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Transfer rice to bowl. Mix in andouille sausage and green onions. Cool. (NOTE: Can be prepared to this point 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before continuing.)

Lightly saute shrimp in a couple of tablespoons olive oil, (with a little chopped garlic, if you like). Drain and add to rice mixture.

Reserve 6 to 7 cups of jambalaya for stuffing the turkey. Spoon the remaining jambalaya into a buttered baking dish. When ready to cook, cover tightly and bake in 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.


CREOLE ROAST TURKEY
(Serves 8)

1 16-pound turkey
Creole Butter (recipe follows)
6 to 7 cups Jambalaya Stuffing (recipe above)

Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 325 degrees.

Pat turkey dry. Slide fingers between turkey breast skin and meat to loosen skin. Rub Creole Butter under skin over breast meat.

Spoon jambalaya stuffing into cavity, packing firmly. Truss turkey. Roast, breast side up on rack in roasting pan, basting about every 20 minutes with pan juices, about 3 1/2 hours or until meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh registers 170 degrees. (Note: You will probably find the breast meat begins to brown before the rest of the turkey. In this case, once the breast is nicely browned, tent the breast with tinfoil for the remainder of cooking time to retain juices and prevent over-browning.)

Transfer turkey to heated platter, tent with foil, and let stand 30 minutes before serving. Save pan juices for gravy, if desired.


CREOLE BUTTER
(Makes about 2/3 cup)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 medium garlic cloves, pressed
2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (Tabasco preferred)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth. (Note: Can be made 4 days in advance and refrigerated or frozen for up to one month. Bring to room temperature before using.)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, ya'll!

New Orleans Shrimp Creole

We make it down to New Orleans every few years, ostensibly for Jazz Fest, but the real reason I go is to eat. And while you'll find some stellar New Orleans dishes at the Festival, (I'm partial to the Crawfish Monica and Cochon de Lait po' boys), one should never travel to the Crescent City without at least one meal (but better two or three) at one of the old-line French Creole restaurants. My favorites are Antoine's, for Filet de truite au vin blanc and Pommes de terre souffles, Arnaud's, for turtle soup and crab cakes, and Galatoire's for oysters en brochette and their sublime Shrimp Creole which is, quite simply, the best in town, any town.

Creole cooking, not to be confused with Cajun cooking, New Orleans' other signature cuisine, initially evolved from French techniques and recipes blended with elements from the culinary traditions of the Spanish, African and Italians who also settled in the city. Creole food is typically milder in flavor than it's Cajun country cousin, and more complicated in preparation, and therefore generally thought of as more refined.

Although both styles of cooking often feature the "holy trinity" of celery, bell peppers and onion as primary ingredients, the Cajuns, who trace their heritage to the Acadian French, (the word Cajun is a corruption of the word Acadian), and settled in the bayou country after their expulsion from Nova Scotia, typically rely on game meats and heavy spices, to create their earthy "country" dishes. The latter cooking style was most notably popularized by Chef Paul Prudhomme, and his New Orleans restaurant K-Paul's is the place to be if you have a hankering for blackened anything.

But if it's a piquant, tomato rich, silky smooth sauce brimming with fresh shrimp you're craving, then sit yourself down to a plate of Galatoire's Shrimp Creole. Can't make it to New Orleans? Then make it yourself. Last time we were there, my husband bought me the Galatoire's Cookbook, and the recipe therein will turn out fine as is. However, even though I thought it was impossible to improve on perfection, I think I have done just that, adding my own tweaks and twists, little adjustments here and there, for what I believe is the perfect, perfect Shrimp Creole. Here it is.


SHRIMP CREOLE

5 large firm, ripe tomatoes
3 tablespoons salted butter
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon paprika
4 cups shrimp stock (recipe follows)
1 3/4 pounds medium shrimp (25 to 30 count), peeled and de-veined, tails removed
1/4 cup chopped parsley for garnish
Steamed white rice for 6


SHRIMP STOCK

1 3/4 to 2 pounds fresh shrimp shells and tails
1 large sweet onion, quartered
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
10 to 20 black peppercorns, crushed
1 lemon, halved
1 gallon water
Peel and de-vein shrimp. Reserve shells for stock.

To make stock, place all stock ingredients in a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heart to a low boil and simmer for one hour, skimming foam as necessary. Strain the stock and discard the solids.

NOTE: Stock can be made the day before and makes enough for three recipes of Shrimp Creole. I freeze the remainder of the stock in two batches for later use so I don’t have to make it each time I prepare the dish.

Bring about two quarts of water to boil in a large saucepan. Score the bottom of each tomato with a small “x” and blanch them in the water for about a minute or until the skin breaks.
Drain, cool and pull off the skin. Seed and dice. (To make seeding easier I use a grapefruit spoon to scoop out the seeds. A melon baller will work well too.)
Melt the butter in a large pot over high heat. Add the celery, bell peppers, onion and tomatoes and sauté for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and the tomatoes begin to dissolve.
Reduce heat to medium, Add tomato paste, bay leaves, salt, cayenne pepper and paprika. Simmer for 4 or 5 minutes to mix flavors then add shrimp stock.

Simmer the mixture over medium heart for 30 minutes, until sauce is slightly thickened.

NOTE: Sauce can be made a day before, refrigerated and reheated for the addition of the shrimp.

Add shrimp and simmer for an additional 10 minutes until shrimp are pink and cooked through. (Careful not to overcook or shrimp will be tough and rubbery.)

Garnish with parsley and serve over steamed rice. Serves 6.

If it's Red Beans and Rice, this must be Monday

If it's Red Beans and Rice, this must be Monday

It’s Monday. It’s also probably the hottest day of the summer so far. Not a day I would choose to spend in the kitchen laboring over a pot of hot steaming beans, although that’s exactly what I’m doing.

They’re having a potluck luncheon to say "goodbye" to a co-worker at the hubby’s office today, and my dear, sweet, clueless as to how much trouble it’s going to be, partner volunteered Red Beans and Rice. (Being from New Orleans I guess he wanted his contribution to reflect his heritage, although since the guy who's leaving is Chinese, I don’t see the point.) He offered to make them himself, and probably meant it too, but as it happens I’d MUCH rather do it myself than walk him through every step of the way. Probably better to preserve our marriage too, if you follow.

Coincidentally, or not, Red Beans and Rice was long the traditional Creole Monday meal. It was a dish that could stand to simmer unattended while the womenfolk did the Monday chore of washing the clothes, (sort of a pure, early example of multi-tasking, which women have done all along), and there was also usually a ham bone left over from Sunday dinner to throw in the pot.

Customarily no other meat was added, but rather sausage links or pork chops would be served on the side. Most contemporary versions of the dish however include andouille, or some other spicy sausage. In my opinion it's absolutely worth it to seek out andouille. We get ours freshly made from a local sausage kitchen here in Los Angeles, but Savorie’s makes a very good packaged andouille that can be found almost nationwide, or, that failing, ordered over the internet.

Some purists insist that only homemade chicken stock and slow cooking, extra long grain, white rice will do. I say phooey on them. It’s work enough chopping all those veggies, and you've got laundry to do! Do yourself a favor and go with canned chicken broth (low sodium preferred) and Success Boil-in-Bag white rice, cooked in more canned broth. I promise you, nobody will know the difference. Not even you.
As for the hot sauce, I’m a traditionalist here and stick with the original Tabasco brand. How much to use depends on how spicy your sausage is and how hot and spicy the crowd you’re cooking for likes their food. If you want to just leave it out and let everyone add their own at the table, that’s fine too.

It’s starting to smell really good in here. It’s also getting really hot, but at least I’m not having to wash clothes at the same time.

RED BEANS AND RICE (for a crowd)

4 cups dried red kidney beans
1 cup chopped bacon
4 cups sliced andouille sausage
1 jumbo Vidalia (or other sweet) onion, chopped
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced green bell pepper
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (more or less to taste)
12 cups canned reduced-sodium chicken broth

6 to 8 packets Success rice
6 cups canned reduced-sodium chicken broth

Soak beans overnight in cold fresh water.

In a large stockpot or sauté pan sauté chopped bacon over medium heat until slightly brown and grease is released. Add sausage. Sauté for 6 to 8 minutes until sausage is lightly browned.
Add the onion, celery and bell pepper, (the so called Holy Trinity of Creole cuisine), along with the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper, oregano and hot pepper sauce. Sauté over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally.
Drain beans. Add beans and chicken broth to pot and bring to a simmer.
Cook, uncovered, over medium low heat until beans are tender and mixture reaches a creamy consistency (at least 1 hour), skimming surface occasionally to remove any excess grease or foam.
Prepare rice according to package directions, substituting canned chicken broth for water. (Or use equal parts chicken broth and water.)

Serve beans over rice with a bottle of hot sauce on the side.

Serves 12 to 15.

NOTE: The recipe for the beans can easily be downsized to serve 6 by halving all ingredients.