By Deborah Eisenhut
After a long visit to Louisiana recently, I
have come to the conclusion that people
there do not need a holiday as a reason to
celebrate. There are more festivals and
celebrations all year-long in New Orleans
than anywhere else we have visited.
The holiday season from Halloween to New
Year’s is especially filled with cultural
cuisine that I call “the art of food”. Most
people associate Louisiana with seafood
and spicy hot dishes, gumbo and etouffee.
While the traditional Creole and Cajun
foods are well seasoned, most of the
cooking is balanced, light and fresh. We
dined on “blacked” everything and were
pleasantly surprised at the subtlety of
seasonings. Particularly famous for
crayfish (crawfish) or “mud bugs” as they
are affectionately called, Louisiana
supplies 95% of the crayfish harvested in
the US. Crayfish are usually cooked in a
highly seasoned boil with potatoes and
corn on the cob. Other popular Cajun and
Creole crayfish, dishes are crayfish
ettoffee, crayfish pie, crayfish bisque and
many more.
Around Christmas, there is a wonderful
19th century Creole tradition called
Reveillon Dinner and it is celebrated in
restaurants all over New Orleans. These
events celebrate the roots of Creole French
families with special dishes and family style
dining.
Try any of the following recipes, and adapt
the seasoning to taste. As I previously
stated, the enjoyment is particularly in
“the art of food”:
Oyster Dressing “Grand Mere”
2 ounces slab bacon cut 1/4 inch dice
1 stick unsalted butter
1 celery rib cut 1/4 inch dice
1/2 green bell pepper cut 1/4 inch dice
1/2 small onion finely diced
2 large garlic cloves minced
2 TBLS sweet paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cayenne powder
2 Large baguettes (about 1 lb) cut into 1/2
inch dice (12 cups)
4 dozen shucked oysters plus 1 cup oyster
liquor, oysters cut in half (2 cups)
2 scallions minced
2 TBLS chopped parsley
4 Large eggs
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp sea salt
Heat oven to 350. Butter a 10X14 inch
shallow baking dish. In large skillet cook
bacon over moderate heat until crisp, add
butter, let melt, add celery, green pepper,
onion & garlic until softened @ 8 minutes.
Add paprika, garlic powder & cook for 3
minutes stirring occasionally. Put diced
bread in a large bowl, spoon the bacon
mixture on top, add the oysters and the
liquor along with the scallions & parsley. In
a small bowl beat the eggs with the hot
sauce and salt. Pour the eggs into the
bowl & mix all together. Scrape the
dressing into the prepared baking dish &
bake in upper 1/3 part of oven for about 45
minutes until heated through & crisp on
top. Serve hot.
Chocolate Expresso Cookies
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chips
8 TBLS unsalted butter cut into pieces
3 Large eggs
1 cup plus 2 TBLS sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons finely ground dark roast
coffee beans (or expresso powder)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
Heat oven to 350, Grease 2 Large heavy
baking sheets
In a double boiler or metal bowl over a
saucepan of barely simmering water melt
unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup chips &
butter stirring until smooth and remove
bowl from water heat. In a bowl with eggs,
sugar, ground coffee, beat on high until
very thick & pale & mixture forms a ribbon
when beaters are lifted, then beat in
chocolate mixture. Into mixture sift flour,
BP, salt & just combine. Stir in remaining
chips and nuts. Drop batter by heaping
TBLS (or small ice cream scoop) 2 inches
apart onto baking sheets in middle oven
bake 8-10 minutes until puffed and cracked
on top. Cool 1 minute the remove to racks.
Can top with sifted powder sugar.
Hot Spiced Wine
2 bottles light bodied red wine
1 1/4 cups sugar
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
3 black peppercorns crushed
2 cardamom pods crushed
1 3-inch cinnamon stick crushed
1 clove crushed
1/2 cup kirsch
In a large saucepan, combine the red wine,
sugar and zest’s, put the spices in a tea
ball or cheesecloth bag & add to pan.
Bring wine to a very slow simmer over
moderate heat, stirring to dissolve the
sugar. Remove from heat and remove
spice ball & stir in kirsch. Ladle into
heatproof glasses and serve immediately.