Rice Dressing

New Year's Day is not complete without this old Cajun French Menu,
Turkey, Pork or Beef Roast, Rice and Gravy, Rice Dressing, Cabbage Rolls, Black Eyed Peas, Yams, Potato Salad, and Rolls, not one pie, but three, Sweet Potato, Pumpkin and Fig or Cream Cheese Pie and a Coconut cake.

So here is my Rice Dressing Recipe which is very simple...

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground pork
1 lb of ground beef
2 cups of chopped green onion tops
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 large chopped onion
1 rib of chopped celery
1/2 chopped bell pepper
Seasonings of salt, black pepper, paprika
2 or 3 cups of cooked whole grain white rice

Instructions:

In a black dutch oven saute ground pork, ground beef and all of the chopped seasonings until brown.  Lower heat and simmer about a 1/2 hour; stirring about every 10 minutes so it won't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add seasonings of salt, black pepper and paprika. About  one Tablespoon of salt, one teaspoon of black pepper and a teaspoon of paprika or more if desired.

Add cooked white rice a large spoonful at a time to the meat mixture until blended to your desire.

Stir in some chopped green onion tops and use the green onions as a garnish topping.

Bon Appetit!



.

I bought some of those little yellow gel balls to clean my kitchen disposal. The citrus smell only stayed with the disposal less than a day and I didn't feel like it did the job of cleaning the blades.

So, I sliced a lemon and froze the slices on a cookie sheet in the freezer. After they were frozen, I bagged them and kept them in the freezer.

Drop a frozen slice in your disposal and voila, a clean smelling disposal!!!

Peach Brandy for an Aperitif.

My Grandmother Toussel's Peach Brandy is finally ready! She made this every year at Christmas time. The recipe is on page 3. It turned out a pretty mellow color with an undertone of orange.  Ready to enjoy over crushed ice as an aperitif. Remember the sweetness is perfect to make the palate ready for a savory meal.  Bon Appetit!

Gus Savant is now decorated and in his place shining brightly...

BROCCOLI SOUP

Since broccoli is so abundant at this time of the year, I decided to make a warming soup as my grandmother used to call brocolli soup.

Ingredients
1 or 2  large heads of Broccoli
1 pint of heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 small onion finely chopped
1 Tablespoon of dried celery flakes
1 teaspoon Soy or Worcestershire sauce
4 Tablespoons of butter
3 Tablespoons of All Purpose flour
2 vegetable cubes
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Crusty French bread

Preparation
Steam broccoli, drain; setting aside the liquid
Chop broccoli and mash as finely or as coarse as you prefer
Melt the butter over low heat
Stir in flour until it makes a paste and turns light brown
Add finely chopped onion, stir until wilted
Add heavy cream and milk to the flour mixture and stir until creamy
Add some of the brocolli liquid that was set aside a little at a time
until it is the consistency of a heavy soup
Add broccoli and celery flakes
Simmer

Serve with shredded cheese and crusty french bread.  Bon Appetit!

Thanksgiving!

 

Hi everyone!
Holidays are upon us and this is the first time that I am thinking of updating Roux with photos.
But to do this I am asking for small donations to get it started again...it has been such a success and I have taken most of the profit and donated it to The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and St. Jude's Hospital over the last four years or the profit went to mailing the little cookbook.
Then I realized I didn't put enough aside to re-publish...so if you want to give a little donation that would help to get Roux published again with new recipes and photos would be more than appreciated.
...

I just finished shopping for the Thanksgiving Menu and here is my list that might help you next week when you are writing or purchasing your list.
Shopping List for Thanksgiving:
1) Green Bean Casserole
Three cans of green beans, kitchen cut
soy sauce
Two cans of low sodium Cream of Mushroom Soup
Two cans of Original French's Fried Onions
2) Candied Yams
1 large can of yams
1 bag of marshmallows
brown sugar
cinnamon
butter
chopped pecans
3) Rice Dressing
One Pound of ground pork
One Pound of ground meat
onion, bell pepper, green onions
long grain rice
4) Turkey breast
5) Pork Roast
6) Baking Ham
7) Cranberry Sauce
8) Eggs to devil
9) Dinner rolls
Of course your staples of butter, mayo, mustard and spices to season your dishes.
some of the recipes for these dishes are in Roux, Simple Cajun Recipes Cookbook!
Bon Appetit and hugs!

Susan’s Bread and Butter Pickles or Relish

6 c. cucumbers, sliced thin
2 medium white onions, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 c. canning salt
2 c. vinegar
2 c. boiling water
1 tsp. mustard seed
1 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 1/2 c. sugar

Sort cucumbers, discarding any with blemishes. Wash well.

Cut off ends and cut lengthwise for use with the food processor or leave whole and slice thin by hand.

Mix cucumbers, onions, and the ½ cup of canning salt; let stand 2 hours. Drain and rinse off excess salt.

Combine vinegar, boiling water, mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric and sugar. Bring to a boil then combine with cucumbers.

Simmer for 5 minutes.

Pack into hot sterilized jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Use a wooden spoon handle inside rim of jar to pack and release any bubbles.

Wipe rim of jar with a damp paper towel. Adjust 2 piece caps. Hand tighten only.

Submerge in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. To avoid a cloudy brine or darkened pickles, do not use common table salt (use only canning salt). Yield: Six 1/2 pint jars if you use the food processor, 3 1/2 pint jars if you slice by hand.

Christmas Orders are beginning to roll in for Roux! Order soon as this little cookbook is going into the archives and will not be republished...have only 164 books left...so Bon Appetit and order soon!

Follow me now on FaceBook's Roux Simple Cajun Recipes!

PawPaw's or Cajun French Fries

These french fries are absolutely delicious.  My father, James Joseph Paul Daigle "invented" them and they are the best french fried potatoes you will ever  eat!

Bon Appetit!

Ingredients

3 red potatoes, washed, peeled and cut length-wise

1 quart of vegetable or corn  oil

black pepper and salt

Instructions

Fill a small cast iron or black iron pot 1/2 full with cooking oil.

Pack the cut potatoes tightly in the cold oil

making sure that the oil covers the potatoes.

Turn the heat on the high setting.

In a few minutes it will begin to bubble.

Lower the heat to the medium setting.

Move the potatoes gently around with a slotted spoon

so they will not bubble over.

When they are golden brown, remove and drain on paper.

Sprinkle immediately with black pepper and salt. 

Note: These potatoes will be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and is in the Roux, Simple Cajun Recipes Cookbook on page 12.

Bon Appetit!

Bruschetta My Way

Ingredients

Garlic minced
Butter 1 cup
Small jar of Pesto
French bread sliced
Variety of olives (pitted)
Olive oil

Instructions

Peel and mince 8 toes of garlic
Melt butter and add garlic, simmer 5 minutes
Add one small jar of Pesto to the butter garlic
Food process the olives to a fine chop
Slice Garlic bread; place on foiled lined pan


Spread garlic pesto butter on the sliced french bread
Add olives
Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees
until bread is browned

Bon Appetit!

Berry Cobbler

2 pints of strawberries
1 pint of blueberries
Sugar
1 TB cornstarch
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
6 TB butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a bowl combine all berries and 1/2 cup plus 2 tsp of sugar and the corn starch.  Set aside and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl , mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. 

In a third bowl stir egg, milk, vanilla and butter. 

Add dry ingredients. Stir well.

Place six ramekins on a foiled baking sheet.  Divide fruit evenly and top each with a few spoonfuls of batter.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden brown. Cool 5 minutes, top with confectioner's sugar and serve.

Susan's Mountain Blueberry Dessert

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 ounce loaf pound cake

1 pint of fresh blueberries

Pint of heavy whipping cream

Almond Extract

Sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Place pound cake in a crystal or festive plate

Slice as you would a bread,

Slightly separating each slice but keeping intact.

Next wash blueberries, drain and place in bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and lightly mash the berries.

Place or press blueberries in-between each slice of pound cake.

Set Aside and also set aside a few extra berries for topping.

WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING

Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 cup of white granulated sugar

2 teaspoons of Almond Extract

Beat heavy whipping cream in a chilled stainless steel

or copper bowl until peaks are almost formed.

Add sugar and Almond extract,

Beat until peaks form.

Dollop whipped cream in-between the pound cake slices then

Cover the entire cake with whip cream.

Top with blueberries.

Chill.

Bon Appetit!

Pepper in recipes.

When you are preparing a recipe and want to double it, always remember, that you do not double the pepper ingredient.  Pepper seems to infuse your food quicker, and if you double it, the recipe will be too spicy!  Just an observation...Bon Appetit!

Pan Sauteed Tilapia

Last night I had to come up with a quick meal that was good look'in for spur of the moment company!

I quickly defrosted pre-packed Tilapia fish filets that took about 30 minutes or less.

I melted 1/2 block of butter in a frying pan and added chopped green onions and minced garlic and sauteed it on medium high.  I then seasoned the fish filets with the Roux Creole and Cajun seasoning mix on page 58.

I browned the tilapia with dashes of lemon juice on a high fire using two spatulas to turn the fish so it wouldn't break up.  I added 1/2 cup of water, covered it and let it steam for about five minutes.

Uncovered it and it was similiar to blackened Fish!  It was absolutely delicious!

While that was steaming, I cleaned two large brocolli bunches, placed them in a covered pyrex dish and "nuked" them for 10 minutes with 3/4 cup of water...poured off the water, seasoned with Kosher salt and cracked melange peppers and dollops of butter.

I cut up a french bread we just happened to have...found a bottle of wine...and voila...company arrived and the table had been set.  Bon Appetit 

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Heat oven to 375 degrees

Ingredients

2 lbs of ground meat
1 egg
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of cut tomatoes
l large can of whole tomatoes
1 large onion
1/2 green bell pepper
4 green onion tops chopped
1/2 cup of dehydrated seasoning blend (p. 58, in Roux)
4 toes of garlic
Salt and pepper
Chopped basil
Bay leaves

Instructions

First step:

Season ground meat with salt and pepper, mix with egg and 1/4 cup of bread crumbs.
Form into meatballs and place in a baking pan.  Cover with water half way up; bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes.  (The water will evaporate and the meat balls will brown.)

Second step:

While the meatballs are in the oven,
Saute in a large dutch oven tomato paste, garlic, onions, green onion tops and bell pepper until the paste is light brown.
Add  tomato sauce, stir and then add cut and whole tomatoes.
Add about 3 cups of hot water, sprinkle with basil, add two or three Bay leaves, stir and simmer for at least a half hour on a low fire, then add meatballs and simmer another 1/2 hour.

When the meatballs are done, remove from oven and place in the sauce.

Serve over hot spaghetti with french bread.

Bon Appetit.

Oven Grilled Veggies

Choose one of the following to make this recipe.  Fresh asparagus, green beans or cauliflower.

Ingredients:
Fresh cleaned vegetables
Olive oil
Coarsely ground black pepper
Kosher salt
Lemon juice

Heat over to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, place cleaned vegetables.

Toss with olive oil, kosher salt, coarse black pepper and minced garlic.

Place on a lined olive oiled cookie sheet; drizzle more olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice on the vegetables.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and serve in a covered dish.

A variation can be prepared by wrapping  green beans and/or aspargus with prosciutti after they have been tossed in the olive oil and seasonings.  Place them on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.  Bon Appetit

Lemon Chicken with Capers

Layered chicken prepared for the oven!

Ingredients:

10 chicken breasts
2 or 3 tablespoons of minced garlic
2 lemons sliced
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Capers
Salt
Pepper
Paprika

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a covered dutch oven greased with olive oil place one layer of chicken breasts, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, pepper and paprika, sprinkle with minced garlic, place lemon slices and capers on top; repeat this layer until you have two or three layers ending with lemon slices and capers.  Sprinkle with fresh lemon juice.

Place in the oven covered for one hour.  Bon Appetit!

Lemon Chicken with capers!

New Years Day Ambrosia

Everyone has traditonal food or foods that they serve their families on New Year's Day...in my family the tradition is "Pot" Roast with rice and gravy, Cabbage Rolls (page 19 of Roux), Black Eyed Peas (page 11) and for dessert, Ambrosia (page 39). Here is the recipe below for you, but, please buy my little cookbook to keep our little kitchen in spices and seasonings. Bon Appetit!

(New Orleans) Ambrosia

5 blood or navel oranges, peeled, slices cut in half

1 bag of shredded coconut, sweetened

1 jar of maraschino cherries with juice

granulated sugar

In a large decorative glass serving bowl (punch or morning serving bowl), place a layer of cut orange slices, cover the oranges with one heaping tablespoon of sugar, then cover this layer with a handful of shredded coconut; place several cherries on top of this layer. Repeat this order until the bowl is full. The last layer should be coconut and cherries. Drizzle the cherry juice on the completed layers.  Chill several hours.