Rock 'n' Rouler
The good times roll at New Orleans's music fest, and these recipes take you there.
This weekend and next mark the 40th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, an event that is as much about the city's justly famous food as it is about music. To confirm this, look no further than the motto on the Jazz Fest website -- "Celebrating 40 years of peace, love, and crawfish." The roster of dishes available at festival food stalls reads like a gastronomic survey of Cajun and Creole cuisines. For those who can't make it down this year, here's a menu that brings a little New Orleans to New England. After cocktails, dig into a Cajun etouffee, which translates loosely to "smothered," meaning that the food is cooked in a bit of liquid. Sometimes the liquid is stock alone, but often it is flavored with a dark, toasty roux. Bananas Foster, which is bananas sauteed in butter and brown sugar, then flamed with rum, is arguably the best-known New Orleans dessert. I'm fond of the acidity that pineapple brings to this buttery, rich dish.
Sazerac Cocktail
Serves 6
There is no shortage of opinion about how to make a proper Sazerac. There is general agreement, however, that Peychaud's bitters, a brand identified with New Orleans, are essential; purists consider the more familiar Angostura bitters heretical. Perhaps it is testament to my Yankee sensibilities, but I like the Angostura (still, I have made them optional).
6 sugar cubes (or 6 teaspoons sugar)
24 to 30 dashes Peychaud's
bitters (about 2 drops
per dash)
6 to 9 dashes Angostura
bitters (optional)
1½ cups straight rye whiskey
6 teaspoons absinthe,
Herbsaint, Pernod, or pastis
6 twists of lemon
In the freezer, chill 6 small Old Fashioned glasses well. In a large cocktail shaker, place the sugar cubes. Saturate them with the Peychaud's and the Angostura, if using. Add 6 teaspoons of cold water and muddle the sugar cubes until they dissolve. Add the rye and about 1 cup ice cubes and gently swirl the mixture to blend and chill, about 30 seconds.
In each of the 6 chilled glasses, place a scant teaspoon of absinthe or other liqueur. Swirl glasses to coat the interiors well; pour out any excess. Strain the rye mixture into the glasses. Squeeze 1 lemon twist over each glass to release the oils, then run the twist around the rim. Discard twists. Serve the cocktails at once.
Shrimp Etouffee
Serves 6
As it cooks, the roux is screaming hot, so use a very long-handled utensil to stir, keeping your hand well away from the action. Keep the roux in constant motion to help prevent it from burning, which it can do easily, and which will give your etouffee an unpleasant bitterness. Serve with plenty of hot rice.
2 pounds large (31 to 35 per pound) shrimp, shelled and deveined, shells reserved
½ cup peanut or neutral oil
½ cup flour
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 medium ribs celery, finely chopped
1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons hot sauce, such as Tabasco, plus extra for passing
2 large bay leaves
Salt and black pepper
1½ teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 scallions, thinly sliced
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
In a large saucepan, bring the reserved shrimp shells and 3 cups of water to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes. Strain stock, add ½ cup ice cubes to cool it, and set aside; discard the shells.
In a large, heavy Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the flour gradually with a wooden spatula or spoon, working out any small lumps. Cook, stirring constantly and reaching into corners of pan, until mixture smells toasty and looks deep reddish brown, about the color of a pecan, about 17 minutes. (The roux will thin as it cooks; if it begins to smoke, remove from heat and stir constantly to cool slightly.)
Add onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and thyme, and cook, continuing to stir constantly, until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Stirring vigorously, add the reserved shrimp stock in a very slow, steady stream. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons hot sauce, bay leaves, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 ½ teaspoons black pepper, and stir to mix. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer (skimming off any foam), about 30 minutes.
Add the shrimp, stir to mix, and simmer until cooked through, about 7 minutes. Off heat, discard bay leaves, add lemon juice, scallions, and most of the parsley, and stir to mix. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, if necessary, and sprinkle with the remaining parsley. Serve at once, passing the hot sauce at the table.
Pineapple Foster
Serves 6
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ pounds peeled fresh pineapple, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 7 cups)
2/3cup dark or amber rum
12 scoops vanilla ice cream
In a very large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and heat it until it stops foaming. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, a tiny pinch of salt, and the vanilla, and stir to blend butter and sugar. Add the pineapple, increase heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring and turning the pineapple occasionally to coat, until mixture is saucy and the pineapple is heated through, about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the rum, allow it to warm for a few seconds, and carefully wave a lit chimney match over skillet until the rum ignites. Allow rum to burn until it extinguishes, about 1 minute. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and syrupy, about 3 minutes longer.
In each of 6 dishes, place 2 scoops ice cream. Top with pineapple and sauce and serve at once.
Send comments or suggestions to Adam Ried at cooking@globe.com.
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