Mardi Gras — A Taste of Louisiana
Featured recipes:
Pain Perdu with Apricot Sauce
Cajun Pork Chops
Pasta Jambalaya
Shrimp Jambalaya
Crab Fritters with Creole Sauce
Quick and Easy Red Beans and Rice
Beignets
Celebrate a Mardi Gras dinner in the comfort of your own kitchen with help from Crisco. You'll think you took a trip to the Big Easy after you taste some of these authentic and scrumptious dishes.
New Orleans' food has two very distinct, but similar styles: Cajun and Creole. Cajun food has been called "country" cooking and Creole food "city" cooking. Seems fairly simple, but this is just the beginning of many agreements and disagreements among cooks, food authorities, and the residents of New Orleans.
Cajun cooking has French, Italian, Spanish, African, and Indian influences. Many spices are used, and the flavors are very robust. Creole cooking has Spanish, French, and African influences, uses a lot of tomatoes, and is generally less spicy. Both cuisines use the cooking "trinity" of chopped green peppers, onions, and celery. They both use generous amounts of filé powder, rice, and roux. Since I really cannot find clear distinctions between Cajun and Creole, I use the term "New Orleans cooking."
Pain Perdu translates to "lost bread" and began as a way to make the most of day old bread. A version of French toast, Pain Perdu with Apricot Sauce is a delicious way to start the day.
Lean Cajun Pork Chops come to life with a zesty seasoning blend — and get to your table in under 30 minutes!
Our delicious Crab Fritters with Creole Sauce have a secret ingredient — biscuit mix! The moist fritters taste great with the piquant Creole Sauce.
Jambalaya is one of the most famous dishes of New Orleans. The story goes that late one evening in the eighteenth century, a man arrived at an inn to find that there was nothing left of the night's menu to dine on. He asked the owner, Jean, to "mix some things together"—"balayez," in the dialect of Louisiana. Jean went to work in the kitchen and produced a meal of odds and ends that was delicious. The thankful guest named the dish "Jean Balayez." Another story is that the name is derived from the Spanish word for ham, "jamon," a main ingredient of the first Jambalayas.
The ingredients of Jambalayas are rice, ham, pork, sausage, chicken, shrimp, oysters, crayfish, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, celery, spices, and almost anything else in any combination. The basic method of cooking is to sauté the vegetables in oil and brown the meats; add broth or water, tomatoes, seasonings, and uncooked rice. Simmer until the rice is cooked. Seafood is added shortly before the end of cooking so that it will not overcook.
Depending on who you talk to, the word "jambalaya" could have a few different meanings. To us, it means a few of our favorite things all jumbled together to make one great dish. Our Shrimp Jambalaya includes everything from onion and ham to pepper and shrimp, which all combine to create a tasty, and traditional, Louisiana dish.
Chicken, shrimp, sausage — there's something for everyone in our colorful Pasta Jambalaya.
Don't let the name fool you, New Orleans-style red beans and rice isn't just beans and rice. But even with ham, smoked sausage, onions, celery, and hot sauce, our Quick and Easy Red Beans and Rice is still a snap to make. Using already-cooked rice cuts down on the prep time, so this dish can be served from skillet to table in approximately 30 minutes.
Beignets are popular treats unique to the New Orleans area, but you don't have to go there to enjoy them. Our Beignets recipe allows you to make some of these fluffy pastry delights in your very own kitchen. Serve your beignets warm to get the full New Orleans effect.