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Seafood Gumbo For Wynton
Poppy Tooker
Serves 10 - 12
1/2 cup oil
1 cup flour
1 lb. gumbo crabs
2 lbs. shrimp
1 pint oysters
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 lbs. okra, sliced 1/4"
oil for frying okra
1 - 1 lb. can crushed tomatoes
1 gallon shrimp stock
1 clove garlic
2 t thyme
1 bay leaf
1 bunch green onions
Crystal Hot Sauce to taste
Peel shrimp and combine make a stock by combining heads, peels, onion skins, celery bottoms and tops with green onion parings in a stock pot. Cover with water in excess of 2 inches over discards and boil for 15 minutes or less. Strain and reserve shrimp stock. Drain oysters and reserve oyster liquor.Fry okra in very hot oil until lightly browned (or roast).
Make a dark roux with the flour and oil, cooking to the color of milk chocolate brown. Add onions, stirring together until the roux darkens to a bittersweet chocolate brown. Add celery and bell pepper. Sauté for five minutes, then add the gumbo crabs, tomatoes, okra, herbs and the shrimp stock and oyster liquor. Add garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 45 minutes or longer.
Ten minutes before serving add shrimp and green onions. Add Crystal Hot Sauce and salt as needed. Serve on top of cooked rice.
Savory Calas with Remoulade
Mix together
2 cups cooked rice
6 t flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 – 6 t savory ingredients (crab, crawfish, shrimp, tasso or andouille)
3 thinly sliced green onions
1 t hot sauce
2 eggs
Mix the rice and dry ingredients together throughly. Add the eggs and hot sauce. When thoroughly mixed, drop by spoonfuls into hot deep fat (360 degrees) and fry until brown. Drain on paper. Serve hot with remoulade sauce for dipping.
Yields approximately 18 calas
Remoulade Sauce
1 cup Creole mustard
1 bunch green onions
1 celery heart with tops
1/2 bunch parsley
1/2 cup olive oil
4 T paprika
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. salt
juice of one lemon
Combine green onions, celery and parsley in food processor. Process together until finely minced. Add the remainder of the ingredients. Serve as dipping sauce for the savory calas.
Sweet Calas
Poppy Tooker
Makes 12
2 cups cooked rice
6 tablespoons flour
3 heaping tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
vegetable oil (for deep-frying)
confectioners’ sugar
In a bowl, combine rice, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, Mix until rice is coated with dry ingredients. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Heat vegetable oil for deep-frying to 360 degrees. Carefully drop rice mixture by spoonfuls into hot oil and fry until brown. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Serve hot.
Creole Cream Cheese
Poppy Tooker
yields approximately 8 pints
1 gallon skim milk
1 cup buttermilk
pinch of salt
6 - 8 drops liquid vegetable rennet (can be purchase in health food stores)
In a large stainless or glass bowl mix together all ingredients. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and leave out on kitchen counter at room temperature for 18 - 24 hours.
You will then find one large curd cheese floating in whey. Take pint sized cheese mold (or make your own by poking holes in plastic pint containers with a soldering iron) and a slotted spoon and spoon large pieces of the cheese into the molds.
Put molds on a rack in a roasting pan and again cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Allow cheeses to drain for 6 - 8 hours before turning out of molds and storing in a tightly covered container for up to 2 weeks.
To serve, pour a bit of cream or ½ & ½ on top and sprinkle with sugar or eat savory style sprinkled with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
From the Tujague's Cookbook - this is perfect for cooler weather months.
Philip Guichet’s Grasshopper cocktail achieved international fame, having placed second in the 1918 New York competition. His Whiskey Punch never received that attention, despite winning first place in the 1956 Early Times National Mixed-Drink Competition. Philip preserved a copy of his recipe behind a framed group of photos from the event, discovered in Tujague’s third-floor attic. In 2015, for the first time in the twenty-first century, Philip Guichet’s prize winning Whiskey Punch was served again at Tujague’s.
Whiskey Punch Recipe
Philip Guichet
Makes 1 Cocktail
2 oz. Early Times or other bourbon whiskey
1 whole fresh egg
2 oz. heavy cream
4 drops orange flower water
2 tsp. sugar
Grated Nutmeg
Chicken Liver Mousse for all Seasons
Chef Isaac Toups, Toups Meatery
Makes about 6 cups
This versatile recipe can be adapted with other spirits and spice blends to suit the seasons: The clove and nutmeg called for here are good choices for winter. Substitute 1/4 cup Lillet Blanc for the port and the zest of one lemon for the spices for summer.
2 pounds, chicken livers, rinsed
3 sticks butter cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
1/4 cup port
2 tablespoons Bourbon
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of clove
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
salt and white pepper to taste
hearty bread
cornichons (optional)
Cook the livers in a medium-sized pan set over high heat until they are medium rare, about 1 minute per side. Add the port, Bourbon, sugar, clove, nutmeg, and salt. Remove the pan from the heat immediately when livers are cooked through, about 4 more minutes. Scrape mixture into a bowl; chill.
Add livers, liquid, butter, cream cheese, port, Bourbon, sugar, clove and nutmeg to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until completely smooth. Correct seasoning with salt and white pepper.
Scrape mixture into one large or several small porcelain ramekins. Chill. Serve with bread rounds, cornichons, and sliced radishes.
Red Beans & Rice Salad
Poppy Tooker
Serves 4
2 cups cooked rice (brown or white)
1 cup canned red beans, drained & rinsed
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon yellow bell pepper, diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 medium Creole tomato, diced
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste
Dressing
3 tablespoons Creole mustard
2 tablespoons cane vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
Whisk together Creole mustard and cane vinegar. Drizzle in olive oil, whisking continuously.
Mix together rice, red beans, celery, bell pepper, green onions and Creole tomato. Add the dressing and toss together. Sprinkle on parsley and season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.
Refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be made 24 hours in advance.