The Famous Cajun Doughnut - Beignet

Getting some coffee and Cajun doughnuts is a long standing tradition in New Orleans. Since the mid 1800's the beignet (pronounced ben-yay) has been a delicacy enjoyed in the homes and cafe's in Louisiana.  A trip to New Orleans is not complete without visiting world renowned "Cafe du Monde" for some of there mouth watering, deep fried, powdered sugary treats. Cooking beignets is very easy if you follow these simple steps.....read more.

How to Make Honey, Roasted Pecan Prailines - Sugar

Honey Roasted Pecan Pralines - Sugar

Pecan Pralines are easy to make and definitely will tame any sweet tooth cravings you have. After all the main ingredient is sugar. All you need is a little time and patience and you o can enjoy with delectable treat.

Ingredients for Honey Roasted Pecan Pralines

• 5 cups of sugar ( 3 cups brown, 2 cups white)
• 2 cups pecan halves 
• 1 (12oz) can of evaporated milk evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup of  butter
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• Wax paper 

Cooking Honey Roasted Pecan Pralines

Get a heavy saucepan and combine the salt, sugar and milk stirring over low heat until the sugar dissolves.Wipe the crystals away from the side of the pan. Cook until mixture will form a soft ball in a a glass of cold tap water usually about 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the heat down and add the butter and honey roasted pecans. Beat until creamy. Lay out the wax paper and coat with butter. Use a large spoon to drop pecan praline mixture onto the wax paper sheet. Let the pralines cool until they can be removed from the paper without falling apart. Store them individually in an air tight container.

Laissez le Bon temp rouler (Lazay Lay Bon Tom Roulay) or in plain English "Let the Good Times Roll"


Enjoy your honey roasted pecan pralines - sugar

How to Make Crawfish Stew - Spicy

Make a Crawfish Stew - Spicy

Now that the crawfish boil is over what will you do with all of the leftovers? Well there is a simple answer, make a spicy crawfish stew. Throwing together a spicy stew with the left over sausage, vegetables and crawfish is fairly straight forward. Having a crawfish boil and saving the leftovers unlocks several Cajun crawfish recipe opportunities. So lets turn up the heat and cook some Cajun food.

Cook Crawfish Stew - Spicy Ingredients

• crawfish tails (peeled) 4 lbs would be best
• Sausage, potatoes, corn and any other goodies you have leftover from the crawfish boil
• 1 white onion chopped up fine
• 1 green bell pepper chopped up fine
• 1 stalk of celery chopped up fine
• 1 to 2 cloves of garlic chopped fine (optional)
• 1 cup flour (more or less)
• 1 cup cooking oil
• Hot sauce (optional)
• 3 to 6 hard boiled eggs (optional)
• Approximately 4 cups of water
• Salt and pepper to tast

The key to making any Cajun stew or gumbo is in the roux. There are several instant roux mixes on the market and some of them are good when time is an issue. The roux mix I would recommend when going the instant route is Tony Chachere's Roux Mix 1 lb. it is not as good as making your rue the old fashioned way but you can still make a vaillant (nice) base for your stew or gumbo. For the purpose of this recipe we will assume you have plenty of time and want to give making your own roux a shot.

Before preparing the roux it is important that you get the other ingredients ready, you will not have time to mess around when you start the roux.

Lets get started, pour one cup of cooking oil in a large pot or skillet over medium heat. Once the oil heats up a bit start mixing in the flour slowly with a spoon, spatula or a whisk. I prefer to use a whisk. Add small amounts of flour at a time mixing together well until you get a consistency somewhat like gravy. Keep stirring the oil and flour mixture or the roux will burn. You can turn the heat down a bit if it seems to hot. Continue stirring the roux until you get a deep golden brown color. Add the Cajun holy trinity (bell pepper, onion and celery) and garlic (optional). Be careful when adding the trinity to the roux, the water in the vegetables may make the oil spatter. Keep stirring the roux until it is just about to burn approximately 20 to 30 minutes. DO NOT BURN THE ROUX!

                                

Add half of the water and continue to stir. Blend the water and the roux together. Once the base for your spicy crawfish stew is mixed well add the left over crawfish and other goodies from the seafood boil. Pour the rest of the water into the pot and mix well. Be carefull when adding the water so you do not make the stew to think or thin. You can add more spices or hot sauce at this point but keep in mind the crawfish were boiled in spicy seasoning. Put the cover on the pot and cook 30 to 35 minutes on low to medium heat, stirring the contents of the pot occasionally. Remove the cover from the pot and cook an additional 20 minutes, if the stew starts getting to think add a little water. If you want to add the hard boiled eggs to the spicy crawfish stew do so with about 5 minutes remaining on the cooking time.

The last step is to make some rice and enjoy you Cajun crawfish stew - spicy!