Potato Dumplings

I love carbs! They are so caloric, but so good! Dumplings of any sort are one of my favorites. Usually I make quicky Bisquick dough dumplings but when my mother-in-law was in town visiting she mentioned really liking potato dumplings and said they were quite easy to make. And she was right! Mashed potatoes, egg and a little flour. The trickiest part is making the dough into balls, but if your wet you hands with cold water first it's a cinch. I decided to serve the dumplings with a chicken stroganoff, which is essentially my crock pot beef stroganoff with chicken instead and the egg noodles are omitted.

2 cups mashed potatoes

2 eggs

1 cup of flour

Mix together all of the ingredients

Wet hands with cold water and form the dough into two inch balls

Boil in salted water for ten minutes or until they start to float

Almost ready...

There. All floating at nine minutes and fifty-five seconds.

Scoop them out and keep in a covered bowl til ready to serve

Bubba and Ivor decided to do their own cooking project

Yum! Bubba still won't try them, but maybe someday.

Cajun Christmas Part 3: Smoked Ham, Cajun Coleslaw and Hush Puppies

And finally the conclusion of Cajun Christmas: The Entree Course. 

I learned to smoke meats when we were living with my parents in Illinois before we purchased our home in Wisconsin. My family has a long tradition of grilling in ridiculous winter weather. My Dad grew up in Minnesota where his father would shovel his way to the grill through feet of snow. My father kept up this tradition vowing to grill at least once a month during the winter and in turn my brother learned to shovel his way to the grill too. And now it is my turn. It was 2 degrees outside on Christmas Eve Day but it didn't actually feel that cold. It was a dry cold and not too windy that day.What was interesting was that when I shoveled my way to the grill I found a surprise! A sheet of ice underneath from our recent freezing rain before the snow storm. And at 2 degrees, nothing was melting that!

First you want to pile up a little bit of charcoal on one side of the grill. This is a cold smoke. The idea is not really to cook or heat the meat, but to get the smokey flavor "soaked" in.

Light the charcoal,  add some lighter fluid to make sure it catches,
cover the grill and wait about 1/2 hour or so 

While you wait soak some wood chips in water. I used Cherry this time.

My lovely 8 lb ham waiting for it's destiny

The coals should be about half lit like this

Add one of the pieces of wet wood and pile with a couple of new pieces of charcoal

Then put on the ham

And let the grill do it's magic.

Every half hour or so add a new piece of wet wood and
a couple more new pieces of charcoal and cook this way for about 4 hours. It helps to keep a squirt bottle near by to extinguish any flair ups, only red coals and smoke, no fire!

2 degrees outside, and I'm smoking ham.
If the neighbors didn't already think I was crazy, they must now!
(skidding on a sheet of ice out to the grill every half hour doesn't help matters)

Finished! After 4 hours I brought it in, covered it and put it in the fridge to wait for Christmas. Then Christmas day as soon as the oysters vacated the oven I put the ham in a covered clay baking dish with a bit of wine for moisture at 350 for 2-ish hours.

The Cajun Coleslaw is another masterpiece from the geniuses at Heaven on Seven. We decided this would be a good "vegetable" side for our entree course.

Cajun Coleslaw

1 head of cabbage (shredded)
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onion
1/4 cup shredded carrots

Honey Jalapeno Dressing:
2/3 cup mayo
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons honey
5 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon seeded, minced jalapeno
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Angel Dust Cajun Seasoning (below)
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Angel Dust Cajun Seasoning:

3 tablespoons Hungarian Paprika

1 1/2 tablespoons Spanish Paprika (I used smoked)

5 teaspoons salt

1 1/4 teaspoons thyme leaves

1  1/4 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Mix the Honey Jalapeno Dressing ingredients together in a bowl

Blend well

And add the chopped vegetables

Toss and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour for the flavors to meld together before serving.

Finally my brother made the Hush Puppies for a nice starchy side.
Like corn bread but better, so much better!

Hush Puppies
3 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons sugar
splash of milk

peanut oil to fry

First mix the dry ingredients

Then add the buttermilk

And the eggs

A splash of milk and mix well

Drop spoonfuls into hot oil

Fry til golden brown

Yum! The perfect main course to finish up our Cajun Christmas!

Cajun Christmas Part 2: The Oyster Trio

I started my Cajun Christmas posts out of order but since my Dad does the Famous Oyster Trio it took me a while to gather the photos and recipes from the various cooking locations so I posted the soup course first, but then I decided I wanted all of the Cajun Christmas posts to be together in 2013 so I am posting the last two today.

My Dad has been cooking oysters for as long as I can remember. The story goes that they used to be the appetizer for Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house may years ago but everyone always ate so many oysters that they didn't ever want any turkey so the tradition moved to the day after Thanksgiving as the main course for an oyster blow out dinner. This was long before I ate oysters. After we moved from the East coast to the Chicago area the tradition seemed to disappear for a while since only my parents were there to eat them and oysters were a little harder to come by in the Midwest. Then one year my Dad started planing an elaborate Christmas dinner with an Oysters Rockefeller appetizer and I ate them for the first time I remember. After that the Trio began making a comeback.

Bienville Filling- makes 2 dozen oysters

From: The New Orleans Cookbook by Rema and Richard Collin

1 stick butter

1 cup finely cut shallots

1/4 cup finely minced parsley

1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced garlic

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cup milk

4 egg yolks, beaten

1/4 cup dry sherry

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2/3 cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 lb shrimp, boiled and diced

Parmesan Topping-

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Melt butter in a sauce pan and add the shallots, parsley and garlic and cook 10 minutes. Gradually stir in flour and mix well. Add the cream and milk slowly stiring constantly til the mixture is smooth, then add the egg yolks, sherry, salt, pepper, and cayenne, blend well and cook over low heat until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in mushrooms, cook for 2 more minutes then add the shrimp and continue to cook on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Spoon into a glass dish and refrigerate for at least an hour and a half before topping oysters. When ready top oysters with filling and sprinkle evenly with the parmesan topping.

Adding the cream and milk to the mix

And the egg yolks

And the sherry (which is in my opinion the secret ingredient)

And finally the shrimp

Rousseau Filling- makes 2 dozen oysters

From: Cajun-Creole Cooking by Terry Thompson

3 large tomatoes peeled, seeded and diced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon dried basil

3/4 teaspoon dry savory

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1/2 bay leaf, minced

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 slices of bacon

grated parmesan

Heat olive oil in a sauce pan and add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and herbs saute til onions transparent. Then add the tomatoes. Then add the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt and black and red peppers, saute 15 minutes and set sauce aside. When ready to cook oysters divide the sauce evenly through out the oysters top with a piece of the bacon and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Sauteing the onion, garlic, and bell pepper

adding the tomatoes

and the Worchestershire

Rockefeller Filling- makes 2 dozen oysters

(This one my Dad modified quite a bit from The New Orleans Cookbook over the years)

1 bunch green onions

1 cup-ish flat leaf parsley stemmed and chopped

1 small bag frozen spinach thawed and drained

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 sticks salted butter, softened

sprinkle of salt

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

3/4 teaspoon powdered Chinese Five Spice (this is the secret ingredient!)

Mix the greens, and spices in with the butter then knead thoroughly and shape into 24 patties and set on a wax paper covered pan and place in the fridge til ready to put on the oysters. Place one patty on each oyster.

The greens

Adding the spices

And the butter

Mix well

Shaping into patties

All of the filings were pre- made the night before at my parent's house. Then the oysters were shucked and assembled at my house as the first course of our Cajun Christmas Dinner. All of the oyster types can be combined on the same pans and cook at 425 for about 20-25 minutes. The oysters that will be Rockefeller style should be in flat bottomed oysters that stay fairly level in the pan due to the amount of melted butter they will produce while cooking.

My Dad shucking the oysters. 

(Glad he does this part, I'd worry about stabbing myself in the hand!)

The fillings awaiting their destiny!

And the first oyster is bienville. My favorite!

The bienville topping

All ready for the oven!

And they are done after 20 long minutes. 

Wait a couple more minute to remove from the pan, those oyster shells are pretty toasty.

Finally the famous oyster trio! The perfect start to our Cajun Christmas.