Etouffee sauce

This is a great base for many seafood applications like Crawfish and shrimp etouffee, soft shell crab tempura with shrimp etouffee sauce, grilled/sauteed fish, etc.....

Its method and preparation process, however, is very tedious and needs patience.

Ingredients needed:

Flour 2 cups

Butter 1/2 lbs

Chicken Stock 1cup

Shrimp stock 1cup

Tomato juice 1/2 cup

Tomato paste 1tbsp

Chopped shallots 1/2 cup

Chopped garlic 2 tbsp

Diced red onion 2 cups

Diced red pepper 2 cups

Diced green pepper 2 cups

Tabasco 1/2 cup

To prepare an etouffee sauce properly, a brown roux is needed, which is where the flour and butter comes from. Roux (pron. Ru) by definition is: flour cooked with melted butter; typically used as a thickening agent for cream/bechamel sauces, brown sauce (sauce espagnole).

To prepare brown roux:

Heat Chicken and shrimp stock together, but not boiling.

melt butter in large sauce pan in low/medium heat.

let the butter turn slightly darker before any flour is added.......BUT do not let it burn!

Add flour and mix using a wire whip/wisk............. continuously. The mixture will get pasty and loose and nutty smell. Keep this up until medium brown......and unfortunately, you cannot take your eyes off this.

Once brown (this is your brown roux), turn heat down to low.....slowly with a ladle add the warm stocks into the roux and continue to whisk and incorporate. Then add tomato juice, tomato paste and tabasco into this mixture.

Once cool add garlic, shallots, onions and peppers into the etouffee sauce. Bring all this into a slight boil.

THIS IS ETOUFFEE sauce. This will get you app. 3 cups od etouffee sauce

To prepare a crawfish and shrimp etouffee:

10 pcs of cooked crawfish and 4-6 medium sized shrimp (21-25) is sauteed in olive oil with a little garlic and shallots.

Halfway cooked add 1/2 cup of etouffee sauce and toss everything around in a sauce pan until properly cooked.

Serve with Basmati rice and greens

To prepare a sauteed soft shell crab with etouffee sauce:

flour seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper, paprika and ground cumin

2 pcs soft shell crab (app. 8oz each), cleaned.

Toss into seasoned flour and pat off excess flour.

In a sautee pan, preheat olive oil, sautee soft shell crabs until nicely brown on each side.....finish cooking in a 350 oven for 10 mins.

Remove crabs and use the same pan to heat 1/2 cup etouffee sauce.......add 2tbsp lump crabmeat to finish. Serve soft shell crabs on top of etouffee sauce with rice and greens.

Herb crusted tenderloin

This is a great party or special occasion dish; New Year's eve, Christmas dinner, etc.

A little expensive, since a large piece of tenderloin will be needed. For a large cocktail party this can be served room temp or cold with slices of toast or baguette.

Ingredients needed:

Whole denuded tenderloin, or smaller depending on amount of guests.

Denuded means, the silver skin and fat has been trimmed off.

Kosher salt

Coarse ground black pepper

Grainy dijon mustard

Panko bread crumbs (2 cups)

Chopped fresh oregano (1/2 cup)

Chopped fresh thyme (1/2 cup)

Chopped fresh basil (1/2 cup)

Method:

Season the whole tenderloin with kosher salt and black pepper liberally and let sit for 5-10mins.

Preheat a non reactive large sautee pan or cast iron skillet.

Once smoky, turn down the heat to medium and sear tenderloin until caramelized on all sides to seal all the juices.

Let cool. Spread Grainy dijon mustard all over the tenderloin.

Preheat oven to 450F.....once there turn down to 350.

Mix all herb ingredients and bread crumbs.

Cover the tenderloin with herb mixture and let sit for 15-20 minutes and let the herb and bread crumbs soak

Roast tenderloin in a large roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven for about 20 minutes.

Turn the roasting pan and cook again for another 15-20 minutes.

For medium rare in the middle internal temp should be 140F.

Let tenderloin rest for a good 20-30 mins before carving/slicing.

The tips of the tenderloin should medium well/well done and the center part pink.

Serve with bearnaise sauce or a red wine deglaze sauce.

For sauce, after tenderloin has been taken out of the pan, put the pan back into the oven for 15-20 mins to reheat the pan and let the fond (crusty leftovers on the bottom of the pan).

Once hot, deglaze pan with a bottle of red wine and put back into oven to bring to a boil.

Drop in a tablespoon of butter to thicken.

Serve as sauce.

Bearnaise sauce............another story...............

Poulet avec pomme et raisin

Translated: chicken with apples and grapes, but for easier preparations we will use raisins instead.

This is a very simple yet elegant dish to share with friends and family.

When done properly, the aroma, the flavor and presentation will impress your friends.

What's needed:

Whole chicken (1) 4-5lbs

Granny smith apples (2-4)

Raisin (1 cup)

English chutney (1/2 cup)

Chopped red onion (1/4 cup)

Chopped garlic (optional - 1 teaspoon)

Truss (roasting string - optional)

Preparation:

This is optional, but the whole chicken will be best prepared and presented boneless.

To do this cut the chicken along the spine, to open the cavity, but don't cut in half. Force the bones apart to slightly flatten and open the middle of the chicken. Using a thin (boning knife), start to perform an incision just under the ribs on each side, making sure not too much meat was cut. Cut all the way to the top of the rib and pull off the chest cartilage out and the rest of the rib bones will come out. Now the cavity is open and boneless with thigh and leg bones in tact, which is fine.

Peel green apples, seed them and cut into medium dice.

Combine with raisins, diced onion, garlic and english chutney - mix well.

Stuff this mixture into the cavity of the chicken and close. Truss the chicken breast area with string to seal. Cover the outside skin with Kosher/sea salt.

Place on a rack in a roasting pan and roast in 375F oven until internal temperature is 155-160F, about 60-70 minutes.

Leave it on the rack and roasting pan while resting for about 20-30mins.

Cut trusses and serve. The leftover drippings in the roasting pan can be used to prepare a sauce.

Put back roasting pan into oven to re-heat and bake the "fond" (crusty leftovers on the bottom of the pan) for about 10- mins. Upon taking out of the oven using either white wine or chicken stock, deglaze the pan with app 1-cups of it and put back into the oven. Let it come to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of butter to thicken. Serve as sauce.

Best prepared steak

Here in the States.....steak preparation preference has been: grilled....it is great tasting, especially with the smoky and fiery flavor profile.
The only problem with steaks.......or any other proteins......prepared this way is the lack of natural sauce/juice that comes from a very well prepared pan cooked steak.
Grilling, for the most part, sears the outer layer of meat with hot, and most times inconsistent, fire.
The side effect to this is its natural juices evaporate as it drips away.
Sautee-ing, french style, if one ever notices, leaves a fond on the pan. It's that dried up stuff leftover from natural juices. This can be reconstituted by "deglazing" it with butter and liquid (pref. wine or stock).
So, here's how my favorite steak gets prepared:
10oz New York Strip steak or Tenderloin.
Sirloin can also be used.
Kosher or sea salt.....coarse
Fresh Ground black pepper
Butter (pref. Plugra)
Red wine or beef stock, or for best result: Demi Glace.......I will explain later.

Method of preparation:
Coat each side of steak with kosher salt and black pepper, generously - this will create a crystalizing effect which in turn produces a crust.
Using a non reactive pan like All Clad stainless steel pan, pre-heat pan with medium high heat.
No need to use oil.
Place steak in pan for about 4 minutes on each side......a crust will form.
Rest the steak on a plate, deglaze the pan with red wine or stock or demi glace, making sure the good stuff is scraped from the bottom.
Thicken this with a butter and use it as sauce. There will be a pool of liquid/blood around the resting steak.....use this for the sauce as well.
This is best served with mashed potatoes and greens and carrots.

Now compare that to a grilled steak..........