Ranger Recipes: Seafood

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Louisiana is like a gumbo. Many different cultures contribute to the southern Louisiana cooking scene. With a rich history and the wide variety of habitats like swamps, prairies, and forests, it’s no wonder Louisiana is known for its unique food.

Follow along on the Jean Lafitte Facebook page for our series What’s Cooking Wednesday, which gives some great and easy recipes for you to try out. Along the way, you’ll learn a little about the influences and history of Louisiana cooking.

 

Ranger Recipes: Seafood

Below are some of the past seafood recipes from What's Cooking Wednesday. Take a look and try them out!

Crawfish Beignets

Crawfish, how much do I love you? Let me count the ways; boiled, fried, in a stew, etouffee, fettucine, dip, boudin, pie, casserole, cornbread, on a salad, nachos, crawfish balls, bisque, in a cream sauce on French bread, po-boy, crawfish cheesecake, fritters, omelet, chowder, beignets, dirty rice, quesadillas, in a quiche, crawfish cakes, crawfish burger, hushpuppies, tacos, fricassee, tortillas, grits, to name a few. Hungry yet? Try making these crawfish beignets!

Ingredients

• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 pound chopped, cooked crawfish tail meat
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 1/2 teasppoons butter/melted
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup bread flour
• oil for deep-fat frying
• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup ketchup
• ¼ teaspoon prepared horseradish/optional
• ¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce 

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the egg, onions, butter, salt and cayenne. Stir in flour until blended.
2. In an electric skillet or deep fryer, heat 1-inch oil to 375ºF. Drop batter by tablespoon, a few at a time into hot oil. Fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.  
3. For the Dipping Sauce: Combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, horseradish if desired, and pepper sauce. Serve with beignets.

Garfish

Though kind of scary to look at, the alligator garfish is quite tasty! 

A prehistoric fish, its head resembles an alligator's head and snout. It has a wide mouth and two rows of teeth! The average adult size is 100 to 150 pounds and 4 to 6 feet long.  

Want a recipe to try? Check it out! You can usually purchase garfish from local seafood markets in south Louisiana.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• handful of chopped green onion tops
• 3 pounds garfish meat (Note: It is easier if you put the garfish meat through a meat grinder)
• your favorite seasoning
• fish fry mixture
• oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.
2. Once combined, scoop a golf ball size out and form into a patty. Continue until all are done.
3. Next, coat them in the fish fry, or a mixture of 1/3 cup flour and 1/3 cup yellow cornmeal seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon each black pepper, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. 
4. In a skillet, heat oil and place patties in the skillet. Flip and fry until golden brown. 

New Orleans Shrimp Roll

As a state with thousands of miles of coast and habitats abundnant with nutrients, Louisiana has large shrimp populations. If you have access to it, use fresh, local shrimp for this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. shrimp
• 2 brioche buns
• 1 creole tomato
• 2 oz. remoulade
• 1/2 oz. iceberg lettuce
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

Directions:

1. In a pan, sear the shrimp. Remove from heat and coat the shrimp in the remoulade sauce.
2. Roast garlic with Cajun seasoning. Once roasted, smash the garlic.
3. Slice the tomatoes. Shred the lettuce.
4. Assemble the sandwich with remoulade sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and srhimp. Top the sandwich with garlic.

Oyster Gumbo

This Ranger Recipe features a recipe from the famous Nellie Murray, a chef, celebrity, and activist in New Orleans.
Nellie Murray was born enslaved in Bayou Goula sometime around 1835, and she became known for her Creole cuisine at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.

But she was more than a celebrity chef, she was also an activist. Nellie Murray catered luncheon for the 1903 National Suffrage Convention held in New Orleans, even after Black women were excluded from the 1903 NAWSA Convention in New Orleans.  

She used her legendary status, "and spoke out against New Orleans segregated streetcar laws and paved the way for future women of color in the New Orleans culinary industry such as the pioneering WDSU 1940's cooking show host Lena Richard and chef and co-owner of the legendary Dooky Chase restaurant, Leah Chase,” from, The Legacy, New Orleans' Most Sought After Caterer Nellie Murray Honored During Feast - Cuisine Noir Magazine. 

In honor of Nellie Murray, try out her oyster gumbo recipe!

Ingredients

• sausage
• flour
• oil
• onions
• celery
• bell peppers
• garlic
• diced tomatoes
• salt
• cayenne pepper
• sweet paprika
• dried oregano
• dried thyme
• bay leaf
• black pepper
• shrimp
• oysters, fresh
• rice

Directions

1. First brown your sausage.
2. Make a roux of flour and oil. Once simmering, add onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic. Cook while stirring often. Cook until the vegetables are tender, not browned.
3. Next, add diced tomatoes, salt, cayenne pepper, sweet paprika, dried oregano and thyme, bay leaf, and black pepper. Add in browned sausage.
4. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat.
5. Add shrimp, and just cook lightly.
6. Lastly, add fresh oysters. Serve over rice. 

Shrimp Stew

Dancing the Shrimp, why would you want to dance with shrimp? In Louisiana, it was a way of preserving shrimp.
In the 1870’s, Chinese fisherman introduced commercial shrimp drying. Fisherman would bring their catch to a processor. The shrimp were boiled in brine water, then spread out on platforms to dry in the sun. The shrimp were turned over often so they would dry evenly. Drying took about three days. They would walk on the shrimp to break off the shell. The walk was done in a circular pattern, so it looked like they were dancing!
To powder shrimp yourself, you just put it in a food processor. Dried or powdered, it’s good in dishes where shrimp is the main ingredient. Try using dried shrimp today with this recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 
• Cajun seasoning  
• 1 packet dried shrimp 
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil 
• 1 cup onion, chopped 
• 1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped 
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped 
• 6 cups chicken broth 
• 5 tablespoons store-bought roux  
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped 

Directions

1. Season shrimp generously, set aside.
2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
3. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook until onions are translucent, stirring often.
4. Add garlic, and cook for another minute.
5. Add 4 cups of chicken broth and powdered shrimp.
6. Bring to a boil. Next, add prepared roux, and stir until dissolved.
7. Reduce heat, and cook at a low boil for 20 minutes. If it’s too thick, add chicken broth, as needed.
8. Stir in shrimp and parsley. Continue to cook until shrimp are cooked.
9. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

Steamed Catfish

Catfish are named for their prominent barbels (or whiskers) they use to find food in murky waters. Blue catfish, one of the most predominant species in the Mississippi River Basin, commonly reach between 20-40 lbs, but some can reach in excess of 100 pounds! Try out this ranger recipe today and steam catfish!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 whole catfish fillets
• juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• non-stick cooking spray  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Sprinkle dry ingredients on both sides of the fillets.
4. Place fillets in a 9"x13" baking pan that has been coated with cooking spray.
5. In a small bowl, mix the melted butter, lemon juice, and garlic powder well to combine.
6. Drizzle the fillets with the wet mixture.
7. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily.