Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoonfuls of flour
• 2 tablespoonfuls of hominy
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoonful of butter
• 1 teaspoonful of lard
• 1/2 pint of milk
• A pinch of salt

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, hominy, and a pinch of salt.
2. Add the egg to the mixture and blend well.
3. Melt the butter and lard, then stir them into the mixture.
4. Gradually pour in the milk, beating the mixture lightly to create a smooth batter.
5. Heat your waffle iron according to its instructions.
6. Pour the batter onto the hot waffle iron and cook until the waffles are golden brown and crisp.
7. Serve the waffles hot with your choice of toppings.

Source — Cooking in Old Créole Days
Prepared by Sarun Shrestha
Louisiana Anthology
April 3, 2024.

Pain Perdu

Ingredients

• 1 pint of fresh milk
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Flavoring of choice (e.g., vanilla extract, cinnamon)
• 6 slices of bread
• Butter for frying

Directions

1. Sweeten the milk with sugar in a large bowl.
2. Stir the beaten eggs into the sweetened milk, then add your choice of flavoring.
3. Cut six slices from a loaf of bread and soak each slice in the milk and egg custard for a few minutes, ensuring each piece is well coated.
4. Heat butter in a frying pan until hot.
5. Fry each piece of soaked bread in the hot butter, turning once, until golden brown on both sides.
6. Pile the fried bread slices on a plate and serve hot.

Source — La Cuisine Creole.
Prepared by Sarun Shrestha
Louisiana Anthology
April 3, 2024.

Butter Chicken

Ingredients

• 500g chicken breast, cut into pieces
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 can (14 oz) crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt to taste
• Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Directions

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in yogurt, lemon juice, turmeric, garam masala, cumin, and ginger garlic paste for at least 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.
2. In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat, then add the chopped onions and sauté until they turn golden brown.
3. Add the marinated chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is partially cooked.
4. Add crushed tomatoes and chili powder, then simmer the mixture until the chicken is fully cooked and tender.
5. Stir in the heavy cream and simmer for another 5-10 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Season with salt to taste.
6. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro before serving.
Prepared by Sarun Shrestha
Louisiana Anthology
April 3, 2024.

White Soup of Jerusalem

Ingredients

• Stock of veal
• Three pounds of boiled artichokes
• Salt
• A soupçon of cayenne pepper
• Good, thick cream

Directions

1. Pulp the boiled artichokes through a sieve.
2. Season the veal stock with salt and cayenne pepper.
3. Add the pulped artichokes to the seasoned stock.
4. Before serving, stir in some good, thick cream to the mixture. Ensure it is well integrated without allowing the soup to boil.
5. Take care to maintain the soup's warmth without letting the cream chill it.

Source — The Unrivalled Cook-Book
Prepared by Sarun Shrestha
Louisiana Anthology
April 3, 2024.

Ratatouille (from the movie, Ratatouille)

Ingredients

• 1 6-oz can of tomato paste.
• 1 onion.
• 1 zucchini.
• 1 eggplant.
• 1 yellow bellpepper.
• 1 red bellpepper.
• 1 squash.
• Minced garlic.
• 5 tbsp of olive oil.
• A cup of water.
• Thyme leaves.
• Cooking wax paper
• A relatively wide and flat dish.

Directions

1. Prepare the vegetables by dicing the onion and and slicing the remaining veggies thinly.
2. Pour the tomato paste into a dish evenly and add the onion, some garlic, a tbsp of olive oil, and stir.
3. Arrange the slices of zucchini, squash, eggplant, and bellpeppers in an alternating fashion, creating rings starting at the edge of the dish.  Arrange them as if you are re-assembling the vegetables, creating a doughnut-like shape.
4. Evenly pour the remaining olive oil on top of the dish and season generously with thyme leave and optionally some salt and pepper.
5. Cover the dish completely with some wax paper and bake for around an hour or until the vegetables seem well roasted but not too soft.
6. Once done baking remove the paper and serve the dish.

Source — Family Recipe
Prepared by Alexander J. Kyle
Louisiana Anthology
April 3, 2024

Pigeon Pie

Ingredients

• Fresh pigeon
• Gravy
• Puff pastry/pie dough
• A pie tin
• Shredded lean ham
• Hardboiled eggs
• Ground pepper
• Minced parsley
• Lemon Juice
• Butter
• Flour
• An oven

Directions

1. Clean and stuff the pigeon.
2. Loosen the joints with a knife and boil the pigeon in gravy for ten minutes.
3. Line a pie tin with pie dough and place in shreds of lean ham, slice hardboiled eggs.
4. Add in the pigeon, sprinkled with pepper and parsley, with lemon juice squeezed on them as well.
5. Cover the pigeon with more slices of egg and shredded ham and pour in enough gravy which the pigeon boiled in to almost fill the pie.
6. Cover the pie with a blanket of pie dough, leaving a hole in the top, and bake for an hour.

Source — The Unrivalled Cook-Book
Prepared by Alexander J. Kyle
Louisiana Anthology
April 3, 2024

King Cake

Ingredients

Dough and filling

• Four and one half cups all purpose, unbleached flour
• Two small packs of active dry yeast
• One cup lukewarm milk
• One half cup sugar
• One cup shortening, or unsalted butter, softened
• Three eggs
• One tablespoon salt
• One teaspoon lemon juice
• One teaspoon vanilla
• One teaspoon butter, melted (omit if using butter instead of shortening)
• Two 8 ounce packs of softened cream cheese & one fourth to one half cup sugar OR
• One half cup cinnamon sugar & one fourth cup melted butter

Glaze

• One cup powdered sugar
• One to two tablespoons melted butter
• One teaspoon lemon juice
• One teaspoon vanilla
• Milk
• Purple, gold and green sprinkling sugars (OR you can divide the glaze into three bowls and color them with food coloring)

Directions

1. Measure out the flour.
2. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk and stir in one cup of the flour.
3. This is the sponge - let it rise, covered with a cloth, in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
4. In the meantime, gather & measure your ingredients, and when sponge is almost risen begin creaming the shortening (or butter) with the sugar.
5. When nicely creamed add in the eggs one at a time, and mix well.
6. Add in the flavorings: salt, vanilla, butter & lemon juice.
7. Add the sponge to the creamed butter mixture and combine. Add in the remaining flour and mix, using a dough hook (the dough is very sticky and difficult to kneed by hand) for at least five minutes. You can add a bit more flour while the dough is mixing if it seems way too wet, but don't overdo it. This is a fairly sticky, delicate dough.
8. Put the dough in a greased bowl about twice the size of the dough ball, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour.
9. Pre-heat oven to 325º. Roll the dough out on a heavily floured surface (flour the top of the dough and the pin as well) into a large rectangle.
10. If making a cream cheese filled cake, beat the softened cream cheese with about ¼ to ½ cup of sugar (add the sugar gradually and taste - you only want it lightly sweetened). Spread this mixture over the dough leaving about 1 inch uncovered around the edges. (If making cinnamon, spread the rolled dough evenly with the melted butter, leaving the edges clean, then sprinkle the butter evenly with the cinnamon sugar).
11. You can either fold the dough in half along the long end and cut into three long strips or cut the dough into three long strips and roll the strips into tubes and then braid the three strips together. Be very careful when braiding the dough. It is VERY delicate and will easily break if stretched very much.
12. Cut off the uneven ends (you can bake these as rolls) and form into an oval ring.
13. Bake for 30 minutes until done.
14. While baking make the glaze, by melting the butter in a microwave proof bowl.
15. Add the powdered sugar, mix, add the lemon juice (this helps the glaze harden a bit), mix, add vanilla, mix. Now add a little milk at a time until it is a thick glaze. Add more powdered sugar if it gets too thin.
16. When the cake is done, remove from oven and let cool about 10 minutes. Glaze the cake and quickly add the sprinkling sugars before the glaze hardens, alternating the colors around the cake.
17. Let cool and serve.

Source — Mother's home recipe.
Adapted from an old
New Orleans Times-Picayune clipping.

Prepared by Alexander Frederick
Louisiana Anthology
April 3, 2024