Trevor Williams
Rinse and sort through your beans, removing any debris. Soak beans overnight in water. The water should be an inch or two over the top of the beans. (Quick soak: Bring water to a boil, add dry beans, return to a boil then remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 1 hour.) In a stock pot, heat vegetable oil on med/high heat and add sausage. Cook the sausage until it’s brown and remove from the pan. Turn the heat down to medium, and add onions, peppers, celery, and bay leaf. Cook until the onions turn translucent. Add garlic and green onions and cook for another min. Return sausage to the pot along with drained red beans, pork necks and parsley. Add 8 cups of water and butter and bring beans to a boil. Once they are boiling, reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 1- 2 hours until beans are tender. Add more water in small amounts to adjust consistency if necessary. Season with Creole seasoning to taste. Serve over white rice, and top with green onions
Tips:
My grandmother was the cook in our family, and people came from all over to sample her cuisine. She typically made red beans and rice on Mondays, like most New Orleanians. This tradition dates back generations because women of the house would do laundry at the start of the week. Since beans can be left alone to “cook themselves,” it was an appropriate dish to prepare while the women would be otherwise occupied with chores. This recipe, while based on the foundation my grandmother established, is my cousin’s new and improved version. I love so much that she has carried on my grandmother’s culinary legacy as a renowned New Orleans chef. When I eat her food, I am taken back to my childhood, and her new twists on old classics add a priceless texture and depth.
Trevor Williams
Season chicken thighs with Creole seasoning and olive oil. Place chicken in 425 degree oven until cooked through. Cut chicken in bite sized pieces and hold on the side. Cut sausages into bite sized pieces, sear them in the pot, then remove. Add to the pot half of the onions, peppers and celery and cook down on medium high heat until tender. Add remaining onions, peppers, and celery and bay leaves. Cook until the first vegetable is caramelized and the second is tender. Add file to the vegetables, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes. Be careful not to let it burn on the bottom of the pot. Add in chicken, cooked sausage, gumbo crabs, and chicken stock, and bring to a simmer.
To make the roux, combine oil and flour in a pan. Cook on high CONSTANTLY WHISKING until it is the color of milk chocolate. Lower the heat, and keep stirring until it is almost the color of semi-sweet chocolate. Remove from the heat. Keep stirring for a few minutes.
Cool the roux down to room temperature. Add the roux to the hot stock. Stir until it is combined. Simmer on medium heat for 1 to 1 ½ hours until it no longer tastes like raw flour. Season shrimp and oysters with Creole seasoning, add to the pot, and bring the pot back up to a simmer. Seafood should cook in 5-7 minutes. Add salt and/or Creole seasoning to taste.
This is another one of my cousin’s recipes. While everything she cooks is outstanding, she is known for her gumbo, particularly her roux. The fact that she’s able to get it to such a perfect, dark brown without burning it, is miraculous. This is another recipe that stands on the shoulders of my grandmother (a chef in her own right) then keeps climbing.
Recipes and Reminisces of New Orleans
Saute onions and celery in butter. Add parsley and cook 2 minutes. Blend in flour, stirring constantly. Do not allow to brown. Add oyster liquid and milk, stirring constantly. Cook slowly over very low heat for ½ hour. Before serving, add the oysters, cook for 5 minutes. Season to taste. Serve with French bread or crackers.
My grandmother made this soup from her most prized cookbook every Christmas. She had 7 children and 11 grandchildren, and we’d all gather at her house for the holiday to exchange gifts and eat the feast she’d prepared. There would be a roast, or ham, potato salad, French bread, stuffed mirlitons, green beans, pound cake and pecan pie, but the real treat would be her soup, not only because of its creamy decadence, but because it signified the rich ties of the holiday for me. To this day, I associate it with my family, scattered across the country now, but when I taste the oysters, I remember when we were together.
Recipes and Reminisces of New Orleans
Prepare shrimp. Saute sausage in oil about 3 minutes. Add garlic, onion and pepper. Cook to tender stage. Add parsley, tomatoes, seasonings, rice and water. Stir in thoroughly. Add shrimp. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover closely. (Best to use heavy cooking vessel). Cook without stirring over a low temperature for 25-30 minutes. Rice should be fluffy.
This is another of my grandmother’s recipes, selected from her favorite cookbook. Jambalaya was not a food we ate during the week or even on most weekends. It was a festive food. I associate it with parties: wedding receptions, family birthdays, or other significant gatherings. I remember eating it with chicken wings, meatballs or finger sandwiches, then dancing the second line and going back for seconds followed by petit fours. Those were the days.
Deborah Singleton
Sift flour and baking powder together. Cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and cream. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each one. Add flour alternating with milk and whipping cream. Add extracts to taste. Bake on 350 degrees for about 30 minutes using a 9 by 13 sheet baking pan.
Mix cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Add milk sparingly for frosting consistency.
This is my Auntie Ann’s favorite cake to bake, and our favorite one to consume. It’s so popular people beg her to bring it to functions at the church or work, and it’s often the one we request for family events. “Make the white cake,” we’d say, based on the dessert’s appearance. She always manages to achieve the perfect soft, fluffy consistency. She’s a lovely woman, one of the matriarchs of our family. Whenever I eat this, I feel her maternal love and comfort, along with the delightful burst of flavor.
