Louisiana Cookin' May/June 2020

WHEN I’M TRAVELING outside Louisiana and I see a po’ boy on the menu, I typically wince. It might be a totally fine sandwich, but unless I’m a few hours from New Orleans, I know it won’t really be a po’ boy. What makes a legit po’ boy? That’s easy: the bread. New Orleans-style French bread is really the beginning and the end of it. More and more, we’ve seen banh mi-inspired po’ boys hit menus, and I am all for it. To me, the Vietnamese-style French bread is so close to its New Orleans counterpart that I will happily accept them as po’ boys. These versions, with their mountains of crunchy pickles and spicy jalapeños, often rank among my favorites (which you will see on page 69 in our guide…

BLUE GIANT NEW ORLEANS The Lower Garden District is home to a new Chinese American restaurant, the first restaurant from Cochon alums Bill Jones and Richard Horner. The team is presenting a reimagined take on dishes they grew up eating, made with premium, local ingredients. The menu of comfort food favorites includes Pan Fried Shrimp & Pork Dumplings, Dan Dan Noodles, Scallop Egg Foo Yung, and Peking Duck. bluegiantnola.com SEED NEW ORLEANS In January, the team from District: Donuts. Sliders. Brew. launched their revamped version of Seed, a plant-based restaurant, in the Garden District. Chef Dan Causgrove’s menu offers an approachable selection of vegan dishes with New Orleans flavors. A fried kelp po’ boy, mushroom gumbo, and Carrot Fettuccine are just a few of Seed’s incredible new offerings. seedneworleans.com DRAGO’S BATON ROUGE Drago’s is now bringing its famous…

IN OUR OPINION, one of the greatest joys of living in south Louisiana is the pleasure of eating juicy Creole tomatoes at the beginning of each summer. These tomatoes, grown in the rich alluvial soil along the Mississippi River in Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes, have a distinct flavor that makes them a local favorite. This year, we’ll be combining our beloved Creole tomatoes with Louisiana shrimp and fresh corn for a refreshing summer salad. SHRIMP WITH CREOLE TOMATO SALSA MAKES 6 SERVINGS This recipe is our take on a salsa prepared by Chef Tommy DiGiovanni of Arnaud’s at the 2018 Creole Tomato Festival in New Orleans. 2 cups diced Creole tomato½ cup fresh corn kernels¼ cup diced red onion¼ cup loosely packed chopped fresh basil2 tablespoons diced seeded jalapeño (1 small jalapeño)2 tablespoons…

AS THE WEATHER starts heating up in late spring and early summer, blue crabs start running in Louisiana’s marshes and showing up on menus and dinner tables around the state. We delight in the delicate sweetness and distinct decadence Louisiana blue crabmeat adds to any meal. Whether it’s transformed into savory beignets, stuffed into a baguette, or perched atop a slice of juicy Creole tomato and drizzled with an acidic dressing, we simply can’t get enough. Try these recipes for a delicious start to any gatherings you attend this season. CRAB BEIGNETS WITH CREOLE MUSTARD SAUCE MAKES ABOUT 32 These savory beignets were inspired by the popular appetizer from La Petite Grocery in New Orleans. 1 cup mascarpone cheese⅓ cup finely chopped shallot1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves2 teaspoons Creole seasoning*1 pound lump crabmeat,…

ONE OF THE MOST iconic images of Louisiana—for me, at least—is a shrimp boat, trawl nets down, illuminated with the first light of day or glowing with the setting sun. It’s not only the beauty of the shrimp boats that feeds my soul but also the knowledge that luscious, delectable jewels are being mined from those Gulf waters. Louisiana is blessed with some of the wealthiest waters in the world—in our lakes, rivers, marshes, and, of course, Gulf waters. What might be special occasion food for others is daily fare for us. Historically, we have always been shrimp-loving people. Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, a French traveler who lived in Louisiana from 1718 to 1734, wrote a memoir of his travels and recorded that shrimp were being caught in the lakes below…

IF YOU LOADED PLATES with all the foods that comprise the south Louisiana canon, you’d need a lot of plates and a really big table. The countries and cultures represented on those plates are equally vast: indigenous, French, Spanish, African, German, Sicilian, and folks from the more than 30 nations that make up the Caribbean. That’s quite an amalgam, and much has been written about the broad influence of those people on south Louisiana. They are, in modern parlance, the original social influencers. The Caribbean nations’ impact on Louisiana food culture is difficult to articulate and pinpoint with authority, given how many cultures and people have affected the Caribbean itself. Some refer to the Caribbean as Afro-Caribbean, paying homage to the African people brought there. East Indians (indentured to Haiti), Portuguese,…