Louisiana Cookin' March - April 2017

BRUNCH IS MY FAVORITE meal to host with family and friends. Everybody is lively, Champagne is a must, and everything just seems more fun. I’ll usually pick dishes that can be mostly prepared the night before so I can wake up and have a leisurely morning before guests arrive. The classic exception to the make-ahead brunch is the perfectly poached egg. Its simply decadent richness takes any dish over the top. I’ll order an egg dish at a restaurant nearly every time, but was never consistently able to recreate it at home. Until now, that is. Thanks to 2012 Chef to Watch Brad McGehee’s foolproof technique on page 82, I’m a poaching pro. Whether you stay at home or go out to your favorite restaurant, you’ve got to admit that Louisiana owns…

WILL THEY BE BIG? Will they be small? Will there be enough to go around? I’m talking about crawfish, of course. It turns out that those massive floods we had last year may have a bigger impact on crawfish season than we knew. Experts are saying that flooding upsets the natural growth and reproduction of crawfish, so right now we are waiting to see if crawfish season is going to be a boom or bust. I don’t know about you, but I will fully enjoy whatever Mother Nature bestows. So are the many crawfish-focused restaurants and markets statewide. But what if you could find a place that only opens from January to May—crawfish season—five days a week, and what if you had to drive to the middle of nowhere (that’s how…

If the name Daniel Causgrove sounds familiar, that may be because you remember when he was one of our Chefs to Watch in 2013. Or perhaps you know him from his stints at La Petite Grocery and The Grill Room at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. Now he helms the kitchen at Seaworthy , an oyster-centric restaurant in New Orleans’ trendy Ace Hotel. I sat down with Daniel to find out more about Seaworthy: For those who haven’t had the pleasure yet, tell us a bit about Seaworthy. Seaworthy is an oyster and cocktail bar where we handle between eight and 12 varieties of oysters from the Gulf Coast, East Coast, and West Coast. We also serve small and large plates that focus on sustainably harvested seafood and local seafood.…

CRAWFISH IS ONE of the essential seasons of Louisiana. It helps bridge the gap between Carnival season and football season, and coincides with most of festival season. For a few months out of the year, crawfish highlight seasonal menus and give us a reason for parties. The fresh-water crustaceans are an unusual kind of Cajun delicacy, one that can be measured by the sack and boiled in spicy stock. A crawfish boil is the Cajun block party. It is a gathering of friends, families, neighbors, or co-workers. Many around the state think of it as a ritual. There are “boil masters” and award-winning eaters. Indeed after the boil, it’s rare that there are leftovers. Good Samaritans in the group will help peel any remaining crawfish to reserve the meat. From there…

WE DON’T ALL have time to spend an afternoon stuffi ng crawfish heads for a traditional crawfish bisque, but on the cooler days of crawfish season there are few things more satisfying than a creamy crawfish soup. Here, we came up with a version that is full of flavor, but not full of fat. Louisiana crawfish are a great source of protein and vitamin B-12, and have notable amounts of magnesium, potassium, and iron. While it can be tempting to clothe our noble crawfish in butter, cheese, spices, and bread, it can be even more fulfilling to serve them simply, and let their flavor shine. CREAMY CRAWFISH SOUP MAKES 4 SERVINGS 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup diced yellow onion 2 shallots, minced 2 cloves garlic, minced ¼ cup all-purpose flour 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste 3 cups low-sodium…

GROWING UP IN a Sicilian-New Orleanian family, Sunday get-togethers were a big part of Chef Nick Lama’s childhood, and a tradition that influences his menu at Avo in Uptown New Orleans. Everyone jumped in to help cook whatever was in season—crawfish in the spring, barbecues in the summer. Nick has special Lenten memories of all of the cookies and sweets that would go into building St. Joseph's Day altars (for more on those, see page 27). One of his favorites was his grandmother’s traditional Sicilian cucidati (fig cookies, pronounced koochi-dahti). Like Mexican wedding cookies or Russian tea cookies, these are not especially sweet, and taste even better when eaten with coffee. Starting last year, Nick, his family, and friends erected a St. Joseph’s altar at Avo to celebrate the custom and share…