Leah Chase's Creole Gumbo
Leah Chase has long been hailed the "Queen of Creole Cuisine," but there was nothing regal about her evacuation from New Orleans as Katrina approached. Despite having to relocate, Chase has returned to New Orleans and is scheduled to re-open her famed Dooky Chase restaurant in Jan. 2007. At a recent event in New York City, our writer had the chance to catch up with Ms. Chase and other world renowned chefs to discuss holiday cooking, their favorite recipes and what it takes to be a great chef. She collected a mouth-watering menu peppered with traditional favorites like turkey and ribs and non-traditional holiday fare like gumbo and duck. All these recipes and more are featured in our special 'Chef's Prerogative'.
Chef Leah Chase has manned the stove at Dooky Chase, New Orleans' first Creole restaurant, since the mid-1950s. The renowned restaurant suffered severe damage during Hurricane Katrina, but look for it to reopen in January 2007 with Chase, who turns 84 that month, still in the kitchen.
P
Leah Chase’s Creole Gumbo
by Kelly Carter
Creole Gumbo:
4 hard-shelled crabs, cleaned
½ lb. Creole hot sausage (cut in bite-size pieces)
½ lb. smoked sausage (cut in bite-size pieces)
½ lb. boneless veal stew meat
½ lb. chicken gizzards
½ cup vegetable oil
4 tbsp. flour
1 cup chopped onion
4 qt. water
6 chicken wings (cut in half)
½ lb. chicken necks (skinned and cut)
½ lb. smoked ham (cubed)
1 lb. shrimp (peeled and de-veined)
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. salt
3 cloves garlic (chopped fine)
¼ cup parsley
1 tsp. ground thyme
24 oysters with their liquid
1 tbsp. file powder
Put crabs, sausage, stew meat and gizzards in a 6-qt. pot over medium heat. Cover and let cook in its own fat for 30 minutes (it will produce enough, but continue to watch the pot). Heat oil in skillet and add flour to make a roux. Stir constantly until very brown. Lower heat, add onions, and cook over low heat until onions wilt. Pour onion mixture over the ingredients in the large pot. Slowly add water, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil. Add chicken wings, necks, ham, shrimp, paprika, salt, garlic, parsley, and thyme. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Add oysters and liquid; cook for 10 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Add file powder, stirring well. Serve over rice. Yield: 8-10 servings.
From 'The Dooky Chase Cookbook' by Leah Chase © 1990, used by permission of the licenser, Pelican Publishing Co., Inc
Tip: "Always think about how you can create things for the table. People think you have to have elaborate things all the time but you don't. It can be so simple. The other night I went to dinner and he (Mrs. Chase's host) said we're eating in the kitchen and I said that's OK with me. He had it decorated with lemons he grew in his yard and little candles around. His dinner was a simple pork roast, grilled asparagus and baked sweet potatoes. It was so wonderful. So make your dinner simple but good tasting. You don't have to have 100 courses at home if you have your friends over. All people want is something good tasting and simple. But they want your company. They don't want you running back and forth."
"Progressive American cuisine" is how executive chef and restaurateur Robert Gadsby, who hails from Bedford, England, describes the fare he creates at Noe , his fine dining eatery franchise inside the Omni hotels in downtown Los Angeles and Houston. Gadsby and Omni Hotels also opened 676 Restaurant & Bar in the Omni Chicago in October 2005.
Robert Gadsby’s Gingered Butternut Squash Soup
by Kelly Carter
Gingered Butternut Squash Soup:
Serves 8
3 oz. unsalted butter
1 ¼ lbs. butternut squash peeled, seeded and diced
4 oz. peeled and sliced onions
4 oz. peeled and chopped fresh ginger
3 ½ cups water
To taste, coarse salt, white pepper
1. In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Sauté onions until translucent. Add the squash and ginger, season with salt and pepper. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until nicely caramelized but still firm.
2. Add the water and raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until squash is tender.
3. Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
4. Correct the seasoning and ladle into bowls.
5. Garnish with shaved toasted almond
Tip: "Don't follow the recipe. Cook from the heart and cook with the senses. If it doesn't taste right then correct the seasonings. Food by nature is a form of expression so therefore you can't copy someone else's expression. You need your own."
No comments:
Post a Comment