Kara's Sights and Bites: King cakes, Cajun/Creole dishes and French bread…life is good during Mardi Gras!

By: Kara Kimbrough

One-Pan Jambalaya is filled with meat, seafood, vegetables and rice. It's the perfect hearty winter (and Mardi Gras!) dinner.

A sure sign that Mardi Gras season is near are the stacks of packaged King Cakes in supermarkets. Decorated with a thick purple, green and gold sugary icing and filled with fruit or cream fillings, they’re as close as many will come to actually celebrating Mardi Gras. Lucky for me, the highlight last week at an otherwise serious business meeting was a variety of freshly-baked King Cakes delivered from a Biloxi bakery.

Filled with strawberry, praline and Bavarian cream fillings and lightly brushed with sugar, they were some of the best King Cakes I’d ever tasted. The only thing missing were my favorite Cajun and Creole dishes. That'll be an easy fix this weekend.

But first, a little more about King Cakes and where to find them. No offense to supermarkets, but I can’t in good conscience recommend the boxed versions as the place to sample an “authentic” King Cake.

Paul’s Pastry Shop in Picayune is famous for its original fruit and cream cheese fillings added to the thousands of King Cakes sold from the south Mississippi shop and shipped around the world year-round. I can also recommend Le Bakery in Biloxi after sampling their cakes last week. And, there are numerous other bakeries throughout the Gulf Coast area and beyond that serve up innovative (and delicious) versions.

King Cakes were brought to New Orleans by French and Spanish settlers when they settled in the area during the 12th century. I enjoy a slice (or two) of a good King Cake, but it’s the main dishes brought by the French, Acadian, Spanish and West African settlers to the region that are at the top of my favorites list.

After all, most are composed of some of the best ingredients in the world: fresh seafood, including shrimp prepared at least 100 ways; fresh tomatoes and other vegetables; smoked sausage, roasted chicken and fragrant rice, to name a few. And a side of crusty, garlic and butter-laden French bread is definitely the crowning touch to any meal.

A few of my favorite Cajun/Creole (I won’t attempt to describe the differences between the two; it only leads to arguments) dishes are: seafood gumbo, shrimp Creole (and etouffee); jambalaya; fried shrimp po’boy with remoulade sauce; muffaletta; grillades and grits; shrimp remoulade salad; shrimp and corn bisque and as mentioned, New Orleans-style French bread.

My list is a small sample of the hundreds, possibly thousands of Cajun/Creole dishes that've withstood the test of time and remain staples on restaurant menus and dinner tables since they entered the U.S. centuries ago. New Orleans and Gulf Coast region cooks then put their own spin on the original recipes, adding American ingredients and cooking methods while maintaining the delicious flavors and ideas brought to America from a number of different countries.

Here are two of my favorite Cajun/Creole recipes; email me and I’ll send you a few more you’ll enjoy during Mardi Gras season – and well beyond.

Easy Shrimp Etouffee

1 stick butter

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium bell pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and cleaned

Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

1 cup water mixed with 1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon tomato paste (for color)

Cooked rice

Melt butter in large skillet, then add next 4 ingredients until limp. Stir in tomato paste, then shrimp; simmer, stirring for 1-2 minutes. Stir in water/cornstarch mixture; simmer, stirring for 8-10 minutes or until shrimp are pink and mixture is thickened. Season to taste and serve over hot rice.

One-Pan Jambalaya

6 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup chopped celery

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 onion, chopped

½ pound cubed cooked ham

½ pound cubed cooked chicken

½ pound cubed smoked sausage

2 (14.5 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, with liquid

2 cups beef broth

2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

2 cups uncooked white rice

½ pound small shrimp

Shrimp boil or seasoning

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook until crisp. Remove bacon pieces with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Add celery, bell pepper, and onion to the bacon drippings, and cook until tender.

Add the ham, chicken and sausage to the pot, and pour in the tomatoes, beef broth and chicken broth. Season with thyme and Cajun seasoning. Bring to a boil, and add the rice. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.

While mixture is cooking, boil shrimp separately in water and 1 teaspoon of shrimp boil or Cajun seasoning until shrimp is pink; about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Stir in the shrimp and bacon just before serving and heat through.

Kara Kimbrough is a food and travel writer from Mississippi. Email her at kkprco@yahoo.com.