Another slow cooker recipe and this version is a broth variety of the ubiquitous chicken tortilla soup. Boneless skinless chicken thighs, chicken stock diced tomatoes, green chilies, cumin and onions start the recipe off on the low setting for 6 to 8 hours. Then the seasoning adjusted with salt and pepper. Once ladled into bowls the soup ends up garnished with thin corn tortilla strips, diced avocado, shredded Monterey jack cheese and fresh chopped cilantro to finish.

Wild mushrooms à la crème, served as an appetizer on the lunch and dinner menu at the Columns Hotel during the Chef Chris Canan and Brian Coates era of the mid to late 1980’s, and a very popular menu item. This item served on a “Spider Plate” with half of the plate coated by warm demi glace sauce then a spider web design made with a spiral of reduced heavy cream pushed through a syringe and then alternating lines made with a paring knife to create the spider web effects.

This image is circa 1985 and taken while working the evening sauté station when in the second Sous Chef position. This scanned image, originally taken with an Olympus OM10 35mm camera and printed as a 3×5 photograph, is a bit grainy at higher resolution in this digital format.  The appetizer priced at $4.95 at the time seems like a real bargain price today for these delectable morsels. The garnish also consisted of a green onion flower and a tomato rose, adding both color and variety to the place presentation.

Crickhollow Farms out of Jayess, Mississippi drove into New Orleans for a once a week delivery of fresh herbs, edible flowers, rabbit, exotic vegetables and the wild mushrooms. At the time, there were few restaurants buying from them and it was a relatively innovative concept to have a farmer delivering fresh local organically grown product directly to the back door. Turns out, chefs at the Columns Hotel were green, fresh market minded, and had a conscience, but never made any indication of that, it just seemed like the best way to get fresh ingredients from the earth to the table.  The wild mushrooms varied depending on the time of year but generally were either oysters, chanterelles, shitake, morels or others that were available. Always fresh with the exception of the morels, these in particular purchased dehydrated, rinsed and washed of any sand, and then re-hydrated in a cool bath soaking of brandy for a few days.

The preparation also includes a small one-ounce portion of Glace de Viande, which typically is a reduced veal stock. The Viande made by taking a quantity of cut and split veal bones and roasting them with a Mirepoix until well browned, typically takes several hours. The bones cut and split expose the interior and marrow, thus aiding the extraction of the gelatinous flavor components. Once the bones cooled, then covered in water with the Mirepoix and brought to a slow simmer, continuing for 8 to 12 hours, typically would be started either early in the evening or sometimes left to slow simmer overnight. Then this is strained through a cheesecloth lined chinoise and then put back on the stove to reduce the liquid volume by one-half; all the while skimming any fat or scum from the top, without removing the valuable flavoring. Strained again and then allowed to cool in shallow pans, the gelatinous Viande cut into small cubes and used in various sauces such as this one. Since you many not have the time or inclination to make your own “Glace”, linked here is one resource for purchasing small quantities of the golden delicacy.

This recipe is written for the single portion service from the sauté station and adapted here for home use as well.

Serves 1 portion

Looking back over the history of the Cajun Chef Ryan blog and it’s 18 months of Internet life, I was curious about which of my posts were the most popular. After a quick data search on the statistics for top posts and pages the “All Time” summary results with the following list. These posts are listed in descending order of visits, with Hot Roast Beef Po-Boy leading the pack at 2,096 and rounding out the top 20 with Mirepoix and the Holy Trinity with 422 total visits at the bottom.

Hot Roast Beef Po-Boy

King Cake ~ The Recipe

How an omelet changed my life

File’ Spice Powder or Gumbo File’

Chicken Breast Sauté

King Cake Time Again

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Crawfish and Seafood Boils

Chicken Enchiladas

Butter Pecan Pound Cake

Fudgy Chocolate Cherry Bites

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Food Fare at the North Carolina State Fair

Etouffée [ay-too-FAY]

Top 10 Soups

BBQ Shrimp – New Orleans Style

Crawfish Monique

Crawfish Paella

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Celebrating and Reliving A History of Fine Dining on North American Railroads

Lemon Meringue Pie

Tomato Basil Mozzarella Salad

Mirepoix and The Holy Trinity

A few months ago, Ben got braces put on his teeth, and the staff at Gladwell orthodontics pleasantly treated us for what typically would be a traumatic event, had turned into a delightful time. You might be wondering what orthodontic braces have in common with a seafood dish, and you would be correct! Turns out that I was wearing my Emerils.com polo-style shirt with the logo that day and the assistant asked me if I worked for Emeril. The answer of course was yes I did, and no, not currently. Eventually the discussion turned to food, which seems to happen for me a lot, and the receptionist asked if I had a good recipe for shrimp and grits. At the time, I did not have an answer, but told her that a shrimp étouffée served over grits would most likely be very good, and that there was a recipe for that on my site.  To this day, I have not tried the étouffée over grits, but now have this true shrimp and grits recipe to share. Therefore, Gladwell staff, this one is for you!

Shrimp and Grits is a Carolina favorite served up and down the coastline and into the Piedmont regions, found on many a local restaurant menu and seems to be a favorite for Sunday brunch menus as well. Now I have had Grillades and Grits, the old New Orleans favorite which is sort of veal stew served over grits, and it is some good too!

This recipe inspired by the Cooking up a Storm cookbook, with a few slight variations. The original recipe, found on page 137, has the preparation setting up the grits in a casserole dish and then finishing in the broiler or oven with the shrimp and cheese sauce. Therefore, a casserole style dish transforms into a plated entrée with this variation listed here.

Serves 6 portions

Procedure Steps
1.	“In a large saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a boil and add the grits, stirring well. Cook until thick but still pourable, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in ½ of the cheese and allow it to melt into the grits well. Turn off the heat and reserve for plating.
2.	In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat and sauté the mushrooms, green onions and garlic for 4 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft. Add the dry white wine and allow it to reduce just a bit, and then add the shrimp and the Cajun spice blend. Stir well and continue to cook until the shrimp are slightly undercooked. Then fold in the remaining ½ of the shredded cheese and allow it to melt into the shrimp and sauce, stirring frequently.
3.	Portion the grits evenly onto 6 serving plates and then spoon the shrimp evenly over them. Serve immediately. A side of cheesy garlic bread goes well with this dish.