Seafood Boudin & Macque Choux -- Cajun Memorial Day

Seafood Boudin  -- Boudin Blanc
Boudin is a Cajun sausage that can be made two ways -- rouge et blanc -- red and white.  Rouge or red boudin contains pork and or beef.  Blanc or white boudin contains seafood (usually crawfish, shrimp and 'white' fish like catfish, snapper, bass, or whatever is handy).

1 lb Shrimp and/or Crawfish
1 lb Fish
1/4 cup Sweet White Onion
1 lg clove Garlic
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/8 cup Brandy (optional, but nice)
1 Tbsp Cajun Spice Blend, or 1 tsp Salt, 1/4 tsp Cayenne & 1/8 tsp White Pepper
2 cups cooked medium-grain Rice
1 Tbsp minced Parsley

Put everything except the rice in your food processor, and puree it.  If you have a sausage stuffer, that's great -- do your thing and make 1" or larger links 3-6" long.

If you don't have a sausage stuffer, use clingfilm like I did.  Lay out a long strip of clingfilm on the counter.  Spoon the meat puree near one edge in a long strip, and carefully roll it up into a long "sausage" about 1" to 1-1/2" in diameter.  Twist and tie the ends.

The recipe above made two rolls about 18" long.

Poach your sausage, covered,  in a large skillet with about 1/2" of lemon water, for about 10 minutes.  Cool the sausage before going forward.   Remove clingfilm if using.

If you used clingfilm, you can carefully slice the sausage into rounds and then pan fry or bake them until GBB.

 If you used sausage casings, you can pan fry them whole.  Another option is to dredge balls or rounds of the boudin in egg and panko or Italian bread crumbs before deep or pan frying, or even baking them.

Serve with a nice hand-made remoulade!

I fried some plain slices, and also did some panko-breaded, and served them for lunch with Mum today.  Plenty of leftover for lunches in the week.


Macque Choux
No one really knows the origin of the name, but this Louisiana dish is great -- think kicked up creamed corn.  If you add some kind of bean, it becomes a variation of the Native American succotash (corn and beans simmered together).  Here's how I learned to make it:

1 (15 oz bag frozen Corn Kernals
1 red Bell Pepper, diced
1 green Bell Pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 sweet White Onion, diced
3/4-1 cup Whipping Cream, Half & Half, or Whole Milk
Cajun Seasoning to taste

Simmer it all together until the dairy starts to thicken.

Yuuuuummmmmm!

This was my side dish for yesterday's lunch.  Sally & Mum had leftovers for lunch today.

You can make Macque Choux a main dish by adding diced ham (especially Tasso H

am, the Cajun variety) or shrimp or crawfish; even cubed cooked chicken.  This is a very versatile dish!