Creole Recipes
25 recipes found
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Homemade Beignets
Make fresh, pillowy, powdered sugar–coated beignets at home that rival the classic beignets at Café du Monde in New Orleans and other cafés in South Louisiana.
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Crispy Southern Fried Shrimp
Recipe developer Craig Ruff employed a number of techniques to make the juiciest, crispiest Southern fried shrimp, but this one tip seals the deal—and it requires zero effort.
Creole Shrimp Viala
Creole Pralines
Shrimp Creole
Much like gumbo, this shrimp and tomato stew starts with a roux that thickens and adds a distinct flavor (though many takes on shrimp Creole skip the roux altogether). Next, the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking — onion, celery and bell pepper — is simmered in the roux. You’ll want to stir the bottom of the pot constantly to prevent the roux from sticking and burning, and make sure to keep a close eye: A burned roux can’t be saved. Creole cuisine relishes improvisation, so feel free to add other veggies or a different protein, or omit the hot sauce and add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in its place. This spicy stew is traditionally served over steamed white rice, but is also delicious served over brown rice or other whole grains, like quinoa.
Craig Claiborne's Smothered Chicken, Creole Style
For this version of a classic Southern smothered chicken, Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey reddened the gravy and brought it some of the gentle heat of the Delta. Served with white rice, it makes for a classic family meal.
Bananas Foster
The New York Times food editor Jane Nickerson first published this recipe in 1957 as part of an article on New Orleans-style Creole cooking. Adapted from Brennan’s restaurant, this recipe is meant to be a showstopper. But it’s deceptively easy. Be sure to have a lid at the ready to extinguish the flame in case things get out of hand. If you cannot find banana liqueur, just add a teaspoon more rum.
Pickled Green Tomato and Mirliton Chowchow
Chowchow is a bright, aromatic Southern salad of pickled green tomatoes (you could use tomatillos in a pinch), cabbage, cauliflower and that most traditional Southern vegetable, mirliton (chayote squash). You could pair it with steamed or boiled shrimp, or pile it on a sandwich. Either way, we wager you'll do it again. (Sam Sifton)
Gumbo Z’Herbes With Crab and Prawns
The chef Tanya Holland’s mother grew up in Shreveport, La., and made a version of gumbo that features lots of hearty greens, so Ms. Holland came up with this version for her newest cookbook, “Tanya Holland’s California Soul: Recipes From a Culinary Journey West” (Ten Speed Press, 2022). It’s a blend of her mother’s recipe and a bit of inspiration from the famous Creole chef Leah Chase. Here, the sauce is a vibrant green thanks to a purée of spinach and kale, giving it an earthy lightness and California flavor that perfectly complements fresh seafood. If you can’t find Dungeness crab, use blue crab or Jonah crab in its place.
Chorizo Boudin Balls
Chorizo boudin balls are an appetizer akin to Italian arancini in which Cajun dirty rice is studded with spiced pork and enriched with creamy chicken livers before being draped in panko, fried and served with a garlic aioli. Hearty yet refined, these can be made ahead, chilled (or even frozen) and then cooked just before guests arrive.
Beef Daube Glace
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
This recipe came to The Times in 1983 from the influential New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme. It is a hearty, rich Creole stew generously seasoned with black and white pepper, cayenne, paprika and filé powder, a spice made from the leaves of the sassafras tree. Filé powder is readily available in most grocery stores and online, and while it's not 100 percent necessary, it lends a distinctive, earthy quality to the dish. Mr. Prudhomme intended this to be made with chicken, but we've had excellent results using leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, too.
Creole Crab-Meat Soup
Roast Pork Dip
This roast pork dip sandwich, with shredded meat slathered in a rich roux-based dipping sauce, comes from Brian Landry, the chef and an owner of Borgne Restaurant in New Orleans. Pork butt, pierced with garlic slivers and rubbed with fresh rosemary, is slow-roasted until meltingly tender on a bed of vegetables that flavor the final sauce. The meat can be made ahead and then reheated before it is tucked into a crusty roll, a delicious tweak on the po’ boy. “They say the sign of a good po’ boy is how many napkins it takes to get through a sandwich,” Mr. Landry said. “This one takes a lot of napkins.” At Borgne he garnishes it with crispy fried onions, Tabasco-enhanced mayonnaise and melted Swiss cheese.
Creole Redfish Gumbo
Jordan Ruiz cooks a version of the seafood gumbo his mother and grandmother made when he was growing up in New Orleans’ Gentilly neighborhood. It contains fin fish, which is rarely seen in restaurants in New Orleans, where seafood gumbos tend to contain shrimp and crab. Gumbo filé, made of dried and ground sassafras leaves, is used both as a thickening agent and for its flavor. Mr. Ruiz’s gumbo can be found at the Munch Factory, the New Orleans restaurant he owns with his wife, Alexis.
Eggs Sardou
Joan Fontaine's Creole Fish Gumbo
Creole Spiced Shrimp
This shrimp boil recipe admittedly requires a lot of ingredients, but don’t be put off. In this boil, fennel seed, cloves, allspice and a host of other spices infuse sweet shrimp with flavors straight out of the bayou, while also filling your kitchen with an intoxicating aroma.
Eggplant and Beef Creole
Shrimp Rémoulade
Chicken Breasts Creole Style
Calas
The cala (pronounced cah-LAH) has roots in Ghana. In 18th century New Orleans, Creole women of color who had the day off from their domestic jobs sold them out of baskets, shouting, “Calas, belles, calas tout chauds!“ (Beautiful calas, very hot!) Save for a few Creole grandmothers, who made them for special events like First Communion and Mardi Gras, calas had almost faded away. Since Hurricane Katrina, they have reappeared in some New Orleans restaurants, as a dessert or in the form of savory fritters made with wild rice and smoked catfish or with duck confit.
Shrimp Gumbo