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New Orleans Side Street
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Millsap, Diane
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Arnaud's Restaurant Cookbook: New Orleans Legendary Creole Cuisine
Still Life of Oysters, Grapes, Bread and Glasses on a Ledge
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Walscapelle,...
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Artichokes
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Hall, Hampton
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Pirates Alley by Night
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Millsap, Diane
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My New Orleans: The Cookbook
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The Old Vieux Carre
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La Belle Cuisine
Most of the following background information and the recipes
are excerpted from "The New Orleans Restaurant Cookbook" by Deirdre Stanforth,
published in 1967 by Doubleday & Co., Inc. This delightfully entertaining and
informative cookbook is unfortunately out of print. Perhaps luck will be with you and you
can locate it...
If not, just
contact
us if you're looking for a particular New
Orleans restaurant recipe. Who knows, we
just may have it!
Among my many blessings I count the privilege of having
spent a large
part of my childhood in New Orleans. Because my mother was a woman
of
discriminating taste, I was introduced to some of the finer things in life
at a very early
age. Fine cuisine was certainly included, which means that
my love affair with New Orleans
delicacies has endured over half a century!
I have very fond memories of our dinners
at the immensely popular French
Quarter restaurant, Arnaud's...
813 Rue Bienville
New Orleans, LA 70112
504-523-5433
Fax 504-581-7908
Deirdre Stanforth writes, "Arnaud's has received
many honors. One of the
most notable was the invitation to participate in a week-long
celebration of
the two-thousandth anniversary of the founding of Paris. Held at the
Cham-
bord Restaurant in New York, the 'noble tradition of French Cuisine' was
saluted with
a 'Gourmet Festival'. This included five weeks of cooking pre-
sided over by a
different guest chef each week, presenting the specialties of
his own restaurant. Arnaud's
chef, Jean Pierre, presided over the third
week, in such exalted company as chefs from
Maxim's of Paris and the
Pump Room of Chicago.
"Arnaud's was started by the ebullient 'Count' Arnaud...born Léon
Bertrand Arnaud Cazenave in the French village of Bosdarros...
bordered by the Pyrenees and
encircled by vineyards.
"Although chefs have an obvious importance in
the cuisine of any restaurant,
it was Arnaud himself who molded the personality of his
establishment and influenced the food that it produced. A bon vivant, an epicure with a
distinct-
ive style, Arnaud would often imagine dishes that he fancied would enhance
his menu. He would make notes of these ideas and send them to the chef... he
and the chef
experimented until they achieved the desired results. In this
manner the non-cooking
Arnaud (said to be a steak-and-potatoes man him-
self) invented the following dishes: Shrimp
Arnaud (with the renowned and
much imitated sauce - so popular that it is sold in
bottles), Filet de Truite
Vendôme, Oysters Bienville, Supreme de Volaille en Papillote,
Heart of
Artichoke en Surprise, Filet Mignon Clemenceau, Chicken Victoria, Monts
d'Amour
Rosalinde, and Crêpes Suzette Arnaud. He also conceived many
notable and popular drinks,
among them the French 75 and Ambrosia -
the drink of the gods - which he loved to send to
his favorite friends at
their tables as they finished dinner.
"[Arnaud's daughter] Germaine was never
trained by her father to manage the
restaurant, and many (including the Count himself)
through that the establish-ment might die with Arnaud. However, after Arnaud Cazenave's
passing in 1948,
and a brief period of proprietorship by her mother, Germaine fooled them
all by
taking over the reins of the formidable institution that Arnaud's had
become..."
Tom
Fitzmorris, the man considered by most to be the quintessential New
Orleans restaurant
expert, writes:
"Atmospherically, Arnaud's is an exemplar of the old-style New
Orleans Creole dining institution: tiled floors, tin ceilings, beveled-glass windows, and
ancient overhead fans. While it all looks as if it dates back to the 1918 founding of the
place by Count Arnaud Cazenave, in fact it is an exacting and expensive
restor- ation
accomplished by the present owners, Archie and Jane Casbarian,
in the
late 1970s.
The menu also continues Arnaud's long culinary traditions, while at the
same
time always
introducing new dishes in a similar, if more modern, style.
The
taste throughout the huge
menu is unmistakably Creole."
But enough talk...on to the recipes!
Oysters Bienville
2/3 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup brandy
1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
1 tablespoon flour
4 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
1/2 pound boiled shrimp, finely diced
1/4 cup parsley, finely diced
2 dozen oysters on the half shell, drained
4 pans rock salt
In a large, heavy saucepan, sauté the 2/3 cup chopped mushrooms
quickly
in a small amount of vegetable oil. Remove from pan and set
aside.
In
the same pan, melt the 4 tablespoons unsalted butter and render
the
garlic and
shallots, stirring frequently until soft. Add the diced shrimp,
then sprinkle in the
flour. Stir all together, add the reserved mushrooms. Deglaze pan with the brandy while
stirring constantly. Stir in the heavy
cream, cook until smooth before adding Romano
cheese, dry bread
crumbs and parsley, salt, pepper and cayenne. A small amount of milk
may
be added if the mixture is too thick.
Remove from heat, allow to cool then refrigerate for about 1 1/2 hours.
Half an hour
before you plan to bake the oysters, place the pans of rock
salt in a preheated 500-degree
F oven.
Wash oyster shells well, pat dry. Put oysters on shells, place six in each
pan of rock
salt. Spoon one heaping tablespoon of sauce over each
oyster.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes
until well browned. Serves 4.
Heart of Artichoke en Surprise
5 ounces crabmeat
1 green onion, chopped very fine
1 piece celery, chopped very fine
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon vinegar
Salt and white pepper
2 artichoke hearts
Mix crabmeat with green onion, celery, mayonnaise and vinegar and
season to taste with salt and pepper. Pile on artichoke hearts and serve,
topped with
mayonnaise, on lettuce leaves. Serves 2.
Red Snapper
Chambord
One 4-pound red snapper
3 green onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 sprigs parsley, chopped fine
12 ounces lump crabmeat
12 ounces shrimp
3 slices soaked bread
4 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper
Lemon slices
Parsley sprigs
Sauce:
2 green onions, chopped fine
10 fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/2 pound shrimp, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 pint white wine
Salt and pepper
Split fish and remove bone. Sauté about 30 minutes the green
onions,
garlic, parsley, crabmeat, shrimp and bread squeezed out in water. Stuff
into red
snapper, season, and bake 1 hour, basting often. Place on a
platter, garnish with lemon
and parsley.
(For Sauce): Sauté green onions, mushrooms, and shrimp in butter,
add wine, stir well, and season to taste. Pour some of this sauce over
fish and serve the
remainder in a gravy boat. Serves 6.
Filet de Truite
Vendôme
One (2-pound) trout, skinned and boned
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 pound crabmeat
1/2 pound chopped boiled shrimp
4 teaspoons chopped chives
4 ounces fresh mushrooms
1 stick (4 ounces) butter
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 ounces red wine
Cut trout into 4 pieces and cook in water with lemon juice 15 to 20
minutes. Place on platter and keep warm. Sauté crabmeat, shrimp,
chives, and mushrooms in
butter, season to taste, and cook 15 minutes.
Add wine and simmer 5 minutes. Pour sauce
over fish and serve.
Serves 4.
Supreme de
Volaille en Papillote
1/2 chicken breast, boned
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 green onion, chopped very fine
3 ounces chopped mushrooms
1/2 stick (2 ounces or 4 tablespoons) butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
Salt and white pepper
1 tablespoon white wine
Parchment paper
Sprinkle chicken breast with oil and broil about 15 minutes. Sauté
green onion and mushrooms in butter, stir in flour, and gradually add chicken stock.
Season to taste and add wine. Simmer 5 minutes.
Fold parchment paper in half and cut into heart shape. Open and
place chicken breast on one half. Cover chicken with sauce, fold over paper,
and seal
edges all around. Bake in very slow oven until paper is brown.
Serves 1.
Pineapple and Louisiana Yams
Flambée
à la Germaine
6 yams
12 pineapple slices
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
12 maraschino cherries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rum
6 teaspoons Sherry
Boil yams until tender, peel and halve. Roll pineapple and yam
halves in flour, then in milk, then in flour again. Fry pineapple and yams in butter
until
golden brown. Place 2 yam halves for each serving on an ovenproof plate. Top each yam half
with a pineapple ring with a cherry in the center. Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake 5
minutes at 400 degrees F.
Heat the rum, pour it over hot yams and ignite. When flame dies,
pour
1 teaspoon Sherry over each serving. Serves 6.
French 75
Dash lemon juice
1 ounce gin
1/2 ounce Cointreau
Champagne
Lemon peel
Shake lemon juice, gin and Cointreau with ice, strain into a
Champagne glass, and top with Champagne and a twist of
lemon peel. Makes 1 drink.
More New Orleans Restaurant Recipes:
Antoine's
Brennan's
Caribbean Room
Commander's Palace
Corinne Dunbar's
Emeril's
Galatoire's
Mr. B's Bistro
Commander's Palace Recipes!
More Lagniappe Recipes!
Do you know what it means
to miss New Orleans?
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