It’s Mardi Gras Time!

It’s that time of year here in New Orleans! It’s Carnival Time and the first parade rolled on  Saturday, February 15^th! This year, Mardi Gras falls on March 4^th, which is a little late compared to last year (February 12). That’s okay because that means king cake season lasts longer!

Speaking of king cakes, NolaCajun offers delicious, fresh baked king cakes that are delivered straight to your door. Our king cakes are made from gourmet Danish pastry dough which are then iced and decorated in the Mardi Gras colors (purple, green, and gold). We offer The Traditional King Cake and Filled King Cake. Our filled king cake comes in a variety of 14 different flavors to choose from:

Apple
Apple Cream Cheese
Bavarian Cheese
Blueberry
Blueberry Cream Cheese
Caramel
Cherry
Chocolate
Cream Cheese
Lemon
Praline
Pineapple
Strawberry
Strawberry Cream Cheese

            For our New Orleans Saints fans, you can purchase our Saints King Cake that is decorated with the Saints black and gold colors. You can also get the Saints King Cake traditional or filled. What a great way to show your team spirit this Mardi Gras season!

We also have Baby King Cakes! These mini king cakes are perfect for a school class or an office Mardi Gras party. They are approximately 5 inches in diameter and feed one person. You get 18 mini cakes for $50.00 which is less than $3.00 a piece!

If you are looking for the perfect Mardi Gras shirt, come take a look at our Mardi Gras Heart and Crown shirt. This shirt is available in purple or white! Perfect for the parade route!

Here at NolaCajun, we cannot wait for the parades to start! And for those that cannot be here in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, we offer these king cakes to you to share a little piece of New Orleans with you this Mardi Gras season!

Staying Warm This Winter

Sleet and snow and ice. Oh my!  It has been a cold week here in New Orleans. The locals are staying warm in their homes and what better way to keep warm than a nice hot bowl of gumbo! Here at NolaCajun.com, we offer a variety of different rouxs to help get your gumbo started.

A roux is a mixture of even parts of fat and flour. The traditional French roux uses butter while the Cajun roux uses oil. Our best selling roux, Kary’s Roux, is a traditional dark Cajun roux made from flour and oil, cooked slowly until it is the perfect color. We also sell Kary’s Gumbo Mix; just add your favorite Cajun meats or seafood for an authentic Louisiana gumbo!

Savoie’s Roux, Ragin Cajun Roux, and Richard’s Cajun Roux are some of the other traditional rouxs we sell. If you are looking for some dry roux, we also carry Bailey’s Cajun Creole Roux Mix, and Tony Chachere’s Roux.

Here is a great recipe for Sausage & Chicken Gumbo using Bailey’s Cajun Creole Roux Mix:

SAUSAGE & CHICKEN GUMBO

1 – 3 pound chicken, cut up
1 pound andouille or smoked sausage(cut into 1/4 inch slices)
1/4 cup oil
1 pack Bailey’s Roux Mix
1 pack of Bailey’s Spices
2 – 14 ounce cans of chicken broth
1 pack of Bailey’s seasonings
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 dozen raw oysters (optional)
1 – 8 quart pot

In an 8-quart pot, fry cut up chicken pieces, Bailey’s andouille or smoked sausage and Bailey’s seasonings in oil for about 15 minutes.  Add 3 quarts water and bring to a boil, then add Bailey’s spices to taste.  In a separate bowl, mix Bailey’s Roux Mix with water from boiling pot (approx. 10 ounces) until it is soft and smooth.  After Roux is mixed, add to the boiling water in 8-quart pot.  Add 2 cans of chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce and cook uncovered over medium heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  If desired, oysters should be added in the last 15 minutes of cooking. Skim excess oil prior to serving.  Optional: add 1 tablespoon file’.  Serve over rice.
Serves 16 – 8 ounce servings

Do you have any interesting recipes of New Orleans and/or Cajun cuisine?  If you would like to send us the recipe with a picture of the finished product, we would love to feature it on our blog, Facebook page, Twitter, and Pinterest!  This goes for all of our products…we are always looking for great ideas from our loyal customers!

Jambalaya Girl Plans a Mardi Gras Style Super Bowl Party

NolaCajun is so excited to welcome a guest blogger today!  We would love for you to meet our friend Jambalaya Girl!

Jambalaya Girl is the owner of Cook Me Somethin’ Mister, a new brand of New Orleans food items, made in New Orleans. The first in the line is a Jambalaya Rice Mix that was created from Jambalaya Girl’s Dad’s recipe. She will be cooking her signature dish at the Super Bowl this Sunday for the NFL VIP Tailgate – a role she earned by cooking her rice mix for a taste test among over 200 other restaurants and caterers. Read her story here: http://www.nola.com/superbowl/index.ssf/2013/01/super_bowl_2013_reverberating.html. 

We are very excited to carry her products on NolaCajun.com.

It’s Carnival Time and almost Super Bowl Sunday in New Orleans. Celebrate with us and learn how to throw your own Mardi Gras themed Super Bowl party at home! Here are the recipe and party tips from New Orleans’ own Jambalaya Girl of Cook Me Somethin’ Mister.

Fried Jambalaya “Footballs”

Recipe Makes 30 “footballs”

Rice Ball Mixture:

1 bag Cook Me Somethin’ Mister Jambalaya Rice Mix (8oz Lil’ Party Size)

1 lb. Ground Pork Sausage (breakfast sausage)

1 pkg Cream Cheese (8oz)

½ cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated

¾ cups Italian Bread Crumbs

2 Eggs

1 tsp Hot Sauce

Breading:

4 cups Italian Bread Crumbs or Panko

2 Eggs

1 tbsp Water

Topping:

1 pkg Cream Cheese (8oz)

¼ cup Creole Mustard

1 tsp Hot Sauce

1 tbsp Ketchup

1. Cook jambalaya rice and sausage as directed on package. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate.

2. In a bowl, combine chilled rice mix, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, whisked eggs and hot sauce. Mix thoroughly. Form 1 ½ in. diameter balls, and elongate for “football” shape.

3. To bread, whisk eggs and water in small bowl. Roll jambalaya balls in egg wash then roll in bread crumbs.

4. Deep fry at 350 F for 30-60 seconds or until browned on all sides. Let stand to drain and cool.

5. To make topping, mix all topping ingredients in bowl. To decorate, use icing piper filled with cream cheese mixture and decorate top of jambalaya balls like football stitches.

6. Shout “Yum Yum, Come Get You Some!” and serve.

Make your own Shoe Box Float

Display your Fried Jambalaya Footballs atop your own shoe box Mardi Gras float. Decorating a shoe box to look like a float rolling down St. Charles Ave is a tradition among elementary school students in New Orleans. It’s a cute and easy way to tie in a Mardi Gras tradition at home. And your Fried Jambalaya Footballs will be ready for kickoff!

Graduation Time Is Here

It is the time of year when lives will soon change.  For the high school graduates, most will move off to college.  For the college graduates, the real world is right around the corner.  Despite the uneasy and exciting feeling of the months to come, it is always nice to know you will have a taste of New Orleans wherever the future takes you.  At NolaCajun, we will ship the products we offer anywhere a friend or family member might reside.  NolaCajun shipping includes all 50 states, 250 countries, and APO/FPOs.  So if you have a loved one moving away, you can always provide them with a little taste of New Orleans wherever they go to prevent that homesick feeling.

Here are a few popular items that will certainly help them remember New Orleans:

• Pralines
• King Cakes (offered year-round)
• Reising’s Twin French Bread
• Big Shot Soda
• Tony Chachere’s Jambalaya
• Arnaud’s Remoulade Sauce
• Stuffed Chickens
• Muffulettas
• Louisiana Gift Baskets
• Community Coffee

 

Do you have any interesting recipes of New Orleans and/or Cajun cuisine?  If you would like to send us the recipe with a picture of the finished product, we would love to feature it on our blog, Facebook page, Twitter, and Pinterest!  This goes for all of our products we are always looking for great ideas from our loyal customers!

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What is a Po-boy?

There is nothing better than sitting outside in the warm, humid, fall weather of New Orleans, eating a good, old-fashioned po-boy.  It is a family tradition of ours to buy a couple of po-boys from Parkway Bakery (fried oyster for me and roast beef for my husband) and then drive to City Park and sit under the trees to enjoy them.  The perfect crispiness of the Leidenheimer French Bread, paired with the fried perfection of an oyster or the sloppy, rich roast beef and gravy…soooo tasty.

There are several stories of how the po-boy originated. However, one story is told more than others. In 1929, Benjamin and Clovis Martin were the owners of a French Quarter restaurant. At the time, there was a transit strike and the two brothers felt bad for these “poor boys”. So at the end of the day these “poor boys” could go to the back of the Martin restaurant and buy a sandwich made of leftover bits of roast beef and gravy or sliced potatoes and gravy on French bread for a nickel. Before long, the sandwich became known as the “po-boy”, and the fillings have evolved into anything imaginable.

You must be craving a po-boy by now…well guess what…you can make your very own authentic New Orleans po-boy at home!  We are excited to announce that NolaCajun.com is the exclusive online provider of Leidenheimer French Bread!  We provide their retail brand called Reising.  Leidenheimer is New Orleans’ most well known bakery of French bread and is the supplier to all major restaurants in the city, like Commander’s Palace.

So buy up some loaves of bread, load up on your toppings and check out our video on how to make a Roast Beef Po-boy!  You will be a po-boy connoisseur in no time!

If you would like to send us the recipe with a picture of the finished product, we would love to feature it on our blog, Facebook page, Twitter, and Pinterest! This goes for all of our products…we are always looking for great ideas from our loyal customers!