Joe,
Try realcajunrecipes.com which comes straight out of Kaplan, La, and has some great recipes. You can't go wrong with Cajun food. I tried your page and see that you are from California. If you can't get Cajun spices there (bet you can!) get on Emeril Legasse's page and he has a recipe you can mix up for Emeril's Creole seasoning, which I use on fish, chicken and eggplant.

There is no reason to buy Cajun spices - they tend to be heavy on salt and pepper. Here's my recipe for Cajun seasoning, which might be similar to Emeril's, but I based it on Justin Wilson's recommendations, long before Emeril was around. I wouldn't use it on fruit, but it could be used on vegetables. I don't remember a lot of Cajun fruit recipes. My maternal grandmother was Creole, but she didn't teach me any fruit recipes either - mostly just desserts.

If I had to think of a Cajun vegetable dish, it would probably be fried okra, which I love. There are some fruit recipe here, but I can't vouch for them.

Lars

Thanks.

I already do a lot of cajun/creole cooking and I already make my own spice blends.

What I'm looking for are t&t (youze guyz) recipes for c&c dishes that are vegetables and/or fruit oriented.

I KNOW they eat those things down in loozianna and norlinnz.

Joe

Joe, if I get a chance over the next few weeks, I'll ask my friend who's from Nor Lenz. Atleast that's how her husband says it.lol (He's from Detroit.)
They just had a suprise baby at the ages of 40/42 on Monday. And so I'm due to visit for a snuggle with Little Mz Beautiful.. She joins 2 big brothers(16,13) and 2 big sisters(10,8).
So glad I'm just the "Auntie"!

But anyway, I'll ask her..she's from a family that's been in that area for many many generations.

I am not Cajun but I live on the Gulf Coast. I'm going to venture to say that there are no true 100% vegetable or frui traditional Cajun recipes.

To find these recipe you will have to look up some Food and Wine recipe or make you own. To me this idea goes against the very idea of Cajun cooking. Which is to use vegetable to help the flavor of less than prime quality meat!

You can try red beans and rice (which uses pork), black eyed peas and corn bread (pork again). West Indies salad might work but it uses a lot of good quality crab meat.

To me Cajun food is about working wonders with below prime selections of (seasonal) meat. To suggest vegetarian recipes insults the whole tradition.

I can't imagine there not being any vegetable or fruit (dessert) recipes that aren't from a Cajun/Creole heritage.

I went on-line (which I didn't want to do) and found literally hundreds of such recipes.

I suppose there's a whole group of Lousianans who aren't just meat eaters. Pork might be the seasoning or the oil/fat but it's not always the prime ingredient. And maybe I should have clarified that I'm not looking for "vegan" recipes; just recipes that emphazise vegetables and fruits.

So throw me an apple pie made with pork fat.

Joe

Does bread pudding count ---it has raisins? My grandma made it a lot with a delicious buttery rum sauce. I can't really think of any other fruit things she cooked.

Maque Choux has lots of veggies, there's lots of different versions of this. I'm with Lars, Okra is probably my favorite vegetable. I love it fried, but also like it stewed,boiled, pickled, or in gumbos. But like Kandm said, most veggies are cooked with so many other things that they aren't really recognizable as vegatable dishes.

I was going to say Maque Choux as well but I don't have an exact recipe. I love this as summer side dish.

Saute fresh corn kernels (you can use frozen but fresh is better) diced onion, diced bell pepper, diced celery and garlic until the veggies are tender. Add some fresh thyme, salt, pepper and cajun spice mix.

Add in diced tomatoes (you can use canned but fresh is better). Add a bit of cream or half and half, just enough to make it creamy. Simmer about 10 minutes and serve.

Secret is to add the the tomatoes towards the end so they don't loose their texture.

I'm sure you can find a much more detailed recipe on the web.

Joe,

Yes, we Cajuns do have vegetable and fruit recipes. I just came back from a fishing trip and I'm just too lazy to post mine. So.......below is a link to some real Cajun recipes that might be of interest to you.

FYI...Chef Emile runs a catering operation in the NOLA area. He is authentic.

Dan

Here is a link that might be useful: Chef Emile's Cajun Recipes

One more thing.........Check out the link on Chef Emile's website above titled "Ya know ya from N'awlins when... Things only Natives know!" All so true..............

Dan