Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Cajun Thanksgiving Faves + More Cajun Fun!

With only a little over two weeks until Thanksgiving, I've been tweaking my menu and have come up with a list of my family's "must have" faves. Of course, the list includes some of the time honored recipes handed down from my dear mother, aunts, and grandmother, and a few newer dishes, just to keep things interesting. I'll be adding more as the big day gets closer and will be posting lots more recipes, so stay tuned! 






Thanksgiving Menu, so far! (click on titles for recipes)


Cajun Smoked Turkey w/ Giblet Gravy *

Jalapeno Cornbread Dressing * Creole Rice Dressing * Cajun Oyster Stuffing 

 Brandied Sweet Potatoes * String Bean Casserole * Cajun Corn Casserole *

  Sweet Potato Biscuits * Buttermilk-Sage Cornbread Muffins

Pumpkin Bread Pudding w/Chocolate-Bourbon Sauce* Grandma's Chocolate Cake *

Marguerite's Pecan Pie

All sinfully delicious, cher, but I wanted to share this fabulous sweet potato recipe that is one of my Dad's favorites. It's simple and easy and goes well with chicken, pork, or ham, too.
Bon appetit!

Brandied Sweet Potatoes

2 - 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cane or maple syrup
1/4 cup water
3 tbs.'s brandy
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

Place sweet potatoes in large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes, or until tender, but firm. Drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large skillet on low heat. Stir in the brown sugar, brandy, maple syrup, water, and salt and cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add the sweet potatoes and stir gently to coat. Place in a buttered casserole dish, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake @ 350 degrees for 20 minutes, basting with sauce, half way through. ! Out of this world, cher!

********
The Giant Omelette Festival
It was another great weekend in Cajun country, with beautiful Fall weather and loaded with lots of fabulous Cajun food, music, and fun! We headed over to Abbeville, on Sunday, for the 26th annual Giant Omelette Festival. The Confrerie d' Abbeville were cracking the 5,000 eggs for the giant omelette, when we arrived.


And the Tabasco dance troop was entertaining the crowd.


There was a fantastic musical line-up, arts and crafts show , and food booths galore!


This was my favorite booth of all! I couldn't resist a crab and shrimp pie and some crawfish fettuccini.


Then it was finally time to make the giant omelette, in a 12 foot skillet, set up in the middle of town. Fifty pounds of the Cajun trinity, butter and crawfish went into this one-of-a-kind omelette, which was then served to the crowd in bowls, in individual servings! Le bon mange!


Here's a little clip I took of the giant omelette being cooked with the Fa Tras Band, playing in the background. What a blast! Only in Louisiana, cher!


Hoping ya'll are having a wonderful week! Merci for stopping by!

23 comments:

Warren Baldwin said...

If you put too many recipes on here, some of us may just show up for dinner!

Vagabonde said...

5000 eggs! That must have been some omelettes your chefs cooked! I like your sweet potato recipe. I make one close to it but I use Bourbon. We are invited for Thanksgiving so I won’t do much cooking, but I’ll bring a couple of dishes with me. I know all your dishes will be delicious.

judi/Gmj said...

Pooooleese do the Cajun Baked Ham next, or next to next??

Marguerite said...

Warren- So nice to hear from you! You would be more than welcome, if you did! lol Thanks so much for stopping by!

Vagabonde- This tradition began when our local chefs visited the Easter Omelette Festival in Bessaires,France and it grew into 7 sister cities, with chevaliers from each, coming here to participate. So much fun! Thanks, I'm sure it would be delicious with bourbon, too. Merci for coming by!

judi- Hey lady, you're in luck! My Cajun Baked Ham recipe is posted in my sidebar, right NOW! :) It's under "what's cookin?" Just click on pic! Enjoy!

Nancy said...

It is always so much fun to stop by here. I can tell Thanksgiving at your house is a treat that people probably look forward to all year! I am thinking about my menu as well. In fact I'm beginning to get a little nervous - just thinking about all I need to get done. I can't wait to get started. :-)

Eddie Bluelights said...

"Guess who's coming to dinner?"
ME!
'dinfully silicious!' LOL

Al said...

I've never had smoked Turkey.
But I like smoked chicken and I love smoked fish (especially trout) so I guess I'd have a go at smoked turkey too.
I wonder if the omelette tasted ok?

Linda Starr said...

sweet potato bisquits, what a big skillet, bisquits sound good and that skillet is amazing. I love thanksgiving for the food for sure.

Joanne said...

Marguerite, how can Thanksgiving be only 2 weeks away? Wasn't it just Labor Day Weekend and the heart of summer? Time is flying faster than ever this year ... Oh and reserve a seat at that table for me too :)

John said...

Yup, crawfish pie and the shrimp pies get my vote.

Drick said...

now that is one heck of a line-up (some how I thought of Brownie and 'job') what a feast ... doing a sweet potato dish tonight but using bourbon... yours certainly sounds marvelous.... and that omelet, whole lot of stirring going on, how long did it take to cook?

Mehmet Osman Çağlar said...

Bonjour Marguerite ; Again delicious food and surprise omlet! You know my grandmother makes omlet especialy mornings, but she does't remember when she had learned it, because there is no deep past for the all family, perhaps immigrant.. Merci for sharing them...Wishing you a happy week full of more fun, mon cher ami! Love and hugs, Zhivago

Marguerite said...

Nancy- Thanks so much for the nice compliments, cher! So glad you enjoy it! It does involve a lot of planning and preparation and it's sneaking up fast! Good luck!

Eddie- Sorry I won't be able to pick you up at the airport, cher, because I'll be cooking for 3 days! But, just let me know what time to send the limo! lol Hilarious! lol

Al- Great to hear from you! Smoked turkey is fab and the omelette was awesome! Anything with 50 lbs. of butter and crawfish in it would have to be GOOD! Thanks for coming by!

Linda- Thanks, I'll be posting the sweet potato biscuit recipe, soon! The skillet was 12 ft. in diameter! I love Thanksgiving dinner, too!

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Party on Marguerite! You are inspiring me to include something Cajun in my Thanksgiving this year.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I need to come to your place for Thanksgiving - not that my wife doesn't cook an awesome turkey.

Mary Bergfeld said...

Your Cajun holiday dinner looks and sounds delicious. I loved your photos and the omelet certainly got my attention. It must be a fun event. Have a great day. Blessings...Mary

Sniffles and Smiles said...

WOW!!! Marguerite, this is totally amazing and SO MUCH fun!!! I LOVE it!!! I'm so thrilled with this treasure trove of recipes!! You are saving ALL of us with your gourmet Thanksgiving! And that GIANT omelette? So fantastic! So glad you videoed it!! Felt like I was there! And so incredible! Just stopped by to say "hi" to my favorite Cajun!! And to give you love and hugs, mon amie!! Love you, Janine XO

Marguerite said...

Joanne- They say that time flies when you're having fun, but I know what you mean! I would love to, for sure! Have a great weekend!

John- Lena's crawfish and shrimp pies are the best! And I can even buy them in the frozen section of my favorite grocery store! Thanks for coming by!

Drick- Merci for the lovely compliments, cher! I love to go all out for Thanksgiving! The giant omelette takes about an hour from start to finish. So much fun!

Jhivago- Merci beaucoup for the sweet comment, mon ami! I am lucky that my ancestors have lived here for 6 generations and have passed down all of the family history. Hope you have a wonderful weekend, cher!

Karen- Thanks, so glad they inspired you! Try the jalapeno cornbread dressing, you'll be glad you did! Have a great weekend!

Alex- Great to hear from you! You and your wife would be more than welcome to come to dinner! Thanks for stopping by!

Pam said...

Is my invitation in the mail? It all sounds fantastic and anything Cajun gets my full attention.

Pooch Purple Reign said...

fabulous day!! i love how all the chefs are groovin to the music!
i think that sweet potatoe dish must come to my family christmas gathering.
cheers
~laura x

Chris said...

:/ And I thought my 6 egg omelet was big!

Those brandied sweet potatoes sound fun, I'll have to make them for my sweet, sweet potato loving wife.

Peggy said...

You Thanksgiving dinner sounds amazing and delicious! Lucky guests, that's for sure!

Dee said...

Aww my sister was there too! Her bf's motorcycle club had a poker run that day and they ended up there! Sorry I missed it!