Cajun Style French Bread Food

PAIN PERDU: NEW ORLEANS STYLE FRENCH TOAST

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 F. Generously butter a large baking sheet.
• If desired, remove the crusts from bread slices and discard them or reserve them for another use. Set the bread aside.
• In a small bowl, beat the eggs with salt, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Pour into a flat-bottomed dish large enough to accommodate a few slices of the bread.
• Place the bread slices into the dish to soak up some of the egg mixture, a few at a time. Turn with a spatula and let them soak on the other side, but not too long, or they will be too saturated and difficult to turn. Gently remove the soaked bread slices to the buttered baking sheet and continue with the remaining bread slices. Spoon any remaining egg mixture over the slices.
• Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake the pain perdu for 15 to 20 minutes, turning after the first 10 minutes to brown on both sides.
• Serve immediately with melted butter and your favorite honey or syrup.

CAJUN BREAD (REGULAR LOAF)

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in your bread maker in the order given.
• Set to regular or rapid bake cycle.

CAJUN CRAWFISH-STUFFED FRENCH BREAD

Steps:

• Melt butter in medium saucepan on medium high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, and celery and saute' for 5 minutes.
• Add cayenne pepper, black pepper, paprika, and garlic and stir well. Stir in white wine and seafood stock, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low.
• Add crawfish tails and salt and mix well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. If using shrimp, don't add until the last 5 minutes of the 20.
• Gradually add cream cheese until melted, stirring often and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add green onions and parsley and a little more white wine if mixture is too thick.
• Cut bread in half and scoop out center portion of French bread loaf. Fill bottom portion with crawfish mixture. Place top half on top, brush with melted butter and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

CAJUN STYLE FRENCH BREAD

Steps:

• 1. Cut bread loaf in half lengthwise. Brush melted butter evenly onto cut sides of bread halves.
• 2. Stir together onion, jalapeño pepper, and next 5 ingredients, and spread mixture evenly over buttered sides of bread halves. Place bread halves, buttered sides up, on a baking sheet, and sprinkle evenly with 1 1/2 teaspoons Creole seasoning.
• 3. Bake at 350° for 18 to 20 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes; cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices, and serve immediately.
• Note: To make ahead, wrap prepared unbaked bread halves in aluminum foil, place in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag, and freeze up to 1 month. To bake frozen, remove bread halves from freezer bag, and place foil-wrapped bread on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until thawed. Remove foil, return to baking sheet, buttered sides up, and bake 8 to 10 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes, and cut bread halves as directed.

CAJUN BREAD PUDDING

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat 4 cups of milk until warm; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt and remaining milk. Gradually add warmed milk, stirring constantly. Stir in butter. Add bread cubes; let soak 10 minutes. Add cinnamon, and raisins and/or pecans if desired. , Pour into a 13x9-in. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 45-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. , For sauce, bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar; stir to dissolve. Add corn syrup. Bring to boil; cook 15-20 seconds. Remove from the heat. Stir in the pecans, vanilla, butter and salt. Cut pudding into squares and serve with sauce.

CAJUN SPICED GARLIC LOAF

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients.
• Slash the bread almost to the bottom in 1" slices.
• Butter between slices.
• Wrap the loaf in double foil.
• BBQ 6" from heat for 25 minutes turning often, serve hot.

CAJUN CORN BREAD STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange corn bread on large baking sheet. Bake until slightly dry and toasted, about 20 minutes. Transfer to very large bowl; cool.
• Melt butter in heavy large Dutch oven over high heat. Add sausage, pepper, green onions, shallots, celery, garlic, thyme, sage, allspice, cayenne and bay leaves and sauté until vegetables are just tender and mixture is very moist, about 15 minutes. Stir vegetable mixture into corn bread. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Mix eggs into stuffing.
• To bake stuffing in turkey:
• Add 1/2 up chicken broth to stuffing and mix thoroughly. Fill main turkey cavity with stuffing. Mix enough chicken broth into remaining stuffing to moisten (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup chicken broth, depending on amount of remaining stuffing). Spoon remaining stuffing into buttered baking dish. Cover tightly with buttered aluminum foil. Bake stuffing in dish alongside turkey until heated through, about 30 minutes.Uncover stuffing and bake until top begins to brown, about 15 minutes.
• To bake all stuffing in pan:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Mix 1 1/2 cups chicken broth into stuffing. Transfer stuffing to prepared baking dish. Cover tightly with buttered aluminum foil. Bake until stuffing is firm and heated through, about 45 minutes. Uncover stuffing and bake until just beginning to brown to top, about 15 minutes.

CAJUN SPICE BREAD (FOR THE BREAD MACHINE)

Steps:

• Put all ingredients into a bread machine with a 2 pound capacity (or larger) in the order suggested by the manufacturer.
• Set the machine to the regular bake cycle.

SPICY CAJUN TOASTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut bread lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. In a saucepan melt butter and stir in seasoning and salt. Brush spice butter on 1 side of slices and on a baking sheet bake, buttered sides up, in middle of oven until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Toasts keep in an airtight container at room temperature 3 days.