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Welcome to Thyme Flies, a place to find southern, and Cajun and Creole recipes as well as plain old home cooking.
It's also a place to spend a little thyme.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Crab Imperial
Many years ago, I took a field trip to Venice,
Louisiana with some fellow geology students from NLSC (now University of Louisiana, Monroe). We spent the night in an onshore
barracks and then took a crew boat out to visit a few offshore drilling rigs the following day.
After reaching
a location on a choppy sea, we had lunch on one of the rigs.Drilling crews stay on the offshore rigs for days on end, twenty-one days on, seven days off. There is
television and the game room, but little else to occupy your time while stranded miles from shore. The food often makes everything
bearable.
When my geology class visited, I was impressed (as any twenty-one-year-old man would be) at the steaks,
chicken, red beans and rice, multiple deserts, etc. available four times a day.Offshore cooks are the best in the world at keeping people happy. I found this recipe
on the web, donated byDick English,
a cook on an offshore drilling rig. Thanks Dick. Try it and enjoy. Crab Imperial Ingredients:
½ pound
of butter
1
cup of flour
2
cups of milk
½
cup of celery, chopped fine
½ cup of mushrooms, chopped fine
½ cup
of parsley, chopped fine
½ cups of green onions, chopped fine
½ cup of pimentos, chopped fine
2 pounds of
lump crab meat
Worcestershire
sauce, to taste
Tabasco
sauce, to taste
Salt
and pepper, to taste
Breadcrumbs
Cooking Instructions Melt butter over low heat and stir-in flour. Cook until bubbles appear on top.
Add milk slowly, stirring constantly. Add celery and mushrooms. Continue cooking while adding parsley, green onions and pimentos.
Fold-in crabmeat. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper, to taste. Pour mixture into individual
baking dishes and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake until brown in 350-degree oven.
My good friend and fellow University of Arkansas student Mike
Howard and I visited Oklahoma City during the fall of 1973, looking for a job. The State Fair was in full swing and it was
the first time I ate an Indian Taco. It wasn’t my last.
There are three things you must always eat when visiting the Oklahoma State Fair at Oklahoma City –
tamales from the Little Axe Church, State Fair cinnamon rolls, and an Indian Taco. All three qualify as Oklahoma comfort food.
Here is my version of Oklahoma’s famous Indian Taco.
Fry Bread
·2 cups flour ·4 teaspoons baking powder ·1 tablespoon sugar ·½ teaspoon salt ·1 cup milk, warm
Directions
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add warm milk slowly
and mix into soft dough. Roll out dough with a rolling pin, about ½ inch thick, and then cut into pieces slightly smaller
than a large cast iron skillet. Fry in hot oil, flipping once, until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.
Indian Taco Filling ·1 lb. ground beef ·Salt and pepper to taste ·½ tablespoon cayenne pepper ·½ tablespoon cumin, ground ·½ tablespoon
paprika ·1 medium tomato, diced ·1 cup lettuce, shredded ·¼ cup ripe olives, sliced ·4 ounces, shredded Monterey
and cheddar cheese, divided ·¼ cup sour cream ·Salsa, your favorite
Directions
In a heavy pot with a tight
cover, crumble and brown ground beef with salt and pepper. Drain and add mixture of cayenne, cumin and paprika. Heat and set
aside. Layer fry bread with beef, tomato, lettuce, olives, cheese, sour cream and salsa. Enjoy.
I grew up eating my Mother's home cooking. I didn't know that we were poor, but we were - moneywise, that is.
We never missed a meal, and, as I look back, I now see that everyone was a culinary masterpiece. That's what we're after
here - the realization that simpler is sometimes (if not always) best.
Please check out Eric Wilder's book Murder Etouffee for the best Cajun and Creole recipes, and so much more!
