Weekends in a French Kitchen (click to read about the project: here) launched this month. And if you're game, I'm including affiliate links to the cookbooks at the bottom of the post. Yesterday I posted from Daniel Boulud and Dorie Greenspan's cookbook. Today marks my second post from Mimi Thorisson's A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse.Special thanks to the project organizers: Alice of A Mama, Baby and Sharpei in the Kitchen, Christy of Confessions of a Culinary Diva, Tammy of Telling Stories from Chez Nous, and Emily of Blue Bungalow. What a fun, fun project they have designed. Join us.
This week's selection from Mimi Thorisson's A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse is Langoustines with Armagnac. You'll find this recipe on page 110 of the A Kitchen in France: A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse...we will not be posting the actual recipes on our blogs. Here are the Tips and Tricks for this recipe from the team leaders.
Langoustines...
Langoustines, or langostino as they are labeled here in California, are crustaceans commonly called 'squat lobsters', though they are more closely related to hermit crabs than lobsters. But you can easily substitute heads-on shrimp or prawns...or even crayfish or crawdads if you can find them.
Catching crawdads is a family favorite...
...we normally just boil them and eat them with a squeeze of lemon and some melted butter.
Here's a Cajun Legend, about how crawfish are descendants of the Maine lobster and came to populate New Orleans.
After the Acadians, now called the Cajuns, were expelled from Nova Scotia in the 18th century, the lobsters longed to reunite with the Cajuns.
Their journey, over land and sea, was so arduous that the lobsters began to shrink in size. By the time they found the Cajuns in Louisiana, they had shrunk so much that they hardly looked like lobsters anymore.
A great festival was held up their arrival, and this smaller lobster was renamed a crawfish.
I didn't have a chance to make it to the river this week, so instead of fresh crawdads, I picked up some langostino tails from the store to make Mimi's Langoustines with Armagnac.
My langostino tails came already shelled. So, to make the plate look more full, I put them atop of bed of caramelized onions, banana peppers, and arugula. Jake had fun setting it aflame and the boys thought it was great that our dinner was on fire! I didn't get a great photo of it, but it was fun!
Fun facts, thanks for sharing. At least you got yours to light! I couldn't get mine to light. Next time I guess. Those look wonderful and giving them a bed of all that good stuff makes it that much better.
ReplyDeleteYou are so fortunate to have access to crawdads, etc. How fun to be able to go to the river and source your own.
ReplyDeleteLucky you getting this to light also! Great photos of your family too :)
You added some interesting facts to your post. Enjoyed reading them. I loved this recipe.
ReplyDeleteLove your use of the langoustine tails! Both recipes from Mimi's book have lent themselves to a bit of tweaking and adding when necessary (or just for the fun of it). Beautiful ohotos and great history lesson!
ReplyDeleteLove your use of the langoustine tails! Both recipes from Mimi's book have lent themselves to a bit of tweaking and adding when necessary (or just for the fun of it). Beautiful ohotos and great history lesson!
ReplyDeletethe shots you have are pretty good though! I love how the family got into it! :)
ReplyDelete