The food tasting will include:

1. Margie’s Sicilian Lasagna (a tasty, traditional way to deal with those pesky leftovers) 
2. St. Joseph Day Fig Cookies (What would a St Joseph Day altar be without them?)
3. Sicilian American “Devilish” Eggs (A delectable example of the assimilation and adaption of everyone’s favorite party snack)

It’s going to be a great day to celebrate the cultural & culinary tradition of the historical Treme!

Also, Treme’s Cookin’ has three more events planned for 2007.  Three more days of food, music and fun.  Remember:  all the food is traditional food that comes from the gifted cooks in Treme. 

• Gumbo Cook-Off on Sunday, September 9 2007:
  • A chance for neighborhood chefs to compete for prizes.  No matter who win the competition, we all win with all those delicious gumbos
• Beans! on October Sunday, October 14 2007:
  • A celebration of that everyday meal that’s always a cause for celebration:  Red Beans and Rice
• A Seafood Holiday on Saturday, November 10 2007:
  • A bounty of delicious holiday delicacies straight from the Gulf.

As always, we searching out a few good men and women to volunteer at the event.  If you’d like to, please email info@tremescookin.org .  Your help will be appreciated!

See you there

Don’t miss it, its going to be a good one!

If you are interested in volunteering, please email me at info@tremescookin.org or call 504-314-7055 / 678-643-3500. We could use some help on Saturday at 3pm, and Sunday 9am to 2pm.

St. Augustine Church is located at 1210 Governor Nicholls St.

Ms. Marigny shows the audience how to prepare her Holy Thursday Lamb.

Parishioners, friends, and guests enjoy the picnic and Treme’s Cookin’s samples

Father Jerome LeDoux

Had a busy day and want a good hearty meal that’s easy to make? Want a complete meal that won’t slow you down? Try Father LeDoux’s Vegan Meal in One. This dish is full of flavor and the nutrients you need, and low on the bad stuff like fat and sodium.

Ingredients:

2 large onions chopped

2 teaspoons of granulated garlic (or 4 toes mashed)

1/8 teaspoon of powdered cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon of powdered basil leaf

2 teaspoons of powdered dill weed

3 teaspoons of powdered parsley

2 cooking spoons of olive oil

8-ounce package of sliced mushrooms

12-ounce package of Soyriso or Smart Ground Taco/Burrito

16-ounce package of fresh frozen sweet peas

4 cups of freshly-juiced tomatoes (together with the pulp)

2 cups of 10-minute instant brown rice

Method:

In a 6 quart saucepan with a lid, mix ingredients well with a cooking spoon

Cook covered on high until steam and sound indicate boiling

Turn down low and cook covered for 50 minutes

Alternatively, if you are using a crockpot, cook on high for one hour and on low for two hours

Nutritional Insight: This dish is full of flavor yet low on sodium. Excess sodium intake may result in elevated blood pressure, which could lead to cardiovascular and kidney diseases¹. Remember, you can always add salt at the table later, but once you put it in, you can’t take it back out.

In addition, this dish uses brown rice instead of white rice. The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice destroys 67% of the vitamin B3, 80% of the vitamin B1, 90% of the vitamin B6, half of the manganese, half of the phosphorus, 60% of the iron, and all of the dietary fiber and essential fatty acids².

This recipe came about from the reading of the Holy Thursday Mass (Book of Exodus). In the reading lamb was served with salad, bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Each Holy Thursday at St. Augustine Catholic Church we’d have a Seder Supper after the Holy Thursday Mass. I would cook the lamb, the parishioners made the salad and Father LeDoux made the unleavened bread. The parishioners all gathered in the church hall, prayed before the meal and then enjoyed a wonderful lamb dinner together. -Antonia Marigny

Ingredients:
3 lb lamb (New Zealand lamb)
4 cloves of garlic
Garlic power (to taste)
Creole seasoning (to taste)
2 tablespoons of flour
1 Large oven bag

Instructions:
Thoroughly wash lamb
Stuff lamb with garlic cloves
Sprinkle garlic power and Creole seasoning on lamb
Place flour in oven bag and shake
Place lamb in oven bag with flour and close
Cook for an hour and a half
After the lamb is cooked, allow to cool

Yield: 15 servings.

Nutritional Insight: Lamb is an excellent source of protein, iron, zinc and B vitamins. Lamb helps to prevent anemia and is the least likely of farm animals to be contaminated with \antibiotic residues. Garlic has been called a miracle food. It has been understood to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, improve circulation and aid in digestion. It is considered a natural antibiotic and has been utilized for infections and can destroy free radicals, thereby potentially preventing cancers.

My family lived in Tremé since the time of slavery. In the thirties the pay was five to ten cents a job. It was hard times. When the price of bell peppers went up to two or three for a dollar, I wasn’t able to supply everybody with their own bell pepper, that’s how I began to make this casserole with little pieces of bell pepper. This is my dish for holidays and anytime I need to bring a dish. I made 400 of these for my son’s wedding. I woke up four in the morning and just kept going. -Dorothy Johnson

Ingredients:
2lbs. of Ground Meat
1lb. of diced Season Ham
1 lb of Shrimp cut in halves
3 cups Bread Crumbs
2 Eggs
1 Stick of Butter
3 Bell Peppers
1 chopped onion (medium)
½ chopped bell pepper
1 tsp of Season-All
A dash of salt
* Smoke Sausage could be added if desired.

Instructions:
Place ground meat in a medium size bowl
Beat eggs and pour into bowl with ground meat
Add Season-All
Add (diced) ham or smoked sausage or both
Fry chopped onion with butter in skillet until brown (add to bowl)
Add raw shrimp (de-veined and cut in half) to bowl
stir chopped bell pepper into stuffing mix
Place strips of bell peppers on bottom of pan until (2 quart) aluminum pan is covered
Pour stuffing mix from bowl over the peppers, covering them
Gradually add water to breadcrumbs until they loosen
Sprinkle bread crumbs over stiffing mix
Place thin slices of butter on top of bread crumbs
Place pan in oven at 350 degrees for about one and a half hours

Yield: 6 servings.

Nutritional Insight: Bell peppers are very rich in Vitamin C and are an important source of Vitamin A. They are protective against age-related macular degeneration; enhance night vision, beneficial for the skin, and protective against heart and circulatory disease. Butter, egg and beef substitutes can improve the nutritional quality of this dish.

When Leah Lange was growing up in a Creole of Color family across Lake Ponchartrain during the Depression, they created lovely meals out of what they could pick form her father’s garden. In her childhood, Eggplant Farci was always made with ham and shrimp. It was only after she moved to New Orleans that she substituted the crabmeat for the ham to create a milder dish for the more sophisticated taste buds of her clients at Dooky Chase.

Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants
1/4 lb. butter
1 lb. shrimp (peeled, de-veined and chopped)
1 cup chopped onions
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 lb. white crab meat
1/2 tsp. whole thyme leaves
1 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs

Instructions:
Cut eggplants in half.
With a tablespoon, scoop out the insides carefully, leaving about 1/4-inch-thick shells
Cut eggplant meat into small cubes and soak in cold, salted water for 20 to 30 minutes.
Soak shells in separate pan of water
Drain water off eggplant cubes
In a deep pot, melt the butter and add eggplant cubes, shrimp, and onions. Cover and cook over medium heat for 40 minutes.
Remove cover and add garlic, parsley salt, and cayenne. Stir well.
*Shrimp and eggplants give off quite a bit of water. Cook long enough to reduce
as much of the juices as possible.
Add well-picked crab meat and cook for 10 minutes longer to blend in crab meat.
Remove from heat and add bread crumbs; mix well.
Stuff well-drained shells with eggplant mixture.
Place in baking pan and sprinkle with more bread crumbs.
Dot the tops with butter. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutritional Insight: Eggplant is very effective at inhibiting the rise of blood cholesterol, thereby helping to prevent atherosclerosis. Eggplant also enhances immunity. However, eggplant is a nightshade vegetable and should be avoided with rheumatoid arthritis. Shellfish is considered a “superfood” because of its many good properties. A butter substitute can improve the nutritional quality of this dish.