Mike and Cherita Adams are sharing the hospitality of their hometown with visitors to their Blue Orleans restaurant on Tuesday night. The New Orleans transplants are planning a Mardi Gras celebration straight from the French Quarter but minus the eight-hour drive.
The Adamses will pour Hurricanes and dish up jambalaya, along with other specialties from the Big Easy. Jazz and Dixieland music will be piped in over the speakers and they plan to live-stream Mardi Gras festivities from New Orleans over the restaurant's big screens.
Cajun or Creole?
Although Cajun and Creole are often used interchangeably, they are two distinct Louisiana food styles. Cajun is considered "country cooking" vs. the "city cooking" of Creole. Cajuns, a term derived from the French term "les Acadians," were French settlers of the low-lying parishes in Louisiana who were forcibly deported from their original home in Nova Scotia by the British from the late 1750s into the mid-1760s. Once in Louisiana, they created their own local cuisine based on the wild game of the flatlands, swamps and seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. "They dealt with gamier foods and, because of that, tended to cook with more spice than a Creole recipe would call for," says Michael Adams, co-owner and executive chef at Blue Orleans restaurant. Examples of Cajun dishes include venison, turtle soup or Cajun-style red beans and rice. "Creole combined the different ethnic cuisines folded into New Orleans: African, Spanish and French influences," he says. "They turned out an amazing quality of food that includes the New Orleans trinity: bell pepper, onion and celery. A lot of New Orleans chefs include those three items with seasonings that gives food a good flavor that ends on a spicy note." Creoles used tomatoes in their jambalaya; Cajuns leave them out. Each uses a different recipe to make their roux -- that mix of fat and flour, browned in a saucepan, used to thicken a dish. Cajun roux combines flour with lard or oil for thickness; Creoles mix flour with butter for a thinner, lighter roux. Source: Michael Adams, Louisianatravel.com, travel.marriott.com
"A lot of our guests are from New Orleans, so they feel at home when they come in," says Mike Adams, who's also executive chef at the restaurant he owns with his wife.
Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, culminates carnival season. Falling this year on Tuesday, Feb. 17, it's the last day to party, the time to let your inhibitions run wild before Ash Wednesday arrives the next morning and starts Lent, the six weeks of prayer, penance, atonement and fasting -- what most people think of when they think of Lent -- that ends at Easter.
For the Adamses, Mardi Gras is a time to share the cuisine of their native Louisiana as well as give a nostalgic nod to the culture in which they were raised. When this couple packed up and drove to Chattanooga to escape Hurricane Katrina as it bore down on Louisiana in 2005, they didn't know it would be permanent. Each previous trip to take temporary shelter with his brother, who lives in Chattanooga, had been a short visit.
"We literally had just the clothes on our backs. We packed very little because we thought it would be a Sunday-to-Wednesday kind of thing. We had no idea our house would be 8 feet under water," recalls Adams.
Once they saw the devastation in New Orleans, they realized going back to try to rebuild or to live in a trailer with their young children was not an option. Unable to return home, they decided to bring their hometown to Chattanooga, launching a rebuilding process that concluded with the opening of Blue Orleans on the corner of Main and Market in 2007.
Margaret Mebane Johnson, executive chef at Lookout Mountain Golf Club for 15 years, says recipes from the Big Easy are a favorite with club members any day of the year. The spicy dishes add to any party atmosphere and they're hearty meals for golfers hitting the links.
"I just made sausage gumbo for the Super Bowl party at the club," says Johnson. "I serve New Orleans-style food three or four times a year."
The chef says her daughter lives in Louisiana and has worked in restaurants there. She tipped her mom to using French bread from New Orleans' Gambino's Bakery with the New Orleans dishes she served.
"Now the only bread I use is Gambino's," Johnson says. "The sausage I use for my Cajun food is Paul Prudhomme's Cajun sausage that I buy from New Orleans and have it shipped here. I've served shrimp etoufe, shrimp Creole and jambalaya -- I love the cuisine."
This recipe is one of Margaret Johnson's favorites:
Red Beans and Rice, at top, and Sausage-Chicken Gumbo at Blue Orleans Restaurant.SAUSAGE-CHICKEN GUMBO
1 small chicken, quartered
Kosher salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted; plus extra for dusting chicken
3/4 cup vegetable oil (peanut oil suggested)
3 large onions, diced
7 stalks of celery, diced
4 green bell peppers, diced
12 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch each of dried oregano, basil and thyme
4 bay leaves
2 1/2 quarts cold water
1 1/2 pounds andouille sausage, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 tablespoon fil powder
1 tablespoon hot sauce
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dust it with flour, shake off excess. Heat oil in large, heavy pot over high heat until it reaches smoking point (about 3 minutes).
Sear chicken in hot oil until golden brown, about 5 minutes on the first side, 4 minutes on the second. Remove chicken from pot.
When oil has returned to smoking point, make a roux by slowly adding flour to oil, stirring constantly over high heat with wooden spoon until roux is color of milk chocolate. This will take 3 to 5 minutes. (Johnson advises that, if black specks appear, the roux is scorching and you must start over.)
When roux reaches desired color, add onions, cook 1 minute. Add celery and bell peppers, cook another 1 1/2 minutes. Add garlic, cayenne pepper, oregano, thyme and bay leaves. Slowly add water, stirring constantly with wire whisk to avoid lumps. Add chicken and sausage to mixture, stir and bring to a boil.
Simmer for 2 1/2 hours. As mixture simmers, skim excess fat from top with spoon about every 30 minutes.
After simmering 2 1/2 hours, return mixture to boil, stir in fil powder and stir vigorously until powder dissolves. Taste and season with salt/pepper to taste. Finish with hot sauce to taste. Serve over boiled rice and garnish with chopped green onions.
Makes about 4 quarts or 12 entree servings.
-- From "Commander's Kitchen" cookbook published by Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans
Creole Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage is a Mardi Gras favorite.RED BEANS AND RICE
1 pound red beans*
1 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup green bell peppers, chopped
1 teaspoon dry ground thyme
1 teaspoon sweet basil leaves
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 pound ham hocks, chopped
2 teaspoons salt (may use either kosher, sea or iodised)
1 pound smoked sausage (spicy or not)
2 ounces your favorite hot sauce
1 tablespoon garlic
* Chef Michael Adams says any kidney bean will work for the recipe, but he suggests Camellia Red Beans, which are sold at Wal-Mart.
Wash kidney beans to remove any dirt/debris that comes in bag, drain. Put beans in pot with 6 quarts of water, turn stove eye on high heat. Fold in bell pepper, onion, celery and garlic. Fold in seasonings, then add chopped ham hocks.
Bring beans to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer on medium, checking and stirring often. Beans must simmer 2 1/2 to 3 hours to become soft. During that time, continue to add water to pot so the beans don't settle on bottom and burn.
While beans simmer, cut sausage into 1/4-inch pieces. Saut sausage in a pan, strain meat to drain off fat.
In last 20 minutes of time beans' simmer (they will just be getting soft), add sausage. Continue to simmer and stir until beans are ready. Add pepper and salt to taste.
Serve over your favorite rice.
-- Chef Michael Adams
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.
Fried chicken is another popular item on the restaurant's Mardi Gras menu.