Emeril's New New Orleans by Emeril Lagasse, Jessie Tirsch, Jessie Tirsch, Brian Smale (Photographer), Jessie Tirsch

From Barnes & Noble

Emeril has wowed the culinary world with his innovative take on New Orleans cuisine, first at the legendary Commander's Palace and then at his own restaurants, Emeril's and NOLA. In Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking, his first cookbook, Emeril shares his sophisticated fare and adapts it for the home cook. Classic Creole and Cajun flavors combine with influences from Emeril's New England-Portuguese heritage, the Far East, and the American Southwest in these bold and flavorful recipes.

From the Publisher

Emeril Lagasse fuses the rich traditions of Creole cookery with the best of America's regional cuisines and adds a vibrant new palette of tastes, ingredients, and styles. The heavy sauces, the long-cooked roux, and the smothered foods that were the heart of old-style New Orleans cooking have been replaced by simple fresh ingredients and easy cooking techniques with a light touch. Emeril serves up a masterpiece in his first cookbook, Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking.

Emeril offers not only hundred of easy-to-prepare recipes, but plenty of professional tips, shortcuts, and useful information about stocking your own New Orleans pantry and making your own seasonings.

Library Journal

Lagasse opened Emeril's Restaurant to raves in 1990 after several years as chef at The Commander's Palace, a New Orleans institution. His food, which he refers to as New New Orleans, or NNO, is a reinterpretation of Creole cookery, strongly influenced by Oriental, Portuguese, and Southwestern cuisines. The result is gutsy, flavorful dishes, though the juxtaposition of ingredients is sometimes startling: Crawfish Egg Rolls with Sesame Drizzle, or Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad with Andouille Dressing. There are lots of appetizing recipes here. For most collections.

BookList

One of the instant clues to nouvelle-inspired cookbooks is the length of recipe names--two lines, at least, including a lot of "withs" and "ands." Award-winning restaurateur Lagasse's first culinary offering is certainly no exception, as he blends with skill the cuisines of Portugal, the Far East, New Mexico, and Cajun-Creole areas of the U.S. There's a great reliance on hotstuffs, with liberal sprinklings of cilantro and piri piri sauce, as there is on the foundations of "Nawlins" chefery, using such ingredients as crawfish, andouille, and tasso, among others. Some of the "I gotta try" dishes include cilantro shrimp, kale and andouille soup, smoked salmon cheesecake, pine-nut crusted chicken, pork and eggplant cutlets, and white chocolate banana sesame loaf. His claim to a "new" Big Easy cooking style may not be ageless, but his innovations will be influential. For the more experienced home chef and for the library with big demand for cookbooks.

Product Details

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Read an Excerpt

Crawfish Egg Rolls with Hot Sesame Drizzle

Makes 8 first-course servings

Chinese food in New Orleans? Absolutely. Light and crispy on the outside, moist and spicy on the inside, these egg rolls are a snap to make, using egg roll skins available in supermarkets. The twist is the Creole-seasoned crawfish, but if you like, you can substitute either lobster meat or shrimp.

1 cup Hot Sesame Drizzle (recipe follows)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced onions
1/2 cup finely diced celery
1 cup, finely shredded napa or white cabbage
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup finely grated carrots
1/2 pound (1 cup) peeled crawfish tails
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons untoasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt 6 turns freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Emeril's Creole Seasoning
4 large eggs, lightly beaten in 2 separate bowls (2 eggs per bowl)
8 egg roll skins
6 cups vegetable oil
1/4 cup dry mustard, combined with 1/4 cup water

1. Prepare the Hot Sesame Drizzle, and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions, celery, and cabbage and saute for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and carrots and saute, stirring and shaking the skillet, for 1 minute. Add the crawfish tails and saute, shaking the skillet, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture into a bowl.

3. To the crawfish mixture, add the sesame oil, sesame seeds, salt, pepper, Creole Seasoning, and 2 of the eggs.

4. Lay the egg roll skins on a flat surface and brush them with some of the remaining egg. Place one-eighth of the fillingon one end of each skin, leaving a 1/4-inch border at the top and sides, and roll up, tucking in the ends after the first roll.

5. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan or wok over high heat. When the oil is very hot, about 375°F, fry the egg rolls until they're crisp and golden brown, for about 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly on paper towels.

6. While the egg rolls are frying, reheat the Hot Sesame Drizzle over low heat, stirring once or twice.

7. To serve, paint each of 8 dishes with a zigzag of mustard. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the Hot Sesame Drizzle over the mustard, and top with an egg roll.

Hot Sesame Drizzle

Makes 1 cup

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Basic Chicken Stock
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon soy sauce
8 turns freshly ground black pepper

1. Toast the sesame seeds in a small saucepan over high heat, shaking often to prevent burning, for about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the salt, stock, oil, honey, and soy sauce and whisk over high heat until the mixture comes to a full boil.

2. Turn the heat down to a medium, add the black pepper, and cook, whisking, for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Serve immediately or store, refrigerated, in an airtight container for 1 day. Reheat over lowest heat.