Top: Cajun Chicken Salad on a Martin’s
potato roll. Bottom: Martin prefers a
food-processor blended chicken salad, which
is so creamy it can be used as a spread. We
prefer chunky chicken salad.
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Our favorite chicken salad recipe includes sliced grapes and almonds and dried cherries or cranberries in a curry mayonnaise.
But we headed south (metaphorically speaking to try this recipe, from Martin’s Famous Pastry, a spicy, meaty departure from our sweeter recipe.
This Cajun Chicken Salad adds popular Creole ingredients like spicy andouille sausage, onions, celery, sundried tomatoes, and seasoning, to minced chicken to create a dish full of flavor.
Martin’s, which sells potato rolls, used their product for a sandwich. We couldn’t get hold of the rolls, so we put the chicken salad on a bed of mesclun.
> The difference between Cajun and Creole cuisines is below.
RECIPE #1: CAJUN CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICH
Ingredients For 4 Sandwiches
3-4 cups cooked chicken, minced into small pieces
1/3 pound smoked andouille sausage
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
4 green onion tops, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/3 cup apple, finely chopped
1 handful sundried tomatoes, chopped small
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper, to taste
Creole seasoning, to taste (recipe below)
4 Martin’s Sandwich Potato Rolls or other roll/bread
Butter lettuce or other pliable lettuce
Optional: Provolone cheese slices
Optional: Dijon or other spicy mustard
Optional: mesclun or other greens (instead of the bread)
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Preparation
1. SAUTÉ the chopped onions and sausage in butter until the onions are soft and translucent.
2. COMBINE the chopped chicken, sausage and sautéed onions in a food processor and blend to the desired consistency; or simply combine them in a mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients and then season to taste.
3. SERVE on a roll with lettuce, cheese and mu,stard on the side; or on a bed of greens.
RECIPE #2: CREOLE SEASONING
If you don’t have Creole seasoning, it’s easy to make your own. This recipe makes much more than you need for the chicken salad, but you can cut it down or use the extra in other recipes, from eggs to burgers.
Ingredients
1/3 cup paprika
3 tablespoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon granulated onion
4 teaspoons dried thyme
4 teaspoons granulated garlic
Preparation
1. COMBINE all the spices in a bowl, and stir to combine.
2. STORE in an airtight container away from light and heat, but use as quickly as possible.
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WHAT IS ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE?
Andouille (pronounced on-DOO-wee) is a smoked, spicy pork sausage, originally from France. It was brought to Louisiana by the French immigrants and Acadian (French Canadian) exiles, whose cuisines would merge to create much of Louisiana Creole fare.
The sausage is made using coarsely-ground pork from a smoked Boston shoulder roast, along with garlic, pepper, onions, wine, and other seasonings. Once the casing is stuffed, the sausage is smoked again.
FOOD TRIVIA: Like the word ganache, which means imbecile in French (here’s the story), the word andouille also designates an imbecile.
CAJUN VS. CREOLE: THE DIFFERENCE
Cajun and Creole are not the same, although people removed from Louisiana often use them without distinction.
Creole referred to people who were born to settlers in French Colonial Louisiana, specifically in New Orleans. In the 18th century, Creoles were the descendants of the French and Spanish upper class that ruled the city.
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Andouille sausage joins the chicken in this chicken salad recipe (photo Eva K | Wikimedia).
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Cajuns, on the other hand, emigrated from the Acadia region of Canada, which consisted of present-day New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. They settled in the swampy region of Louisiana that is today known as Acadiana; their name in French, les Acadians, became shortened in the vernacular as Cajun.
Some people think of Creole cuisine as “city food” and Cajun cuisine as “country food.” But to eyeball the dish and tell its provenance, here’s a simple trick:
Creole cuisine uses tomatoes and Cajun food typically does not. That’s how to quickly distinguish a Cajun gumbo or jambalaya from a Creole gumbo or jambalaya.
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