A NEW ORLEANS PLATE WITH CRAB CAKES, CREOLE SAUSAGE, AND CAJUN RéMOULADE

A New Orleans Plate with Crab Cakes, Creole Sausage, and Cajun Rémoulade image

The journey of French rémoulade sauce, a classic mustardy mayonnaise with herbs, capers, and gherkins, across the Atlantic Ocean to Acadia (now eastern Quebec), the Maritime provinces, parts of New England, and eventually on to the American South is a culinary story worth telling. In the early 1600s, the first French arrived in Acadia and took up a life of farming crops and raising livestock. A century and a half later, many descendants of those early Acadians were forced from their northern homes by the British, eventually winding up in South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. Those who settled in Louisiana soon came to be called Cajuns, as did their language, a lilting patois unique to the area but universally understood in their joyous music. And rémoulade? Unfortunately, there is no accessible literature that describes how the sauce was interpreted on Acadian tables. However, as it wended its way to Louisiana, via the American Northeast and the French Indies, it underwent a gastronomic evolution, becoming more spirited with additions of minced bell pepper and celery, tomato paste, sometimes Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, and especially Louisiana's own feisty Tabasco sauce. Here is my interpretation of that well-traveled sauce, now a Cajun rémoulade, served on a New Orleans plate with crab cakes and Creole sausage.

Yield serves 6 to 8

Number Of Ingredients 21

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Ingredients

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped scallion, light green tops only
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon capers
4 cornichons, finely chopped
4 shakes Tabasco or other Louisiana hot sauce
3/4 pound fresh or frozen and thawed crabmeat, picked over for shell fragments
1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped poblano or jalapeño chile or green bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs (page 4)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, or as needed, for frying the sausage
3/4 pound Creole Sausage, (page 20) formed into 1 1/4-inch balls
4 tablespoons butter or ghee (see page 71), for frying the crab cakes
1 1/2 cups watercress leaves and tender stems, preferably hydroponic (see page 55)

Steps:

To make the rémoulade, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, scallion, parsley, capers, cornichons, and hot sauce in a small bowl and whisk to mix. Use right away, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
To make the crab cakes, place the crabmeat, red bell pepper, chile, parsley, shallot, mustard, lemon juice, salt, egg, and 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs in a medium bowl, and mix gently with your hands until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions, and pat each portion into a cake about 2 inches in diameter. Spread the remaining 1 cup bread crumbs on a plate. Coat each patty on both sides with the bread crumbs, pressing them to adhere. Place the patties on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in the refrigerator to firm for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours.
To cook the sausage, heat the 1 tablespoon oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add as many sausage balls as will fit without crowding and sauté, turning 3 or 4 times, until browned all around and just cooked through, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside in a warm place. If necessary, continue with another round, adding more oil to the pan if needed.
To cook the crab cakes, melt the butter in a second large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add as many crab cakes as will fit without crowding and fry, turning once, until golden and crisp on both sides, about 8 minutes total. If necessary, continue with another round.
To serve, spread the watercress on individual plates or a platter. Set the crab cakes on top and garnish each cake with a dollop of rémoulade. Arrange the sausage balls next to the crab cakes. Pass the remaining rémoulade at the table.