Saturday, August 8, 2009

Famous French Bread

As a native New Orleanian it seems natural that a French Bread Pizza would be topped with traditional New Orleans fare like crawfish and andouille sausage. You see, in New Orleans French bread is as important an ingredient in the local cuisine as anything else. French Bread serves as the foundation of our famous po'boys and is used in New Orleans versions of pain perdu and bread pudding. French Bread or Po'Boy Bread (as it is more frequently referred to in New Orleans) is the bread of choice in the Crescent City. There are famous bakeries, like Leidenheimer's that specialize in perfect French bread and the distribution of it to eateries and restaurants both far and wide that are interested in serving authentic New Orleans po'boys. You can also find wicker baskets filled with fresh baked French Bread in every local grocery store and pastry shop in the city. French Bread is ubiquitous in the Big Easy and because of that fact, I love the marriage of the crawfish and andouille pizza on a French bread crust!

Crawfish and Andouille French Bread Pizzas
Adapted from Coastal Living March 2004
Yield

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
  • 1/2 pound andouille sausage, diced
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 pound cooked frozen crawfish tails, thawed and drained
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt-free Cajun seasoning
  • 1 (16-ounce) Whole-Wheat French Bread
  • 1 (14-ounce) jar pizza or pasta sauce
  • 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded provolone cheese
Preparation

Place a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add sausage; cook 4 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned on all sides.

Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add crawfish tails and Cajun seasoning. Remove from heat.

Cut bread in half lengthwise. Cut each half crosswise into 3 equal pieces. Remove a little of the dough in the center of each bread section and discard. Place bread, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Spread sauce over bread halves;

top evenly with crawfish mixture.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 425° for 8 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

5 comments:

New Orleans Ladder said...

Hey Mrs. Elizabeth,
this looks wonderful! I gotta ax'ya though...
Does that Whole Wheat French Bread do the Flaky Thing and Explode when you bite into it like "normal" FRESH White French Bread?
Though I like the flavor, WW has not impressed me with Poboys. In fact WW doesn't taste or chew like a Poboy (to me). It always ends up acting like a Subway.
Anyway, I'm wondering if this transfers over to this cool Pizza.

Thank you in advance for your take. Needless to say we hung you onto today's Ladda.

Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

Elizabeth said...

Editilla,

No, Whole Wheat French Bread doesn't come anywhere close to doing that Flaky Think you speak of. But obtaining French Bread of that quality is a wasted effort here in DC. And since I can't get the real thing, the least I can do is lighten up the recipe a bit by introducing some whole grains.

Thanks for the mention on your blog!

New Orleans Ladder said...

Thanks, Mrs. Elisabeth!
I love Whole Wheat and can't wait to try these pizzas your way first.

If you bake your own WW and want a cool thing that may (or not:) go with these cool pizzas try mixing in some currants with the dry ingredients. Then they get fairly mashed up in the kneading.
Baking your own French Bread is tricky as you surely know already. The only suggestion I've found is to get that oven really damn hot, keep the steam on and pay attention. I still can't do it.

I hadn't realized y'all were living in DC. Bless your heart. You got no Italian bakers up there? Try this recipe on some of their French Bread and I think you might enjoy it.

Lassezes Le Bon Apetit!
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

Bugaboo said...

This looks really good, although I'm pretty sure up here just north of Baltimore it'd be pretty hard to find frozen crawfish. I'm sure I can sub in something else and it'll still be good though; thanks for the idea!

dugrrr said...

I normally don't think of cheese with Cajun but this sounds awesome. Definitely gonna go for a crustier French Bread instead of chewy.

This recipe was picked up by Saveur.com (my favorite cooking mag) glad I know about your blog now.

Great photos btw.

-Doug