Kevin Belton's New Orleans Kitchen

-Funding for "Kevin Belton's New Orleans Kitchen" was provided in part by the L.E. Phillips Family Foundation, Inc., and by the St. Tammany Parish Tourist Commission. Located 40 minutes from New Orleans, the Northshore's Tammany Taste features the chefs and farmers, brewers, and bakers of St. Tammany Parish's culinary scene. Learn more at louisiananorthshore.com. -Additional funding was provided by Welbilt -- bringing innovation to the table. -Hi. I'm Kevin Belton. Today, in my New Orleans kitchen,

I have a Deep South staple

okra. We're gonna make a fried okra with a pecan breading. We're also gonna take some crab meat and stuff it inside of the okra and wrap it in bacon, and Creole smothered shrimp and okra served over rice. So stick around! It's gonna get o...kra in here.

Smooches

I have a Deep South staple

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I have a Deep South staple

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I have a Deep South staple

Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour! Hi! Welcome to my New Orleans kitchen. It's another great day here in New Orleans and, today, we're gonna play with okra. We're gonna start with whole, fried okra and a pecan breading. So let's get started by roasting our pecans. Here, I've taken pecan halves. Let's just throw them in our skillet and basically we just want this to release the oil. You know, you can use different types of nuts, but, in New Orleans, we grow a lotta pecans. I can remember takin' the grocery bags. My mom, in mid-October, would say, "Hey, let's go. Time to go get some pecans."

So what we want to do with this

we just want 'em on the heat for just a little bit, just to get that oil to release from them just a slightly, slightly, roasted flavor because we're gonna mince them up. This is gonna be part of the dusting for our fried okra. Now, most of the time, when people fry okra, they slice it, they batter it, and fry it. Well, we're gonna do something a little bit different. So you see here, we just want this to get a little warm. And you know what? That's fine. So, now, let's put them in our processor.

Clinking

So what we want to do with this

And we want to make a nice dust with these. We wanna process this because, to this, we're gonna add in just a touch of flour. So let's go ahead and pulse this

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And I wanna show you

by pulsing, they're still fairly big chunks, but we want this not a total dust, but we want 'em really, really small so they blend in with that flour really well. We've got them started. Let's go ahead and make a little bit of a fine powder out of it. But it'll still have some texture.

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And I wanna show you

This is what we're lookin' for. They've chopped up. They're really small. Now, we can go ahead -- Be careful with your blade -- and pour this into our bowl. So entire pecans, we're gonna do just about 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper and we're gonna mix in a little flour. Let's just give this a stir. We don't want a batter. Because, when you think of okra, folks typically think of okra as basically being fried in a batter, but, you know, into our area here in New Orleans, the Africans brought the okra seeds. And you notice I'm just gonna smash this with my hand because we just want this to smash and open up. Okra was called kingombo, k-i-n-g-o-m-b-o. And you know what? Everybody would put it in a soup. You would go check your traps. You'd go catch something. You'd go down to the Indian trading post, trade for things. When you came home, you knew what the main ingredient in the soup was gonna be, but, every day, in the soup went okra and soup got the name from gombo to gumbo. So if you visit us here in New Orleans and you've had gumbo, this is where it got its name, from okra. Now I just wanna take our okra and I'm just takin' the heel of our hand and smashing it, just to kinda open it up. If you've never seen okra inside, it's like a pod with little seeds inside. But it's a wonderful, wonderful vegetable flavor. Some folks like it; some folks don't. Guess it's one of these acquired tastes. And you notice, as I'm pressing down to smash it, I'm also pushing just a little bit so it opens up. Now, we have a little moisture in this, so all we're gonna do is run this in our pecan coating and just give a little coating to it. You wanna press it because we want some of those nuts to get inside of here. That's fine. Just put them in, kind of press them into it. So it's not what you think of a typical batter, with frying. See? Look at that. That's all we want. I don't wanna batter the okra because I wanna taste the flavor of it. You know, sometimes, with a batter, it gets covered up and then we lose the true flavor. This way, we'll taste the true flavor of the okra. Now, something I am gonna do... You notice I didn't put any seasoning on it and that's okay because we can season it before we cook it or we could season after we cook it.

What I want to do with this

I'm gonna season it when it comes out, all right? Because we'll have a nice, nutty flavor on our okra, with these pecans, and then, you know, you always wanna season something once it's fried. So I have our fryer heating up to 350 and I love using a fryer because it maintains a temperature. So, now, let's lower our basket and take our okra. Just kinda pat it on the side to shake off the excess and now let's just drop them in and fry them.

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What I want to do with this

We will really get to see that color of the okra, because they're not in a batter, but this is just a nice, simple, quick dish. It'll have that pecan flavor and that's one of the reasons why we wanted to roast those pecans. This'll give us that little bit of a nutty flavor to it as we eat it. We just need to fry this for about 1 minute, 1.5 minutes. And you notice I haven't crowded it in, but look how the insides are getting nice and golden. Our seeds are turning brown. Those nuts are browning off. So, now, pick this up. You can see the little golden-brown nuggets in there. Let this drain. Let's just put this right here. Now, we can season it with a little bit of our Creole seasoning. We're gonna season it with a little bit of little kosher salt. And you know, I love to have things when I'm just sitting at home, reading, or if I'm watching a show or a movie. This is a little something that we can snack on. So, now, we can take our okra and just set it here on the plate. Oh, baby, this is so good. So here we have our pecan-dusted okra.

Coming up next

crabmeat-stuffed okra. I love okra. And you know what? We do a lotta seafood here, so we're gonna put some seafood and okra together. So, now, let's make a crabmeat stuffing that's gonna go in our okra. In our bowl, we're gonna start off with a little seasoned breadcrumbs. Of course, a little bit of our Creole seasoning. Little bit of kosher salt. Parsley. Little chopped parsley. Come on outta there. We're also gonna put in a little minced garlic. Now, look at these flavors that we're building here. You know, that's what cooking is. Cooking is about building flavors. So, if you've come to New Orleans, you might've had stuffed crabs; you might've had crab cakes. And we do it a little bit different down here, than the rest of the country. And this is something that we're gonna make, this stuffing. We can use it for fish; we can use it for other things, but, here, we're gonna put it in our okra. So, now, in here, let's get 1 beaten egg. Also, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Remember

lemon juice brightens things up. We're also gonna put in a little bit of white wine. Now, depending on how much wine you like, we can always add more. Now that this is mixed in, we can go ahead and fold in our crabmeat. Now, a lotta areas use lump crabmeat. Claw meat is sweet; claw meat is pretty. So, here in New Orleans, we use a lotta claw meat because it's nice and sweet. So we're gonna take this and we just want to get this mixed in throughout. You notice I've saved a little bit of wine because, if we need to moisten this a little more, we can. You can see how claw meat gets a little stringy. That's okay. That's fine. You know, many areas use lump crabmeat, where, you know, our friends up in Maryland, they like that lump crabmeat and they make those crab cakes with that beautiful lump crabmeat. Well, here, when you come to visit us in New Orleans, prepare to have your crab cakes and all your crab stuffing with claw meat, which just makes it a little bit sweeter. So, we're gonna put in a little pinch of salt to this. we had some breading in here. We wanna add a little bit of salt. So, now, our filling is ready. Notice it's mostly crab. You know, it's not a whole lotta breading, but it's mostly crab. So, now, let's get prepared to stuff our okra. I've taken our okra and I've just split them and opened them up. If you see, I've just taken a knife, left the tip on, started up at the top. So, now, we can take our stuffing, take a spoon, and, you know, you might have to do this with your hands, but just put it in there. Oh, come on. It didn't wanna go in. And it's okay to leave some right on the top because what we're gonna do... Just kinda take your spoon and kinda press it, all right? Now, we're gonna take a piece of bacon. If anybody knows me, you know I love bacon. And we're gonna wrap that bacon right around that crab. Look at that. So, couple of toothpicks. We're gonna put one on each side, just to hold this bacon in place, and it'll also help hold our stuffing in place, by wrapping it with that bacon. So, now, let's take our next okra, take some of that stuffing. See that piece of claw meat? See how it's long? It fits in there just perfect. That's one of the reasons why we like to use a lot of claw meat, especially for this recipe. We get a little bit of that breading on there, a little bit of our dressing on that. One more piece of bacon. And there is no pretty way to do this, so, again, this is one of those dishes where you can get the kids involved and have them help out as well. Let's get that little piece of bacon wrapped around. There we are. And, you know, we always wanna remember to take those toothpicks out before we serve. Don't leave those in there and forget them. Just go ahead and take them out. So let's get one more done. Just take this stuffing. Oh. And, you know,

I've done this before

if you want besides stuffing the okra, you could saut some okra and then mix this crabmeat into it and make a casserole out of it. That works as well. Oh, look at that little piece of crabmeat. Come on. Get in there. Get right on in there. Wrap around. Oh, you just wanna come all the way out, don'tcha? But that's all right. I guess if I put my toothpicks closer to me, that would've been a little better. There we go. There we go. All right.

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I've done this before

Now, we have our okra stuffed, wrapped with bacon. Now, let's make a little batter for this. Now, this time, we are gonna batter it. I have a little milk. Into our milk, we're gonna put in a little hot sauce, which will add flavor. We're also gonna put in couple of eggs that were beaten. A little kosher salt. If you notice, the cornmeal that we're gonna fry in, I've put a little touch of cayenne pepper with this cornmeal and, at the same time, let's put a little salt here as well. So, now, let's just get this mixed in. We'll get this mixed in. And, you know, this is one of those things. When you fry, you wanna go wet to dry and then directly into the fryer

because what happens

sometimes we'll do a dry, wet, dry, but, once you put that dry outer coating on, if you let it sit and try to make 'em too early, this'll get damp and, then, when it fries, it falls apart and it gets soggy. That's why you wanna have everything ready. Now, I have preheated the fryer to 350. So, now, just take your okra and, with those toothpicks, you may just have to turn it over and then just put it right in and batter it, okay? Let's do one more, while that one is sitting in that dry, okay? We can do one more here. And, now, let's get these in the fryer. Now,

always remember

shake off the excess. Let's just lay that right on in.

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always remember

Lay this one right on in. And here, let's get one more in there to join the party.

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always remember

You know, one of the things we wanna do when we fry, we wanna shake off that excess because we don't want that cornmeal, that extra batter. If it gets in the bottom of your fryer, it could burn. So, here, this won't take long to fry at all, so let me get our plate to put 'em on because this will be ready in just a minute.

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always remember

Look at that nice, golden-brown, crisp okra.

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always remember

I'm just gonna take them out. Just put 'em here on a little paper, just to drain. You know what's nice with this? Our bacon has gotten nice and crispy. That crab stuffing is cooked. Oh, these are gonna be so good! Before I get ready to serve these, once these cool down a little bit, always pull the toothpicks out, but let me show you. I'm just gonna set 'em right here on the plate. So here we have our crab-stuffed okra.

Coming up next

shrimp and okra served over rice.

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Coming up next

Creole smothered shrimp and okra over rice. You know,

one of the things about okra

a lot of folks don't like it because it's a little slimy. And I wouldn't call it slimy. It's, you know, most vegetables, when you saut, the moisture evaporates. The thing about okra, when you saut okra, it gets a little kind of, I guess you could say gelatinous; it gets a little thick. But, if you notice, basically, that okra, it's like a little pod with little seeds inside and, for those of you that have never had okra, it's a traditional, unique vegetable taste. Now, typically with okra, we saut it down. We might put a little bit of tomato with it, but this time, as opposed to serving it as a side dish, we're gonna make this an entre. So let's take our okra that we've just sliced and add it to more that have been cut already. So, now that our okra's sliced, let's heat our pan up and get this cooking. Here, in our pan, we're gonna do a little vegetable oil and, of course, this is the dish

that's gonna have our trinity into it

the onion, the celery, the green pepper. So in goes about 1 cup of onion.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

1/2 cup of celery.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

1/2 cup of the green bell peppers.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

You know, Louisiana, we didn't have any sandy soil for carrots to grow, so that's why we grow the green peppers. Traditional cooking, you hear chefs use the term mirepoix, which is onion, celery, carrot. Since we didn't have the sandy soil for the carrots, we grew green peppers, instead. That's why these three always go together, because they're liquid-based vegetables. They give us such a wonderful flavor. Now, I think we need a little more oil in our pan. We don't want too much oil.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

But we don't want things to stick as well. To our vegetables, a little bit of our Creole seasoning.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

And we're gonna get in a little salt.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

Well, let's put a little more salt in. There we go. Just for an extra little touch, just a little -- ahh...! That's enough -- of black pepper.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

So, now that this is starting to saut, mushrooms. Little bit of mushroom. I'm using mushrooms because I like them. If you don't like mushrooms, leave them out. Now that we have a little moisture in here, let's put in a little garlic.

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that's gonna have our trinity into it

Just about 1 tablespoon of garlic.

And remember

when we put in garlic, we just wanna saut it just for a bit, just to let that flavor release, but we don't wanna cook it too long, to where it gets dry and crunchy. Now,

the star of the show

okra. We're just gonna put our okra in.

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the star of the show

Now, we're gonna let this saut. As this sauts, once it gets up to good heat, I'll be able to show you what I'm talking about, how that moisture starts to get a little stringy; it starts to get a little thick, all right? Let's see if we can pick some up. See how it kind of gets a little string in it? It's so fine and so small. But look right in there, how it just gets that little stringiness. But you see in our pan, we're starting to get little goodies stuck to the bottom of the pan. That's fine because we're gonna do two things in here

that's gonna get anything sticking to the pan off of it

We're gonna put in some fresh diced tomatoes and we're gonna put in a little chicken stock. So this stock -- And it's not very much, just a little bit, to help deglaze the bottom of that pan.

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that's gonna get anything sticking to the pan off of it

And also some diced tomatoes. We're gonna get moisture cooking out of these tomatoes and that will also help get anything stuck to the bottom of this pan up off the bottom. And, you know, I put a little salt in earlier. That's just a little more salt because, you know, okra, it has a unique vegetable taste, but it's very, very bland, to a certain degree. That's why we need that seasoning to wake all of these flavors up. Now you can see what I'm seeing, how with that moisture, how it gets a little bit of thickness to it, and that's because of the okra.

Remember

this is one of the reasons why okra always went into gumbo, because it thickened that soup. And, you know, we can always take a piece, just taste it.

Crunching

Remember

Wow, that's really good. See where out seasonings are? And you see? It's a personal thing. I like that little bit of a crunch to it. So, here, we'll put in our shrimp that are just nice, peeled, deveined shrimp, and as soon as our shrimp cook, this is gonna be ready. Look at our shrimp. That's all we needed. We just needed our shrimp to cook. So, here, I have a little cooked rice. Let's just put a little rice right here. Let's get some of this wonderful shrimp and okra......and just put this right on our plate. That little bit of rice underneath will get all of that gravy that's comin' up from under the bottom. Let's get a little sprig of parsley, plop that right in the middle. So here we have our Creole okra and shrimp. You know, I appreciate you spending your time with me. I'm Kevin Belton. the absolute best place in the house is sharing your table with your family and friends. So I'll see you next time. -The companion cookbook to "Kevin Belton's New Orleans Kitchen" is available for $24.99 plus $6 shipping and handling. You can also order an hour-long DVD of favorite dishes from the series, for $19.95 plus $4 shipping and handling. Both the book and "Favorites" DVD are available for $40.95 plus $7 shipping and handling. To order these items, call 1-866-360-4924, or order online at wyes.org. -You hear that chicken-ness in there? That is goodness in there. That's gonna start. Come on, baby, dance. You know you wanna dance. Diddy diddy dum, diddy do, hoo! Foot It looks fine We got some French fry, we got some bacon And we gonna make it wine I'm sorry.

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Whirring

Remember

Nya ya ya La la la la La la, la la la la

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Remember

I appreciate so much you spending your time with me. I'm Kevin Belton and we will see you next time. Oh, no! No, no, no, no! Okay, come back. Come, come on. Get, get right. Whoa-oa-oa! -For more information about "Kevin Belton's New Orleans Kitchen," visit wyes.org. -Funding for "Kevin Belton's New Orleans Kitchen" was provided in part by the L.E. Phillips Family Foundation, Inc., and by the St. Tammany Parish Tourist Commission. A short drive from New Orleans, the Northshore offers epicurean experiences, as well as kayaking, cycling, and tours of the Honey Island Swamp. Learn more about the Tammany Taste at louisiananorthshore.com. -Additional funding was provided by Welbilt -- bringing innovation to the table.