The Commander’s Kitchen cookbook has a section on “krewe meals”, the food they cook for the staff twice a day. I may never make Quail with Crawfish Stuffing, but the krewe meals are home cooking.

I made their Chicken Étouffée this week. Straightforward, though browning the roux after you make the cajun mirepoix required some bold high heat cooking. Instead of “hot sauce to taste” (love that), I used a cayenne pepper that I’d frozen from last year’s organic veggie box. I might back off on the sage next time — two teaspoons dried sage is a lot for one chicken. Still, pretty danged good and the family was happy with it.

They do a clever thing with rice. In addition to some salt and butter (one tablespoon for one cup of rice!), they add two bay leaves. It adds a really nice aroma, more delicate than I expected.