At a recent meeting of our Red Hatters we celebrated Mardi Gras by dining on a meal of Jambalaya and Chicken Gumbo prepared by club member Jeannie Canter’s husband, Harold. The meal was so delicious with many members asking for seconds, I knew I had to find out more about Newman’s own “Raging Cajun.”

Canter who moved to Newman in 1963 and taught high school shop and P.E. at Orestimba along with coaching baseball and football, is a well known fixture around Newman. An avid Oakland Raiders fan, he retired from teaching in1995 after 32 years in the local school system.

Canter learned his cooking skills at the side of his grandmother growing up in Louisiana. His grandmother always had a pot of rice on the stove as an everyday staple. Canter recalled how his grandmother would serve fried potatoes, rice and gravy; and fried chicken, rice and gravy. There was always red beans and rice. Their Sunday meal always consisted of Chicken and Dumplings. One of his favorite meals is Catfish Etoufee.

Canter agreed to share the following recipes:

Chicken Gumbo

4 quarts of water

4 Tablespoons of roux (Doguet’s Roux)**

1 chicken

1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

Zatarain’s Cajun seasoning*

File Gumbo seasoning*

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 to 2 Cups of cut up okra

1 lb. cleaned shrimp

Cooked white rice

In a large pot, cover chicken with water and cook on high heat until chicken falls off the bone. Remove bones from chicken stock; cut up chicken. Dissolve roux in chicken stock; heating over medium heat.

Return chicken plus sliced sausage, along with chopped vegetables and season to taste with Creole Seasoning and file gumbo. Cook over low-medium heat for 1-1/2 hours. Add shrimp the last 15 minutes. Serve in a bowl over a serving of cooked rice.

Catfish Etoufee

Catfish fillets

Chopped onion

Chopped green bell pepper

Chopped celery

Chopped green onions

1 can whole tomatoes

Cooked rice

Place a small amount of cooking oil in a Dutch oven. Place a layer of catfish fillets on the bottom, then layer with onion, bell pepper, celery and tomatoes. Put another layer of catfish fillets and cover with another layer of chopped onion, bell pepper, celery and tomatoes. Cover with a heavy lid and place on cook top, cooking on lowest heat for about 3 hours. Remove lid and place chopped green onions; replace lid and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve with cooked rice.

Note: * You can find Zatarain’s Cajun seasoning and file gumbo in most spice sections of grocery stores. File is a fine green powder that is young dried sassafras leaves, used in gumbo for flavor and thickening. The word file means to twist or make threads.

** If you can’t find the Doguet’s Roux (usually at World Market) you can make your own by using equal amounts of oil and flour heated, stirred and browned in a skillet (like the beginning of making gravy) to a dark golden brown.

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