Martha Stewart brings bold Cajun flavors to the table with three Louisiana classics! Watch as she prepares a classic shrimp boil, a New Orleans-style muffuletta stacked with meats, cheese, and olive salad, plus crispy fried oysters that are golden and delicious. Whether you're simply craving Southern comfort food or hosting a Cajun feast, these recipes are a must-try.
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00:00In 1906, Signor Lupo Salvadori, a New Orleans grocer,
00:04saw that some of his customers struggled
00:06juggling their lunch items, bread, salami, cheese,
00:09and olives.
00:10Ingeniously, he came up with a way
00:12to combine them all in a sandwich
00:14and called it a muffuletta, named for the round bread
00:18on which it was made.
00:19Now, I'm using a white country boule, a round country bread.
00:25And I've cut it in half, and I'm going
00:27to take out just the center.
00:29All the bready bread.
00:31This you can turn into breadcrumbs.
00:33You can eat it, or you can give it to the birds.
00:38But it gives you lots of room to build
00:40this muffuletta sandwich.
00:42Do the same thing with the bottom half.
00:44Comes out very easily.
00:46And what makes this muffuletta is the wonderful olive salad
00:51that we use to flavor the sandwich.
00:54Okay, so the bread is ready.
00:55Now the olives.
00:57Get yourself one of these little olive pitters, if you like.
00:59Stick it in here like this, and watch.
01:01The seed comes right out.
01:03And there is your olive.
01:06So this is perfect for small, oil-cured olives.
01:10But it will not work for these giant green olives.
01:13So easiest way is just to cut the olive
01:17off the pit like this.
01:19Now I have the olives already chopped.
01:21Six ounces of green olives.
01:25Finely chopped.
01:28Two ounces of the oil-cured olives.
01:31Finely chopped.
01:35One salt-packed anchovy filet.
01:38Finely chopped also.
01:40And some fresh herbs.
01:41We have oregano, thyme, and parsley.
01:46So stir this around.
01:48Add a quarter of a cup of olive oil.
01:54And two tablespoons of a red wine vinegar.
02:00Some salt and pepper.
02:02Now this has to be made the day before.
02:05I'll refrigerate it and just let it sit
02:08so all the flavors meld.
02:11One last flavoring, and that's a little bit of hot sauce.
02:17And don't forget the lemon.
02:19Very important.
02:20The juice of half a lemon.
02:24Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
02:28And we have one already made.
02:30It does change color a little bit.
02:32So we're ready to start.
02:34We can start with a little bit of the olive mixture.
02:39Just a little bit in the bottom of the bread.
02:41And then delicious mortadella.
02:44And whatever way you really feel like layering this.
02:48Mortadella is this big loaf.
02:51It's kind of the original bologna.
02:54It's a very large smoked sausage.
02:56And it's studded with cubes of pork fat, peppercorns,
03:00sometimes pistachios, and or green olives.
03:04But here is a beautiful soppressata,
03:08some finocchiona, salami, fontina cheese.
03:15You can really make up your own mix.
03:18But you want to have each layer pretty complete like that.
03:22So that when you slice this, everybody gets some.
03:26Some more of the olive.
03:30Now this is a great, great sandwich to make
03:33for a long weekend with guests in your house.
03:37With a big green salad.
03:38Oh, and don't forget some arugula.
03:42Another slice of mortadella.
03:46And every muffuletta is a little different
03:51from every other.
03:53Provolone's.
03:55This is a coppa.
03:57And this lovely soppressata.
04:00This is spicy.
04:02We have another spicy thing to add.
04:04And these are those delicious peppadews.
04:07These are a little tiny red pepper
04:10that's pickled in kind of a sweet, hot sauce.
04:14Really cute.
04:18Keep going.
04:19I could put a little bit more olive on here.
04:22A little more arugula.
04:24And arugula is a bitter green.
04:27Try to get small, pungent leaves.
04:30Okay, and one more layer here.
04:32And the last bit of olive.
04:37So the olive's good to top it with
04:39because this is going to soak into the top layer
04:41of the bread.
04:42Because we've made room for the mound.
04:46Now cover it with this.
04:48Put this in the middle of your plastic wrap
04:51and draw the plastic wrap all the way around your bread.
04:55You're going to encase this in the plastic wrap
04:59and you are going to press it underneath a heavy weight
05:03and it will be ready pressed for tomorrow's picnic.
05:07So this is a very heavy cast iron pot
05:11that can just stay on it like that.
05:13It goes into the refrigerator.
05:15Make sure that you have room in your refrigerator
05:17for such a weight.
05:18If you don't have it for this big a pot,
05:20you can take a smaller frying pan, heavy frying pan,
05:23and fill it with canned tomatoes or something like that.
05:27But anything that's really heavy that will weight it down
05:30and cause all those delicious flavors
05:33to sort of meld together.
05:35So this is the sandwich I made yesterday.
05:38Take off the heavy pot.
05:40It's changed quite a bit in volume.
05:43It is not as high.
05:45You can unwrap it.
05:50It looks good.
05:51It smells really good.
05:53So there is our funny, funny muffaletta.
05:57It looks like a big flat sandwich.
06:01And you cut this into wedges for your picnic.
06:04Use a very sharp bread knife.
06:07I'm curious to see the perfect layers.
06:14Looks very delicious.
06:16Cut this one into thirds.
06:19And if you want a smaller piece, cut it into eighths.
06:25What a nice way to serve a large group
06:29a make-ahead sandwich.
06:30What could be better than that?
06:32Shrimp oils are very popular in Southern cooking
06:35and make for a delicious one-pot meal.
06:37Shrimp oils are really indigenous
06:40to the low country of South Carolina,
06:42whereas crayfish or crawfish are a Louisiana specialty.
06:47But we're gonna do a shrimp oil today
06:49since that's the subject of our show.
06:52And we have to make a fragrant kind of broth first.
06:56Some lemons and squeeze in two lemons
06:59into five quarts of boiling water.
07:02And just add the peels too.
07:05Want the flavorful, flavorful boiling liquid
07:09if you can possibly get it.
07:10Oh, four cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed.
07:14Two medium or large onions, peeled.
07:18And put right into the water.
07:20And just bring it to a simmer.
07:22So the key to this authentic and delicious shrimp oil
07:25is to create a spicy brew in which to cook the shrimp.
07:28You can buy some really great combinations of spices
07:32and just dump them in here.
07:34But if you wanna make your own,
07:36here is a good way to start.
07:38We're going to start with a tablespoon of red pepper.
07:42I'm making a cheesecloth bundle.
07:46And we have a tablespoon of mustard seeds.
07:51A couple bay leaves.
07:55Crushed, they'll equal about a tablespoon.
07:59And six whole allspice berries.
08:03Three tablespoons of coriander seeds.
08:12And one tablespoon of dill seed.
08:17Now that'll give you a nice, fragrant mix.
08:20And if you like, you can sort of crush all this
08:23a little bit with a big, fat rolling pin.
08:26Okay, I think that will be a fragrant mix.
08:31Tie this like this to seal in all those spices.
08:36And then secure it with a piece of twine.
08:42And drop it into the water.
08:46So now we're ready to start cooking
08:48three pounds of small potatoes, little potatoes.
08:51All those spices and the onions and the lemon
08:54will infuse the water.
08:55Now bring this to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer,
08:58and simmer for 10 minutes.
09:01So I am shucking some corn.
09:03About eight or 10 ears are good.
09:06And we're going to put that right into
09:09a very fragrant potato boil.
09:12They've been cooking for 10 minutes.
09:14Take a peek, oh, very nice, yum.
09:18And get as much of the silk off the corn as you can.
09:22And just break it in half.
09:23And the corn has to go in now for five minutes.
09:28And I'll bring that up to a boil again.
09:31And boil, partially covered, for five minutes.
09:36I'm melting some butter and just mixing it simply
09:40with my favorite hot sauce.
09:42Look at the great color that corn is becoming.
09:45Butter and sugar corn.
09:47And now add your shrimp.
09:50Three pounds, tails on, shells on.
09:54Tails on, shells on.
09:58And make sure they get submerged in the broth.
10:02Very important.
10:05Cover again, partially.
10:09And I think our butter is melted.
10:11Yes.
10:15So I'll make two ramekins of the spicy butter.
10:25That smells really good.
10:29So now our shrimp boil is done.
10:32And I am straining some of this broth
10:36through a fine sieve.
10:39And it's nice to serve that too in ramekins
10:44around the shrimp boil itself.
10:47And now for the po' boy, P-O apostrophe B-O-Y.
10:51P-O apostrophe B-O-Y.
10:54It's a sandwich, a New Orleans gastronomic masterpiece.
10:57And it was created in the 1920s by two grocers
11:00who served it free to striking streetcar workers
11:04that they called poor boys.
11:06There are countless fillings from shrimp to catfish,
11:08soft-shell crabs, sliced meats.
11:11Today I'm piling my po' boy mile high with fried oysters.
11:16Frying oysters, delicate but good,
11:19into one cup of buttermilk,
11:22add a half a teaspoon of pepper,
11:25freshly ground black pepper,
11:26and a teaspoon of salt,
11:28and about a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
11:34So that is our liquid.
11:38These oysters have been shucked.
11:40Now we have 48 oysters, four dozen.
11:43They are plump, they are clean,
11:45and they are going to just have a bath of buttermilk.
11:50And you can sort of stir them around a little bit.
11:55You want to keep the oysters from getting mashed, mushed.
11:58You want nice, big, plump oysters.
12:03So there, now we have a cup of cornmeal,
12:06fresh cornmeal, and one cup of unbleached flour,
12:11and just a pinch of cayenne.
12:16Stir this together.
12:18You can whisk it with a little whisk.
12:20This is our coating for the oysters.
12:23Gives a little crunch,
12:25and rather than have a tempura-like batter,
12:28this is just a nice little crispy coating on the oysters.
12:33And a little bit of salt, and a little bit of pepper.
12:39There, mix that up.
12:41The oil is at 350 degrees.
12:45This is a canola oil.
12:46You can use canola, you can use safflower.
12:49And I'm just using my fingers,
12:51because this way I can be sure
12:54that the oysters are going to be well-coated.
12:59I just drop one at a time.
13:01So use one hand for the oyster,
13:03and one hand for the coating.
13:09And you can put them around here like that if you wish.
13:13Save a little time.
13:15But don't pour all of these into the cornmeal.
13:21They're so pretty.
13:25They take just about four minutes or so.
13:29I think that first batch is ready to come out.
13:33So if you thought that frying oysters was time-consuming,
13:37you can see that it really isn't.
13:40Now while they're still warm,
13:41sprinkle those with a little bit of salt.
13:45I love this spider because it really does
13:47allow you to get the food out of the oil
13:51without too much grease.
13:53After they're done, you're going to toast your buns.
13:58And these are top split buns,
14:00which are typical for lobster rolls.
14:03Doing very well here.
14:07So real important to watch the temperature of your oil,
14:11monitor it so it does not get too cool.
14:14There, okay, the oysters look great.
14:17And these are ready for our sandwiches.
14:20So now, toast the rolls.
14:22These are those top split buns.
14:25Just put them on a griddle pan and toast on both sides.
14:29And make sure you butter this side and that side.
14:33And 48 oysters, enough oysters for eight poor boys.
14:39All right, and now the tartar sauce.
14:42A third of a cup of homemade mayonnaise.
14:45Some cornichons, about three tablespoons of cornichons.
14:52About two tablespoons of capers.
14:56And you can rinse the capers.
14:58Shallot, very important ingredient
15:00in a good homemade tartar sauce.
15:02One shallot, finely chopped.
15:05And the juice of a whole lemon.
15:08Just squeeze that right into your tartar sauce.
15:13And there.
15:16And this is good made yesterday for today.
15:19So now, to assemble these wonderful sandwiches,
15:23just open the roll,
15:25put as many oysters as you possibly can.
15:28Now, don't you wanna sink your teeth into this?
15:31Oh, so tasty.
15:34And top with some tartar sauce.
15:39Soft on the inside, crispy on the outside.
15:43You're going to love this New Orleans favorite.
15:46Poor boys.