>> male announcer: Funding for Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking was provided by: >> Prudhomme: Hi, y'all.

I'm Chef Paul Prudhomme, and I'm always cooking.

And we're doing a good one today: Avery Island seafood gratiné, potacos, potato Gorgonzola gratiné, yeah.

We gratinéeing all the way.

Come on down.

[lively Cajun music] ♪ ♪ Potacos, we're always cooking.

Yeah, potacos is just kind of a little play on words.

It's tacos in a potato.

And that's what we're going to do today.

And they're really good.

I mean, you crisp the potato up, and it's delicious.

So we're going to start out with-- we're going to put some onions in a pan.

And I've preheated the pan.

I like to do that because I like things to move quickly.

And so there's no oil with the onions, and it's not necessary to have oil in it.

But they're going to start browning because I got a full fire underneath.

In the meantime, we're going to talk about potatoes.

Now, this is a-- actually, it's a fun thing to do with the kids.

It's a fun thing to do, you know, if you got a bunch of people that you're doing a little party with.

And this potato's been baked, and it's soft on the inside.

We're going to take the knife and cut it.

And you can tell it cuts real easy because it's not-- this is not a real-- I mean, it's not a real knife, you know?

And so the first step we're going to do is take the meat out of the potato.

And I like to hold it to protect the outside skin 'cause I don't want to break the skin up.

And you just start-- you start turning.

Just turn the spoon in and start taking pieces of it out or some of it out.

And you can go sideways.

You can scrape.

You can drop some on your towel like I just did.

But you want to get as much of the potato meat out as possible.

And so you just keep-- as it gets-- when you first start, it's kind of awkward.

But then after a couple of cuts on a potato and you have room on the inside, see how easy it comes out?

I mean, it just comes right out of there.

And then you take it and season it, which we're going to do in a second or two.

And, you know, if you feel like the skin is getting a little bit wobbly in your hand, then go ahead and stop, you know?

And we're going to take some of the herbs and spices, and we're going to sprinkle this.

And you can do it on the inside, the outside.

You can put as much as you want.

I'm going to just take some and just rub it around so it comes out nice and even, and any bite you take or every bite you take is going to have seasoning on it.

And so that's what it's going to look like.

You put it back in the oven.

And you want it to get real crisp, so we're talking 15, 20 minutes at the oven at 350, 325, 375, depending on the oven.

My onions are starting to brown, which is great.

And so-- but this is what it comes out looking like.

And it's--you know, it's got some texture to it.

It's hard.

[tapping] You can hear it.

You know, I mean, it's crispy and hard.

And so we've got one ready to go.

We've actually got two ready to go.

And so we've got the onions browned.

We're going to-- this is what we call cheap calorie recipe.

And that's why we're not using oil.

Cheap calorie means that it's got the least amount of calories you could possibly do this and make it good.

Over here, this is the topping for our potacos.

And after we get it filled with meat, we're going to put the onions and tomatoes for color and some cheese on it.

And we got some shredded lettuce to put in that also.

And the reason-- you know, sometimes when you're cooking, you hear some clicking or some noises from the pan.

And I'm hearing a little bit, but if you had oil in it, man, it would really go.

And it's starting to brown there 'cause I got high heat under.

I put some celery in.

It's starting to brown the bell peppers.

I mean, the crispiness is good with this.

We're going to put-- what I mean by that is that it doesn't-- it's okay to do crispy because you're going to put it back in the oven, and it's going to be there, and it's going to roast a little bit, or it's going to cook a little bit more.

And the last step doesn't go back in the oven a long time, but it's enough to get everything really good and hot and start cooking.

Now, I want to-- you know, I love these things to shove things around with, but it's so much easier to do it this way.

So it's a low-calorie dish.

We got sour cream in it.

And we're going to put a little-- oh, a little apple cider vinegar in it and the sour cream.

And we're going to blend it.

And that's just to make it nice and smooth.

We're actually using a cottage cheese.

And it's a low-fat cottage cheese, a low-calorie cottage cheese.

And so that helps--that helps with the calories also.

And so we're going to take-- I mean, the onions are really smelling good.

I can smell them, the herbs and spices with the chilies in it.

And so I'm going to put a little bit more because I just got a feeling I don't have quite enough.

And so we got the herbs and spices.

Now we're going to take this and take it out and then work on the meat.

We're using turkey.

You can use chicken, any kind of meat that you want.

This is ready, so I'm going to take it out.

I'm going to put it aside.

Then I want to brown the meat.

Browning the meat is always, always important.

And it's another opportunity to put some seasoning.

And I like doing that, and I like to spread it first.

And you got to kind of push it around a little bit because without any moisture in there, without any oils of any kind or butter or anything, you know, you've got to sort of manhandle it.

I'm going to put the seasoning on.

And, oh, the smell is great.

I mean, I love chilies.

Chilies are so wonderful.

And so we're going to brown this off real quick.

Now, this could take, depending on your fire-- you know, and I'm working with a really hot fire, so-- but depending on your fire, you know, it could take several minutes.

But this, for me, is just as soon as it browns, because I don't need to cook it all the way because I got two more stages of cooking that I'm going to do with the meat.

But I want to brown it.

You know why?

Why would you think I want to brown it?

Well, I'll tell you why.

Because it really changes the flavors of the meat.

And with the herbs and spices on it and the browning of the meat, you're going to have a much, much, much better potaco without any oil in it or with very, very small amount of oil in it.

So I'm going to toss it a couple of times, 'cause I see a few pieces where it's not quite gotten brown yet.

You know, if you decide you want to do this at home-- I'm talking about the flipping-- what you do is-- and I keep saying this on the show because I know a lot of people always ask me, because they say when they flip like that, it goes everywheres.

And sometimes it goes everywheres with me too.

I just eat it, you know?

Just put it in your mouth and chew it.

But what you're actually doing is, you're taking the skillet, and you're pushing forward, and then you're pulling it back, and you're just letting stuff fall right back in.

Now, I'm going to add the vegetables that I cooked.

And then I've got to add to it also some garlic.

And I want to get all the garlic out.

I love garlic.

And I'm going to put some chilies in it.

Now, these are canned jalapeños.

You could use fresh if you want.

You could use any kind of chili you want, and you could use fresh or canned.

And then the next step, I like to give this dish a real taco flavor.

And so without the corn shell, using a potato shell, you just take some of this cornmeal, and you put it in at this point and you roast it.

And so you're going to have a great corn taste without all the oil that it takes to make a taco and all the time it takes and stuff.

So this has got to come out really moist, so I got some stock here.

And I'm going to put the stock in.

Now, I like to put stock in.

And I think in the recipe, we do it, like, three or four times.

I like to put small amounts of stock in, especially when I've got brown stuff, 'cause I don't want to start boiling it.

But if you put a little bit of stock in like this, it's going to sort of rehydrate the meat, and it's going to give it a great flavor.

And so this is approaching being done.

And so I'm going to light the back fire, and I'm going to let it simmer over there.

And I'm going to take this and turn the fire off.

And then I've got some already done, and I love that, because that means I can eat sooner, yes.

We've got the skins here, and they're crisp.

We've got the filling.

And then we got the toppings.

And I like to put a little bit, not much-- a little bit of the chopped lettuce on the bottom and then put the filling in.

And I like to mount it up to make it look good and to give it a curve on top.

And so because the potatoes are not that big-- and it's just a few tablespoons of the stuffing that you put into it.

And putting the lettuce in like that is going to sort of give it a-- oh, that's going to be mine there because it's really full.

Then I'm going to add-- I want to add onions.

You can chop them any size you want.

You can shred them.

I'm going to add some tomatoes to it.

That's basically for color and a little bit of crunch.

Of course, the potatoes got crunch to it, so that's great.

And then we're going to put some cheese on top.

And we could've put a little lettuce in again first.

I don't like to do that because I want to brown the cheese.

And so I don't want to brown the lettuce.

That's why I like to put it on the bottom.

And so we've got two of them ready.

All we've got to do now is slide them in the oven and put them underneath the broiler.

And you probably should stay there and watch it because it won't take long.

It'll take just a few minutes.

And if you preheat the broiler, it even works better.

And so you put it under the broiler.

You melt your cheese down.

You get a nice color on them.

Then you call the gang up and say, "Come on.

Let's have some potacos."

The potacos smell wonderful.

They really do.

I mean, look at them.

Aren't they pretty?

And you can put as much brown on the cheese as you want to.

And then we've got our fake sour cream.

And what I mean by fake, I have apple cider vinegar in it and some cottage cheese.

And you put it in the blender.

It's got a great smell to it and a great taste.

And you just put that right on there, and as much or as little as you wish.

I like to just make it kind of nice and fluffy on the top there.

And that's done.

I mean, it's ready to eat.

And I've got a fork right here.

And as soon as the camera goes black, I'm going to get in there and [growling].

Coming up next, Avery Island seafood gratiné.

We're doing Avery Island seafood gratiné.

Gratiné is a term-- of course, it's French.

I've got my pan heating so I can speedily go through this.

I'm only kidding, 'cause I don't want to speed through it.

I want you to understand it.

But I'm just cooling the pan down now.

But gratiné is a mixture.

It's got cheese in it.

And it goes in the oven and it gets brown.

And there's a lot of versions of it.

But we're going to start cooking.

And we want you to make the best gratiné that you've ever had.

So we're going to start with onions.

And we're not using oil because we want to get as reasonable amount of calories in it as we possibly can, because it's got cheeses in it and stuff, so it is going to have calories.

But we're not putting any oil at this point.

And if the pan's preheated, not putting any oil in it is fine.

And so we've got the onions in, and we got the pan hot, so we're cooking.

And we're going to add a little bit of the herbs and spices in.

And that's going to help it brown quicker.

Herbs and spices are really wonderful heat-wise, because when you put them in something, especially a hot skillet-- I mean, look at that.

It just starts reacting immediately.

And it's going to give us a good brown.

And we're going to add some butter to it and then the garlic.

And it's not a whole lot of butter, but it's enough that it's going to really give it a good start on butter flavor.

And we're going to add a little bit more seasoning in it.

We've got the garlic that we're going to put in.

And we're going to do that right now.

Now, the next step is, I'm going to brown some flour.

And you won't be able to brown it a whole lot with the little bit of oil we got.

But what I want to do is just get rid of the white in it.

And see, we're really starting to get some good action going, so we're going to put flour in here.

And I just want enough flour in here to thicken the sauce up and to thicken it in a natural way.

And what I mean by that is that when you put the flour in like this and you brown it a little bit and you put it with the rest of the ingredients-- and as soon as it disappears-- I mean, as soon as that flour's gone out of there-- I'm going to add a little bit more because I don't think I added enough.

It's all right to do that when you're cooking, you know?

I mean, trust yourself in one way and in another way, just make sure.

And if it doesn't feel right when you're doing something-- you feel like, "Well, you know, that didn't quite feel right.

I didn't put enough of that in it, or I put too much of that in."

You know, go ahead and use the instinct and change your mind.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.

Change your mind.

So we're going to put some stock in it.

And this is seafood stock.

Now, I'm going to start out with a small amount of stock.

I want to see what's happening with the flour.

And I want the flour to start thickening.

And I've got some cream to put in it.

And I won't need all the stock that I've got, and I know that.

So look at that.

I mean, it's starting to-- it's really starting to get some great thickness to it.

And so I'm going to add a little bit of cream to it.

And you can add half-and-half, or you can add-- you know, you can add a skim canned milk if you're watching for the calories.

I like real cream in here, because it really is delicious.

I mean, real cream is good, good, good stuff.

I mean, look at this sauce.

It's getting there.

Put the cream in.

All right.

I've got the texture that I want.

Now, the cheese is going to thicken it.

And so I'm going to start adding the cheeses: Monterey Jack, Parmesan, and Romano.

All right, this is-- I mean, look at that.

It's got a great, great texture to it.

I'm going to put the-- I mean, I don't want the cheese to melt too much.

I'm going to give it a taste to make sure it's right.

Oh.

Delicious.

I'm always amazed at that.

I mean, this was real simple.

It was real quick.

And, man, it's just really good.

I've got the pasta in the casseroles.

And I've got some cold sauce.

The sauce is cold.

It's been chilled.

And the reasoning for that is that I want everything to cook evenly at the same time.

And you can see the sauce is thick.

And so the juice from the shrimp and the juice from the scallops and the fish are all going to get into the sauce.

So it's all going to become a part of each other or a part of it.

Well, we're going to put a little seasoning in first.

I always like to-- even just on the pasta, a little bit of seasoning.

It's better to season every step of the way.

And so we can put some-- this is fish we're putting on.

We're going to put a couple of shrimp on.

We're going to put the scallops-- scallops are real big, so we're going to make them the center of everything.

And we've got some tomatoes to put on top to give you a good color.

And we're going to turn this around and do the other one.

So we're going to start with the fish.

And the fish you use is totally up to you.

Whatever you think you want to use, go ahead.

And then we're going to put the shrimp in.

We're going to put the scallop in the center.

Isn't that beautiful scallops?

And then some tomatoes on top.

And then a few herbs and spices, which is really one of the keys to it.

Even though the sauce has got its taste, each thing should have its taste.

Each thing should have its amount of seasoning in it to give it a really good-- and then we're going to put the sauce on.

And then after that, we're going to put the cheese on.

Now, the sauce is just cold enough to where it's kind of running, but it's not running.

And it's going to get into the casserole, and it's going to coat the bottom, and it's going to be sauce everywheres because the seafood is going to put out moisture.

And so it's going to be a really great dish.

We're going to do the cheese.

Putting the cheese on, the Monterey Jack, Parmesan, and the Romano, yes.

And if the cheese falls around, just scrape it up, and you got it.

We're going to slide this into the oven.

We've got one ready to go, and we're going to show it to you.

We got it ready to go.

Yes, it's beautiful.

Look at this.

Oh.

I love hot things.

Look-a-there.

Oh, it's still bubbling.

It's still bubbling.

Look at the bubbles coming out.

We baked it at 350 degrees just until it starts to get some color on the outside and the seafood are cooked, and then it's ready.

As soon as you guys are gone, I'm going in here, 'cause those shrimp are cooked.

Oh, and they're ready to go, and so is the rest of the seafood in there.

Potato Gorgonzola gratiné.

Potato Gorgonzola gratiné.

I've always had problems with Gorgonzola.

I always think of gorilla or something different, but it's Gorgonzola.

And this is the Gorgonzola.

I mean, it's beautiful.

I love the green in here.

That's really-- there's a lot of cheeses with different greens in it, but this one just is absolutely wonderful.

We got a green apple.

And of course, you could use your favorite apple for the dish, but you should take the apple and core it.

And you want to leave it so it's got a hole in it like this.

And then you take it and you drop it while you're-- after you do this, you drop it in water with lemon in it or lime in it.

You want to be able to hold it that way.

And we've done that so it doesn't change color.

And so we want to take the core out.

And you just go around and start taking the core out.

And I don't know if you can see that, but what I'm doing is, I'm cutting a hole right around there.

Now, if I've done this correctly, it's going to pop the core right out.

And so we'll go to this side, and we'll do the-- and one side is always do-- the top side, the stem side-- I always do it a little bit bigger.

And so you've got to angle your knife when you go back in to finish it.

And so got this part out.

And now I'm going to go in and just do another turn here, and then the front part will come out.

And then you got a hole in it.

See the hole in it?

Great hole, yeah.

[chuckles] So we've got Gorgonzola cheese and an apple.

And you just take the apple and you slice it.

And it should come out like that.

Then you put it in vinegar water.

Now, we're going to start-- we've also got potatoes and we got the cheeses and we got onion and we got a little cream.

And we're going to start building our casserole.

And you just lay these kind of over each other.

And you go all the way around.

And you cover it.

You put your onions in.

And I'm going to season it first.

But it's important to season the potatoes, especially the potatoes because the starch in them kind of keeps them bland.

And if you put the seasoning on like that, it's really great.

And then we're going to put the onions on.

Spread them around.

And we're going to put the apple on.

And we're going to spread that around.

Could put some seasoning on the onions, if you want.

I put quite a bit on the potatoes, so I'm going to let it go at that for that layer.

And the apples are just about there.

Got it covered.

Okay.

And then put another layer of potatoes on top of that.

Let me put some seasoning on the apple, just a little bit.

I really enjoy seasoning things because it just makes them taste better, brings the flavors out really good.

And so we're going to put the potatoes around.

And then the cheese goes on.

And we're going to sprinkle the Parmesan first.

And just spread that, because the Gorgonzola is really hard to spread 'cause it's a soft cheese.

And so you want to do that, want to put the potatoes and the seasoning and--all right-- and then the Gorgonzola cheese.

And this one's messy, so I probably-- I'm going to put the cream in or the milk.

And I'm going to put it right here in the side 'cause I don't want it to wipe my seasonings off.

And I want to just put it right at the bottom.

And then I'm going to put the Gorgonzola on.

And you just have to put it on.

You just have to get it off your fingers 'cause it's going to melt.

And then you put foil on top, once this has melted.

You don't want to make too big a blob at one point.

You want to spread it, so I'm doing that.

And as you go along, the cheese, it gets a little stickier because it's Gorgonzola, yes.

Gorgonzola is one of those cheeses that is done in just one region.

And it's one family that does the best one, and it's really great stuff, this Gorgonzola cheese.

I think I got enough.

I want to move this one back.

Stay on the potato, dude.

There you go.

See, everybody can have trouble when you're doing stuff.

So we're going to take the foil.

I'm going to leave it almost doubled.

You put it in the oven, and you cook it for about 40 minutes with the foil on it.

And then you take the foil off, and you just let it just get that cheese gorgeously brown.

All right, we got this in the oven.

We're going to take one out, and I know it's going to be beautiful 'cause I can smell it.

Oh.

Look-a-here.

Oh, wait till you see this.

I mean, this is what-- this is worth the trip.

You know, I've got to tell you, I wish I could dig into it, but I can't, 'cause you can see how hot it is.

But I got to tell you, that's good cooking, good eating, good lovin'.

We love you guys out there.

>> announcer: A cookbook featuring all the recipes from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking is available for $15.95 plus $7.95 shipping and handling.

The cookbook features 97 recipes, color photos, and cooking tips from Chef Paul.

To order a copy of the companion cookbook, call: And pay by credit card.

Or send a check or money order to: >> Prudhomme: ♪ Well, I say ♪ ♪ that blue moon of Kentucky, ♪ keep on shining.

♪ >> Okay.

>> Prudhomme: I knew that would get them started.

Captioning by CaptionMax www.captionmax.com >> And... >> Let's wrap and then show, okay?

>> Prudhomme: It's not fun.

I got 'em.

It looks better; I have tongs.

Eat the cheese?

Okay.

I'll do that too.

Really?

>> That's news to me.

>> Prudhomme: That'll shake me up.

Neh-neh-neh-neh.

You know what I think about?

Neh-neh-neh.

>> Say "yum," something good like that.

>> Prudhomme: [long groan] Yum.

Ah.

Ah, uh.

>> announcer: Funding for Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking was provided by: