I have known Chris Robbins for as long as I can remember. We go way back to when we lived on the same block as pre-schoolers. We grew up in the same little city of Ada, Oklahoma. We have both left our little home town but, I enjoy keeping up with what is going on with him and his family on Facebook. Chris is famous for his amazing pies. He is known, by many, as the Lord of the Pies.
Looking for a delicious and easy treat for Valentine’s Day? What could fit the bill better than some buttery, garlicky chargrilled oysters. Oysters are supposed to be an aphrodisiac, are they not? Okay, the garlic may cancel a bit of that quality out. But, these are delicious to share with your sweetie or even to enjoy on your own.
Serve these with some hot, crusty French bread and a salad, and you’ve got a fabulous meal.
This is also something that you and your sweetie can make together!Here is how to make them.
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Today, I’m joining Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.
Sometimes called, “Old Sober” because of its reported ability to cure a hangover, yakamein is a yummy stewed beef soup, served over noodles and garnished with a boiled egg and sliced green onions. Hungover, or not, this is a tasty soup that can be made ahead and assembled as needed.
Some people add the Worcestershire sauce to the broth. I may do that the next time I make this. Also, some recipes add beef bouillon or beef broth to the water. I tried both. I thought these made the broth a little too salty. I might try adding just a little broth but be sure to check the seasoning as you go.
You can find out how to make perfect hard boiled eggs here (at the end of the post).
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Just in case you haven’t had enough king cake yet, here is another helping. I saw an article on NOLA Eater the other day, discussing some of the incredible variations on king cake. There are king cake donuts, king cake floats, king cake pancakes, king cake soda, king cake vodka (yes vodka), and the list goes on. Apparently, there is no end to variations on the king cake theme. With that in mind, I searched through my own cookbooks and looked at recipes online to come up with a basic king cake dough that can be filled with any number of fillings.
Looking for a nice little bite to add to your cheese plate? I love making these tasty little cheese puffs – filled with blue cheese and herbs from my garden.
Of course, you can switch out the cheese and herbs and make this into anything you like, but you really need to try this. A simple pate a choux dough with cheese and herbs – what’s not to love?
I call this Mardi Gras Jambalaya for a couple of reasons. One, it is Carnival time and the other is it colorful and bold – kinda like Mardi Gras. This recipe is based on a recipe by the great Chef John Folse. I first learned of the trinity (onion, celery, bell pepper) from Chef Folse when I used to watch him on PBS back in Arkansas. He has some great books that include fabulous recipes but also a great deal of fascinating history about Louisiana and it’s people.
This is a delicious, easy meal that will feed 6 people.
If you don't already have these books by John Folse, I highly recommend them. The recipe above is adapted from a recipe in The Evolution of Cajun and Creole Cuisine.
New Orleans French Bread …served at fine dining establishments and hole-in-the-wall poboy spots… is crispy on the outside and soft as air on the inside. For home, I love the version that the local grocery store, Robert’s (pronounced Roe-bears), makes. Leidenheimer’s bakery is famous for their version. Driving by their bakery when they are baking can cause you to swoon in delight. It is that good!
Should one even attempt to make this delicacy at home? Can it be done? For help, I turned to Julia Child, the grand dame of French cooking. According to her, in the US, we don’t allow our bread to rise long enough to develop an interesting flavor and character. She contends that French bread making should take a minimum of 7 hours. It is basically the same recipe as any other French bread recipe, but the rising times are at lower temperatures and last longer. Instead of doubling the volume on the first rise, we give it time to triple.
Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. Below is her basic recipe with my adaptation of the instructions. She says to do this on a dry day – as if that ever happens in New Orleans! Maybe, that makes a difference. Humidity is just part of life around here, so we have to adapt. New Orleans is supposed to be the city that care forgot; so, I’ll slow down and give it a try.
First the ingredients:
That’s it. Very simple ingredients to make very good food. Take a day, and see if you don’t agree it is worth the time. Of course, most of the time is passive – while the dough is rising. You can even stop and put the dough in the refrigerator between any of the risings and pick it up the next day or so. Just don’t let it go past a couple of days.
For the recipe below, I actually added a bit of rosemary and shaped it into round loaves. Delicious!
Storing - Because it contains no preservatives, French bread is best when eaten the day it is made. It will keep for a day or two when wrapped airtight and refrigerated but does best if you freeze it once it has cooled. To serve, thaw, unwrap and place on a baking sheet in a cold oven; heat the oven to 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
For more detailed instruction and variations, get Julia Child's book here:
Crawfish boils are a rite of spring in New Orleans. They combine two of our favorite activities – eating good food and visiting with friends. We recently spent a picture perfect Saturday afternoon in a beautiful setting eating to our heart’s content. Here’s the star of the show.
We are lucky here to have boiled crawfish readily available. You can buy a few pounds, still hot from the pot, at a lot of groceries this time of year. There are specialty caterers who will bring their equipment on site to cook for larger parties. But it’s a lot more fun to cook them yourself.
My friend Chris, a master crawfish boiler when he’s not behind his desk at an investment firm, shared his cooking secrets with me. It’s as much an art as a science, and the results are delicious!
New Orleans is a very Catholic city. I’m not Catholic, but I heartily endorse one of the faith’s tenets – the “sacrifice” of eating seafood as opposed to meat. On a recent Friday during Lent, I decided to honor the occasion by featuring Louisiana specialties from the sea.
For starters, we had Crawfish Bisque. I have to confess that it wasn’t my creation – it was stashed in the infamous freezer after a catered party I hosted. The main course was Trout Pecan accompanied by a rice pilaf. My husband caught the trout while on a male bonding office outing, and it arrived home cleaned and filleted. (Any time, dear!) The dessert was a praline parfait.
I attended a program last week featuring the noted chef John Besh as speaker. A native son, he is “dedicated to promoting the foodways of Southern Louisiana”. Chef Besh owns nine restaurants and hosts a syndicated TV show, but he gets equal satisfaction from cooking for his wife and four sons. He prepared cream cauliflower soup for us, a simple dish in line with his latest book – My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking.
This is my kind of cooking – no firm recipe, just throw in a bit of this or that. Use ingredients that you have on hand, and feel free to make substitutions. (I doubt if my creations would turn out nearly as tasty as his!) Of course, a couple of non-staple items can add a special pizzazz. While the soup was cooking, Chef Besh gave lots of cooking tips, and entertained us with stories from his cooking career. Read more…
This past Sunday, my husband and I attended a lovely brunch at New Orleans’ Second Line Stages, which is a movie production studio owned by Susan Brennan. The luncheon was a fundraiser for Young Life, which is wonderful Christian organization for young people.
The theme for the brunch was a second line. (See this past post for a description (and video) of a second line.) It was held in a sound stage at the studio.
You can see that this is a very large area and it was certainly a fun place for the brunch. Read more…
Sometimes, there are just things about New Orleans that make me smile. Running errands in New Orleans is unlike running errands in many places. For instance, on the way to the grocery store, this is just one of the sites you might see:
Beads hang from tree like this giving them beautiful purple, green, gold and pink colors. They also adorn the live oaks along the parade routes all year round. The evidence of beads that were caught by the trees instead of the people lining the streets. Read more…
