Talk About Food

Hurricane Gustav managed to fell a tree on the roof of my home office, but the tree has been removed and blue tarp now covers the holes until a roofer can make repairs.  As usual, we in south Louisiana did not go hungry during the hurricane.  Although many were without power, we managed to cook (with the help of generators) gumbo and jambalaya.  Those of us with butane grills grilled burgers, steaks and whatever else we had in our refrigerators and freezers to keep us going during the clean-up after the storm.

Fall weather (when it gets to south Louisiana) makes me crave for gumbos, stews (especially chicken fricassee), braised beef and other hearty meals.  When sweet potatoes (called yams in south Louisiana) are in season, there is nothing better for an afternoon snack (as far as I’m concerned) than baked sweet potatoes drizzled with pure cane syrup.  If you tire of sweet potato dishes that are just too sweet, try this.  Peel a couple of sweet potatoes, then cut them into 1-inch dice and toss with olive oil, salt, black pepper, cayenne, chili powder, cumin and some smoked paprika (if you can find it).  Arrange the potatoes in a baking pan lined with foil and bake at 425 degrees until tender, stirring once or twice, 15 to 20 minutes.  They’re great with pork dishes or baked chicken.

Summer has gone by much too quickly.  I’ve not had near enough sno-balls, chilled watermelon, or leisurely afternoons lolling around in my hammock.  There is much too much going on!

First of all, I will not be cooking in Charleston.  Alas, things just didn’t work out.

But you might want to go to www.cajungrocer.com where you’ll see my smiling face.  I’ll be contributing some recipes and good food information there on a monthly basis, so join me there.  And for those of you who may need some Cajun-Louisiana foods, cajungrocer.com is a great sight for purchasing all that you need to cook Cajun wherever you live.  Spread the word!

In October, I’ll be cooking gumbo for the Southern Foodways Alliance in Oxford on the campus of Ole Miss.  Michelle McRaney, the executive chef at Mr. B’s Bistro in New Orleans will be preparing her city-style gumbo and I’ll do my best with an Acadian-style one.

The week of October 27th I’ll be at Epcot at Disney in Orlando as part of a week-long celebration of showcasing Louisiana foods. 

In the meantime, I’ve been putting up fig preserves, smothered okra and my favorite maque choux.  Most of the summer vegetables are just about finished but I thoroughly enjoyed a great wealth of Creole tomatoes, cucumbers, zuccchini and canteloupes—much of which was given to me by my generous home gardeners.

I’m hoping to get in a fishing trip to Vermilion Bay and if the fish aren’t biting, then I’ll try my hand at catching shrimp at Marsh Island using a catch net—all I need is enough to make a shrimp stew or shrimp and okra gumbo, right?

Later!

Spring (which was cooler than most this year) has given way to summer.  Crawfish season is about over but I had my fill of everything crawfish—boiled, etouffee, pies, salad and fried crawfish po-boys!

Now the garden vegetables—our great Creole tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, squash, zucchini and cucumbers—are at their peak.  I can’t get enough of those vegetables, which can be prepared in so many ways.

Just so you’ll know, I’ll be teaching at a kitchen studio in Charleston, S.C. The name of the school is The Cajun Kitchen, so log on to see what’s going on www.thecajunkitchen.tv

A friend just stopped by to present me with four soft-shell crabs, which I will soak in buttermilk, then dredge them in flour and deep-fry until crispy.  They’ll be great served on a bed of shrimp and ham jambalaya and drizzled with what I call Creollaise Sauce (a combination of bearnaise sauce and Creole mustard). 

What’s going on in your kitchen?

Easter has come and gone.  Our family gathering lasted all day and we ate just about everything from the ham and brisket, to potato salad (with homemade mayonnaise), rice dressing and assorted cakes and pies,

Now we’re into spring, a beautiful season in south Louisiana.  The bald cypress and willow are leafing out along the Bayou Teche, and I’ve spotted a few Louisiana irises in bloom here and there.  I’m waiting for my first crawfish boil of the season—maybe this weekend!

On a drive through my rural neighborhood I noticed that several home gardens are getting planted and my mouth is already watering for tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, bell peppers and summer squash.  The local farmers’ markets are featuring Louisiana strawberries—ideal for strawberry shortcakes, strawberry muffins and strawberry jam. 

My husband has dusted off the barbecue pit and his grill, and we’re anxious to enjoy the longer, warmer evenings on the patio.  Tonight we plan to make chicken kabobs to serve with rice pilaf and fresh asparagus.  Tomorrow night I’m looking forward to big and juicy burgers on the grill, and later in the week I’m going to fry up some shrimp and catfish. 

Yesterday I found globe artichokes for 99 cents so I came home with several that will be delicious steamed and served with mayonnaise tweaked with pressed garlic, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper.

What are you cooking?

Goodness, I’ve been very remiss in updating my blog.  Here is it almost Easter.  Lent has certainly flown by.

Crawfish is coming into season after a slow start.  I have had boiled crawfish only once so far—prices are a bit higher than we are used to—about $40.00 for 10 pounds of boiled crawfish—oh for the days of old when crawfish was a bargain!

I have been visiting local vegetable gardeners and they seem to think it’s still a bit early to put in their spring/summer crops of tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, squash and zucchini.  My winter herbs have just about played out so I’m anxious to put in basil, oregano, tarragon, and thyme to liven up spring and summer meals.

I’ve handed in a manuscript to LSU Press on wild birds of Louisiana.  The photographer, Charlie Hohorst, has done an incredible job and I’ll let you know when the book will be published—probably not until fall.

Have a grand Easter celebration.  My family is getting together and so far the menu will include baked ham, barbecued chicken, potato salad, asparagus casserole and lots of chocolate candy from our Easter Baskets!

With the Christmas holidays behind us, we in south Louisiana are now in the midst of Carnival season.  Mardi Gras is early this year—February 5th and everyone is scrambling to attend a myriad balls, parades, luncheons, and cocktail receptions.  Whew!  After the whirl-wind, I’ll almost looking forward to the quiet season of Lent.

I don’t know what’s come over me, but lately I have been having an "envie" (French for "yen") for pasta.  I’ve been cutting out recipes from magazines and scanning my recipe data base for pasta dishes.  (If I’m not carefuly I won’t be able to get into my evening gown for an upcoming Mardi Gras ball.)  Anyway, last night, I made meatballs from sweet Italian sausage that was removed from the casings, added a goodly amount of chopped garlic and grated Romano cheese, some Italian seasoning mix and a smattering of chopped flat-leaf pasta.  After browning the meatballs in olive oil, I removed them from the skillet and discarded the pan drippings.  In more olive oil, I sauteed sliced onions, sliced red bell peppers, more garlic and salt and crused red pepper.  Once the vegetables were slightly wilted, I splashed in some red wine, returned the meatballs to the pan, covered it and cooked for about 10 minutes.  The mixture was then tossed with cooked rotini and a little of the cooking liquid from the rotini pot and a handfull  of shredded Romano.  Not bad for a quicky meal.  A salad of crisp chunks of iceberg lettuce, olive salad, cherry tomatoes tossed with homemade vinaigrette, and French bread spread with roasted garlic completed my meal.  Yum!

During the week I made a chicken and sausage gumbo.  The weather outside was awful—rainy, windy and cold!  Perfect weather in which to enjoy a gumbo meal (baked sweet potatoes and hot crusty French bread and homemade lemon pie) while my husband and I cozied up in front of a roaring fire.

Let me hear what you’re doing in the middle of winter!

As usual the holidays were a whirlwind of lots of cooking and eating.  I made several batches of pralines, chocolate fudge and apple cakes for gift-giving.  I, in turn, received homemade barbecue sauce (fabulous), divinity fudge(marvelous) and a duckling, which I roasted a couple of days before Christmas.  The duckling, brushed with a mixture of honey, soy and sesame oil, was delicious.  Steamed broccoli and cauliflower from a friend’s garden were the perfect sides along with a wild rice dressing tossed with dried cranberries plumped up with brandy, and toasted pecans.

On New Year’s Day we’ll have black-eye pea jambalaya and several cabbage dishes to bring us wealth and good luck in the coming year!  Accompaniments will be skillet cornbread, roast pork and sweet potatoes.  I was introduced to a great alternative to regular sweet potato casserole.  Chunks of peeled (uncooked) sweet potatoes were tossed with chunks of onions, several garlic cloves, salt and pepper, olive oil and baked at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Wow!  When cooked toss the mixture with bits of crispy bacon! 

I wish all of you a great New Year!

I’m fresh back from Charleston, S.C. and what a great four-day trip!  On my 6:15 a.m. flight out of New Orleans who should be on the same flight?  Cousins Lally Brennan and Ti Adelaide Martin (of Commander’s Palace and Adelaide’s in New Orleans) were also headed to Charleston to a book signing for their marvelous book IN THE LAND OF COCKTAILS!  If you don’t already have it, be sure and get it.  And, it will make a great Christmas gift for just about anyone who enjoys a cocktail or two.

After a brief walking tour of historic Charleston we lunched at a place called Fast and French, a small, cozy bistro where we enjoyed a platter that featured several slices of delicious pate, wedges of cheese, and chunks of French bread accompanied by three mustards—Creole-style, Dijon and an aioli-type.  The minestrone soup was very tasty as was one with sweet potatoes, curry and ham.  Our croque monsieur sandwiches were perfect! 

After doing the radio show live from Charleston, we headed to Edisto, about a 45-minute drive from the city.  Edisto is an island surrounded by saltwater marshes (beautiful) and the coastal waters are a haven for srhimp, crabs, fish and oysters.  Our hosts, Jim and Linda McLain welcomed us to their lovely home which has a panoramic view of the saltwater marshes and a wooded area,  similar to south Louisiana, filled with palmettos, graceful oaks shrouded with Spanish moss, pines, and wild magnolias.   Dinner, prepared by Jim, was perfectly boiled shrimp with perfectly grilled rib-eye steaks accompanied by creamy-smooth mashed potatoes, and steamed asparagus.

The next day we toured Edisto, which was at one time home to many rice and cotton plantations.  We chose a water-side restaurant for lunch.  Crab soup (more like a thick bisque) and fried shrimp and oyster sandwiches were just the think to tide us over until dinner. 

Saturday night, my friend Donnie Bulliard, who now lives and works in Charleston, put out a spread for about 12 of us.  (One gentleman, Steve Meaux, turned out to be from Abbeville, La. and we have mutual friends.)  The dinner began with crawfish in pastry shells, then chicken breasts stuffed with cranberries and nuts, followed by a leek and shrimp soup, then fried catfish with crawfish etouffee and an assortment of desserts.  Whew!

Sunday morning breakfast (at one of the local churches) was shrimp and eggs with grits and muffins.  Sunday night we had Jim’s version of shrimp and grits, but instead of the grits he served the shrimp over Carolina rice—fantastic!

Shrimp and grits is their answer to our grillades and grits.  Everyone has their own version—all good.  In fact, I saw a cookbook by Natalie Dupree that featured a many versions on shrimp and grits, and now I’m sorry I didn’t buy it.  Maybe I’ll ask Santa to get it for me!

Now it’s back home to get ready for the holidays.  Let me hear about what you’re cooking for the upcoming feasts.   

It’s been a while since I updated this blog and for this I humbly apologize.  I’ve been working diligently to finish a book manuscript and it’s been finally put to bed.

Apart from working on the book, I did go to Beaumont to teach three cooking classes, which were all sold out.  I thank all the great people who attended the classes at The Kitchen Shop.  We had a grand time!  The menu included tasso and leek soup, crab chops (cakes) served on fried eggplant and topped with tartar sauce, spinach bake, sensation salad and les oreilles de cochon (pigs ears), which aren’t really pigs ears but rather little fried pastries drizzled with cane syrup and sprinkled with toasted pecans! 

The radio show on KKAY 1590 AM continues to roll along.  Don’t forget to tune in via the Internet.  On the home page of this website, there is a link on the right hand side so click on it and you can listen to a live feed every Friday from 3:20 to 4:30 p.m. 

This weekend I’m off to Charleston, S.C.  It’s a great city and so very much like New Orleans.  There are some great restaurants and I hope to enjoy a couple of them.

Christmas is fast approaching so if you need recipes or want to share your favorites, send me an e-mail.  I love hearing from you.

It’s hard to believe that fall has officially arrived.  While we’ve had a few cool (not cold) days but I’ve noticed a few signs that autumn is here.  The leaves on the bald cypress trees are turning brown.  The willows across the bayou from my house are shedding their leaves as well, but I’m still waiting for a real cold front that will inspire me to make a gumbo of chicken and smoked sausage.  There’s nothing better, in my book, on a cold, blustery day than to put together a gumbo—make a roux, add the vegetables, stock and let it simmer for a good part of the day.  The aroma as it cooks is better than any perfume!

A couple of weeks ago I partnered with my friend Chef Patrick Mould for a cooking class at Vermilionville, which is a recreation of a historic Cajun village, which portrays the way of life of the period of 1765 to 1890—an ideal setting for a class where we cooked (and served) crab cakes made of sweet lump crabmeat binded with bechamel sauce and a bit of bread crumbs and fried to a golden-brown.  A salad of baby greens spiked with a balsamic vinaigrette and roasted hot-sauce flavored pecans complemented the crab cakes.  Pig’s ears (called les oreilles de cochon) is an old-time treat—fried pastries that resemble pigs’ ears drizzled with pure cane syrup and scatttered with chopped pecans.  Also on the menu was another Cajun favorite—gateau de sirop, a cake made with pure cane syrup, mollasses and topped with Creole cream cheese ice cream!

Last week I judged the American Culinary Federation of Baton Rouge Culinary Competition.  Wow, what great food!  I judged the soup category and one of the winners was a smoked tomato, lobster and mushroom bisque and it was one of the best and original combinations I’ve had in a while.  Other winners in other categories included a salad or marinated crab and avocadoes with roasted red and yellow bell pepper coulis, pecan pesto biscuits, trio of pork, lamb and game, glazed veal chops stuffed with morels and chanterelles, Dixie duck with bing cherry bang, bang sauce—and a dessert of pistachio tuile mousse cake with Godiva anglaise. 

My co-host and I have been having a glorious time on our Friday afternoon food/talk show (click on the KKAY link on the home page of this website) from 3:20 to 4:30 for a live feed).  Local chef Don Bergeron called us from South Africa where he and his crew cooked a seafood gumbo at a local festival.  He told us that he was able to get all of the necessary ingredients there—okra, shrimp and oysters—that he needed.

Mike Gonzalez called in to discuss his technique for making his prize-winning chicken jambalaya.  I applaud the contestants in this cook-off—they have to cook over a wood fire and that can be rather tricky when cooking such a dish.

This week I’m off to Baton Rouge to speak to high school students about the history of both Creole and Cajun cuisine.  Also on my agenda in the next week is to prepare a meal for a Master Gardeners’ group—my menu will include farm-raised organic tilapia (pan-fried and finished with a lemon/lime butter flavored with lemon thyme), organic salad greens with herbed vinaigrette, rosemary cookies and ice cream!

I would love to hear from you, so feel free to respond to this blog, post a recipe, give me some feedback!