Archive for » November, 2014 «

Grilled Oysters with Bacon and Jalapeños

The Louisiana oyster season just recently began and already I've had more luscious Louisiana bivalves than I did during the entire season last year. That's a wonderful thing. My mass consumption has been due in large part to a mini sack the hubby and I had shipped up a couple of weeks back. Those 100 or so plump and briny beauties made for a pretty serious R&D session in my kitchen. Over the course of two days, I researched and developed fun new flavor combinations for slurping and shooting raw oysters and created several exciting new [ ... ]

Finger Food Friday: Individual Pecan Pies

Oops! I revised this recipe on 12.24.2014 to correct an error–the pie shells should remain frozen until ready to bake. Otherwise, the bottoms could end up soggy. Sorry for the oversight! With Thanksgiving less than a week away, now is the perfect time to share this seasonal treat with you all. This is a sweet, festive finger food perfect for holiday entertaining. And, in my opinion, it’s the best way to serve pecan pie. Not only do the individual pies make everyone feel extra special, each serving has that perfect filling-to-crust ratio and the baker never has to [ ... ]

Deep-Fried Turkey

Larry and I have been deep frying turkeys for as long as we’ve been together and we take great pride in sharing this family tradition with others. Over the past 19 years, we’ve converted many of our Atlanta friends (who hail from all different parts of the country) from roast turkey to fried. And we delight in the fact that several have mastered this Cajun custom and adopted it as their own. The process is not complicated, but it can be risky if you don’t plan ahead and take the necessary precautions. Unfortunately, most of what [ ... ]

Finger Food Friday: Roast Beef and Swiss Sliders

Growing up, one of my favorite poor boys was a four napkin roast beef and Swiss dressed. Four napkins, because that’s what it took to wipe the gravy trails from my forearms. Dressed, because in my world a poor boy is not a poor boy without a generous slather of mayo and layers of crisp shredded iceberg lettuce and thinly sliced tomatoes and dill pickles I’m not a hundred percent sure when and where the Swiss cheese came into play, as the roast beef-Swiss combo is not a New Orleans standard. But I think Papa, my [ ... ]

Andouille-Rice Stuffed Pork Loin

This roast pork loin has Sunday supper written all over it. It’s one of those recipes that starts with a few everyday ingredients (well at least in my kitchen)—pork, rice and andouille sausage—and ends with a slight sense of occasion. What makes it Sunday supper worthy is the fact that the ever-appealing andouille rice is rolled into the pork. When the two cook together, the juice from the pork infuses the rice with an additional layer of flavor while the andouille and veggies in the rice keep the pork moist and amp up every bite. Roasting [ ... ]