Archive for the Category » Main Dishes «
19
Jan 2012
Jan 2012
One of the easiest ways to dress up everyday dinners is with a marinade. A good marinade can be thrown together in minutes with generous amount of herbs, spices and other seasonings, some form of acid to carry those flavors into the meat and help tenderize it and oil to keep the meat moist and prevent it from sticking while cooking. For maximum flavor, it’s best to plan a day ahead and marinate whatever you’re cooking (except seafood) overnight. But if you don’t have that luxury, a bold marinade can work its magic in thirty minutes. [ ... ]
12
Jan 2012
Jan 2012
I love tacos, especially those stuffed with fresh Louisiana seafood. I just don’t care for the ones filled with battered and fried fish. While that may be considered the “true” way to cook fish for fish tacos, it’s not for me. The coating, however thick or thin, tends to get in the way of that wonderful seafood flavor I crave when I order or cook them. I also find the deep-fried ones way too heavy when combined with flour or corn tortillas. A highly seasoned, pan-seared fish is more my style, especially when it’s dressed [ ... ]
04
Jan 2012
Jan 2012
Way down yonder in New Orleans, we’re obsessed with beans. And not just red beans. We’re crazy about butter beans (large limas), navy beans, pintos, split peas and black-eyes. Oh, and we also look forward to cooking with Great Northerns, black beans and chickpeas. And I can’t forget fava beans. We like to stash one of those in our coin purse to insure that we’ll never go broke. That’s an American-Creole-Italian thing–although I did discover during my CSA days that favas make a mighty fine dip! Then there are those other less popular types of “legumes” (a word we never [ ... ]
14
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
Back in October, while scrolling through my “Who to Follow” list on Twitter, I came across this fella by the name of Andrew Evans who was tweeting all these wonderful and interesting things about New Orleans. After a couple of clicks here and there, I found out that Andrew is National Geographic Traveler magazine’s Digital Nomad who was in the Crescent City as part of a month-long exploration of South Louisiana. Throughout his trip, Evans tweeted, blogged and vlogged his travels on his Twitter account @WheresAndrew, his NationalGeographic.com’s Digital Nomad blog and his Facebook page. I was able to follow [ ... ]
Category: Chicken, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Pork, Seafood, Shrimp, Side Dishes
Tags: jambalaya 3 Comments
10
Nov 2011
Nov 2011
When you grow up in New Orleans, a city surrounded by and practically floating on water, you cut your teeth on fresh seafood. I’m talking succulent shrimp, briny oysters, meaty blue crabs and subtle, sweet crawfish (not to mention a huge variety of fish, turtle, alligator and frog legs). And when your dad’s a shrimper, like mine was, at a very young age you become intimately acquainted with the vast waterways that house those creatures … whether you like it or not!
I actually liked the whole boating, shrimping thing. During the summer months, I’d occasionally join my dad on a [ ... ]
03
Nov 2011
Nov 2011
In New Orleans, there’s pot roast and then there’s Creole Daube. Creole Daube, or daube (pronounced “dohb”) for short, is what you get when you blend a French braising technique with an Italian (“red”) gravy and a roux–the typical melding of flavors, cultures and cuisines that takes place in most New Orleans family kitchens on a daily basis. Together, these three things magically transform an inexpensive cut of beef such as a rump, a shoulder or a chuck roast into deeply flavored and tender comfort food. In our family, daube was usually a Sunday supper meal served over pasta or [ ... ]
21
Sep 2011
Sep 2011
Do you come from a meatballs and spaghetti family or a meat sauce family? I’m from the meatballs side of the track. Occasionally, my family traveled to the other side. But the “grass was not greener” over there. At least not for me. You see, in our house meatballs and spaghetti dinners were an all-day, family affair. Everything was made from scratch (except the pasta) then set on the stove to simmer until all the flavors came together. That low and slow cooking would always fill the house with familiar and comforting aromas that had us relaxing [ ... ]
Category: Beef, Main Dishes, Pasta
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16
Sep 2011
Sep 2011
Back in February, I introduced you to my basic sliders. Those are the ones I throw together at least twice a month for fun dinners and last minute gatherings. The kids love them. Their friends love them. My friends love them. Everybody loves them. But here’s the downside. Those sliders are such a bit hit, that I get eye rolling and other unwelcomed gestures from my little “children-of-the-corn” (that’s a term of endearment around here) anytime I suggest creating a new recipe. I’ve tried to convince my darlings that I’m not looking to replace “their” sliders. I’m simply wanting to [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Beef, Finger Food Fridays, Main Dishes, Pork
Tags: Finger Food Friday One Comment
15
Sep 2011
Sep 2011
Sometimes telling someone about a recipe is not nearly as compelling as preparing it with them, especially if that person is not used to cooking with certain ingredients. Take my Bourbon Salmon for instance. One day, I was chatting it up with a friend who had never bought much less prepared salmon at home. She had never cooked with bourbon and wasn’t particularly comfortable using the broiler either. Bottom line? As delicious as the recipe sounded, she didn’t think she could pull it off at home. So I set out to prove otherwise. [ ... ]
02
Sep 2011
Sep 2011
Labor Day is upon us. Already. There’s no pushing back the clock. It’s here. The unofficial end of summer. That’s okay by me. I’m ready for football weather and everything that goes along with it. But before I pull out the soup pot and the snuggie (don’t laugh), I would like to enjoy one last, long weekend in my “white” jeans grilling outdoors with family and friends. My contribution to the grill is going to be Skirt Steak Fajitas. I like cooking this hearty finger food when I have a lot of mouths to feed. It’s also a welcomed [ ... ]
