Archive for the Category » Main Dishes «
15
May 2013
May 2013
Prior to becoming a mom of three, a business owner and a food writer/blogger, I was a legal secretary and a paralegal. In New Orleans, I worked for a large law firm that occupied the top two levels of the One Shell Square building on the corner of Poydras Street and St. Charles Avenue. Loved the job, really loved the people I worked with and loved, loved the location. That’s because One Shell Square is situated in the heart of the New Orleans Central Business District, or what the locals call the CBD, and the CBD is [ ... ]
Category: Chicken, Main Dishes, Miscellaneous, New Orleans Classics, Roux
Tags: Chicken, Roux 2 Comments
03
May 2013
May 2013
The hubby and I have been together almost 20 years (I was really, really young when we starting dating. Wink! Wink!). And while we’re not the perfect couple, we do pride ourselves on working hard at keeping our relationship strong. A big part of that is carving out time for each other. We frequently schedule lunch dates and sneak in the occasional night out. But all those outings combined don’t come close to measuring up to the kidless weekends we share each year at the New Orleans Jazz Fest! We’ve been enjoying these date [ ... ]
Category: Crab, Finger Food Fridays, Main Dishes, Po-Boys, Poor Boys, Seafood
Tags: crab, Finger Food Fridays, Seafood 2 Comments
01
May 2013
May 2013
The inspiration for this succulent pork shoulder comes from two sources. The first is a recipe I came across in Crescent City Cooking, Chef Susan Spicer’s cookbook, that highlighted jalapeno peppers. The second is a citrusy pork dish the hubby’s cousin’s wife prepared for us several years back. The sauce on that pork was mojo-style. Mine borrows ingredients and ideas from both. It marries good old Southern pig parts with bold and bright Caribbean flavors, those same Caribbean flavors that have been influencing New Orleans cooking for decades. We’re talking aromatic spices, fresh fruit juices, plenty of garlic and [ ... ]
17
Apr 2013
Apr 2013
It’s Burger Week over at Eater.com, the popular blog network that covers restaurant, bar and nightlife news across 15 metropolitan areas including New Orleans. And on Monday during my daily visit to the Nola.Eater page, I came across a post on Bud’s Broiler. Reading that piece had me thinking back to 1970-something and left me craving a big, juicy burger with a milkshake and fries.
Bud’s Broiler is a New Orleans institution and anyone who grew up in the City has vivid memories of meals eaten there. Whether they frequented the old Gentilly location on Pelopidas (with a not-so-memorable view of [ ... ]
10
Apr 2013
Apr 2013
We’re enjoying spring weather here in Atlanta. Finally! I was really starting to wonder if it would ever arrive, considering we were in the low-40s just last Thursday. Because it’s been so gloomy and cold, I’ve been digging deep into my recipe files (actually, that would be two large plastic bins) and notebooks for slow cooked, familiar eats. The kind of cooking that filled my childhood home with welcoming aromas that greeted me at the door after school or warmed me from the inside out after playing all afternoon in the damp cold. One such dish that came to mind [ ... ]
04
Apr 2013
Apr 2013
Here’s the Finger Food Friday that wasn’t. As I mentioned on Facebook at the end of last week, I had planned to make Crawfish Mac and Cheese Bites for that day’s post. But, well, let’s just say the recipe in my head was flawed for this purpose. The creamy mac and cheese, which I spooned into muffin tins and baked, didn’t set up enough to produce the nifty little single-serving, hand held morsels I was hoping for. I knew going into it there could be problems considering I choose a sauce base void of either [ ... ]
15
Mar 2013
Mar 2013
In New Orleans, dining out on Friday nights during Lent at any restaurant that serves seafood is, for lack of a better term, a sport. That’s because the crowds are large, the waits are long and the weather is oftentimes questionable (a big issue when you’re forced to wait out in a shell parking lot). A finely tuned playbook, complete with the abilities, expectations and limitations of each person in your party, is a must. So are sandwich bags full of Cheerios (if you have little ones), cell phones with fun games (if you have middle ones) and a padded [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Oysters, Poor Boys, Seafood
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Oysters, Seafood 2 Comments
25
Feb 2013
Feb 2013
This past week, I had an occasion that required me to prepare a couple of dishes that could feed a large number of people. The first recipe that came to mind what this cabbage salad. I love this salad. My family loves this salad. Everyone who tries this salad loves this salad. But for some reason, I haven’t prepared it at home in years. Which means I’ve never shared it will you all! I’m still struggling to figure out that one. But now, I’m making up for lost time! By this Sunday, I will have made it three times in [ ... ]
Category: Main Dishes, Salad, Side Dishes, Vegetables
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21
Feb 2013
Feb 2013
For those of you who have bid “farewell to the flesh” for the next 40 days (or at least for the remaining Fridays between now and Easter Sunday), this dish is for you. It is my annual creation added to an ever-growing list of meatless meals I prepare during the Season of Lent. Abstaining from meat has never been a huge lesson in self-denial for me or my family. In New Orleans, where fresh seafood is abundant, it would be a stretch to consider codfish balls, fried shrimp poor boys, all-you-can-eat fried catfish, seafood gumbo, crawfish etouffee, boiled crawfish and, [ ... ]
15
Feb 2013
Feb 2013
Frogs, those hopping, croaking creatures, creep me out. I avoid their exhibits at zoos and aquariums and can’t bear to look at them on TV or in print. When we first moved to Georgia, I was haunted by them. Literally. You see, we have this pond behind our house where, at the time, many, many, many frogs lived. I suppose several of those momma and daddy frogs were feeling a little overcrowded so they started venturing away from the busy pond with their “army” in search of more comfortable living conditions. Those improved conditions [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Main Dishes, Seafood
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Seafood One Comment