Globe artichokes get a lot of table time in the Crescent City thanks to the French settlers who brought them to Louisiana from the Mediterranean back in the 1800s and the Creole-Italians (among many others) who knew how to cook them. Interestingly, it’s been said that Louisiana was home to the first commercial artichokes fields. They flourished in and around various parts of South Louisiana including a small patch of land in New Orleans currently known as the Warehouse District. In the early 1940s, the crop mysteriously disappeared from these parts and today nearly 100% of all the country’s globe [ ... ]
Archive for the Category »Sauces «
11
May 2012
May 2012
Globe artichokes get a lot of table time in the Crescent City thanks to the French settlers who brought them to Louisiana from the Mediterranean back in the 1800s and the Creole-Italians (among many others) who knew how to cook them. Interestingly, it’s been said that Louisiana was home to the first commercial artichokes fields. They flourished in and around various parts of South Louisiana including a small patch of land in New Orleans currently known as the Warehouse District. In the early 1940s, the crop mysteriously disappeared from these parts and today nearly 100% of all the country’s globe [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Sauces, Side Dishes, Vegetables
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Sauces Leave a Comment
13
Apr 2012
Apr 2012
Friday has finally arrived. Whew! It’s been a hectic week and I’m so ready for the weekend. The hubby and I are tackling some long-over-due house renovations, so let me apologize now for any untimely posts. I don’t have adequate access to my kitchen or the computer. Hopefully, the craziness will end in about two weeks. Amid the chaos, though, I was able to sneak into the kitchen late last night for some much needed cooking therapy and a home-cooked meal. But I have to confess, I didn’t prepare a full-fledged dinner. It was a finger food. That’s right. [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Pork, Sauces
Tags: andouille sausage, Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Sauces Leave a Comment
06
Apr 2012
Apr 2012
Back in November, I shared with you my Blackened Shrimp recipe which included a quick inside blackening process using an electric griddle or grill pan. While that technique is fine for cooking small batches of shrimp, I don’t recommend it for blackening big fillets of fish. In order to cook blackened fish properly, it needs to be done outside in a cast-iron skillet over very high heat. Cooking the fish indoors under these conditions could cause a fire hazard (the melted butter meets blazing hot skillet equation) or severe “spice inhalation” (the inability to breathe due to mass quantities of [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Fish, Main Dishes, Sauces, Seafood
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Fish, Sauces, Seafood Leave a Comment
09
Mar 2012
Mar 2012
You know how sometimes you’re in the mood for a particular food but not up for the time and mess required to make it? Well, that’s how these Crawfish Waffles came to be. I was actually wanting Crawfish Beignets, a savory take on our favorite hometown donut. I just didn’t feel like hauling out the deep fryer and dealing with the cleanup. So I manipulated the ingredients for the waffle iron. Man, why didn’t I think of this sooner? The batter cooked up light and crisp and cleanup was a cinch!
This whole savory waffle experience got me thinking (dangerous, I [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Crawfish, Finger Food Fridays, Sauces, Seafood
Tags: Appetizers, crawfish, Finger Food Fridays, Sauces, Seafood One Comment
08
Feb 2012
Feb 2012
Let’s talk desserts. As in classic New Orleans desserts. Two in particular: Creole Bread Pudding and King Cake. Both have storied histories, are deeply rooted in New Orleans tradition and are equally delicious. Creole Bread Pudding is what I consider an everyday, homey dessert prepared by thrifty New Orleans cooks and restaurant chefs who have plenty of day-old French bread on hand. The stale bread is given new life when soaked in a creamy, cinnamon-infused custardy bath. The pudding is then baked plain or embellished with raisins, nuts, canned fruit salad or even [ ... ]
Category: Desserts, New Orleans Classics, Sauces
Tags: Desserts, New Orleans, Sauces Leave a Comment
01
Feb 2012
Feb 2012
I’m settling back into the grove after what turned out to be a fantastic weekend in Birmingham attending the Food Blog South 2012 conference. This was my first food blog conference and one that I won’t soon forget. To be surrounded by people who eat, drink and sleep food is a wonderful thing. Their passion is undeniable, their knowledge unsurpassable and their willingness to share incredibly generous. I learned so much and made plenty of new friends. I feel refreshed, re-energized and psyched about the future and what it holds for food bloggers and anyone [ ... ]
Category: Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Pork, Sauces, Seafood, Vegetables
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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. [ ... ]
06
Jan 2012
Jan 2012
I spent the better part of this week implementing my annual holiday recovery plan. That entailed purging the fridge and pantry of any lingering Christmas goodies, shopping for lots of fresh fruits and veggies and planning lighter, cleaner meals. Don’t ask me why I decided to make the transition back to normal eating this week, considering the weekend is full of family and friend birthdays (including my daughter Chandler’s today and mine on Monday) and major football games! But in any respect, I’m attempting to carry out my ambitious plan through the next few days and beyond [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Sauces, Vegetables
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays Leave a Comment
21
Oct 2011
Oct 2011
South Louisiana is known for producing some really interesting and absolutely delicious food products. And while most of us New Orleanians are quick to try just about anything put in front of us, people outside the area are not so eager. Moving to North Georgia and entertaining new friends was a testament to that. But although guarded, my new buddies were genuinely interested in and enamored by our food and food culture. They just didn’t know how the heck to cook or eat half of it! Through years of entertaining New Orleans style, we’ve enjoyed teaching our “Georgia Peaches” how [ ... ]
19
Aug 2011
Aug 2011
I have never made olive salad from scratch, until today. I’ve figured the jarred varieties made by a couple of New Orleans grocery stores would be better than anything I could ever pull together. However, olive salad has always been one of those items on my make-it-from-scratch-at-least-once list. So I did. And like most of the things that get scratched off that list, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. The texture was the most notable difference. The olives had more bounce. The cauliflower more crunch. The overall freshness of the olive salad was a huge surprise too. I didn’t [ ... ]
