The week before last I made my monthly run to BJ’s, our mammoth wholesale club, where I stumbled upon these adorable gourmet baby carrots. I had to have them. They were so cute. They were the real McCoy too–as in true baby carrots. Not those mature, often tasteless “baby-cut” imposters they sell in damp plastic bags at the grocery store. As soon as I got home and before I even unloaded the car, I grabbed the two pound bag of carrots and ran inside to get them going. Within a few seconds, I had those babies perfectly aligned on [ ... ]
Archive for the Category »Side Dishes «
16
May 2012
May 2012
The week before last I made my monthly run to BJ’s, our mammoth wholesale club, where I stumbled upon these adorable gourmet baby carrots. I had to have them. They were so cute. They were the real McCoy too–as in true baby carrots. Not those mature, often tasteless “baby-cut” imposters they sell in damp plastic bags at the grocery store. As soon as I got home and before I even unloaded the car, I grabbed the two pound bag of carrots and ran inside to get them going. Within a few seconds, I had those babies perfectly aligned on [ ... ]
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
08
Mar 2012
Mar 2012
I consider Dirty Rice to be one of several endangered New Orleans family dishes. Poppy Tooker, local food personality, culinary teacher and author, uses that term to describe South Louisiana foods and food traditions on the brink of extinction. We both agree that to prevent those culinary treasures from being lost or forgotten, we need to continue to cook, eat, share and, in some cases grow, them. This week, I did my part by preparing this incredibly aromatic and homey rice dish.
Dirty Rice is similar to Rice Dressing. The main difference is Dirty Rice calls for ground pork along with [ ... ]
17
Feb 2012
Feb 2012
Back when I was sporting my 19-year-old metabolism, fried vegetables were my go-to finger food. Almost every weekend, I’d prepare a batch of deep fried cauliflower, mushrooms or eggplant. I’d make them in much the same way I would panee (New Orleans lingo for battered and pan fried) veal or pork chops–soaked in an egg wash, rolled in Italian bread crumbs and submerged in hot oil. I could easily get an entire week’s worth of vegetable servings in one sitting with those crispy hunks of Deep South love. Now that I’m a little older and question whether I still have [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Side Dishes, Vegetables
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, New Orleans Cooking One Comment
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 [ ... ]
30
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
Since today is not only Finger Food Friday but New Year’s Eve Eve, I thought I’d make something that could transition nicely between a casual Happy Hour and a fancy New Year’s Eve bash. These stuffed artichoke bottoms do just that. The filling consists of a humble combination of greens and pork, in this instance spinach and pancetta, that get dressed up with a rich-tasting (I avoid the calorie bomb here by using skim milk) Creole Bechamel thickened with Parmesan cheese. The artichoke bottoms? Yet another fun vehicle to transport all that creamy filling to your [ ... ]
21
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
One of the best way to experience regional home cooking is to prepare recipes from community cookbooks. These cookbooks represent an organization’s best efforts to support various social causes while preserving local flavors, cultures, traditions, cooking styles and trends. What’s more, they’re all bound together by strong values and plenty of wisdom. One of my favorites is the original River Road Recipes by the Junior League of Baton Rouge. The series (there are now four books and an interactive edition of the first) is a true reflection of generational Creole, Cajun and Deep South cooking from home kitchens [ ... ]
Category: Christmas, Roux, Side Dishes, Thanksgiving, Vegetables
Tags: Home Cooking, New Orleans, New Orleans Cooking, New Orleans Recipes, White Roux Leave a Comment
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
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20
Oct 2011
Oct 2011
Twice Baked Potatoes need little introduction. The basic recipe’s been around forever. But it took my youngest daughter Blair to remind me that I don’t make this straightforward and deliciously simple side often enough.
Blair is a foodie in her own right … has been ever since she took a stance against jarred baby food at the ripe old age of 9 months. She eats everything and anything and is quick to assess when too much time has passed since her last helping of a favorite dish (and there are many)! Last week while digging in the pantry for an [ ... ]
Category: Side Dishes, Vegetables
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12
Oct 2011
Oct 2011
A few years back, we joined a Community Supported Agriculture program. I thought it would be a cool way to eat healthier, support our local farming community and teach our kids where their food really comes from. If you’re unfamiliar with them, CSAs connect farmers with consumers to share the risks and rewards of running a farm. At the beginning of each growing season, members pay a set fee to a farmer in exchange for a weekly share of whatever they harvest. The fees help small farmers build working capital so they can earn a living while providing families [ ... ]
Category: Side Dishes, Vegetables
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