Archive for the Category » New Orleans Classics «
30
Dec 2014
Dec 2014
Oysters are extremely delicious this time of year–especially those sweet, lightly briny Louisiana Gulf Oysters. If you’re looking for something impressive and easy to pull together this New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, try these turnovers. They’re perfectly portioned riffs on the classic Oysters Rockefeller less the time and mess associated with shucking your own. These turnovers can be pulled together quickly with a pint of shucked oysters and a package of frozen puff pastry. They can also be assembled ahead of time and baked just before serving. Oh, and they reheat nicely too. [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Christmas, Cocktails, Finger Food Fridays, New Orleans Classics, Oysters, Seafood, Snacks
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, HOLIDAY, Oysters 3 Comments
25
Nov 2014
Nov 2014
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 [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Oysters, Pork, Seafood
Tags: Oysters, Seafood Comments off
21
Nov 2014
Nov 2014
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 [ ... ]
Category: Desserts, Finger Food Fridays, New Orleans Classics, Snacks, Thanksgiving
Tags: Desserts, Finger Food Fridays, pecans Comments off
17
Nov 2014
Nov 2014
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 [ ... ]
Category: Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Thanksgiving, Turkey
Tags: New Orleans Classics, Thanksgiving 2 Comments
17
Sep 2014
Sep 2014
After posting my Boiled Shrimp recipe, one of my devoted readers reached out to me via Twitter asking me to please share my Fried Shrimp secrets with her. I’m so glad she did because I thought I had already posted this one. My Fried Shrimp recipe really should have been one of my initial postings considering most NOLA babies cut their teeth on them–a popular Friday night dinner, local kid’s menu and weekly school lunch item. Finally, here it is.
As I’ve written about before, I believe different types of seafood need different batters to not only enhance [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Poor Boys, Seafood, Shrimp
One Comment
04
Sep 2014
Sep 2014
A seafood boil is a culinary tradition we carry out every chance we get. It’s a casual outdoor cooking event where we boil mass quantities of fresh seafood, sausage and vegetables in huge pots of highly seasoned water. When the cooking’s done, we usually spread everything out on a large table lined with newspaper and invite everyone to roll up their sleeves, grab a cold beer and dig in. We plan seafood boils for everything from christenings and birthdays to graduations and wedding rehearsal dinners. We also have boils to celebrate holidays and cheer on our [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Seafood, Shrimp
Tags: andouille sausage, Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, New Orleans Classics, Seafood, Seafood Stock Comments off
22
Apr 2014
Apr 2014
While most of the country is welcoming the arrival of spring, New Orleanians are welcoming the arrival of crawfish. In my hometown, the two are a package deal. And when Mother Nature messes with the calendar and cool temps linger, both spring and crawfish season get delayed. That was the case this year (and last, if I recall correctly). Although there were a few sightings of crawfish before Mardi Gras (which was also late), the temperamental crustaceans didn’t start running consistently until a couple of weeks ago. Now everyone’s going crazy. Finally, seafood markets [ ... ]
Category: Crawfish, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Seafood, Side Dishes, Soups
Tags: crawfish, Seafood, Soup 2 Comments
14
Apr 2014
Apr 2014
This is my mom’s holiday ham recipe. This amazing ham has been an important part of every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner I’ve been fortunate enough to share with my family. So you can imagine my surprise last week when I called my mom with a recipe instruction question only to find out that she no longer prepares her ham this way (unfortunately, I haven’t had a holiday meal at mom’s house in a couple of years so I wasn’t aware of this little fact). She said more recently, she’s been buying the spiral cut hams [ ... ]
13
Mar 2014
Mar 2014
Hello Shrimp and Okra Gumbo! What do you think of the new photo size? Too big maybe? I can’t decide. I told the hubby I wanted bigger photos on the site, but I just don’t know if they should be this large. Please, tell me what you think! The gumbo, on the other hand, it’s a keeper. No indecisiveness there. This recipe is awesome through and through–oh how I wish I could hand you a spoon and invite you to dig it. It’s earthy and aromatic and an essential part of [ ... ]
Category: Gumbo, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Roux, Seafood, Shrimp, Vegetables
Tags: Gumbo, Roux, Seafood, Shrimp Recipes, Vegetables 2 Comments
27
Feb 2014
Feb 2014
Whenever I mention Creole Onion Soup in circles outside of New Orleans, I’m often asked how it differs from French Onion Soup. Well, like many New Orleans recipes, that depends on whose Creole Onion Soup you’re eating. If you’re savoring a bowl prepared by an old-school Creole or anyone carrying those traditions forward, the soup will likely contain some form of dairy and may even be puréed to a thick, velvety consistency. Several references to this style of onion soup can be found in various New Orleans cookbooks. The earliest references I discovered were in my mother-in-law’s 1901 edition of [ ... ]
Category: Beef, Main Dishes, New Orleans Classics, Roux, Side Dishes, Soups, Stock, Vegetables
Tags: Beef Stock, Roux, Soup 4 Comments
