Blog Archives
23
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
‘Tis the season to share another one of my favorite holiday recipes with you, Miniature Oyster Patties. These savory little bite-size pastries have been making the rounds at New Orleans Christmas parties and weddings for as long as I can remember. And once you taste them, you’ll understand why they’re so popular. Now when you read through the ingredient list, you’ll probably notice similarities to my family’s Oyster Dressing recipe. The two are actually so close that I had to call my mom prior to making the Oyster Dressing for Thanksgiving to help me figure out which one was which. [ ... ]
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 all over [ ... ]
Category: Christmas, Roux, Side Dishes, Thanksgiving, Vegetables
Tags: Home Cooking, New Orleans, New Orleans Cooking, New Orleans Recipes, White Roux 2 Comments
16
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
Are you all as thankful as I am today’s Friday? We’re all so busy this time of year. Yesterday for instance, I spent the entire evening preparing food for each of my kids’ holiday celebrations. These beef roll-ups are the result of leftovers from one of them. You see, my son was asked to bring a deli tray to his class party. Me and my Type A personality had a big problem with that. The thought of a bunch of fifth grade fingers reaching for a deli tray? Not good. So [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Beef, Finger Food Fridays
Tags: Appetizers, Beef Stock, Finger Food Fridays Comments off
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
09
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
On Wednesday, the hubby and I were lucky enough to squeeze in a lunch date. I love our lunch dates. They’re spontaneous and fun and give us time to catch up mid-week without forking over a small fortune to a babysitter. This week, we headed over to Freight Kitchen & Tap, a new rustically casual restaurant and watering hole housed in the historic Woodstock train depot. The atmosphere is cozy and inviting, the menu is refreshingly familiar and the bar is impressively stocked–think small batch spirits and drool-worthy craft beers. My kind of place! Now in New Orleans, these types [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Snacks
Tags: Appetizers, Beer, Craft Beer, Finger Food Friday 2 Comments
02
Dec 2011
Dec 2011
I have this one uncle who’s an outrageous cook. Trouble is, he doesn’t share any of his recipes. Not even the ones he inherited from other relatives and friends. When I was learning how to cook, that used to frustrate me to no end. These days, it challenges me to create better versions of his best dishes–all in good fun of course. One of those dishes is Swedish Meatballs. My uncle used to prepare them for our family Christmas Eve parties. I haven’t eaten his in many, many years. But I remember them well. They were moist and rich [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Beef, Finger Food Fridays, Pork
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays Comments off
25
Nov 2011
Nov 2011
Hey guys. As most of you know, I’m hanging with the family this week. And because I’m not in my own kitchen and my mom’s fridge is full of leftovers (we’ve moved on from my sister’s), I won’t be cooking today. That means no finger food on this Friday. Well at least nothing from scratch. At some point today, I’ll probably transform what’s left of the holiday bird into “all-white” finger sandwiches for the kids (white turkey meat on white bread with mayonnaise) or maybe a Thanksgiving poor boy (New Orleans French bread piled high [ ... ]
Category: Finger Food Fridays
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24
Nov 2011
Nov 2011
Right now I’m sitting at my sister’s kitchen table contemplating the day with a hot cup of joe (Community Dark Roast if you’re curious) and watching a beautiful fall sun rise over Mandeville, the northshore suburb where my sister lives. I love spending Thanksgiving in New Orleans surrounded by family and today I’ll get to catch up with many relatives I haven’t seen in years. My Uncle Barry is hosting dinner, which is no small feat. He’ll be setting the table (actually tables) for four generations that will be eating, drinking, laughing and giving thanks together. [ ... ]
Category: Thanksgiving
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22
Nov 2011
Nov 2011
A trifle is an attention-grabbing dessert typically made with sponge cake soaked in booze and topped with clearly defined layers of fruit, custard and cream. It’s prepared in a large glass dish or trifle bowl so everyone can ooh and aah over its colorful configuration and is traditionally served at Christmastime. The trifle overlaps both a “fool” and a Russian Cake (also known as a Russian Trifle or Creole Trifle) in terms of ingredients and preparation. And I would think it is related in some way, shape or form to tiramisu and our beloved banana pudding.
My Brownie Trifle is a variation [ ... ]
Category: Desserts, Thanksgiving
One Comment
18
Nov 2011
Nov 2011
Have you had your fill of seafood yet? I hope not because today I’ve got another one for you. My Shrimp Mold. Well, it’s not actually my Shrimp Mold. I didn’t create it but I have tweaked it. This is one of those delicious finger foods that’s been around for decades, although you may be more familiar with the pink version which is basically the same thing made with tomato soup instead of cream of mushroom. I’ve had both but prefer those made this way. The other ones are too tangy for me. Preferences aside, this is yet another [ ... ]
Category: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Seafood, Shrimp
Tags: Appetizers, Finger Food Fridays, Seafood 5 Comments
