Now this is good, y'all!

Lache pas las patate! Who Dat?! And all that jazz...

2010-01-31T11:05:00.026-06:00

Super Bowl Sunday is typically a day for pizza, hot wings, cheese dip, and beer. And while there is a time and a place for that during any regular ol' Super Bowl, this year calls for some lagniappe, baby. Lagniappe? You say? Ah...yes. A little something extra. The New Orleans Saints are marching into Florida this year and that calls for some cajun gumbo. You can (and should) make it a day in advance so you'll have all the more time to enjoy your friends (and the commercials) during your watch party.

Let's talk roux. You can't make gumbo without a good roux. You just can't. So before you quit reading because you're a little intimidated by making one, listen up. I have a trick to making a simple, rich, dark roux every time, so no worries. You can do this.

I'm gonna walk you through this step by step, but first I'm going to give you the list of all the ingredients you'll need for your gumbo.

Roux

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Trinity

4 cups chopped onions

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped green pepper

The Pope

1- 2 tablespoons minced garlic

Remaining ingredients

1 cup sliced okra (frozen is ok)

1 1/2 lbs smoked andouille sausage

one cooked, deboned and skinned chicken

8 cups HOT chicken stock (from the above chicken that you have boiled)

1-2 bay leaves

1 lb peeled shrimp

1 lb crawfish tails (get Boudreaux brand in the freezer section at Walmart, already cooked, just thaw it and dump it in)

2 cups chopped green onions

hot cooked rice

french bread

Instructions:

Early on the day before you plan to serve your gumbo, take a whole chicken and place it in a stock pot with enough water to cover the bird. Chop up some onions, celery, garlic, and add to the pot along with any other desired seasonings (salt your water well). Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for and hour or so until the chicken is tender and cooked through. Let the chicken sit on the stove and cool in the broth for awhile. Once it's cool enough to deal with, take the chicken out of the pot and remove the meat from the skin and bones. Meanwhile, strain out the solids from your broth in the pot and put the strained broth back in the stock pot. Put the pot on the back of the stove and heat it up to a simmer.

Slice up your adouille sausage and saute' it in a skillet until browned.

Chop up your trinity and set it aside in a bowl. Get that okra out of the freezer and set it aside. You'll need all of these ingredients right at your finger tips and ready to add to the roux in a hurry.

Now for the secret no fail roux. Get out your big iron skillet (you knew this was coming, right?). Get out your flour and have your 1/2 cup of oil at the ready. Place your cup of all purpose flour in the skillet and while constantly stirring with your wooden spoon, heat the skillet up to medium high heat. Keep stirring and stirring (this can take from 15-30 minutes) until the flour is a rich brown color (about the color of the outside of a pecan).

Now I'm afraid this picture does not do the color justice. It's very hard to reach the darkest brown you can without burning, but trust me, the outside of a pecan is about the best way to describe it.

Once you have the flour browned up, pour that oil in, stir it up REAL quick like or it'll burn...(sorry no picture of the completed roux with added oil, if I had made a picture, it would have burned) ...and then dump your trinity in.

Once the trinity is incorporated with the roux, add the frozen okra. Saute' the vegetables until they are almost tender. Add the Pope and stir continuously. Once the veggies have reached the desired tenderness, add the deboned chicken and the adouille sausage to the pot. Cook with the vegetables until well incorporated, stirring fequently. Transfer everything to a heavy duty stock pot. Gradually stir in the hot chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add your bay leaves. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for an hour or more. Really, cook it as long as you can. The roux will draw the flavors and textures together.

About 10 minutes before serving, stir in your green onions. 2 minutes before serving, stir in your uncooked shrimp. About 30 seconds before serving, add your cooked crawfish tails.

Serve over hot cooked rice and with some crusty french bread. I gaurantee, this gumbo would have made Justin Wilson proud. And if you don't know Who Dat is, Google him.

A note about football. I'm from the south where the SEC reigns supreme. We don't have very many NFL teams, so everyone pretty much can take their pick who to root for on NFL game day. This year is a bit different, though. People from all over north or South are rooting for the Saints. New Orleans (as a city) needed this and they played well enough to get to go. So to all the New Orleanians and Saints fans, "Lache pas las patate!" As translated, means "don't let go of the potatoes." In cajun country, it means "never give up trying."

Bon Appetit and Bonne Chance, y'all.

It's called DRESSING, y'all!

2009-12-12T06:04:00.006-06:00

How many of y'all made dressing for Thanksgiving? Not stuffing, cause down here it's dressing. Or dressin'. Get's pretty personal, doesn't it? I've been to Thanksgiving dinner where we've had up to four different kinds of dressing at the table. Everybody has their own way of doing it and of course, theirs is the right way. I'm here to tell you once and for all that MINE is the right way. Big sister's is pretty good. It would be outstanding, but she puts sausage in hers and that, well, I won't go there. MY recipe is actually my mom's. She's been making it forever. It evolved over the years from suggestions she took here and there from the various fabulous cooks in our family. Our Uncle Bubba (of which there were two), used to toast his white bread. He said it made the dressing a pretty color. He knew what he was talking about. Now, this is a lengthy process over two days, so bear with me, but it really is just a few simple steps. Anyone with an iron skillet (we've discussed this before), a 9 x 13 casserole dish, and a real big mixing bowl can make this. Here goes:

Day 1. First we gotta make the cornbread. This is southern DRESSING after all. I'm gonna give you the recipe and then you're gonna double it. You'll have more than you need for the dressing. At least you'll have some extra to snack on tomorrow while you're in that kitchen stirring the giblet gravy.

Buttermilk Cornbread

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg

Heat oil in 8 inch cast-iron skillet in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. Mix the cornmeal and the rest of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk together separately the buttermilk and egg. Add to dry ingredients. Don't stir it too much now, just enough til it's incorporated. We don't do tough cornbread around here. Pour into the hot skillet and bake for 20 minutes or so until toasty golden brown.

*note, when you double this recipe for dressing, you'll obviously need a bigger skillet than the recipe above. Use your 12 inch one and it'll be just fine. In a pinch, you can use a casserole dish, but it won't be quite as crispy.

Now here is the recipe for the rest of the dressing:

Cornbread Dressing

4 to 4 1/2 cups cornbread
3 1/2 cups white bread, toasted
1 stick of melted butter, unsalted, please
about 2-3 green onions, minced
1 cup diced celery
2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 teaspoons sage (you can add more, but not much, we don't like green dressing)
3 eggs, beaten slightly
1/2 cup milk
2 cups (or more) hot chicken broth

While your cornbread is baking, toast up your bread. It'll be faster than the cornbread, so go ahead and start tearing it up by hand in small pieces. You'll need 6-7 slices of hearty white bread. I use Pepperidge Farm Hearty White. Don't use the Wonder bread that sticks to the roof of your mouth. Once your cornbread is cool, start breaking that up into the bowl. You can break it up as fine as you like, but leave a little texture in there to match that of the white bread. Melt your stick of butter and saute in your green onions and celery until tender and translucent. Add your salts, pepper and sage to the cornbread mixture and toss well to combine. Pour the celery, green onions, and butter over the cornbread mixture. Smells like dressing now, doesn't it? Now cover that bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until tomorrow.

Day 2. About an hour or more before you're ready to bake your dressing, take it out of the fridge so it can come to room temperature. When you're ready, heat up your chicken broth in a sauce pan on the stove. Go ahead and heat a bunch, cause you may need some extra to stretch the aforementioned giblet gravy. Make sure your oven is preheated to 400 degrees. Your turkey should be out and resting by now, so you should be able to safely kick up that heat. Beat your eggs slightly and add your milk. Slowly whisk in about a cup of chicken broth to this mixture to temper the eggs. We don't want scrambled eggs in our dressing. Add the chicken broth egg mixture to your cornbread mixture. Then pour all of that into a 9 x 13 casserole dish that's been greased. Now get some more of that chicken broth and start adding it to the casserole dish. Pat it in there with your hands until it's the consistency of not-quite-there-yet grits. A little on the soupy side, but not too wet. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

So now that you've mastered the dressing, share it at the Christmas gathering with your family. I'm pretty sure yours will be the favorite among the other four dressings at the table. Bon Appetit and Joyeux Noel, y'all!

To market, to market...

2009-08-09T17:49:00.009-05:00

We are lucky to live in a charming Arkansas town in the beautiful Ozark mountains. We love to buy fresh produce at the local farmer's market. Our mother says that Fayetteville is where old hippies go to die. And we're so glad they do because they sure know how to grow some veggies. I'm sure it's because they grow other things well too, but we're not in the market for that type of thing.

So this week when I got a hankerin' (that's "craving" for the handful of carpetbaggers that might be reading this) for home grown veggies, I headed for our Saturday farmer's market. I needed a little inspiration for what I was to cook that evening. It didn't take long for me to zero in on some baby okra and ripe tomatoes. Any good southern cook knows that there's more than one way to cook okra. Dad would disagree, as he believes it should only be served fried. Let me tell you, this recipe for okra and tomatoes might just make a believer out of him. It has andouille sausage in it for one thing, and that should be incentive enough to dip your spoon in it.

Okra and Tomatoes with Smoked Andouille Sausage

Before we get started, you need to know you're gonna need a well seasoned iron skillet with a lid. You could try it in a regular pan, but we can't guarantee quality if you don't use a good skillet. Just saying.

1 link smoked andouille sausage, quartered and sliced
1 medium vidalia onion, chopped
3/4 - 1 lb sliced fresh okra
3 medium, ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more if you can take it
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
freshly cracked black pepper

Now saute the andouille in your iron skillet until browned. Remove sausage and add vidalia onion and saute until translucent. Add the okra and saute for about 5 minutes more. Add the tomatoes, andouille, and the other remaining ingredients and bring to low boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 30-45 minutes more before serving. Make up a batch of homemade cornbread and dinner is served.

Bon Appetit, y'all!

Oh, for the love of Pete!

2009-07-18T13:30:00.024-05:00

On a recent road trip with Dad, we came across one of the South's not so hidden treasures in Fairhope, Alabama. Little did we know this dining experience would spark a new love of panini sandwiches along with a deeper appreciation of the beignet.

Panini and beignets in Fairhope, Alabama, you say? Oh, yes. And if you doubt us, well, that just means you haven't met Panini Pete. Pete Blohme is one of our favorite faces in the South. He's about the nicest guy you'll ever meet. A CIA grad that really knows his stuff, he treats his customers like family. You'd never know this guy was famous. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of Guy Fieri and being featured on shows like Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, for example.

Now his panini are pretty spectacular. Not your regular old grilled cheese made in a fancy pan, no sir. Think house-roasted medium rare roast beef, gorgonzola spread, onion confit, tomato, baby greens, Dijon... on ciabatta. How about seared tuna with cucumbers, tomato, baby greens, and key lime aioli? We think anything with key limes is worth writing home about, but this was "update Facebook status-worthy". We loved Pete and his panini so much that when he invited us back for beignets at breakfast, we couldn't pass it up.

These beignets could rival anything inside or outside of New Orleans. And if you've had beignets in the Big Easy, you know that's really saying something. Pete's beignets are dense and custardy pillows of goodness only enhanced with powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice. Unbelieveable.

Now don't get all excited and think we're gonna share Pete's recipes with you. We don't have them and besides, we want you to go meet Pete and try them in person anyway. Be sure and tell him those nice folks from Arkansas sent ya.

We will, however, share with you about the best key lime pie recipe we've ever tasted. It's Dad's recipe and seeing as Pete uses key limes in his aioli, we think it'll sustain ya 'til you can get on down to Fairhope.

Dad's Key Lime Pie

Don't even think about taking a short cut and buying a pre-made graham cracker crust:

1 cup graham crackers (crush 'em yourself please, no canned crackers here)

1/2 cup toasted pecans

2-3 Tablespoons powdered sugar

5-6 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

So crush up the crackers and the pecans in the food processor. (And those graham cracker crust purists that think pecans don't go in the crust, well, we don't care what you think. Our Grandma has a pecan tree out back and we're using them. So there). Add the powdered sugar and salt and drizzle the butter in until it looks like wet sand. Press into a 9 inch deep dish pie pan and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool.

For the pie:

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup key lime juice (fresh squeezed if you can get them)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and blend until smooth. Pour into cooled pie crust and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 or until sorta set. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 4 hours or until ready to serve. Now, you'll think the crust is a little too tall for the amount of pie in there. Not to worry, this gives you room for your whipped cream. And for Pete's sake, don't insult this pie or us and use Cool Whip. Whip up some home made whipped cream. Bon Appetit, y'all!

Of Chivalry and the Proper Chicken Salad

2009-06-30T18:40:00.020-05:00

The arrival of the latest Southern Living in our mailboxes is certainly cause for celebration. It may sound as though we are in great need of entertainment. This is not the case. Southern Living is a virtual treasure trove of recipes, gardening, and decorating ideas. As we share a great appreciation for all things Southern, this serves as our monthly handbook.

The Southern Journal column has improved greatly in recent months. One article on the art of the Southern casserole was particularly entertaining. When the latest issue arrived today, sister found a long overdue column on what a woman should expect from a man. Thank you, Amy Bickers. We appreciate her efforts to keep chivalry alive and well. For those men out there (and ladies) we'll review these guidelines in a second. We're not sure if this is actually legal, but seeing as we're giving Amy Bickers the credit we think we're ok. But just in case, if you are a Southern Living subscriber, please turn to this article in the July issue on page 136 and enjoy. If not, go out and buy yourself a couple dozen copies. We're just giving you the Cliff's Notes version anyway.

1. Stand up for a lady. Actually, this doesn't just involve chairs.

2. Know that the SEC has the best football teams in the nation. Big 12 fan? Hmm, perhaps you should keep walking.

3. Kill Bugs. Delta Burke as Southern belle Suzanne Sugarbaker on Designing Women said, "...Ya know, when men use Women's Liberation as an excuse not to kill bugs for you. Oh, I just hate that! I don't care what anybody says, I think the man should have to kill the bug!"

4. Hold Doors Open.

5. Fix Things or Build Stuff. I once watched in awe as my stepfather built a front porch on the house he shares with my mother. He knew just what to do, cutting every notch, hammering every nail. The project was complete by sunset.

6. Wear Boots Occasionally. Not the fancy, I-paid-$1,000-for-these kind. We're talking about the slightly mud-crusted, I-could-have-just-come-from-the-field boots.

7. Take Off Your Hat Inside.

8. Grill Stuff.

9. Call Us. If you want to ask us out, don't text and don't email. Pick up the phone and use your voice.

10. Stand When We Come Back to the Dinner Table. "Just a little half-stand is enough to make me melt," my friend Stephanie says.

11. Pull Out Our Chairs. Wait, that's not all. Scoot them back in before we hit the floor.

12. Pay The Tab on the First Few Dates. "If you ask me out, you pay, "Stephanie says. "If I ask you out, you should still pay." Listen, guys, it's just simpler this way.

13. Don't Show Up in a Wrinkled, Untucked Shirt. Care about your appearance, but not too much. Don't smell better than we do. Don't use mousse or gel. You shouldn't look like you spend more time in front of the mirror than we do.

14. Never Get in Bar Fights. Patrick Swayze might look cool in Road House, but in reality, bar fights are stupid and embarrassing. You don't look tough. You look like an idiot.

15. Know How to Mix Our Favorite Cocktail Just The Way We Like It. Fix your favorite, too. Sit down on the porch (it's okay if you didn't build it), tell us how your day went, and we'll tell you about ours.

Thanks again, Amy. Good work. And any Southern lady that says she doesn't agree with this, well, she probably puts dark meat in her chicken salad. So let's just go ahead and help her out. This is a food blog after all.

4-6 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped

1/2 cup real mayo, or more if you like to keep your weight up

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons grated onion

garlic powder and salt to taste

generous serving of freshly cracked black pepper

and if you must, just optional...1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans and/or 1 cup sliced purple grapes

Now we're not saying there isn't a time and a place for dark meat. Who doesn't love a good 'ol fried chicken drumstick (preferably soaked in buttermilk and Texas Pete before frying), but that's another post...

Summer is up ON us!

2009-06-22T13:23:00.003-05:00

Yep, summer is certainly here. We're experiencing it first hand down south. We could bake biscuits on the driveway. Must be a good time to go ahead and fire up that grill. Some of our favorite grilling treats are fish tacos. In honor of our friends at Bud and Alley's taco bar in Seaside, Florida. Here goes:

Fish and Shrimp Tacos with Spicy Slaw and Black Bean and Grilled Corn Salsa

For the Tacos:

1 lb tilapia filets
1 lb peeled and and deveined shrimp
2 teaspoons Jubilee seasoning (divided)... www.buttrub.com if you don't know Jubilee
2 teaspoons fajita seasoning (divided)
1 teaspoon chipolte powder (divided)
juice of two limes
olive oil
white corn tortillas

sprinkle tilapia filets with 1 teaspoon Jubilee, 1 teaspoon fajita seasoning, and 1/2 teaspoon chipolte powder. drizzle with the juice of one lime and marinate in fridge for no longer than 30 minutes. repeat same procedure with shrimp with other half of seasonings and remaining lime. again marinate in fridge no longer than 30 minutes.

In the meantime, fire up that grill at medium high heat. Make the slaw and black bean salsa.

For the slaw:

1 package shredded cole slaw mix
juice of one lime
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons mayo
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons fajita seasoning
1/2 teaspoon chipolte powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon hot sauce or to taste

mix all ingredients except slaw mix together in large bowl, whisk until well combined. Add slaw mix and toss to coat. Cover and place in fridge.

Black Bean and Grilled Corn Salsa:

2 ears corn, shucked (coat in mixture of butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder)
1 can black beans
2 small tomatoes, diced
1/4 purple onion, diced
cilantro, chopped, to taste
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste

prepare corn as directed and place directly on grill (medium high heat). turn occasionally and remove after approximately 15-20 minutes. Some kernels will be dark. Don't freak out. That's the point. Set aside and let cool.

Drain black beans and rinse with water. Add remaining ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Cut corn from the cob and add to black bean mixture. Cover and store in fridge.

and we're back to the tacos:

drizzle olive oil over tilapia filets and shrimp. Set tilapia aside and arrange shrimp on skewers. Place tilapia and shrimp on grill grates. Grill tilapia and shrimp 2-3 minutes on each side or until tilapia is flaky and shrimp are pink. Careful with the tilapia, it's fragile. If it starts to fall apart, no worries. You're putting it inside a taco anyway.

Spray corn tortillas with cooking spray and place directly on grill. Grill 30 seconds on each side.

To assemble tacos, fill with your choice of combos: tilapia with black bean and corn salsa, shrimp with slaw, or vice versa. Or just put everything in one. It's a free country.

Enjoy with a Landshark and a lime or other cold beverage or your choice.

Bon Appetit, ya'll!