Keith Urban twitted, I delivered

Looking for tailgating recipes that will rock the house? If you want to tailgate in true cajun style.  Keith Urban show is tomorrow night in Baton Rouge. Here are some easy and great cajun recipes that will hopefully hit the spot.

Crawfish Pistolettes 

1 medium onion chopped 

1 bell pepper chopped

1 garlic clove chopped

1 stick no salt butter

2 lbs crawfish

1 4oz can mushroom pieces

1 can cream of mushroom soup 

creole seasoning to taste

30 pistolettes

Method:

saute onions, bell pepper, and garlic in butter. add crawfish, mushrooms, and creole seasoning. cook 15 minutes.

add mushroom soup. simmer 5 minutes on low heat. let cool.

cut off top of pistolettes. remove some of the bread inside and fill with crawfish mixture.

replace bread top. spread melted butter and garlic powder on top of pistolettes.

bake @ 450 for 8 minutes

Crawfish Cornbread

1 pack jiffy cornbread mix

1/3 cups vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 can cream corn

1/3 cup chopped jalapeno peppers 

12oz grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 chopped onion sauteed

1 lb crawfish tails

Method:

add oil and egg to cornbread mix. stir well.

add corn, peppers, cheese, onions, and crawfish tails to batter. 

bake @ 400 for 35-40 min. let cool for 20 min. cut into squares

Crab Cake Sliders:

Crab Cakes:

1 lb. Lump white crab meat

1 White onion, chopped

4 Cloves garlic, minced

1 Green bell pepper, diced

1 bunch Green onion, small sliced

Celery, diced

3 Large Eggs

Plain Bread Crumbs

Flour

½ stick Butter

Vegetable Oil (for pan frying)

 Coarse Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Method:

In large fry pan, melt butter and use to sauté the white onion, half of the green onion, celery and bell pepper all until soft.  Add the garlic several minutes before finishing.
Pour the finished mixture into a large mixing bowl.  Add bread crumbs, flour, parmesan cheese and crab meat and fold all ingredients together until mixture is thick.  Season with salt, pepper and cayenne.
Using your hands, take a ball of the mixture and form it into a patty shape of your desired size.  Dip in the seasoned flour, dredge in the egg wash mixture and then roll the cake in the seasoned bread crumbs until completely covered.  Place the crab cakes on a baking rack to sit for five or ten minutes.
In a skillet on the stove or grill, add vegetable oil and heat to 350 degrees.  Drop in each crab cake and fry for a couple of minutes until golden brown.  Then flip over and fry until the whole cake is fried.
Heat dinner rolls slightly and cut open
spread remoulade sauce sauce on top and bottom of roll.
Add sliced tomato and lettuce of choice.
Enjoy

Chicken Sauce Piquant..... Lee Lee style......

Cooking Louisiana defines Sauce Piquant as a style of cooking used for rabbit, duck, alligator, chicken and seafood. Just about anything you can dream of  has been used to whip up a sauce piquant.
A sauce piquant is tomato based using a combination of whole, stewed, sauce and paste, and, uses a small roux. As the name suggests the dish is a little spicy by nature but you can control this yourself. The word piquant means "pricking" in French, like a rose bush thorn. The meat is usually browned (not the seafood dishes), the roux follows and then come the onions, garlic, tomatoes and spices. The Louisiana home style of doing this dish demands that the sauce be cooked a couple of hours on a low fire.  This is done to sweeten the tomato flavors, and with wild game, you need to cook it longer to tenderize the meat. The flavor is full bodied tomato and believe me you'll love it.
Sauce piquant is served on hot rice.






1 chicken cut into 8 pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 bell pepper, your choice of color and flavor, chopped
1 can Rotell tomatoes
4-5 tablespoons of roux
olive oil

Step 1 : brown seasoned chicken in oil then remove.
Step 2 : add onions and bell peppers and saute until tender
Step 3 : add rotell tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes
Step 4 : add roux and mix well ( see "Cajun are You ?" post for roux recipe )
Step 5 : add chicken
Step 6 : add water or broth to cover chicken and bring to a boil, once you reach a boil reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour. check and stir frequently.
Step 7 : cook rice, brown or white, your choice
Step 8 : Serve sauce piquant over rice. Enjoy.......

  

Food from Orange Beach

Well Friends...... Orange Beach Rocks.... Had a great time with the Blue Jays and families. I was only there for a day and a night but let me tell you folks it was AWSOME. Lets talk about the food. Marinated Deer Back strap, marinaded in Italian Dressing and Worcestershire, and grilled to absolute perfection. Homemade Deer Sausage. Baked Ham and Cheese sandwiches on dinner rolls. Mexican Fudge, don’t ask me what it is but it was Awesome .....cheesy peppery goodness. (I will get the recipe for sure so stay tuned ). Slow cooked roast beef and a wonderful dip that was created by layering Feta Cheese, Cream Cheese, Fruit preserves then topped with walnuts. Then hot BBQ Beef sandwiches on the beach. What can I say but YUMMMM. To all the families that provided all this amazing food, look out Im hunting you down for the recipes and I will share them with the world. Want to say thanks to all the families that made us part of their vacation and a huge shout out to my father in law for his generosity with a place to lay our heads. Your the best.
Until next time.
Stay cool, stay hungry and keep cooking.

What's for Dinner?

Tonight we had Stuffed Pork Chops w/ Potatoes and Mushrooms


This is a quick easy fix. It involved abut 10 minutes prep time. cooked in 20-25 minutes.
Simple and easy. And CHEAP. Yes I said cheap. Your looking at about $4 per servings. Try this one out and let me know what you all think.


1 small white onion, diced
1 each orange, yellow and red bell pepper, diced
4 medium red B potatoes, quartered then diced
1/2 # button mushrooms, sliced
1 # baby spinach
1/4 # feta cheese
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2 center cut boneless pork chops, butterflied


Method

Start by chopping all peppers, onions, mushrooms, and potatoes.
Set aside. Start water boiling for your potatoes. Need to boil for roughly 10 minutes. Drain and cool, set aside. Saute peppers and onions in 2 tbsp olive oil for 5-7 minutes. Add spinach and saute for 3 more minutes or until spinach starts to wilt slightly.
slowly add feta cheese to your veggie mix. Butterfly your chops and stuff with veggie and cheese mixture. Place in a oven safe pan with a little amount of water, season with salt and pepper, and bake at 350 degrees for 20- 23 minutes. Meanwhile while you chops are busy cooking you can start making your potatoes and mushrooms. Slice and saute mushrooms in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add potatoes, rosemary and dried basil. Cook for 8 minutes. season with salt and pepper. Now all that is left to do is plate and serve.

I really hope that you all in jellyroll land will try this quick, easy and great tasting dish out.

Enjoy.......


And, of course, the funniest food of all, kumquats. ~George Carlin

Stocks

If you want to improve your cooking at home, you will want to learn how to make stocks and stock reductions and then learn how to cook with them. They are vital for making soups, sauces, braises and more. Besides, they are fun to make and will help you with all your cooking technique skills.


CHICKEN STOCK
bony chicken pieces (backs, necks, and wings) from 2 chickens
2 stocks celery with leaves cut up
1 carrot cut up
1 large quartered onion
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 whole cloves
6 c. cold water
Put all ingredients into large stock pot or Dutch oven and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Remove chicken, strain stock and discard vegetables. If to be used right away skim off fat if not chill and lift off fat.
Makes 4-1/2 cups stock.


BEEF STOCK
4 lbs. beef or veal bones
3 qts. water
1 med. onion, coarsely chopped
3 lg. carrots, chopped
6 sprigs fresh parsley
1 tsp. whole peppercorns, or to taste
4 cloves garlic, halved
1 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. celery seeds
Makes 2 quarts. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place bones in a roasting pan and bake 30 minutes, turning once. Discard accumulated fat.
Transfer bones and remaining ingredients to large stockpot. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, at least 4 hours. Frequently skim the froth off the top.

Using a colander or a large sieve lined with a layer of cheesecloth, strain stock.

To defat stock, refrigerate until the fat hardens on the surface, then remove and discard. The stock may gel during refrigeration; this is natural.


FISH STOCK
2 lbs. fish trimmings, heads, bones, tails
1 onion, thinly sliced
6 sprigs parsley
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 c. dry white wine
2 qts. cold water
1/2 tsp. peppercorns
Fish stock is a broth made by simmering fish bones and trimmings (heads, tail, etc.) in water and (or) wine with or without the addition of various herbs and aromatics. A good stock is indispensable in the preparation of superior fish sauces, soups, and bouillabaisses - and it comes in handy as a moistener for baking and broiling lean fish.
Put all the ingredients into a large soup kettle and bring to a boil. Cut the heat, cover, and simmer for half an hour or so. Strain and set aside. (Yields: 2 quarts).

Saffron spiced Veggies w/ Cous Cous

This one takes alittle while to cook. Your looking at around 20 minutes of prep. including soak. And about 1 hour of actual cook time. But the silver lining is that you freeze what you dont need and it will be a meal for another day. This is a completely Vegetarian dish.

Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 cups Cous Cous
2 cups carrots, cut into 3/4 inch chunks
1& 3/4 cups turnips, 3/4 inch chunk
1-2 large fennel bilbs, cut into 6 wedges
1 large eggplant, 3/4 inch cubed
1 large zucchini, 3/4 inch slices
2-3 finely chopped ciantro


Sweet spicy Sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large yellow onion, cut into wedges
4 garlic clove, minced
1- 1 inch peiece of ginger root, peeled and minced
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tbsp coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon blk pepper
2- inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 teasppon saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp of warm water
3 cups veggie stock ( see next recipe )
2x 13 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomatoe paste


Method:

PUT the cous cous into a bowl, cover with 1 & 1/4 cup water, let soak for 10 minutes.

Preparing sauce:
heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot. Fry the onions until beginning to brown, then add the garlic and ginger. Stir in the greound spices and cinnamon stick and fry for a few minutes. Add the soaked saffron along with the stock, tomatoes, tomatoe paste. Bring to a boil. Add the carrots and turnips to the sauce, reduse heat, cover, cook for about 10 minutes.
Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan and fry the fennel wedges until lighty colored. Transfer to the sauce with a slotted spoon. Fry the eggplant and zucchini until browened, adding a little extra oil if needed. drain and add to the sauce. Cook gently for 15-20 minutes until the veggies are tender and the sauce is rich and thick.

To Serve:
pile the cous cous in a large dish. Stir in the chopped ciantro into the stew ans season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve a mound of cous cous to each person , spoon the veggie stew over the cus cous and garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

Balsamic Braised Peppers and Leeks

This is one of my new favorites. Quick, easy, can make a full meal. How much more is there.

Balsamic Braised Peppers and Leeks

2 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 orange bell pepper, 1/2 inch chunks
1 red bell pepper. 1/2 inch chunks
3 tbsp, balsamic vinegar
hand full italian parsley
salt and pepper

METHOD: heat oil in saucepan, add leeks and peppers and stir well.
cover pan and cook for 10 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook another 10 minutes uncovered. the vegetables should be brown from the vinegar and all liquid should be evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and top with chopped parsley before serving.