Étouffée

Étouffée simply translates to "smothered" (FYI)

This is my first go at this recipe. I've made gumbo and jambalaya before, but never etoufee. (It should be noted that I'm not going to go through the trouble of using the little accent marks abover the two e's in the word "Étouffée" for the remainder of this blog post. Capitalized or not.)

Ideally, the idea behind etouffee is that it would be made after a big crawfish boil with the uneaten, leftover crawfish tails. I wish this were the case with me. Can you imagine the richness and flavor of a stock benefited from crawfish shells and uneaten heads? Talk about nirvana.

Instead, you ask? Me? Well, I went to Walmart and bought a package of tails that is sourced out of China. I'm sure I'm doing the world and Earth no favors by this fact of the matter. I really have no excuse as to why I didn't seek out crawfish tails from Louisiana either. But that is neither here nor there and what's done is done. SO!

the end! Maybe I'll add some shrimp for heft next time.

Let's get to it, shall we?

Ingredients:
4Tbl unsalted butter
1/4C flour

1 onion
1 green bell pepper
3 stalks celery
3 cloves garlic
4 green onion bottoms

1 14.5oz chopped tomatoes with juice
29oz stock (seafood or chicken)

1 1/2teas Old Bay seasoning
1teas garlic powder
1/2teas cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
smidgen of fresh thyme (not necessary)

12oz (3/4lb) package of crawfish tail meat

S&P

suggested additions: Louisiana hot sauce & Worcestershire sauce (1 teas each)
Serve over rice with chopped green onion tops as a garnish

Directions:
Add the butter and flour together over low heat with a heavy bottom pot.
Wait until the roux resembles a peanut butter color

Add the trinity
Cook for 10min.
Season with S&P (about 1/2teas each)

Add the garlic, green onion bottoms, tomatoes, thyme (optional) and bay leaves.
Stir
Add the stock

Cook for 30-45min. covered.
**I cook for 30min. covered and the last 10-15min. uncovered. This is because I like a thicker consistency with etouffe. If you like a thinner consistency, then cook covered the entire time.**

Throw in the package of tails. Boil then kill heat and serve. Top with scallion tops and more cayenne if you want.

 

Here are my notes if you wish to take a gander.

 

Ingreeds minus the garlic. (I forgot it. Sorry garlic.)

 

roux. Stage? Peanut Butter. Mine looks like it broke and separated. I don't know for sure if that's what happened. I also don't know if that's a good or bad thing... but I still went on with the dish regardless.

 

adding the "Holy Trinity" cools the roux and stops the darkening of it.

 

See that sticken stuff at the bottom? That's called "fond." I learned this from Chef John via Food Wishes. Check out his blog.

 

 

bring the heat baby

 

I feel like a Cajun Queen

Giada SPLITS from hubby



Big Whoop! Call me later if you have juicier news or something more interesting to talk about... say... FOOD!

If you know me, then you know I have an avid love affair with YouTube. It's part of my everyday lifestyle. Lately, I've been watching videos that feature a former cooking show from the Food Network. The show? Everyday Italian. The host? Giada de Laurentiis.

Which brings me to: Conghilie With Clams and Mussels

 

Clicky Clicky to watch for yourself

Ingredients:
3/4lb medium Shells
3 cloves of garlic (thinly sliced)
2 heads of broccoli
1/2C of white wine
3Tbls EVOO
salt and papper
hefty pinch of red pepper flakes
some flour
some white wine

Directions:
Set a large pot to boil. Clean the clams and mussels by filling a large bowl with cold water. Toss in a couple of handfuls of flour and let set. This will ensure no sand in food. (as Gabrielle Hamilton says: nothing is worse in food than sand. or okay, maybe hair) Thinly slice the garlic cloves, set aside. Chop the broccoli into bite-sized florets, set aside. Salt the boiling water. Add the pasta. Set a cold pan over medium heat and add the garlic immediately. Wait for it to brown. Tilt the pan to encourage this process. Add red pepper flakes by the pinch. Add the clams and wine and cover. Remove when they've all opened. (peaking is allowed) Add the mussels. (same thing about the peaking) Two minutes prior to the pasta being done, add in the broccoli florets. Drain. Add to the pan full of wine and shellfish, metalicky goodness. Toss. Salt and Pepper. Serve. Best when eaten at room temperature & outside. It's perfectly fine eaten cold, straight from the fridge as well.

 

How inviting!

 

tilting. This is also a great trick when making fried rice. to do this trick, add chopped ginger alongside the garlic (I'd say equal amounts) and allow to crisp. Crispy ginger and garlic atop a mound of fried rice truly takes it over the edge of deliciousness.

 

back to the pasta.

 

 

I love the sound of clanking shells. I added both at the same time. This was a rookie mistake since clams take longer to open than mussels by about 2-3min.

 

a chef might say don't peak. and a chef may be right. Lucky for you, I'm a forgiving cook. Peak away! I won't tell.

 

a boiling pot of pasta. so reassuring. so homey.



here's where it gets healthy



Serve

My Great Grandma McVey's Chocolate Cherry Cake

In light of spring cleaning, I've decided to post a recipe I found while rummaging around the house. I'm a rummager. Are you? Anywho! This recipe is one that is totally not my speed... but I'm an open minded person and don't want to exclude anyone with a sweet tooth.

So here goes!!

My Great Grandma McVey's Chocolate Cherry Cake

Cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling
2 eggs
1teas vanilla
1/2teas almond extract

Icing:
5Tbl margarine
1C sugar
1/3C milk
6oz. chocolate chips

For cake: Beat eggs, add pie filling, vanilla, and almond extract. Add to cake mix, and mix well. Bake in greased and floured 9x13 cake pan. Bake @ 350 for 40min.

For icing: Bring margarine, milk, and sugar to a boil. Stir in chocolate chips. When chips are melted, pour over warm cake.

Now! The tricky part. I don't know the exact quantity of the cherry pie filling. I also don't bake hardly enough to give a rough estimate (sorry!) And I don't enjoy baking enough to go out and recipe test this one. (sorry! again!)

A shot in the dark guess would be a 16oz (ish) can? I can't ask her this question (looking for an answer) either because she's dead. You see, this is why cooking with your grandmas (or pas) and elders is so important. These little pieces of information are so critical and crucial!! I typed verbatim what my Grandma Ailene wrote to me on an index card. I love nostalgia.

Pink Spaghetti

"Love is in the air. Everywhere I look around." - John Paul Young

 

It's Spring! I think it's not officially Spring until 6:45pm-ish or so if you want to split hairs about it.

Anywho! Being that winter is over, I think it quite fitting that I post a recipe using an egg. This particular recipe came to be out of sheer ingenuity on my part. (pats myself on the back)

It's yesterday. It's noon. Jason is forgetting to eat once again because he's one of those weirdos that can forget about meals. I know that I have a big, honkin' casserole dish filled with my marinara. I set a pot to boil. I bring in my sauce from the garage fridge. I open the pantry, and I choose an opened box of thin spaghetti. The water is boiling. I add some salt to the water to season.

"Jason, you want some spaghetti for lunch?" I ask. "You haven't eaten, and it's lunch time." I quickly add before Jason has time to reject me.

"Sure, that'd be perfect." He doesn't look up or at me as he replies. Jason continues to type away with his eyes glued to the laptop screen. Recognition or not, I feel self-satisfied because I have everything in play for the makings of a decently homemade lunch. I only take a moment. CRAP!

The ground beef is still frozen. I race to the freezer, only to find it's no good anymore. I need a protein to make this lunch a complete meal. "Think, think, think." I say to myself as I grab a pan & seat it over a medium flame, readying it for the red. I eyeball a pasta portion for one hungry man. I grab and bung in the thin spaghetti to the pot of water that is (now) at a rolling boil. As I'm twirling the uncooked pasta down into its fateful cooked death, I almost say, "eff it" and resort to not caring.

I have an Oprah "aha" moment. Haha, not really. But a light bulb does go off in my brain.

I add the marina to the preheated pan, drain the spag (making sure to leave a little residual cooking water with it), add the spag to the sauce, toss toss toss, kill the heat, add an egg yolk (I discard and let its clear membrane slip through my fingers), toss toss toss some more, I grate some cheese. Voilà!!

And just like that, Pink Spaghetti is born. Marvelous!!

 

the mother ship of marinaras

 

yolk be gone

 

check out that blush. Seriously, compare this coral color to its once in-your-face red

 

panned before plated

Pea Soup

(Fun fact: I've been meaning to publish this blog since May, 7, 2012. That's the date of the last edit. Today is the day! Anything underlined is what I've written/added today, February 17, 2015.)

I wasn't going to bother blogging about this soup, but I genuinely love it. It's what I cook. This is my blog. If I can't talk about it here, then where can I?!

This "recipe" came to be because I had to try Nigella Lawson's recipe called "Slime Soup." Click HERE for Nigella's recipe. Even though I never did spend the money or bother buying fresh mozzarella as called for, I became obsessed with this soup. I think I ate it (at least) once a day for months. I mean, I really couldn't get enough of it. 

My recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:
4C Water
1Tbl Better than chicken bouillon

1lb. Frozen Peas
1 Idaho Potato
1 Onion
2 Scallions aka Green Onions

Salt & Pepper

Provolone Cheese

Directions:

Peel and dice russet potato. Dice onion and chop scallion. Add to a soup pot with water and bouillon. Bring to a boil and boil for 10min. Add peas. Bring back to a boil, switch off the heat. Transfer the pot's contents into a blender. Remove the blender's top's insert and cover with a towel. Blend until smooth. Ladle and top with provolone cheese.

Pour into a small coffee cup or small bowl. Top with as much cheese as you please.

**the green onions are crucial. Here are some more recent pictures.

 

I prefer using white pepper in this recipe. Nigella turned me on to its musky warmth. Try it. You might like it.

 

 

one of my fave soup bowls. See the chip?

 

as you can see I got a new blender since then. Christmas 2013?

 

 

 

Pea Soup Love

Taquito(s)

Guess what? I know judo-taquito-karate! (that was my attempt at a joke)

Home-making taquitos (and btw, what is the correct plural spelling for a taquito? Someone help me out. I'm guessing "taquitos") is for everyone.

The secret to home-making a taquito is that it is a two-step fry process. The first fry is only intended to make the tortilla malleable & able to roll without tear. At this stage the oil does not have to be "fry hot."

The second fry happens once each taquito has been layered with stuffing, rolled, and set on a holding plate. This (2nd) fry is intended to make the outer shell crispy and sealed. During this said fry, the oil will need to be considerably hotter than the 1st.

There's also a few (like 3) other little tid bits that I can write to you about to help you along your taquito making way... but reading is sort of a drag to me.

So instead, please allow me to show you.

just like the beginning of the makings of enchiladas, heat some oil

 

insert a corn tortilla and wait for the bubbles

 

now time to tong a fold

 

use a spoon to help shape if necessary

  

*tid bit 1* use a cookie cooling rack to drape the post (1st) fried torts

 

*tid bit 2* pre-portion out your filling. Much like a well-constructed sandwich, layering is important. here's how it's gonna go: bean, corn, chick, cheese

 

*tid bit 3* mash beans to use as a "glue" or solid foundation for layering. this will help the guts of the taquito not fall out during the 2nd fry.

 

 

 --this is sort of a tid bit... consider it tid bit 3.5-- Notice: the tortilla is only a third of the way covered with filling. Don't be tempted to over-fill.

 

 

layer, roll, and set seam-side-down

 

other end

 

get ready

 

insert seam-side-down. (best to do with tongs. I would have, but at that time I was fumbling a three-handed job with only two hands, a camera phone, hot oil, Penny at my feet, and a jillion other things on my mind.)

 

roll it around. brown evenly - this should take about 90 seconds in 15-20 increments

 

 

TAW-DAH!

Final thoughts: I think that it's actually beneficial to let the once rolled taquito(s) rest before their 2nd fry for awhile. Awhile being like hours in advance -- this could be good news for anyone who likes to plan ahead or is strapped for time. I imagine you could even pre-roll them all and leave overnight in the fridge and then fry for a party the next day. I haven't tried it. Yet.