PSSSSST……Pass this hint on to someone who loves you! These great aprons are guaranteed to make you feel cute and happy while you cook!
01 FebBlack and Gold Superbowl!!! Get ‘yer Gumbo Goin’!
In honor of Miss Gloria, my mother in law, on her birthday I’m posting my Gumbo recipe. It will never be as good as hers but I am happy to share my version with you here. And I have two other huge reasons to be thinking about Gumbo this week – Black and Gold Superbowl coming up on Sunday the 7th (Geaux Saints!) and Mardi Gras coming up on Tuesday the 16th!
Black and Gold Superbowl!!!
Let the good times roll!
So, let’s talk about Gumbo. If you go to Louisiana and ask 10 people how to make Gumbo you’ll get at least 10 different recipes…..seriously. Every person and every family has their own favorite way to make it. But they all have one thing in common – roux. You have to start with a good, dark roux and only then can you go your own way. Making a roux used to scare the daylights out of me! But just stay with it and follow these steps and you’ll be just fine.
Here’s my gumbo recipe (YES, we will be having this on Superbowl Sunday!). This recipe makes enough for about 6 people – feel free to make more…..it freezes well and makes awesome lunches.
Ingredients
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup chopped yellow onions
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped green pepper
4 cloves of garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth or water
2 bay leaves
1 can lump crabmeat, drained
3 lbs. peeled shrimp
1 1/2 lb. smoked sausage, sliced into half moons
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a heavy dutch oven, heat oil until hot. Add flour and mix together with the flat side of a wooden spoon until mixed. Over medium heat, move oil and flour mixture in the pan back and forth with the spoon until browned the color of milk chocolate. Don’t stop stirring to answer the phone, feed the kids, chop the vegetables, pour a glass of wine, or converse with your friends. Seriously, this is the only way to make the roux – otherwise you will burn it and have to start over. So keep moving it around – this can take 20 minutes so hang in there.
Keep it moving - this roux has a long way to go!
You’ll see it starting to bubble and the color will slowly change. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the color…I was too busy stirring at that point!
Once the color is just right, chere’, you add the trinity (onions, green pepper and celery). Add the garlic, too. Keep stirring it until the veggies are coated with the roux and the onion is just wilted. Add the broth or water slowly, keep stirring to make it all nice and smooth. Now you can relax and let this simmer while you start on your seafood and meats.
I like to saute’ my sausage before adding it to the gumbo so in a large pan, saute’ the sausage in a little canola oil over medium high heat until brown around the edges. Add this to the gumbo and then pour a little broth in the pan to scrape up all the yummy goodness and add this also.
About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat, add the crab meat and the shrimp. Cook it all together and serve over cooked white rice. Sprinkle with file’ powder if you can find it where you live (optional).
Ready to take to the table
Enjoy with a piece of crusty bread so you don’t miss any of the delicious flavors before you! It’s so good it will make you want to kiss your sistah!
26 JanWinter Farmer’s Market – jam packed with great stuff!
Last Saturday we ventured to downtown Fort Collins to have a look at the Winter Farmer’s Market. We were so happy to find a lot of our favorite summer market vendors there along with tons of new vendors to visit.
It was a great day for an indoor market!
After a very crowded stroll around the Opera Galleria we headed home with these locally produced goodies:
- lemon-chive angel hair pasta from Pappardelle’s Pasta
- a pound of mixed mushrooms from Hazel Dell Mushrooms
- a round of Camembert from Mouco Cheese Company
I’m saving the pasta for another day but we immediately ate the cheese with our favorite crackers and here’s what we did with the mushrooms:
Mushroom Saute (serves four as a side dish)
INGREDIENTS:
1 T olive oil
1 T unsalted butter
1 pound mixed fresh mushrooms (we had cremini, shitake, lions mane and oyster this time), washed, patted dry and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 T chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 Cup cooking sherry (optional)
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme and/or rosemary (optional)
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oil and butter in a 12 inch saute pan over medium heat until the butter foams. Add the mushrooms and garlic. The mushrooms will immediately absorb all the fat in the pan. Sprinkle with the salt and stir with a wooden spoon until the mushrooms start to release their moisture and begin to shrink (2-3 minutes). Increase the heat to medium high and stir occasionally for 5 minutes. When the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms start to brown, just give an occasional sweep of the spoon to allow the mushrooms to brown nicely. Cook another 2-4 minutes. Turn off the heat and toss in the parsley and other herbs (if using) and the black pepper. Add the cooking sherry and toss again. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed.
Delicious Mushroom Saute'
We served these mushrooms on freshly toasted baguette slices as part of our dinner. We grated the parmesan cheese on them at the table. These are great as an appetizer for a party – make as much as you need depending on the number of guests you are expecting. Try them and let me know what you think!
If you are lucky enough to live in Northern Colorado, head on over to the Winter Market – February 13 & 27, March 6 & 27.
To find a local market in your area click here!
20 JanExciting Foodie News!!
I am so excited that I have been added to the official Foodie BlogRoll. You’ll see the widget over there on the right sidebar. I am now addicted to looking at each and every blog listed in each day’s featured blogs. Of course this takes up WAY too much time but I can’t help myself! Take a look at some of them for great recipes…..and be sure to always come back to MY blog to see what I’m up to…..
happy cooking (and eating!)
19 JanVegetarian Night #1
I made this dish a couple weeks ago for our first “vegetarian night” meal (see New Year’s Foodie Resolutions.) I should hurry and post the recipe before I forget how I made it! Basically it’s a frittata and I used what I had in the veggie drawer that day. Feel free to use your own favorite veggies….this is pretty hard to mess up. I had leftover macaroni and cheese so I used that as a crust just because it sounded like a good idea, but you can easily leave that out and still come up with a pretty yummy dinner!
VEGGIE FRITTATA
Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
leftover mac and cheese or other cooked pasta (optional)
zucchini, sliced thin
spinach, sauteed and water squeezed out
6 eggs, beaten
salt/pepper
shredded cheese (monterey jack/cheddar, etc)
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium sized non-stick pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and add pasta (if using). Spread around to cover bottom of pan like a crust. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Don’t stir but carefully check the bottom so it doesn’t burn (lower heat if needed).
While the crust is cooking, layer the zucchini and spinach on top. Pour eggs over the top and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese on top. When eggs start to set up around the sides, transfer the pan to a pre-heated 350 degree oven just until set. Let cool for a few minutes and cut into wedges or quarters for serving.
My family really enjoyed this meal with a green salad on the side. Vegetarian night #1 – a big success!!
Let me know if you have questions about this recipe….cheers for now!
17 JanA Quote Worth Sharing….
“When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It’s also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be.”
- Molly Wizenberg, from A Homemade Life
16 JanResolution Update!
I keep reading that January 17th is the day most people give up on their New Year’s Resolutions. I’m not giving up yet, so read on!
Resolution #1: Have more small dinner parties. I’m right on track with this one – last night we had two couples over for an evening of great food, wine and friendship. It took a lot of energy to prepare the meal, but everyone raved about the food so it was worth it. Thank goodness for my awesome husband – the best house cleaner, dish washer and general kitchen helper in the world! The menu was: bruschetta with wild mushroom saute, butternut-leek soup, pork loin wrapped in bacon with dijon/rosemary glaze, shrimp and crab stuffed baked potatoes, balsamic roasted asparagus wrapped with proscuitto and focaccia bread. I promise to post recipes soon!
Resolution #2: Organize my pantry. I’m doing really good on this one, but it’s always a work in progress. You’ll have to take my word for how bad it was before. And now I can actually find what I’m looking for! And I’m going to keep it organized, I promise….
So much easier to find stuff now!
Resolution #3: Serve one vegetarian meal a week to my family. This one is working out very well so far…..I’ve made a veggie frittata and an eggplant parmesan casserole. The family declared both of them to be “keepers”! I’ll post recipes soon. I’m having a lot of fun researching great vegetarian entree’ ideas…if you have any favorites be sure to let me know!
Resolution #4: Enter my favorite recipes into an online recipe software program. So far I’m not doing that great with this one. However, after spending way too much time looking for a recipe for chicken wing sauce that is written on a piece of paper somewhere in my office this very evening, I have a renewed drive to get it done!
Resolution #5: More visits to the local Farmer’s Markets. I thought I was going to have to wait until Spring for this one but I just found out there are going to be indoors Winter Farmer’s Markets starting next Saturday! Can’t wait to go and see what they have…..
That’s the update…..thanks for checking out my blog and I will post recipes this week!
30 DecFoodie New Year’s Resolutions
Hello Friends – I unintentionally just took an entire month or more away from my blogging. It seems like every year from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day I get way too over-busy with cooking and decorating and friends and family and parties….you know how it goes. Almost everyone I know does the exact same thing! Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday month and enjoyed all the hub-bub just like I did!
Now that all the busy-ness is over it’s time to turn my attention to my Foodie New Year’s Resolutions – there is always room for change and that’s what the new year brings. So here goes:
- Have more small dinner parties with friends. In the past we have always hosted large parties which are fun but are a lot of work to put together and leave me very little time to actually relax and enjoy my food and guests. So – one small dinner party (4-6 people) a month is my goal
- Work on pantry organization. I’d post a picture of the current pitiful state of my pantry but you would be shocked and appalled at the mess….I can’t find a darn thing in there right now! So – I am going to get everything out and sort, pitch, organize and get it under control, one shelf at a time or whatever it takes.
- Serve one vegetarian meal a week to my family. My daughter and I are all in favor but I have to convince my dear hubby that it will not kill him to go meatless once a week….seriously! So – I will find some delicious vegetarian recipes to add to my repertoire that will satisfy the entire family.
- Organize my favorite recipes into a software program (MasterCook) on my computer. I have so many favorites recipes and such a huge collection to look through that it becomes frustrating to find what I’m looking for when planning my weekly menus. So – continue to enter the recipes (I have only FOUR in my computer program right now) so I can access them easily when needed.
- Make weekly trips to the local Farmers Market when the season starts (here in Colorado that would be May) and get to know the local growers. I did this last year but not on a consistent basis. So – Tuesdays between 11 am and 3 pm, take my reusable shopping bags and head to the market. AND plan my weekly menus around the fresh produce I find there.
Whew….If I can just accomplish those goals I’ll feel a lot better about the 2010 foodie year! Of course I will keep you all updated by blogging about how I’m doing each week.
Finally I’d like to thank all of you who visited my site these past few months….as always, feel free to leave a comment or ask a question any time.
Cheers and Best Wishes for a Wonderful 2010!!
23 NovThe PERFECT WINE for Thanksgiving!!
Le Beaujolais Nouveau 2009 est arrive’!! Seriously friends, if you are looking for the perfect wine for your Thanksgiving meal, look no further than the fabulous tradition of serving Beaujolais Nouveau.
We stumbled upon this wine seven years ago when we went to Paris for Thanksgiving and our birthdays. The whole city was abuzz with the new wine – we arrived jet-lagged and hungry. Our adorable waiter at one of our favorite restaurants, le Bosquet, introduced us to Le Beaujolais Nouveau 2002 which we drank with dinner.
I can't remember his name but he's the one with the pitchers of wine!
23 NovWhite Chicken Chili – a Family Favorite
My family LOVES this chili – in fact there was a rush on the refrigerator just this morning to get to the last of it to take for a lunch! I started making this a few years ago when one of my Personal Chef clients (thank you Val!) requested it for her family. For some reason this always tastes best on Christmas Eve after we come back from looking at the pretty lights around town.
WHITE CHICKEN CHILI
serves 6 or so (depending on how hungry you are!)
Ingredients:
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves – cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (divided)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half
- 1 cup milk (I use skim)
- 1 tsp tabasco (use more if you want more spiciness)
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
- 1 4 oz can chopped green chilis, drained
- 1 14 oz. can navy beans, drained
- 1 14 oz. can white (cannelini) beans, drained
- 1/2 cup grated monterey jack cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
- Corn tortillas for making crispy strips (optional)
Directions:
Salt chicken pieces and cook in heavy pan or dutch oven with a little cooking oil until browned, set aside
Add 2 T butter to pan and cook onion over moderate heat until softened (5 minutes or so)
Add remaining 6 T butter to pan and whisk in flour. Cook roux, whisking constantly, 3 minutes.
Slowly add broth, half and half and milk, continuing to whisk.
Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened.
Stir in tabasco and spices.
Add beans, chilis, chicken and monterey jack cheese.
Continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. If too thick, add a little more broth or milk.
Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more tabasco or salt if needed.
Off heat, stir in sour cream.
Serve with chopped cilantro if desired.
We make tortilla strips to serve on top of chili: cut corn tortillas into long strips and fry in canola oil until crisp. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. These are delicious on top of or stirred into your chili at the table.
NOTE: Because of the milk products, this chili does not freeze very well so plan on eating all of it within a few days. We never have a problem doing that!!
Hope you enjoy this as much as we do – let me know if you have any questions or comments!
Happy Eating to All….