King cake

I love Mardi Gras! Truth be told we never really celebrated it growing up... although we did get a couple of days off from school when I was in high school. (It was during state basketball playoffs, though, so I still had to go to school for practice.) Now that I live in Arkansas, it's just a great excuse to cook Cajun food and feel happy homesick. Our delightful friends the Grahams joined us for lunch today to mark the occasion. On the menu: chicken, sausage and okra gumbo; French bread (I love my bread machine!); and homemade king cake.

I'm impressed every year when my king cake turns out like the photo in Chef John Folse's cookbook. Especially when you consider that the first year I made it, I used every bowl in the kitchen and it cooked over the sides of my baking stone! What a mess!
Special thanks to Amy Roscoe, who saved my Mardi Gras by finding just enough purple sugar for my king cake!

There are still 2 more days to celebrate Mardi Gras... I'm posting recipes for gumbo, jambalaya, muffaletta pizza (which we plan on having on Tuesday), and king cake. Laissez les bons temps roulez!



Recipes and links:

Gumbo www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chicken-ham-and-smoked-sausage-gumbo-recipe/index.html

Jambalaya
I've posted this before, but just in case you missed it the first time... This recipe is from Dr. Randall Wight's Cajun grandmother. You can also add 1 c. chopped celery, but she omitted it because he didn't like it. You can also substitute cream of mushroom soup for either of the cream soups.
1 stick of butter
2 c raw rice
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cans French onion soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 pkg. sausage (not the breakfast kind), sliced, browned
2-4 chicken breasts (as needed or desired), cut bite size
Melt butter in rectangular pan. Add everything else. Mix well. Bake 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 375 (until rice is done).

Muffuletta pizza www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/muffuletta-pizza-recipe/index.html

King cake www.jfolse.com/recipes/desserts/cakes12.htm
Find this and lots of great Cajun and Creole recipes and foods at Chef John Folse's website, linked left. You can even order a king cake if you don't want to make one yourself. I recommend his Hot Beignets & Warm Boudoirs cookbook-- one of my favorite wedding gifts! (Thanks, Kodie!)

Wonton ravioli

So, the crazy pregnancy cravings have finally hit. I've had more junk food than real food today. In fact, I think I've had more junk food today than I've had in the past 6months. Needless to say, by suppertime, I needed some nourishment. Mushroom ravioli with green pea puree to the rescue! It's fast, light, and delicious.

Someday I'm going to get the pasta attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. Until then, wonton wrappers work pretty well for ravioli-- and the extras usually inspire Nick to make these super yummy banana coconut dessert wontons! Just in case you'd like to do the same, I'm including the recipe below.

Recipe and link
Banana wontons with coconut cream sauce from Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking
makes 16 wontons; serves 4
filling:
2 bananas, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 T sugar
1/2 ts ground cinnamon
1 T flaked sweetened coconut
sauce:
1 1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c unsweetened coconut milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c flaked sweetened coconut (optional)

16 wonton wrappers

vegetable oil for deep-frying

1. Stir together filling ingredients, lightly mashing as you mix. The mixture should still be a little chunky.
2. Sauce: Bring milk and coconut milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and set aside. Beat egg yolks and sugar together in medium bowl until pale and smooth, 2-3 mins. Stirring constantly, gradually pour half of hot milk mixture into egg yolk mixture, then stir yolk mixture into milk mixture remaining in pan. Return saucepan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens, about 2 mins. Strain into a medium bowl. For extra flavor, add coconut flakes. Let cool to room temp., then cover and chill.
3. Place heaping ts of fillingin center of one of the wonton wrappers. (Keep the remaining wrappers covered with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.) Moisten edges of wrapper with a fingertip dipped in water, then fold the wrapper in half to form a triangle. Pinch the edges firmly to seal. Pull opposite corners of the base of the triangle together, moisten one of the corners with water, and press the two corners firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling, covering folded wontons with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.
4. Pour enough oil into a wok or 2-quart saucepan to come to a depth of 3 inches. Heat oil over medium heat to 350. Slip a few of the wontons into the oil and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown, 2-3 mins. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining wontons. Serve hot or cold, with the coconut cream sauce.

Mushroom ravioli with green pea puree www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10335?section

There's a fungus among us!

Nick's comment on the mushrooms I prepared tonight. It's also the name of a mushroom pizza at Tim's in Fayetteville... which sounds so good right now I'm tempted to drive to Fayetteville tomorrow!

Tonight we had an improvised almost-vegetarian version of Emeril Lagasse's poor man's beef Wellington. Basically, we ate the mushroom mixture over pierogi. It was quite delicious. Bella especially liked the mushrooms! I cooked extra mushrooms because sometime this week we're going to have mushroom ravioli with green pea puree. (Not a particularly appetizing name, but if you saw the Vegetarian Times photo, you'd want to try it.)

I'm playing the pantry game this week. (For info, check out Deanna's food blog, linked at left.) Basically, I'm trying to avoid buying groceries this week by using stuff we already have. Lunch today was leftover tomato-pesto soup with marinated mozzarella calzone. You already know about tonight's dinner and the upcoming mushroom ravioli. The rest of the week's menu: salmon-topped hash (from Cat Cora's Cooking from the Hip), rosemary white bean soup (Barefoot Contessa Cookbook) with ciabatta rolls, lasagna, and peas and cornbread. Hopefully that will get us to the weekend, when we will begin celebrating Mardi Gras!



Recipe links and notes:

http://foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/poor-mans-beef-wellington-recipe/index.html

I cooked the chopped mushrooms in a mixture of olive oil and butter, with 2 cloves of pressed garlic and 1 chopped shallot. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped fresh thyme. When the mushrooms begin to brown, add a couple of turns of Worcestershire sauce and enough unsalted beef stock to cover bottom of skillet. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. While reducing the liquid, boil frozen potato and cheddar pierogi until they float. Place pierogi in baking dish; top with mushroom mixture and shredded cheddar. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly.

The recipe that introduced me to, and made me a fan of frozen pierogi (although I don't use soy bacon... it's just gross):

http://vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10572?section=

Enjoying cooking

Before I talk about cooking, I have to share a funny story. I realize everyone may not find our child as amusing as Nick and I do, but we thought this was hysterical. This evening, Bella grabbed a Vegetarian Times from the coffee table and climbed up on the sofa to sit with us. She opened the magazine to an article on olive oil. Then she looked at a drawing of olive oil and bread, and pretended to pull some bread from the basket and eat it! She even shared with us. Then she moved on to dessert (mini moon pies). We knew she enjoys pretend cooking, but had no idea she was into pretend eating! Oh, and did I mention that one of her favorite words is "yum"?

As you can probably tell from the infrequency of my posts, I have not exactly been enjoying cooking lately. This is probably due to the fact that I haven't been enjoying eating. In fact, the last meal I really enjoyed preparing was the veggie pizza I wrote about. Good news: my appetite-- as well as the joy of cooking-- is returning! As I type, a frittata is baking and extra hashbrowns are browning. And I realized as I sprinkled thyme over the egg mixture that I was actually enjoying cooking again!

Frittata, which is basically quiche without crust, is definitely a go-to meal at our house. We almost always have eggs and potatoes, some sort of cheese, and fresh herbs. Of course, you can add vegetables or meat or change the combination of herbs... it's all about using what you have on hand.

The recipe linked below is a good basic one, and the photo in Barefoot Contessa Family Style always looks delicious to me. While looking up the link, I also found a Paula Deen recipe for hash brown quiche that looked pretty yummy.


Recipes and notes

I've recently discovered that this is even yummier when prepared in a cast iron skillet. I greatly reduce the ingredients in order to feed 2-3; tonight I used 3 eggs and some half-and-half, one medium russet potato, a couple of sprigs of thyme, and a little diced white cheddar.

http://foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/potato-basil-frittata-recipe/index.html

Valentine's cupcakes

No, I didn't actually bake cupcakes for Valentine's Day. Yes, I could have. Instead, I supported our friend Billye White, owner of Meals Matter, and an incredible baker. Seriously, she is gifted. And she makes the most incredible strawberry cream cheese frosting.

Anyway, it turns out that strawberry cake is one of Nick's favorites. I learned that a few months ago when Billye was selling individually wrapped strawberry cupcakes. Hmm... why not? It was so good I licked the icing off the plastic wrap! Then I felt guilty that I hadn't bought one for Nick, who is normally not a big fan of sweets. When he admitted that he really likes strawberry cake-- I had no idea!-- I sent him to Billye's to buy his own. (Sweet boy brought me another as well!) So, when we got an e-mail from Billye about cupcakes for Valentine's Day...

I'm thinking strawberry cupcakes will be our Valentine's tradition.



Recipe

This is not Billye's recipe, nor have I tried it, but it looks pretty good. Also, my Aunt Brenda used to make a pound cake with cake mix and Jell-O-- sweet memory!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/simply-delicious-strawberry-cake-recipe/index.html

Romantic Valentine's dinner

Valentine's Day is not a big deal at our house. We use it as an excuse to prepare a special meal, but that's about it. This year, however, for the first time in... I don't know... years, at least, we are excited about Valentine's Day! Why? Food, of course. Billye White's strawberry cupcakes. I'm drooling just thinking about them! We're so excited about dessert (if we can resist them that long) that the meal is sort of an afterthought. Nick has requested shrimp alfredo, so that's what we'll be having. If I feel really good tomorrow, I may try to recreate Pearl Street Pasta's Cajun shrimp pasta. Anyway, here's my alfredo 'recipe.'

Recipe: Shrimp Alfredeaux
So, this isn't really a recipe. It's also not classic alfredo because I add lots of herbs and spices.

While your pasta is cooking (we like farfalle or penne), melt a T. or so of butter in a small saute pan. Add an equal amount of olive oil. Press in 1 clove of garlic; cook 1 min. over low-medium heat, being careful not to let garlic burn. Pour enough heavy cream to cover bottom of pan to about 1/4 inch depth. (You can, and probably will, add more if this doesn't look like enough sauce.) Keep heat low; you don't want this to boil. Season with a little dried Italian seasoning, 1 sprig fresh rosemary (you can remove and chop the leaves, but I just throw the whole thing in and let it simmer), and some Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning. Add a handful of grated Parmesan cheese (NOT the stuff from the green can); stir to combine. Check seasoning and adjust.

Sprinkle peeled, deveined shrimp with Tony's or Emeril's Essence. Heat olive oil in large saute pan. Cook shrimp just until pink and curled.

Drain pasta. Combine pasta, sauce, and shrimp. Serve immediately.

For Pearl Street pasta (this is a guess), saute chopped green onions, halved cherry tomatoes, and a little bit of corn. Add a little white wine to the sauce; omit the Cajun seasoning and rosemary sprig; go light or omit the Italian seasoning.

Winter comfort food

For some reason, I had completely forgotten about one of our cold-weather favorites: potpie. But tonight I was craving something warm, simple, and delicious, and that sounded like a winner. So, I chopped half a shallot (going light on onion taste and smell these days), sauteed it with a little pancetta and some butter... cooked in some flour to make a blonde roux... thinned it with a little cream, a little whole milk, and some of the liquid from the vegetables (diced and boiled carrots and butternut squash plus some frozen green beans)... seasoned the filling with a little garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and a pinch of mace... topped it all with a quick crust (flour, baking powder, salt, and heavy cream)... baked until crust was golden brown and filling was bubbly. Just what I was craving! Here's a link to a recipe that inspires me-- but remember that the point of potpie is to use whatever you have on hand. (Yep, this is another great way to repurpose leftovers!)

Vegetable Pot Pie from Barefoot Contessa Parties!
www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/vegetable-pot-pie-recipe/index.html