Crawfish Monica

Ahh spring. For Louisiana folks this translates to the perfect time for backyard crawfish boils.

I won't be long-winded about the boils, but I want to let you in on one of the best applications for those delicious leftover crawfish tails. If your friends and family are as kind as mine are, they'll hang out and help you peel the leftovers.

When life gives you crawfish, you make Crawfish Monica. The recipe has its roots in New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest, where it is the "official" food of the festers.

Crawfish Monica

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbps olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tbsp cajun spice (Slap Ya Mama is what I use, but substitute whatever you have around)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• juice of one medium lemon
• 1/2 cup parsley, minced
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 1 lb peeled cooked crawfish tails
• 1.5 cups grated parmesan cheese
• 1 pound cooked strained pasta (preferably rotini)

Method

In salted water, cook pasta and keep warm while set aside. In a large saute pan on medium heat, melt butter and olive oil. Add onion and garlic, and lightly salt and pepper. Saute until nearly translucent, then add white wine and cajun spice of your choice. Cook until nearly completely evaporated; approximately 5 minutes. Add cream and lemon juice, and stir to combine. Cook for 3 more minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by about 1/3. Add parsley, green onion, and crawfish. Stir and cook for 5 minutes or until crawfish are warmed through. Lower temp to low, then add 1 cup parmesan cheese. Stir until melted. Taste for flavor. If not enough, add more cajun spice or lemon juice. Combine sauce and pasta over low heat, and combine. Add additional 1/2 cup cheese and stir to melt. 

Voila! Crawfish Monica. Best paired with Traditional Jazz and Abita Strawberry beer. 

Tudor Rose Cocktail

I've been mildly obsessed with floral things and spring in general. I've also been pondering the idea of our own little hen-house in the yard, but before I'm granted clearance, I have to find viable uses for the number of eggs we'd have on hand! Introducing the Tudor Rose cocktail.

Tudor Rose Cocktail

1.5oz Rose-infused vodka (recipe follows)

1/2oz Campari

1/2oz St. Germain Liqueur

1/2oz good Grenadine

1 fresh egg white

Add ice and water to a coupe glass to chill. In a Boston shaker can, combine all ingredients except egg white. Add ice, and stir vigorously to cool. Strain into shaker pint, and discard ice. In the cool shaker can, add egg white, and agitate with barspoon to break down major proteins and begin the whipping process. DO NOT ADD ICE, we are conducting a reverse dry-shake! Add remaining drink ingredients, seal, and shake vigorously until drink is frothy. Pour into chilled cocktail coupe and serve immediately. 

The roses are from my neighbors' house.

Rose-Infused Vodka

1/4cup fresh fragrant rose petals

1 cup decent vodka

In a mason jar, bruise petals with muddler to express oils, add vodka, and stir. Seal, and let to steep in a cool dark place for 2 days, agitating occasionally. Strain petals before after 2 days, as they will begin to become tannic. 

Low-Country Shrimp Boil

As soon as the crickets and cicadas start singing, it's bound to be springtime. Today was sublimely gorgeous, and to celebrate, I toted home 3 pounds of massive shrimp caught just this morning from New Orleans for a good old shrimp boil. Here's how to do one yourself.

This recipe is for two hungry people, or a great appetizer for 4. We will be cooking the below recipe in two batches to make enough for a whole meal.

Ingredients

• 3lbs fresh (not frozen) head-on, shell-on shrimp. If you can't get this, then substitute the peeled variety, but not cooked or frozen if possible.
• 6 small lemons
• 1lb small red potatoes or even fingerling potatoes will do
• 8-10 cloves garlic
• 2 medium onions
• 3 bay leaves
• 6 small "nibblers" half-size ears of corn
• 1lb sausage, dealer's choice
• Zatarain's Crab Boil "In Bag" 3oz (1 bag)
• 4oz Zatarain's liquid Shrimp & Crab Boil Concentrate

Method

Rinse shrimp with cool water and remove any broken legs or antennae. Divide into two servings, then set aside. Quarter the lemons, halve the potatoes, and rough chop the onion. Cut sausage into 2 inch long pieces. Peel 8-10 garlic cloves. Over a medium-hot flame, boil 1.5 gallons of water with Zatarain's Crab Boil, Zatarain's Concentrate, and bay leaves. Once to a boil, add half the prepared lemons, potatoes, onion, sausage, corn, and garlic. Allow to boil for approximately 15 minutes until potatoes are just soft. Add one half of the whole shrimp, and turn heat down to medium. Cook for 3-4 minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp (larger take longer). Turn off heat and leave to steep for 2 more minutes. Using a strainer or colander, remove all contents excepting bay leaves, lemons, and Zatarain's bag. Return liquid to a boil, and add second batch of lemons, potatoes, onion, sausage, corn, and garlic. Repeat the boiling process, adding shrimp after 15 minutes and then turning off heat after shrimp are cooked for a few minutes, then strain.

Peel and eat shrimp and accoutrement once cool to the touch!

TIP: If you have too many potatoes leftover a great idea is to smash them with sour cream into a savory mashed potato side for later!

Bonus Recipe: Alan's Creamy Cocktail Sauce

• 1/2 cup Ketchup
• 1/8 cup Mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, or Salad Cream
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 2tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2tbsp Prepared Horseradish
• 1tsp onion powder
• 1tsp ground pepper

Stir to combine all ingredients, then serve.

Mid-Winter Beef and Barley Stew

These days, I can't ever tell from one day to the next if one evening will be freezing, or fairly balmy. Tonight, however, is blustery and chilly and calls for a cozy, hearty dish.

Ingredients

• 1 large white onion
• 2-3 carrots
• 5-6 ribs celery
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1lb stew beef cubed
• 4-5 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 cups beef broth
• 1.5 cups dry red wine
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup pearled barley
• salt
• pepper
• 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce

Method

(makes 4 servings, takes 3 hours)

To make relatively similar size pieces, roughly dice large onion; peel and coarsely chop carrots; chop celery. Mince garlic.

Rinse then dry cubed stew meat. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1tsp salt and 1tsp pepper. Stir to combine. Working in batches, coat cubed stew meat in flour mixture. 

In a large cast iron pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium heat. When fragrant, work in batches to brown cubed meat on all sides. Avoid overcrowding. Remove from oil and set aside. 

Once all meat is browned, add all diced veggies (excepting garlic) to oil, adding additional oil if needed to get vegetables coated. Stir to coat, and add dashes of salt and pepper. Add garlic after one minute. Stir to continue cooking, or until onions are turning slightly translucent-- about 4-5 minutes. 

Add browned beef mixture to the pot, and add 1 cup dry red wine and enough beef broth to cover the vegetable and beef mixture, approximately 3 cups. Add 1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper and half of the Worcestershire sauce and soy sauces (2 tablespoons of each). Stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil, and turn heat down to low. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, or until liquid mixture has reduced in the pot by about a third. 

Add 1 cup beef broth and remaining 1/2 cup dry red wine. Add additional tablespoons of salt and pepper, as well as remaining 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire and Soy sauces. Stir to combine, and bring up to boil, then lower heat to simmer. Simmer covered for an additional 1.5 hours, stirring every half hour to prevent sticking. 

Rinse 1 cup pearled barley in cool water and drain. Add to stew and add remaining cup beef broth. Stir, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes until barley is cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Bon Appetit!

Mama's Creamy Artichoke Soup

Every holiday feast when I was growing up started the same way-- the first thing in people's mouths was my Mama's Cream of Artichoke Soup. It began as an adaptation from The Plantation Cookbook, and eventually ended as her own recipe. My mother is no longer with us, and so this holiday season, I've taken up the Artichoke Soup and am now reinventing it as my very own. Consider this recipe a translation of a translation.

Mama's Creamy Artichoke Soup

Ingredients

1 (14oz) can artichoke hearts, mashed(I use Reese)

6T butter

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

6T flour

5.5 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup lemon juice

salt 

pepper

1/4 tbsp fresh Thyme

1/4 tbsp fresh Rosemary

1/4 tbsp Worcestershire

2 eggs

2 cups evaporated milk

1/4 cup dry sherry (I recommend Lustau Palo Cortado)

Method

In a stock pot, melt butter and saute onion and celery until translucent. Add flour, stir to coat, and cook for one minute. Add stock, artichokes, lemon juice, Rosemary, Thyme, and Worcestershire as well as salt and pepper to taste (appx 1tsp each). Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, beat two eggs, then combine with evaporated milk. Take soup off heat, and puree either in food processor or with immersion blender until smooth. If necessary, strain with a slotted spoon to make sure all chunks have been removed. Working carefully to temper your egg/milk mixture, take a ladle-full of pureed soup and incorporate it into your egg/milk mixture. Continue slowly until egg/milk mixture has been brought up in temperature and eggs have not scrambled (approximately 5-6 ladle-fulls of soup). Then, pour egg/milk mixture into the remaining soup puree and stir to combine. Return to heat, add sherry, salt, and pepper to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Tradition is to serve it in coffee mugs and consume lazily standing around the kitchen getting in people's way while they cook.

The Satsuma Sidecar

Recipe makes two cocktails!

sat·su·ma

satˈso͞omə,ˈsatsəmə/

noun.    a tangerine of a hardy loose-skinned variety, originally grown in Japan. Also grown commonly in the American Southeast.

Satsuma Syrup 

*A modification of Ina Garten's Marmalade Recipe

Yield: 8 (10oz) jars

2lb ripe Satsumas

2 lemons

8 cups water

8 cups sugar

Special Equipment:
8 (10oz) Mason Jars with lids (sterilized)
Jar Funnel and Tongs (sterilized)

Method:
Cut satsumas and lemons in half crosswise, then into very thin half moon slices. Discard any seeds as you go. Place the sliced fruit and their juices into a stainless-steel pot. Add 8 cups water and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Cover and allow to stand overnight at room temperature.

The next day, bring the mixture back to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 2 hours. Turn heat up to medium and boil gently, stirring often for 30 minutes, and skimming off any foam that forms on top.

Remove from heat, and ladle into sterilized jars and seal. The heat from the syrup should cause the lids to seal, but if not, boil completely sealed and submerged for 5 minutes. Once sealed the syrup is shelf-stable for up to one year.