Les Carlos Shrimp & Crawfish Dip

This is another holiday dish that I will definitely be putting into the year-round rotation.

sweetenedandcondensed.com

I first had this dip at a Christmas party 8 years ago, and I searched for the recipe for 5 years before someone pointed out to me that it had been right under my nose – namely in Heart & Soul – the whole time.

While this does take a little while to prep and cook, it is totally worth your time. And not just because it is delicious, but also because each step of the cooking process leaves the house smelling better than the last. Butter, creole seasoning, fresh herbs and seafood? I’m on board.

Two words of caution: Make sure to thaw and rinse your seafood well to get rid of any unnecessary fishiness, and make sure you use 2 teaspoons of creole seasoning and not 2 tablespoons at each of the saute steps. Not that anyone has ever ruined 2 pounds of perfectly good seafood by doing that, but I’d like to prevent it if at all possible…

1 lb crawfish tails
1 lb shrimp, raw and roughly chopped
1.5 sticks of butter (.75 cups)
6 tsp creole seasoning
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 tbsp fresh basil (3 dried)
3 tbsp fresh thyme (1.5 dried)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup flour
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
hot sauce

1. Melt half a stick of butter in a large skillet. Add 2 tsp creole seasoning. Add crawfish and saute for 5 minutes. Pour crawfish and butter into a bowl and set aside.
2. Melt half a stick of butter in a the skillet, add 2 tsp creole seasoning, and saute shrimp in butter for 3 minutes. Add shrimp to bowl with crawfish.
3. Melt the rest of the butter in the skillet with 2 tsp creole seasoning. Add onion, green and red peppers, celery, and garlic and saute for 5 minutes or until veggies are tender.
4. Add fresh herbs, tomato paste and flour to veggie mixture in the skillet and stir constantly for 5 minutes.
5. Process half of crawfish/shrimp mixture in blender (do not puree).
6. Add crawfish/shrimp mixture (both processed and not-processed halves) to skillet and mix thoroughly.
7. Stir in green onions and add hot sauce to taste.
8. Serve with Thin Garlic Crostinis and get out of the way.

Crawfish Cornbread Stuffing

So I probably should have posted these recipes last week before Thanksgiving, but I forgot and I wanted to test them out twice to get all kinks out of the way.  I was lucky to have two Thanksgivings this year, a “friendsgiving” down in NOLA (which was way better then my family Thanksgiving) and family Thanksgiving.  I still never want to eat again.   Below is an amazing crawfish stuffing that Chef John’s family has requested a double batch of for next year.  Perhaps you can save in your Thanksgiving recipe file for next year or break it out for the December holidays!  Chef’s note: make sure to use dry corn bread so it soaks up all the sauce. – ts

Chef John Says: Everyone knows that the best part of Thanksgiving is the stuffing. I usually dedicate about 3/4 of my plate to it. My family always has a traditional stuffing/dressing but this past Sunday we had a pre-Thanksgiving feast at our friend’s house in New Orleans and it was decided that we should make a more NOLA-style dressing. Tanya came across this beauty: Besh’s Crawfish Corn Bread Dressing. Like ALL of Besh’s recipes, this is very easy and delicious.
You can make the corn bread ahead or use leftover corn bread. In fact, the dressing may be prepared a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator until an hour before serving. I used more andouille, hot sausage, and garlic than it calls for… obviously. This recipe makes 8–10 cups, more than enough to stuff a turkey, but at our Thanksgiving we stuff our bird separately and serve dressings like this alongside. Serves 10

4 tablespoons rendered bacon fat (I used a couple tablespoons of butter instead)
¼ pound andouille sausage, diced
¼ pound hot pork sausage meat, removed from casing
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
½ green bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups peeled crawfish tails, chopped (you can usually find a package of frozen tails)
2 green onions, chopped
1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
Leaves from 1 sprig fresh thyme
2 tablespoons Basic Creole Spices
6 cups crumbled Basic Corn Bread
2 cups Basic Chicken Stock
½ cup heavy cream
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Put the bacon fat, andouille, and pork sausage into a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, breaking up the pork with the back of a wooden spoon.
2. When the pork sausage meat has browned, add the onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the crawfish and cook for 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl with the sausage and crawfish and stir together until well combined. Spoon the dressing into a large heatproof dish.
4. At this point, the dressing may be covered and refrigerated (for up to 1 day) until you are ready to bake it. Bake the dressing in a preheated 350° oven until it is piping hot and golden brown, 15–30 minutes.

Carol’s Corn Chowder with Jalapeno Parsley Puree

thenakedbeet.com

Well in case you haven’t heard, Carol is famous. That’s right, young Carol was featured in the Times Free Press a few week’s ago for offering her soup expertise, and clearly we could not be more proud.

This is a recipe Carol adapted from Epicurious.com, and I can personally attest it is delish.

The really fun part here is the jalapeno parsley puree. It’s bright (in taste and in the bowl) and it gives the creamy corn chowder a wonderful kick.

This would be a perfect dish for a day like today in which everyone is feeling gray, wet and pretty darn depressed that the long Thanksgiving weekend is over.

Except me. Because I’m about to go see Twilight. By myself. And no, I could not be happier, so don’t you cry for me, Nummy! Now get your soup on.

Puree:
5 fresh jalapeño chilies
1⁄4 cup olive oil
11⁄2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp water
1-2 garlic cloves, minced (depending on how much you like garlic)
1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
Salt, to taste

Chowder:
1 onion, chopped fine
2 ribs of celery, chopped fine
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups chicken broth
21⁄2 cups water
11⁄2 lbs boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 3⁄8-inch cubes
4 cups fresh corn kernels including the pulp scraped from the cobs (organic frozen mixture of white and yellow corn works just as well)
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, minced (very important; adds a great finishing touch to the soup)

1. For the puree:
1. Broil the jalapeños on the rack of a broiler pan under a preheated broiler about 2 inches from the heat, turning them about every 7 minutes, for 20-30 minutes or until the skins are blistered and charred.
2. Transfer the jalapeños to a zipper-lock bag and let them stand, covered tightly, until they are cool enough to handle.
3. Peel the jalapeños, cut off the tops and discard all but 1 teaspoon of the seeds.
4. In a blender, puree the jalapeños and reserved seeds with olive oil, lime juice, water, garlic, parsley and salt. The puree may be made 3 days in advance and kept covered and chilled.
2. For the chowder:
1. Cook onion and celery in vegetable oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the celery is softened.
2. Add broth, water and potatoes; simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in corn and thyme; simmer for 5 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
3. To thicken, purée in blender 2 or more cups of the chowder, depending on the consistency you prefer your soups, and return to pot.
3. Serve the chowder with a small dollop of the jalapeño and parsley puree swirled into it. Add salt and pepper to taste as well. For added crunch, sprinkle with tortilla chips.

Wild Mushroom and Leek Wild Rice Salad

I have not posted in a while, but that is because I have not been making new recipes recently.  We have so many great recipes on this site, and I had fallen into a trap of cooking the same 4 or 5 things because they are so tasty.   Yesterday I decided to browse my list of “to make” recipes and came across one that for months I kept meaning to make.  When it came down to buying the ingredients, it always just looked a little too healthy.  Since the holidays are around the corner, I thought it best to start getting the health in now.  This is a recipe for mushroom and leek wild rice I saw on Closet Cooking, with my own tweaks.  It is so tasty and surprisingly filling.  It reminds me of a healthier version of my mushroom and leek risotto recipe!  I highly recommend making this.  I served the rice over a bed of baby greens and added a couple slices of skirt steak for extra protein (quickly marinated in a soy, garlic, onion, sugar mixture and grilled).  
Wild rice takes longer to cook then regular rice so start it first!  The mushroom, leek, herb, rice mixture is tossed with balsamic vinaigrette.  Feel free to use your favorite recipe, I wrote down a standard one below.– ts

1 cup wild rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil
2 – 3 leeks green and white parts cleaned and sliced
2 cloves garlic
8- 10 ounces mushrooms (sliced) – I used a mix of cremini, shiitake and oyster
1 teaspoon thyme (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
a large handful chopped pecans
about a 1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette (recipe below)

1. Simmer the wild rice in the broth on medium-low heat, covered, until it is tender and it has absorbed all of the broth, about 50-60 minutes and remove from heat.  Drain excess liquids.
2. Heat the oil and melt the butter in a large dutch oven/pan.
3. Add the leeks and saute until tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
5. Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper and saute until the mushrooms are just starting to caramelize, about 10-15 minutes.
6. Mix the wild rice, mushrooms, pecans and balsamic vinaigrette

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1-2 large cloves garlic minced

chopped herbs (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Mix/shake everything together

Mustard & Herb Crusted Salmon

If there is one thing on a menu that will lock down The Chef’s order, it’s crusting something. With nuts or herbs specifically, but honestly, I think you could crust something with Captain Crunch and that would get him to bite… OK, that’s probably something that would pull at my redneck heartstrings more than his, but I think we can all agree that crusting is pretty yummy.

Another that makes this a Chef Favorite is the use of fresh herbs. I think he is second only to Jamie Oliver in his love of all things herby, so using three in one recipe is a definite win.

willhatchett.blogspot.com

Incidentally, if you’ve never watched Jamie’s show on the Cooking Channel, you should check it out. He’s always Macgyver-cooking somewhere insane – like he’s annihilating a head of garlic with a rock on a beach while cooking fish he caught with his bare hands – and it still comes out looking delicious. He’s also rustically adorable, so look into it.

The Chef likes to top this with Lemon Buerre Blanc. To make that, follow this Buerre Blanc recipe and add some lemon juice and zest. Or top with Tanya’s Preserved Lemons and serve up with a side like Red Potatoes with Arugula.

alwaysorderdessert.com

4 salmon fillets*
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup of flour
1/2 cup dry mustard
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp finely chopped thyme
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

1. Coat fillets with salt, pepper, and herbs.
2. Add remaining ingredients to a dish and turn fillets in the mixture to coat both sides.
3. Heat oil in a large nonstick saute pan and saute fillets on both sides, cooking until they are golden brown.

Jamie would pronounce this “fill-its.” You see what I mean? Adorable.

Burlison’s Roasted Acorn Squash with Parmesan Bacon Stuffing

The flood of fall recipes here at Nummy has taken a turn toward all things autumn, specifically squash.

elizadomestica.com

While there is no doubt I think squash and gourds look totally adorable as fall table decorations, I really couldn’t care less about eating the little yella fellas most of the time. So I have been delightfully surprised to receive squash recipes that actually look pretty darn delicious.

For example, if I must stuff something with healthy foods like barley, Imma need you to sneak me in some pig and parm as well. And this recipe from Burlison does just that.

Plus, acorn squash is a lovely orangey color, and with only 21 days until we have to restart the countdown to Halloween for the year, you gotta get that fall festivity in wherever you can.

1 acorn squash, split in half and seeded
1 cup prepared pearled barley
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 pieces bacon, chopped into bits
1-2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup grated parmesan
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Coat squash lightly in olive oil and salt and pepper.
3. Roast squash for 30-45 minutes, until almost fork tender.
4. While squash is roasting, cook bacon. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the grease and ) and shallots. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 more minutes.
6. Add barley and thyme to pan and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
7. Turn off stove and add cheese, mixing all of the stuffing thoroughly.
8. Remove squash halves from oven, fill with stuffing and bake for 10 more minutes. Voila.

Morg’s Balsamic Chicken & Peppers

This is another offering from the (newly upgraded) kitchen of Morganthony and the new Mrs. Ribeiro herself.

Williams Sonoma

Ever the modern woman, Morg is not only “workin’ that 9 to 5 and stayin’ cute” à la J. Holiday,* but she is also bringing home the bacon and frying it up in a pan. Or the chicken, depending upon the night.

Morg found this recipe on Williams Sonoma, but, as any good chef does, she has tweaked it to her liking. The recipe below uses extra balsamic and higher heat to absorb it, and that’s what gets your chicken kickin’.

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast halves or thighs
4 tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme
S&P to taste

1. Season the chicken generously with salt and pepper. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm 2 tablespoons of the olive oil.
2. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until golden brown, about 7 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.
3. In the same pan over medium-high heat, warm the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the bell peppers and onion and sauté until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
4. Add the vinegar, half of the basil and half of the thyme and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the pan bottom. Return the chicken and any juices from the plate to the pan, spooning the peppers over the chicken.
5. Cook until the chicken is opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Stir in the remaining basil and thyme, and season with salt and pepper.
7. Divide among 4 plates and serve immediately. Serves 4.

*I realize this reference is beyond random, but that song is catchy as hell. Also, Hunter Mills once convinced me to leave a wedding reception to stand outside his car and listen to this song in order to prove I would like it as much as Apologize by promising he would eat his jacket if I didn’t. Unfortunately, I did, but I still respect that move.

Grilled Shrimp

I rarely order shrimp at restaurants for some reason, but when it comes to cooking at home they are a go to ingredient for me.  Living in NOLA, we have access to the best gulf shrimp.  Also, since Chef John and I plan on cooking every recipe in Besh’s My New Orleans, there are lots of shrimp dinners ahead of us, so expect more shrimp recipes to be posted!  Below is one we used on these amazing huge fresh gulf shrimps that our friend gave us.  I wish I had a picture of them raw because they were beauties.  This is a very basic recipe so really feel free to change it up with whatever spices and herbs you like.  I think this recipe was adapted from an Emeril recipe, but honestly I cannot remember. We served this with a frisse salad and roasted veggies. -ts

1/2 pounds large unpeeled shrimp
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 3 lemons)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for grill
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
Coarse salt and ground pepper

1. Devein shrimp, leaving shells on.
2. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Reserve 6 tablespoons lemon mixture for serving. Place shrimp and remaining lemon mixture in a resealable plastic bag; seal bag and shake to coat shrimp. Refrigerate 1 hour.
3. Heat grill high. Remove shrimp from marinade, wiping off excess. Grill until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve shrimp drizzled with reserved lemon mixture.

Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Good news nummies – not only is it Friday, but my delusions of fall have finally become reality! It’s cool and crisp and it reminds me of my Uncle Stewart’s tailgate: Hot Damn and brown-sugar-hand-stirred-some-other-long-string-of-words-I-can’t remember BBQ sauce (recipe still pending release) will make you forget that you’re about to watch the Tigers get trounced. Again.

Anyway, another thing fall reminds me of is short ribs. Luckily, Morg passed this recipe along to me last week. And she didn’t even wait until she finished eating it to send it over, so it must be cray-mazing. (I watched a lot of Project Runway last night, so I’m talking like a cranky, mid-30s drama queen. Please forgive.)

From Morg:
“This recipe calls for a tagine (which we randomly have) but I hadn’t ‘seasoned’ the tagine (a three hour process) so I just used my dutch oven, which every chef needs. I’m obsessed with mine. I digress. This is a great meal for a Sunday or a holiday because it requires some hours on the stove, but it’s so worth it. And it leaves a nice smell floating through the house all day long. I served this over homemade mashed potatoes (recipe linked to from the Williams-Sonoma recipe for the ribs). Very simple. And I used the KitchenAid mixer instead of mashing by hand.”

One look through the ingredient list, and I was sold. I might suggest using one of The Chef’s variations of mashed potatoes, but I could be biased, so whatever blows your skirt up. Either way, an all-day simmering situation makes my mouth water. And it makes me want to say – like an Akin at a tailgate – HOT DAMN HELL YES.

3 tbsp olive oil
3 3/4 lb. bone-in beef short ribs (6 to 8 pieces)
salt & pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 celery stalk, 1/4-inch dice
2 carrots, 1/4-inch dice
3/4 cup shallot, fine dice
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 tsp Aleppo chili, crushed
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
3/4 cup red wine
1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1. Soak a tagine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place the tagine on a diffuser over medium-high heat and warm 1 tbsp of the olive oil.
2. Season the short ribs on all sides with salt and pepper. Dredge the ribs in the flour until evenly coated, shaking off the excess. Add half of the ribs to the tagine and sear until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total; transfer to a plate. Repeat with 1 tbsp of the olive oil and the remaining ribs.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and warm the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the celery, carrots and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the Aleppo chili, bay leaf, thyme, broth, wine, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Return the ribs to the tagine.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook, turning the ribs occasionally, until the meat is tender, 4.5 to 5 hours.
5. Garnish the ribs with the parsley and serve immediately with mashed potatoes. Serves 4.

Pitts’ Baked Fontina Cheese

fourscoops.blogspot.com

This recipe comes to us from Mr. Justin Pitts, Esq. of Malibu, California, so you know this shiz be fancy.

I have yet to try this, but I think we all recognize that bubbly cheese=fatty goodness about 98% of the time.

(The other 2% of the time is made up of randomly scarring incidents such as the time I saw a cheese-and-mayonnaise sandwich that was left out on the picnic table for 2 days in kindergarten. This girl Amanda used to trade me her Kraft-single-and-mayo sammys for my boring turkey ones because my mom wouldn’t make them for me. Dot said they provided no nutritional value… which is ironic, because she also used to let me eat whole sticks of butter. But I only parent a small dog who eats olives and pickles on the regular, so what do I know.)

Anyway, bubbly cheese + fresh herbs + a cast iron skillet should be enough to melt any Southerner’s heart, so we’re glad to see Pitts hasn’t let SoCal fancify all the good sense out of him. Now let’s get melty:

1.5 lbs Fontina Val d’Aosta cheese, rind cut off, 1-in dice
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 baguette, sliced and toasted

1. Put the cheese cubes in a 12 Inch cast iron skillet. Drizzle with olive oil.
2. Sprinkle the garlic and herbs all around and season with salt and pepper.
3. Put under broiler 5 inches from the heat for about 6-7 minutes until bubbly and starting to brown.
4. Dip the bread in it and devour.