Blackened Catfish and Spicy Pinapple Salsa

 

 It's spring time, which means that Boone and I try to eat as much fish and fruit as possible...also, on springtime Sunday afternoons, all I want is a homemade frozen margarita for some reason, and spicy food goes just great with that.Plus, when we went down to the Fla Keys last fall I think every single meal I had something blackened, so it was time to try our hand at that. On top of that, since I'm back on the weight watchers wagon (whooo!!! or booo! depending on who you ask...) and since we may or may not have eaten chinese food on Saturday night, we wanted something light.You may have seen the catfish tacos that I posted last year, and this is a similar idea with different flavors. If you liked those, read on for your own spring time blackened catfish feast.

What you need for the catfish

a cast iron skillet

4 catfish fillets

4 sprays cooking spray

 

For the Rub

 2 1/2 Tablespoons Paprika

2 Tbs Salt

2 T garlic powder

1 T black pepper

1 T cayenne pepper

1 T dried oregano

1 T french poultry seasoning (in place of thyme)

What you need for the salsa

1 can of pinapple rounds (or one fresh pinapple, peeled and cored), diced

1 medium fresh tomato, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 jalepeno chile (diced fine)

Juice of 2 fresh limes

salt to taste

we didn't have any, but I'd also recommend cilantro.

Serve with Greek Yogurt and cilantro!

What to do: 

Start by dicing all of the fruit and the onion and jalepeno and combining in the large bowl.

 

once everything is diced in about the same size pieces, juice the lime and pour it over the fruit. Salt to taste. Let this stand and marinate for at least 30 minutes, if not longer so the flavors meld together and it gets spicy and sweet. 

Once that's ready, start preparing the fish by mixing the spices together to make the rub. Once that's taken care of, set aside and heat the cast iron skillet on high for  6 minutes. it may smoke, but you need it to be hot enough to blacken...but not hot so hot that it cracks (because you can do that to a skillet, btw).

pat the fillets dry, and then cover them in about 1 tablespoon of rub per fillet. You can use more, but 1 tablespoon does the trick. Once you're ready to blacken, spray the skillet with cooking spray.

place the catfish in the pan making sure that the fillets don't touch. If they touch, the meat steams rather than crisps...which just isn't the same as blackened. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until the fish is firm and flakey... you'll know it's ready because there'll be a nice black crust on the top.

VOILA! serve with tortilla chips  or saffron rice and black beans and a dollop of plain greek yogurt on the top for a tropical-ish treat using my favorite southern fish!

Dining Out Delta: Juke Joint Crawfish

 it's FINALLY crawfish season here in the 'Sip, and we've been eating the hell out those spicy little things. At festivals on picnic tables, in our own backyard over a washtub, over newspaper on the kitchen counter... wherever we can find some space (and have an opportunity), we've been taking full advantage of the time of year. not everybody likes mudbugs (something about looking your dinner square in the face while you peel their shell away makes some folks queasy, I guess..and other people can't take the spicy slow-burn of the Old Bay, crab boil, and salt that seasons the water) but I can't get enough of them. I've heard that getting them shipped live out of their native lands MS and LA and Texas can cost CRAZY amounts, so it's probably better to just make a trip down south if you've never tried them before.

 

In fact, my most favorite people in the whole world came down last weekend for our favorite Festival of all time.. the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, MS. (That's a lot of favorites, I know... but truly, I'm not exaggerating!)  Blues music everywhere, local folks, visitors from around the Delta, along with European tourists milling around the downtown, funnel cakes, hot tamales, booths and booths of artists' wares, and all of the juke joints in town open with great live music... if you've not been here for it, you should make a note on your calendar RIGHT NOW for next year's festival...the 3rd weekend in April.

Anyway, every year we eat crawfish until we burst.... it turns out that 30 pounds of cooked crawfish for 8 people may just have been a few too many, but we sure did make a solid effort to eat them all. Sometimes we get them at the Delta Amusement Cafe (worth it!) but this year we worried they'd run out before we arrived, so we ordered them from a great place down the road from our house... Fratesi's Grocery. They make them just spicy enough to make your lips tingle, but not spicy enough that you have to stop eating them... perfect.

If you want to cook your own, you'll either have to buy them at a store (if you live between Texas and Florida) OR, if you live in other parts of the country and are dead set on it, you'll have to order them, which I've heard costs an arm and a leg since you have to order them LIVE. If that's your lot, I'd recommend just coming down to Juke Joint or making sure to visit deep south in spring time!

We didn't cook our own this time, but the next time we do, I'll share the secrets with you! For now, let your mouth water at all the spicy goodness...

Crawfish Bisque

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE boiled crawfish and it's FINALLY the time of year when you can get them EVERYWHERE. (see tomorrow's post). but just BEFORE crawfish season,  I got a taste for some and decided to try my hand at a bisque. I mean, obviously I prefer fresh ones just out of the pot on a springtime afternoon, but sometimes that's just not possible.

 During the months of about July- February you can enjoy this little delicacy by way of the freezer section of your grocer, and honestly, if you're going to make a soup, bisque, or etoufee', why on earth would you want to go through the trouble of boiling THEN peeling enough of the little guys for everyone at your table? trust me, you wouldn't...which means the little frozen packages are a godsend, if not as juicy and fresh as the ones you'd cook yourself. 

My bisque was a pretty basic attempt, but it hit the spot for me and told my tastebuds spring was on it's way. Here's how you can replicate it (and make it even better with your own additions) if you're interested!

Crawfish Bisque

Serves 4 (or 3 if you're like me and have a portion control problem)

What you need:

1 tablespoon of oil (or less..just enough to saute' the vegetables)

one red bell pepper, diced

one white onion, diced

two ribs of celery, diced

1 or 1/2 lb of frozen, cooked crawfish, roughly chopped

1 can of corn, drained

1/4 cup of white wine

1 1/2 Cups of chicken stock  (OR 1 cup of chicken stock and 1/2 cup of lobster/seafood stock)

3/4 Cup of heavy cream (or whole milk if you're cutting calories)

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

1/2 bunch of green onions or parsley for presentation

What to do:

Chop the celery, bell pepper, and onion. Saute' the the onion until translucent, and add in the celery and pepper. Saute' for 1-2 minutes. Add in the cayenne, salt, and pepper. I feel like the heat releases more flavor and cooks into the vegetables more evenly than when you add it in afterwards.

 

Drain the corn and add it with the crawfish into the pot. stir for 1 minute. Pour in the white wine and let that cook down for about 3 minutes.

Pour in the stock/broth  and add the bay leaf and let simmer for at least 30 minutes (but longer is usually better for flavors to meld together)

Just before serving, add in the cream. this will lighten the color and give it a really lovely richness... viola'! you've got a southern seafood bisque that tells you spring is on the way (or already here!) serve with crusty bread and sprinkle it with green onion for a little color... and your good silver if you want it to feel like more than a regular old soup. I did. ;)

Christening our New bar with an Old Fashioned

The jazzed up Old Fashioned

Serves 1

I'd been on the hunt for the perfect piece of furniture to serve as our bar for months. 6 months, if you want to get specific. I went to new stores, I looked online, we've stopped at every antique or junk or thrift store in the surrounding 100 miles, but either found things that were perfect but too expensive (to the tune of $1,500) not so great, or lovely but way to big or too small for the space. then, on our country looping expedition the other day (read about that here) we stopped in a "junkique" in cleveland that's only open on weekdays and found something that was PERFECT. It was the right size, the right era, and, best of all, the right price. We brought it home and after filling it with our collection of spirits and barware, decided that 4:45 wasn't really too early to christen it with a drink. 

But what drink? Well, we had about a zillion juice oranges and clementines, and we love bourbon, so we decided to mix up a few old fashioned... besides, who wouldn't want to break in the new bar with an old fashioned. While I googled recipes I learned that there are right ways and wrong ways to make this classic cocktail, and that the midwestern version comes from Wisconsin and involves brandy, 7Up, and marachino cherries, while the southern version is Kentuckian by origin, decidedly less dressed up and made with bourbon or rye. 

Obviously we were going with the bourbon version, but I couldn't see what was so wrong about a little muddled fruit. I know...I know... no matter who or where you're making the drink, technically, there is no cherry and no orange slice in a real, classic old fashioned. None. The classic involves bitters, sugar, a twist of orange or lemon, the spirit of choice and some ice. But, I had a new bar, a whole lot of oranges, and a desire to mess with tradition just a teeny bit. so there. If you're looking to be a purist and make the classic, omit the fruit, but if you want something delicious, and a little bit irreverent, why not go whole hog?

What you Need:

2-3 oz Bourbon

One Orange Slice

1 or 2  frozen fresh cherries (the purists will frown on this, but I had them and they're SO pretty)

2-3  dashes of Angostura Bitters

1/2 tsp Brown Sugar or one sugar cube

No more than 1 oz Water or club soda (optional)

Ice

What to Do:

Put the orange slice (with the peel), cherry, sugar, and dashes of bitters into an old fashioned style or double glass. It's important to throw in the orange rind since it has so much flavor and the oils that seep out as you muddle it all together gives the drink a nice citrusy flavor..also, if you're not sure what a "dash" of bitters is, don't stress. The bottle top is specifically made for "dashing" and only allows a few drops out at a time (a lot like a bottle of tabasco sauce). I added two good shakes of the bottle and then one to grow on, because I felt like my bitters bottle was being a little stingy. The moral of the story- just go with your gut, there. 

 

Muddle these together in the base of a glass with a muddling stick, or a lipstick, or the handle-end of a knife, or other blunt tool until the juices meld together and the sugar has been ground in and there's a slight lining to the glass. Add in the bourbon (or your spirit of choice).

Now, at this point you can stop if you're feeling serious about your cocktail, but if it's a regular old Thursday night and you just wanted that one drink while you visit about the day and plan the dinner menu then add in the water to cut the sincerity, top with ice, and enjoy with style.

If you want to stop by to see our new bar, come on over around cocktail hour.

The Basic Bloody Mary

I love, love, love day drinking. not day drunkenness, but you know, a beer at an afternoon BBQ, a mimosa at a girls' morning out, and definitely, definitely, a bloody mary with brunch. I've made them all kinds of ways...with just tomato juice and then with mixes, with lots of condiments...with differne brands and types of vodka.....and really, I've never had a bad one as long as it had enough spicy kick and vodka.

The most recent version I made for some pals who spent the night after my 30th birthday bash (Top 40 karaoke! a dinner party! cocktails!)  involved Cat Head vodka, a local Mississippi vodka that donates $1 of every bottle to live music, V8 Juice, pickles, sriracha, lime juice, and woschester. pretty good. Seriously, you can make them so many ways depending on your taste, but this recipe is a good place to start as you test out your own favorite combination.


What You Need
Makes one 1 large or 2 small Bloody Marys.

1-2 oz of Vodka (Cat Head is a GREAT choice!)
1-2 cups of classic or reduced sodium V8 juice. I've used regular and off-brand and plain tomato juice often, but it just takes more seasoning. You can go this route, but double the salt and other seasonings for the right kick)
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 small squirt Sriracha (an asian hot sauce)
1 dash Woschester Sauce
3 teaspoons Black pepper
2 dashes Soy Sauce
1 Small pickle
1 celery stick
1 lime wedge

What to Do:
Mix all of these ingredients, taste it for salt and spice, and garnish with the pickels, lime wedge, and celery. If it's not spicy enough, add in more tabasco and soy. Drink with reckless abandon.

Want more versions? I recommend Garden and Gun's recent article "How to Build a Bloody Mary Bar"

Classic Red Beans and Rice

OH. MY. STARS. it's been too long.i've had three posts raring to go since late January and then things got busy and the last thing I've wanted to do when I got home was turn on my computer...and then I got into Game Of Thrones on Amazon... but it's time. I miss blogging about food, and taking pictures of food, and just generally talking about food. (plus... my pretty friend Fancy flattered me by asking when I was going to post something new. Fancy, here you go!)

This recipe was supposed to come out around the time of Mardi Gras, since what's more Louisiana that Red Beans and Rice? Even if the weather has gotten a little warmer (but not much! what's up with the freaskishly cold weather??) and the confetti and beads are long gone from Beale Street, this recipe still tastes divine. It's a combination of my grandmother's classic Louisiana recipe, the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen version, and the one from the River Road Recipes Cookbook.  Read on.

What you Need:

To cook:

Andoille Sausage (1 package, or a 1.5 lbs)

1 tablespoon of oil

2 onions

5 garlic cloves

1 green pepper

2 ribs of celery

1 cup of Camellia brand dried red beans (washed, dried, and soaked)

2 table spoons beef stock

3-5 cups of water

2 squirts of ketchup

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

Salt

Pepper

 

To Serve

1 bunch green onions

Hot sauce 

1/2 cup of rice per serving

What to Do:

Obviously, begin by rinsing and soaking the beans (overnight is best, but 6 hours will do in a pinch. Basically, you want them full of water and tender.) 

Dice the garlic, green pepper, onion, and celery. In a large stock pot, sautee' the onion in the oil until translucent then add in the other three ingredients to release the flavor, stirring for 1-2 minutes.

At the same time, boil the sausage, pricking after a 5-7 minutes to release the oil. I think this makes it just a little bit healther since it gets rid of the excess fat. Once the sausage is parboiled, cut it into 1/2" or 1" rounds and brown in a skillet. 

Remove from the heat and put it aside to add in later.

Add the Stock and liquid to the large stock pot with the vegetables. Add in the bay leaf, the red beans, the red vinegar, the squeezes of ketchup for good measure, and the sausage. Simmer on low heat for 2- 2.5 hours. The longer and slower this cooks, the more flavorful and creamier the red beans will be.

Once the liquid has cooked down somewhat and the beans are soft, take about 2 cups of the beans and liquid and using a food processor or blender, puree' that amount. Add the pureed beans back into the pot with the rest of the beans. This makes them even creamier and smooth.

Serve with hot sauce, vinegar, green onions, and white rice.

Cook Downton Abbey #1: Prime Rib Roast

You can probably tell by some of the links I post that I'm a pretty big fan of Garden&Gun Magazine. Ok, it's a little pretentious, and it has a very specific viewpoint about what the south is and isn't, but I love their recipes, restaurant reviews, and hints about up and coming shops, musicians, and hot spots from my favorite part of the country so, when I read that they were as excited about the US Premiere of Downton Abbey as I am, well, it brought them even nearer and dearer to my heart. I didn't love the show for the same reasons they listed, but I'll share my thoughts before next week's episode. The show airs tonight at 8, and my mom and I are busy making a plum pudding (recipe coming before next week's episode!) to eat as we watch and swoon over Matthew Crawley and all of the fantastic clothes.

If you haven't gotten into Downton Abbey yet, and apparently need a reason here are G&G's top ten reasons why southerners love it (and all things Noble and English)

1. They drink a lot, but never have to drive anywhere.
2. Lord Grantham makes the women at G&G weak in the knees, especially when he does his "custodian of the land" spiel.
3. We like to look good when we hunt, too, whether it's top hat and riding jacket or neon orange and camouflage.
4. They love their dogs as much as we do. If only ours never had to go to the bathroom...or made any noise whatsoever.
5. They call a valet with a limp and a criminal record “eccentric”. We call it Southern gothic.
6. Lady Mary is like a British Scarlett O’Hara: beautiful, spoiled and determined. Let's just hope she leaves the drapery on the windows.
7. Carson's pride of place is rivaled only by that of a Southern hostess.
8. We’ve loved Shirley MacLaine ever since her tomato-loving turn as Ouiser in Steel Magnolias. 
 9. We’ve all got a Dowager Countess in our lives, whether it's our mother or mother-in-law—manipulative, tough as nails, and always ready with a one-liner.
10. No one loves—or plans—a wedding like we do in the South. Crawley/Crawley 2013, (err 1921?) people. Koozies on order.

If you're not a fan of plum pudding (or like me, live in the country and have NO access to currants and cloves before 8pm tonight), you could always go for the KING of all English Christmas fare...the Prime Rib Roast to celebrate the show's return. We attempted it for the first time this year to serve on Christmas Night this year and worried we'd bomb with such a fancy and expensive cut of meat, but y'all, it was like an extra Christmas present because it turned out so perfectly....  tender on the inside, crunchy on the outside, melt in your mouth, full of delicious flavor perfection. I found the recipe here, (thank you, Susan!) and she found here, and with the addition of garlic, it worked like a charm. Never use any other recipe.

English Prime Rib Roast
Serves 6-8

What you need:
1 4-6 pound standing prime rib roast
2-3 tablespoons dry mustard
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Pressed Garlic  (2-3 cloves)

What to do:
Preheat your oven to 200°F.  Season your roast generously by rubbing the garlic all over the meat (don't leave it on there...you just want the flavor. Then rub the roast on all sides with the mustard, salt and pepper.  Put the roast, fat side up, in a roasting pan and  put it in the oven and cook until center of roast registers 120 F on an instant-read thermometer for medium-rare. (Note from Serious Eats and Sticky Gooey, Creamy Chewy: This should take approximately 3 1/2 to 4 hours for a 5 pound roast.)

Take the roast out of the oven and make a tight tent with some aluminum foil, then put it in a warm spot and let it rest for 30 minutes or more.
When you're ready to eat it, preheat oven to 500°F and when the oven reaches 500°F take it out of the foil and put it back in the oven.  You'll cook it for about 8-10 minutes until it's browned and crisp on the outside. Then you can carve and serve it immediately. sigh. it really was divine y'all...and it was our first shot.