Mirliton Casserole

What in the world is a mirliton? First, how do your pronunce it? Merl-it-ton? Say it with me, Mel-a-tawn. See, it isn't that hard. I think the rest of the world outside of New Orleans calls them Chayote Squash. They are vines and grow on arbors or fences all over Southeast Louisiana and are a staple in the winter, especially for the holidays. I can by them in Knoxville for $1.69 each or smuggle them in from New Orleans for 59 cents per pound.

This is a fantastic tasting dish that sends my husband, brothers, mom and friends over the moon. Get crazy and give this a try.

Mirliton Casserole -

I only need three for this recipe but I am starting off with six to split in half. I planning on serving this for Christmas too. This is a trial run. I haven't made this before, I'm doing it from memory and by the seat of my pants - so hold on!

Some Cajuns call them "alligator pears".

Cut 3 mirlitons in half lengthwise. Boil them in salted water for about 30 to 35 minutes. You want to soften the meat but not make it real squishy. Drain the mirlitons and cool them down a bit under running water.

Scoop the "meat" from the mirliton and discard the shell or skin. Set meat aside.

In a large high-sided pot or skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and saute 3 strips of smokey bacon chopped, 1 medium onion chopped, 2 stalks of celery chopped, 1/2 of a bell pepper chopped, 4 cloves of garlic minced. The bacon will render fat and the vegetables will render liquid - everything will saute nicely and will not dry out. Season with a little salt and black pepper. Be careful with the salt, the bacon is salty, the mirlitons were boiled in salty water and we will be using bread crumbs later.

Stir in the mirliton meat and break it up just a little, then add 1/2 lb. peeled 41-50 shrimp, 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley and 4 sliced scallions. Stir to thoroughly blend. Once the shrimp have begun to turn pink, add 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs and gently fold in to absorb the liquid. You may need to add more bread crumbs to obtain a cookie dough type consistency.

Pour into a buttered casserole dish.

Dust the top with Italian bread crumbs and dot with chips of butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until top is golden brown.

This is beautiful and scrumptious dish to add to any holiday table. To be honest, my brother John would eat this straight out of the refrigerator, cold, the next morning for breakfast.

This is the stuff every cajun's vegetable dreams are made of.

Creole Oyster Soup

This was supposed to have been posted yesterday and I slipped up. I was blown away by how many people emailed me or commented that they wanted this recipe.

This soup is VERY good and I'm thinking that I am going to make this for Christmas. My brother-in-law, Gerrard, made this Thanksgiving and the recipe comes from a John Folse cookbook that we both have. I was just looking at the picture as I was typing - see in the upper left-hand corner, the place card? Thumbprint turkeys - too cute. Ok, I'm really trying to tell you that if you want to fit into your jeans or you're watching your cholesterol, stop reading now. You die-hards follow me and keep reading.

Just a note here, this soup calls for a light or blond roux. Cajuns are generally known for making dark rouxs; Creoles introduced the light rouxs to the Cajuns and Cajuns have adapted the light rouxs into many of their "staple" recipes.

6 dozen oysters

1 quart oyster liquid

3/4 cup butter

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

1/4 cup diced garlic

1/4 cup diced andouille sausage (can substitute smoke sausage)

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 quarts heavy whipping cream

1 cup sliced green onions

1 cup chopped parsley

Salt, cayenne and hot sauce to taste

In a large stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat.

Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and andouille and saute for about 5 minutes until vegetables are wilted.

Sprinkle in flour and stir constantly with a wire wish to make a light roux.

Add oyster liquid and heavy whipping cream, stirring to incorporate and bring to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer until cream has slightly reduced and has a soup consistency. Add oysters, green onions and parsley. Season with salt, cayenne and hot sauce to taste.

Ladle into soup bowls and serve with a pat of butter on top.

Gooey Butter Cookies

Priscilla at Priscilla's Baking Adventures posted this cookie recipe on her blog a couple of weeks ago. These cookies looked like something even I could bake.

I made a batch and they were gone in minutes, I was lucky to get two pictures of them. This was a hit with the homegirlz. In fact it's been a hit with the whole subdivision!

Try these cookies, you will be addicted!





1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 c. powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in egg and vanilla. Add cake mix & stir until well blended.

Powder sugar your hands well. Roll into 1" or 2" balls and dust balls in powdered sugar.

Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheets (Siplast and parchment paper work well too) . Bake for 10 minutes. Leave on cookie sheet for 3 minutes or more before removing to cool on wire racks.

Blond Duck from A Duck in Her Pond gave me this award. I think most of you who visit and comment on my blog also visit Duckie and know how talented she is and hopefully when she's famous she'll remember little people like me who knew her when. If you haven't visited Blond Duck's blog then you need to get over there and start reading her remarkable, incredible and whimsical stories. She also loves food and is a terrific cook and baker.

Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:~ inspire you~ make you smile and laugh~ or maybe give amazing information~ a great read~ has an amazing design~ and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of this award are:

* Put the logo on your blog or post.

* Nominate at least 5 blogs that for you are Uber Amazing!

* Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.

* Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

The five Uber winners are:

1) Gigi, is an uber-upper and makes me laugh. I enjoy reading about her family and she's uber devoted to her sweetie.

2) Reeni, is an uber-baker and makes me believe I can actually bake.

3) Debbie, she finds the most uber-delicious recipes and shares them with us.

4) Mrs. G , she uber real and uber funny and deep down she's a sweetie too.

5) Priscilla, for her uber delicious cookie recipes. I am making fore cookies than I should, but hey it's the holidays!

Thanksgiving...Food...Family

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. Ours was too good to be true check this out.

Remember when I said that when we got to New Orleans I was going to eat at Zea's and A.J. would be there drinking one of their micro-brews? Well here he is with his micro-brew and his mom.

His dinner entree choice was Asian Chicken Salad.

Mine was Wood-Fired Trout with Shrimp Etoufee (Ay-to-fay) with Zea's signature Corn Grits and Red Beans and Rice as sides. I shared the red beans with the homegirlz.

This A.J. lending a hand in the kitchen on Thanksgiving day. Hmmm, do we see a pattern here with his right hand?

A.J. and his brother (our host) putting the finish touches on Cajun Oyster Stew, I'll have that recipe for you tomorrow!

A beautiful, sunny, 75 degree day, we ate outside, in tents because in Southeast Louisiana, it's going to rain and it did, just a little.

All beautiful and quiet, before the carnage.

Oven roasted turkey.

Cajun fried turkey - my personal choice

Rotisserie beef tenderloin.

Turkey gravy. My contribution.

Spinach Madeline

Oyster Dressing

I think it's against the law to have Thanksgiving without this...Green Bean Casserole.

Baked macaroni and cheese, another classic.

Thanksgiving...Food...Family...

Tortellini Soup and Parmesan Crisps

Believe me this is a real treat, psst come a little closer. The Parmesan Crisps, well if you're nuts over Parmesan cheese like me, these rock. Make them when no one is around so you don't have to share, no really, you'll see. We're going to make the soup first.

You might want to call this "Soup Making for Dummies", but this is a wonderful tasty soup that is so simple and might I suggest a great meal for the night before Thanksgiving. You know, when you're pulling your hair out trying to get everything done and people are slamming you wanting dinner now and you don't even have time to run out and pick up fast food.

Ok, are you ready, don't blink or you'll miss this. Heat 8 cups of chicken broth to a rolling boil, generously sprinkle black pepper to taste into the broth, lower heat to medium, add two 9 ounce packages of your favorite tortellini to the pot, stir and simmer for about 7 minutes. Ladle up the soup and garnish with sliced green onions. It doesn't get simpler than this and your satisfied significant other and munchkins will sigh and declare their unwavering devotion to you - Really!

Now for the grand finale!

Grate 1 cup of Parmigiana-Reggiano or Parmesan (DO NOT USE GRATED PARM N A JAR - OR DISASTER WILL ENSUE). Place a sheet of parchment or silicone baking sheet over a cookie sheet (do not use foil - disaster) and place parm on sheet a tablespoon at a time. Flatten parm piles with back of spoon as shown.

Bake at 400 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes - watch them carefully. Let the pan cool for a minute or two and very gently use a spatula and remove. Oh man, these are so light and lacy and crispy and the most awesome accompaniment to any soup.

Indulge and Enjoy - you've earned it!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Thanksgiving on the Fly

Well, I was trying to post this first thing this morning, but my computer got infected with a virus and it took the IT guy all day to get me back up and working. I'm so glad to have my computer running normally again.

We're heading to New Orleans Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving with family. This is our first time back for Thanksgiving since we moved to Tennessee. We are looking forward to seeing everyone, but it's hard for me not to cook. Thanksgiving and Christmas has always been at our house. I had to make a little Thanksgiving meal so we could at least honor one of our traditions. After grace and before we eat we all take turns saying what we are thankful for.

I have to apologize that I do not have photos of all of the finished dishes. It got a little hectic and people were swarming and hovering wanting to eat. I forgot to to take pictures of everything, but trust me, this was a great Thanksgiving meal for four and it doesn't have to be Thanksgiving to enjoy.

Berry Popovers - Let's start with dessert!

Place on 16 ounce package of frozen berry melody (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) in a pot, add 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of grape juice.

Heat for about 15 minutes until liquid is syrupy. Remove from heat and let cool, then place in refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes to chill. This will allow the cornstarch to do it's job and thicken the liquid.

Roll out a sheet of thawed puff pastry dough on a lightly floured surface.

Cut the dough in a criss-cross pattern as shown to make 4 triangles. Separate and carefully move each triangle to a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the edges of the dough with beaten egg. This will help the dough adhere to itself and seal. Spoon two tablespoons of fruit in the middle of the dough trying to drain as much liquid as you can. Fold dough over and seal edges by pressing together. Brush the top of each popover with the beaten egg mixture so it will brown evenly.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. I had a little to much liquid in my popovers so they didn't come out quite a pretty as I would have liked.

Cornbread Dressing/Stuffing -

We usually have oyster dressing for Thanksgiving and this my first attempt at making cornbread dressing. This recipe of very loosely taken from one I saw Tyler Florence make.

Slice two leeks and place in a large bowl filled with water. Gently agitate with your hands to wash away the dirt that is in between the layers of the leaves. Heat a large skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Grab the leeks one handful at a time, gently shake off excess water and place in skillet to saute until soft. Discard dirty water. While leeks are sauteing, season with coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme. The leeks have a very gentle onion flavor. Their flavor does not overpower this dish. Once the leeks are tender, remove skillet from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes in the skillet.

You'll need about 4 cups of crumbled cornbread. I made two packages of Jiffy cornbread and crumbled and placed in a large bowl.

Place the leeks in the bowl with the cornbread, season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. Add 1 to 1-1/2 cups of chicken stock to moisten stuffing to desired consistency.

Place in a buttered casserole dish, Dot with butter and bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

It's golden brown, moist and tasty!

Now let's make some Turkey Gravy!

In a large pot over medium-high heat in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, saute for 5 to 7 minutes 1 smoked turkey drumstick or wing, 1 head of garlic cut in half at the equator, 2 stalks of celery chopped, 2 carrots peeled and chopped, 1 medium onion peeled and quartered, about eight parsley stems.

Ok, there's that smoked turkey drumstick! After sauteing for 5 to 7 minutes, remove to an oven safe pan and add 1-1/2 cups of chicken stock, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme and 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning. Place pan in a 400 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes.

See at how rich the broth/drippings look!

Really look close. Use a baster and get as much liquid out of the pan as you can and toss the veggies and the turkey drumstick.

I don't have a picture of the finished gravy, but melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a high sided, medium pot, add 1-1/2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to the melted butter and stir continuously to make a light roux. Stir for about 7 to 9 minutes, slowly add stick, 1/2 cup at a time until all of the stock has been used. Thin out with a little warm water as necessary. Season with salt and pepper - great over steamy rice or creamy mashed potatoes.

The Winner!

The homegirlz were absolutely no help in this whatsoever. I was using random.org and they were using heartstrings.com

Congratulations Gigi you are the winner! Email me with your mailing address and that cookbook will be on its way tomorrow morning.

Thank all of you for participating in my first giveaway!