Gumbo!

There was a time many moons ago when our parents were high adventurers in culinary land. I distinctly remember a cajun food kick which included the making of gumbo and jambalaya. The jambalaya I was never too fond of as I am not a fan of [un-battered and deep-fried] shrimp. The gumbo on the other hand, became a family favorite. This old favorite vanished for a few years, forgotten in the annals of Lewis family history until a recent family reunion when I requested that we eat it again. This time, I was wise enough to get the recipe. I'll document it here and post comments with any alterations that I might create later on.

Chicken and Okra Gumbo
from La Cuisine Cajun
3/4 cup of cooking oil
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 large onions, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks of celery, minced
1 hen (6 1/2 to 7 pounds), cut into serving pieces and most of skin removed
2 tsp of chicken seasoning (our mom used a cajun seasoning blend)
2 3/4 quarts of chicken stock, chicken broth, or water
3/4 pound of tasso (smoked beef) (I don't think we've ever had this one on hand, you can substitute sausage. Mom uses hot Italian sausage that she cooks ahead of time to removed most of the grease.)
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp sweet basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp of onion powder
1/8 tsp of white pepper
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp of Tabasco sauce
1 1/2 tsp of salt
2 1/2 cups smothered okra (last time we used frozen; canned is also an option)
1 tsp of file powder (the label says it contains thyme and sassafras)
3/4 cup of chopped green onion
1/4 cup of minced fresh parsley
file powder to taste
cooked white rice

*In a gumbo pot or large stockpot (2 1/2 to 3 gallons), heat the cooking oil over high heat until the oil begins to smoke. Add the flour and stir constantly with a wire whisk or wooden spoon, making sure that the roux is constantly moving and not sticking in any part of the pot. (I find that tilting the pot from one side to another helps.) Continue to cook over high heat until the roux becomes a dark reddish-brown. This will take about 3 minutes.
When the desired color is reached, add the onions, bell pepper, garlic and celery. Saute over medium heat in the roux for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Season the chicken with the Chicken Seasoning Mix. Fry half of the chicken in the roux mixture over medium heat for 5 minutes, then remove that half and fry the other half for 5 minutes.
Put all the chicken back into the pot and add the Chicken Stock. Stir  until the roux is absorbed into the stock. Add the tasso, bay leaf, sweet basil, garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper, Tabasco sauce and salt. Heat over medium heat until the gumbo comes to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours, then add the smothered okra and the teaspoon of file powder and continue to cook at a low simmer for 2 1/2 more hours.
Add the green onions and parsley and stir them in well. Cook for 7 more minutes at a low simmer. Serve hot in individual serving bowls with file powder over cooked white rice. Serves 10.

Rosemary with help from Nutmeg

First crop of the year

Please don't be jealous, oh ye who live in northern climes where there is still snow on the ground. We harvested our first vegetables from our garden this week. Radishes! Full disclosure - if it were up to me, we wouldn't have planted radishes since I'm not a big fan (another case of not really eating them when I was a kid and not having ever developed a taste for them). But we said "why not?" and today they were ready to be picked. (Whether they liked it or not - apparently there's some big slabs of concrete under our lawn/garden where there used to be a driveway, so the radishes only had so much room to grow down in before they hit rock.)



So here's what I did with them:


Radish and carrot salad:

Slice up some carrots, radishes, cucumber, and some of the radish greens (I also meant to put in some corn and red onion, but forgot). Toss it all together, coat with creamy dressing of your choice. Serve this spring-y deliciousness with whatever you want (we did Italian chicken and rosemary rice - recipes below).

Dressing (measurements approximate):
1/3 c. mayo
1/3 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. sour cream
1/3 c. olive oil
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
pepper

Whisk together all ingredients. Add more of whatever you want to taste.

Italian chicken:

Chicken breasts
Italian dressing

Marinate chicken in dressing for 15-20 minutes, cook in pan on stove with marinade for another 15-20 or until done.

Rosemary rice:

Cook rice with rosemary and a dash of kosher salt.

-Thyme

Pineapple Cashew Chicken with Coconut Scallion Brown Rice

Several weeks ago I decided that I would take a leap of faith and try a completely different sort of recipe. It is called "Pineapple Cashew Chicken with Coconut Scallion Brown Rice"...A solid name. I pulled the recipe off of the Simply Orange Orange Juice web site and it was created by a lady named Jennifer Iserloh, I say props to here. Here are some things I learned while making this:

1. Cooking rice in a crock pot does work, but it does not take 4 hours on high, unless mush really is your final goal.
2. No matter how badly you want it to be the blender is not a food processor--forcing the issue will not end well (I used it actually for the dessert portion of the meal, but it was a lesson learned nonetheless).
3. Fresh pineapple makes almost everything better (thanks Thyme for teaching me how to pick a good one)
4. Chicken can indeed marinade for too long.
5. ALWAYS invite nice people over for experiment night. The will make you feel great about your efforts regardless of the quality of the results.

Now for the recipe:
Pineapple Cashew Chicken with Coconut Scallion Brown Rice (serves 4)

1 cup Simply Orange with Pineapple (or any kind you have handy)
2 TBSP cornstarch
2 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
2 TBSP dark brown sugar
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes
1 cup fresh cubed pineapple (mmm)
1 TBSP canola or vegetable oil
1 medium red onion, cut into cubes (I cheated here and used a regular yellow onion)
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 red bell pepper
1 15oz can of baby corn or 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen kernels whatever you have handy
6 TBSP salted cashews
4 scallions, trimmed and sliced thinly (another confession, I didn't actually use these, I couldn't find them!)
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups short grain brown rice

Alright, first your going to mix your OJ, cornstarch, soy sauce and brown sugar in a ziplock bag (or bowl with a lid). Mine turned a kinda nasty looking brown color, but it did smell good. Put your chicken and pineapple in there to marinate for at least 3 hours, I wouldn't recommend overnight. The chicken ended up with a weird texture after marinating that long.

Heat the oil in a skillet or wok, sautee the onions, celery and pepper. Move these off to a plate and then cook the chicken and pineapple in the same pan (putting the marinade to the side in a small bowl). Return the veggies once the chicken is mostly cooked and the pineapple is soft.

Grab your bowl of marinade and microwave it for a couple minutes or bring it to a boil in a little saucepan, then add it back to your chicken/veggie mix along with the corn. Reduce the heat and cook and cover until the chicken is completely cooked. Sprinkle with the cashews.

Take your cooked rice (I am not about to try to explain how to cook rice, I am the worst ever at that part, but I am sure you all know how) and mix the coconut, scallions and salt into it. Put your chicken on your rice and voila! Dinner is served!

The verdict: Once you get past the murky brown color action going on I'd say the mixture of flavors was pretty dang good but probably you could actually back down on the amount of pineapple or just served more fresh and to the side (cooked pineapple isn't exactly my thing actually, so don't ask me why I tried it). If you cook the chicken right I think this would be amazing. I'd like to try it again sometime.

-Cayenne