Camp Food @ Kisatchie National Forest

In direct defiance of common sense, and a string of 95+ degree days, Angela and I went camping in Kisatchie National Forest - near Natchitoches, LA. The plan was to do some relaxing car camping, swim in the creek, and do a little hiking. Not in the plan - pulling about one tick off of my body for every hour of sleep (4). The food plans worked out well. We brought in a cooler with avocados, Abita Abbey Ale, corn on the cob, and two thick ready-to-grill hamburger patties from Whole Foods. Possibly one of our tastiest camping trips yet! Grilled avocado with sour cream is fantastic by the way.

Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Spinach

Thanks to my brother in law Matt Driscoll for this simple and delicious recipe for Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Spinach. It couldn't be any easier: butterfly chicken breasts, flatten, bread, salt/pepper, line with goat cheese and spinach, roll tightly, and bake for 1 hour. Boom - tasty.


Soundtrack: Hey, Good Lookin' by Hank Williams Sr. 

Peanut Butter Cupcakes and Stuffed Peppers

Sure it's an odd combination, but sometimes you cook with what you have. Our actual dinner menu was beef tacos with stuffed peppers, and then we had cupcakes for dessert. I just thought it might be fun to make a video combining peppers and cupcakes - and I wanted to unveil my new blowtorch, new iPod docking station, and the awesome HD video quality of my new Canon Powershot SD1400 IS!


Music by Neon Indian

Monie's Shrimp Boulettes

"Boulette" is French for ball, and in this case we're talking about Shrimp Boulettes, or Shrimp Balls. This recipe comes right from my grandma, who we affectionately refer to as "Monie". Anyways, Monie's famous Shrimp Boulettes are quite easy. This couyon pulled it off, and so can you.

Monie wrote out the recipe for me a few years ago, and I finally gave it a try. Monie wrote, "About 1 lb. of raw shrimp - two eggs, green onions, parsley, 2 tablespoons of plain flower, salt, and pepper to taste. Coarsely grind shrimp. Add all ingredients. Mix well, deep fry - drop by tablespoon."

That's it! I fired the oil up to about 375 degrees and dropped them in. Delicious treats that reminded me of home. Careful not to over-salt.

Seafood Market: Westwego, LA

These are images from a trip to the Westwego Seafood Market on 5/5/10 - eleven days after the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, caught fire, melted, and sank into the Gulf of Mexico 45 miles southeast of Venice, LA. We weren't alone in thinking that our freezer needed to be stocked with seafood. The oil spill sent everyone into a seafood frenzy, and we witnessed the largest crowds we've ever seen at the market. Before leaving, we picked up 6lbs of shrimp, 2 lbs of catfish, and 1 lb of redfish. That's a lot for Angela and I, but other shoppers made our purchase seem like a drop in the bucket. I witnessed one guy alone purchase 60 lbs of shrimp, fresh off the boat!

Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee

Tonight, Angela and I cooked "Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee" from Chef John Folse's The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. In the end, it could have used a bit more cayenne, but the etouffee was tasty. By the way, this was my FIRST ROUX!

Louisiana Style Crawfish Etouffee

Angela chops the veggies.

In his gargantuan cookbook, Folse writes:

The French word "etouffee" means to stew, smother or braise. This technique is found in dishes using shrimp, crab, crawfish and, in some cases, meat or game. Though more Creole in origin, etouffees are found throughout Cajun country.

Folse published the recipe on his website, so I'll  paste it below:

	INGREDIENTS: 2 pounds cleaned crawfish tails 1/4 pound butter 1 cup onion, chopped 1/2 cup celery, chopped ½ cup green bell pepper, chopped ½ cup red bell pepper, chopped ½ cup tomatoes, diced 2 tbsps garlic, diced 2 bay leaves 1/2 cup tomato sauce 1 cup flour 2 quarts crawfish stock or water 1 ounce sherry 1 cup green onions, chopped ½ cup parsley, chopped salt and cayenne pepper to taste Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce 2 cups white rice, steamed METHOD: In a 2-gallon stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and bay leaves. Sauté until vegetables are wilted, approximately 3-5 minutes. Add crawfish tails and tomato sauce and blend well into mixture. Using a wire whip, blend flour into the vegetable mixture to form a white roux. Slowly add crawfish stock or water, a little at a time, until sauce consistency is achieved. Continue adding more stock as necessary to retain consistency. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sherry, green onions and parsley and cook an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste using salt and cayenne pepper. Serve over steamed white rice using a few dashes of Louisiana Gold Pepper Sauce.

Praline 2.0 = SUCCESS!!

On the second attempt, and with a little help from Angela, I was able to successfully concoct pralines. Boy, I really lived up to "couyon" status on this one - turns out I forgot to add the butter on the first try!!

Cajun Praline from The Encyclopedia of Cajun 

& Creole Cuisine by Chef John Folse

Inadvertently USA-shaped praline!