Cooking with femi94ce

[DiabolicDevice]

I just had a Guinness with an Oreo it was magic. Brilliant.

That's a gourmet dessert right there.

I was born just across the river from you in Suffern

I think you're thinking of a different Roc City. I am way up in Rochester.

[femi94ce]

Hey y'all

This is a recipe I brought back from the heart of cajun country in Houma, Louisiana after taking Miss Annie's Bayou Swamp Tour almost 20 years ago.

Etouffee (pronounced ay - too -fay) is a kind of stew that is officially made without a roux ("roo") at its base. In Louisiana, you can get etouffee with or without it. I like mine with the roux, so I added it to this recipe. Typically, a roux is a gravy base made from flour browned in lard. I have modified this somewhat because the lard is about a kajillion calories. My verson delivers only about a bazillion, and feeds an army but freezes great. If you're single, get out those cheapo small storage tubs.

prep time: 20 mins front end and 20 mins back end


FRONT END

y'all will need:

crock pot

1 pound of crab meat (if this is too $$ you can do it with the "crabmeat" - prefab surimi style crab-flavored pollock cut into small pieces)
1.5 pounds raw shrimp headless peeled deveined
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
2 big stalks of celery, chopped
3 green onions, chopped (or "scallions" as they are known on the cooking shows)
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

Dump all ingredients in the pot and cook low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.

You can do this part faster by sauteeing the onions and throwing everything together in a big pot, but I found the slow cook way lets all the flavors have a chance to shake hands and really bond with each other.

BACK END

While, or after, the stew has cooked down and all the vegetables are soft, prepare the roux to create a gravy base. Roux takes a little patience, but this is a good thing.

y'all will need:

skillet
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup flour
COLD water

On medium heat:

pour the oil into the pan
pour the flour into the oil

Keep stirring until the roux is browned: light gold or dark. Dark takes longer but looks more like gravy when you are done. When the flour is browned, slowly add cold water (hot water will bleach the flour) until you get a gravy consistency.

Stir the roux into the stew.

Adjust the seasoning - salt & cayenne to taste.


Serve over RICE

Y'all enjoy!

FF

[Bap]

Femi ;
Whoee girl. You are the devil with a red dress. Get me some corn bread a few Black and Tan's and for dessert drive up to New Iberia, just north of Houma. To get me some Tabasco ice cream. Sounds goofy but goes real goood with Cajun Cookin.

DD;
Yea I thought you where talking about New Rochelle.
Ahh Rochester.
The only place where it snows horizontally. The days of Utica Club and Black Label. Actually my favorite place to live is just south of you Smyrna N.Y. Like living in a Norman Rockwell painting.

[femi94ce]

This is my mother's secret ingredient. Without this stuff, my everyday cooking would be dull as dishwater. For years I lived on handouts and begged my mother to write down the recipe. Her cryptic reply: "I don't know how much of what goes in it I just know it's right by looking at the color". My mother is some genius - how she can judge the flavor of a bunch of spices blended together just by looking at it is beyond me.

Last summer I figured I would be toast if she went to her grave without handing on the recipe so I cornered her and we did it scientifically - we measured.

This stuff is gold - I sprinkle it on anything that might be enhanced by salt - killer on all meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, and popcorn. You can use it instead of coarse salt in the POACHED SALMON recipe.


1 1/2 cups of salt
1 1/2 cups sweet paprika
1 1/2 cups granulated garlic
2 tablespoons ground thyme

Sift it all together and store in an airtight container - not plastic! Plastic will eventually let the flavor seep out, and the flavors will scalp into the container walls. Foil lined cookie tin or tight sealed glass jars are best for storing the bulk. I saved an old sprinkle-top spice jar for over-the-stovetop use.

Use daily for health and enjoyment.

Cheers
FF

[femi94ce]

Hey y'all,

It's "official"*, if you eat with my family you will reduce your risk of cancer.

Health: Your Lifestyle, Your Genes and Cancer | Newsweek Health for Life | Newsweek.com

If that doesn't scare you off my cooking then try this one out.

This is a recipe cribbed from a Hindu chef and given a french twist with red wine. White wine works well too, just not quite as rich in flavor.

The secret "ingredient" to this recipe is a cast iron frying pan. No calphalon, no teflon, no stainless, no aluminum, no enamel. Cooking is chemistry, and the iron is an essential catalyst for these flavors. Not to say it won't taste good if you do this in one of the above, it just won't be AS good.

Sometimes you gotta dance with who you brung to the party - so if you don't have cast iron don't worry - you will have a good result with this one no matter what you cook it in.

I like to do this one with chicken thighs. They have more fat and lend more flavor, and they tend to be less dry in the cooking.

Prep time: 25 minutes

y'all will need:

9" or bigger cast iron frying pan
Olive oil
4 boneless chicken thighs or 2 boneless breast halves cut in two (4 pieces)
Yo' Mama's Flava Salt
2 big onions sliced
turmeric
red wine

On Medium high heat:

Pour olive oil to generously cover the bottom of the frying pan and liberally dust the pan with turmeric.

When oil is hot (you'll smell it - it's like perfume) put the chicken pieces in and quickly brown one side.

Reduce heat to medium, add onions and liberally dust chicken and onions with Flava Salt.

Cover and cook until onion is wilted and transparent.

Turn chicken over and dust other side with Flava Salt. Pour red wine over all (about 1 cup) and cook until the wine is reduced almost all the way down.

Remove the chicken. Pour another 1/2 cup of wine in the pan and deglaze the bottom: scrape off all the cooked onion and chicken sediment, mix with wine and heat until alcohol boils off and onions and gravy are rich brown.

Plate chicken with rice and pour onions and gravy over all.

Oh boy. I'm doing this one tonight.

FF

[femi94ce]

I do. Hate cooking them don't care much for eating them. I am lucky that my husband does practically all the vegetable (cold) prep in our house. So most of the recipes I post will not include many veggies, because I have the great good fortune of having someone here to do the dirty work of selecting, rinsing, drying, sorting, chopping and all that. We have "Tibetan Lama Salad" every night of the week (so named for the arrangement of the vegetables on the plate, not the ingredients).

Occasionally something will come over me and I'll have the impulse to cook up some vegetables. I like cooked vegetables if their flavors are disguised as something else - like in chinese food. It's the "savory" flavor of vegetable glutamates that fool my palate into thinking it's eating meat.

These are really good. Serves 2 or 3 as a side, 1 for a vegetarian meal.

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

y'all will need:

frying pan or wok
peanut oil or olive oil
2 cups of frozen or fresh stir fry mix
1 big onion chopped coarse
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
Yo' Mama's Flava Salt
dried basil
Maggi



On medium low heat:

Cover the bottom of the pan with oil. put in onions and garlic. This is the trick - just heat the onions and garlic slowly until the onions are transparent. It doesn't look like anything is happening, but the flavors are being coaxed out of them and saturating the oil, which will soon cover and enhance the flavors of the veggies.

Turn the heat up to medium high, dump in the vegetables and keep stirring. Dust with Flava Salt and sprinkle with dried basil. When the vegetables are cooked to a kind of tender crunch, spritz with a few dashes of Maggi to taste.

FF

[fun2bfree]

Femi,
awsooooooooooooooooooooome I' from the pacific west coast. I love to cook sea food, and only use fresh ingredents. I tried some of your sea food delights and wow.
keep it coming. Today its chocolate chip cookies. Try this one out.For the prawns
24 headless raw prawns, peeled with the tail left intact
1 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp sesame seeds
4 sheets fresh filo pastry
1 egg white, lightly whisked
Rocket leaves and lime wedges, to serve (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
For the dipping sauce
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tsp clear honey
1 tsp fresh rosemary
Live with passion........................................... .

[fun2bfree]

Toss the prawns with the lime juice and sesame seeds, season and leave to marinate. Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the sauce.
Working quickly, cut each sheet of filo into six strips and brush with egg white. Wrap each prawn into a filo strip together with the sesame seeds from the marinade.
Heat the oil and deep-fry the prawns for 2-3 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Place on kitchen paper to drain then serve with salad and lime wedges or as a passed hors d'oeuvre.

[Fetor]

I got another one...

Go to the store. Buy some frozen burritos. Purchase (no looting). Take home. Heat. Eat. Go to the bathroom. 15 mins.

[fun2bfree]

Blackberry Cranachan
ngredients
100 g medium oatmeal
6 tbsp demerara sugar
100 ml single cream
284 ml carton double cream
2 tbsp clear honey
3 tbsp whisky or Drambuie (optional)
300 g blackberries