Early Summer (though it feels like August) Cookout

It's really hot down here already! The heat index must be close to 100˚, and I know I should expect this by now but we had a really mild spring (some might say cold spring) so there was no gradual build up to the heat. And it is hot! 

That said, we grilled out for the first time in a while last night. Rabb (our new neighbor, see introduction at the bottom) brought some sausage and we added pork chops and drum to the menu; along with a bounty of local veggies.

Local Bounty:

 

Intro to Rabb:

here he is in the wedding procession

Christian's best man, college roommate and generally one of our best friends recently relocated from New York to New Orleans. On his first day in the city he biked over to respond to a for rent post he saw on Craigslist® and what do you know the for rent apartment was the other half of our double! So here we are sharing walls again, and glad to have an old/new friend in town. 

The rest of that Cinco de Mayo Dinner

Hey we're only a month late! Well from what I can remember (way back to May 5th, 2013) the food was great and so was the company. Check it out the evidence:

Cabbage slaw for tacos

homemade guacamole (directions here)

Chipotle beef in the slow-cooker (see recipe at the bottom):

Black beans and tomatoes:

Check out Real Simple's version here

And since we're no stranger to an after dinner haircut (here), Mattie gave Christian a new summer look. 

What's the Difference Between St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo?

No one pretends to be Mexican on Cinco de Mayo!

But we sure do like the food! Tonight we're having some friends over to celebrate Mexican Independence. I will leave you with a preview and our favorite guacamole recipe:

Ingredients:
4 avocados
2 cloves of garlic (shaved)
1 tomato
about a cup of salsa
loads of lime juice
salt and cumin to taste
dollop of plain Greek yogurt

Mash it all up, stir together, drop the pits back in, and chill.

 

Mud Bug Bisque

This weekend Lauren and I picked up a bag of crawfish for a late afternoon lunch. We walked up to Captain Sal's Seafood to get them because they usually do a pretty good job; Lauren got a great batch of big, spicy, juicey ones there the weekend before. This was not the case with this batch. They were over salted, dry, and bland. We decided not to continue eating them. Bummer right? This story gets better...

We decided we would peel all the crawfish. Which it's hard to sit with a bag of crawfish and peel them with out eating them all but there was enough beer on hand that it wasn't that bad. We got about two big hand-fulls of tail meat. I put the tails in the fridge while I began prepping the other ingredients for a bisque.

 I defrosted some amazing white corn my mom had brought on her last visit. She packed it off the cob and it's sweet and creamy. I chopped up four red potatoes, four cloves of garlic and an onion. I threw the corn and potato in a pot on low and covered them.

 I browned the onion & garlic and added them to the potatoes and corn.

 Then with half a stick of butter and three tablespoons of flour I made a roux. I expanded it by whisking in a cup of 1% milk until I had a thick white gravy which I added to the vegetable mixture. I added 4 ounces of clam juice and 6 ounces of beer to thin it out a bit. I brought that mixture to boil stirring occasionally to keep it from scorching on the bottom.

 At a light boil I reduced the heat added the crawfish tails, 1/2 cup half & half, a dash of worchestire sauce, a dash of hot sauce, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt to taste.  I let it simmer on low until the potatoes were al dente. While it was simmering I grilled some rye toast that I drizzled with olive oil and cracked with salt and pepper. I also trimmed a bit of parsley from the garden.

So that's the story of how we turned a bad bag of bugs into a banging bisque. Bon appetite!

Easter Weekend 2013

Last Sunday was our third year hosting Easter (check out last year's here). My mom and little sis, Emmy, came to town as well as C's mom. We had a great time taking them around to all our favorite spots and cooking as one big family on Easter Sunday. Here are some of the places we hit up and the big meal that closed it out:

Friday morning we took them to the best breakfast spot in town: Cake Cafe. They make fresh pastries daily and the best fried oysters in town!

Courtesy of Cake Cafe

Saturday night we went to Bacchanal. It was really crowded, so we sat in their newly renovated upstairs. We couldn't hear the music or enjoy the weather, but we were glad we got a table at all considering how quick they fill up and how long folks linger. 

Sunday: After mass at St. Francis Seelos in the Bywater. We went to Mr. B.'s Bistro for brunch. 

waiting for our table with bloody mary's 

feelin' it 

We rushed home from brunch and began the preparation for Easter dinner.

Here's what was on the menu:

Appetizers: pears with blue cheese and proscuitto, deviled eggs. cheese plate 

I keep my Deviled Eggs super simple and they are delicious.

Step 1: boil the eggs (best results come when I bring the water to a boil with eggs already submerged, boil 1 minute, remove from heat, steam 3 min, remove from water ASAP). Shells usually come off with ease, especially if I run them under cold water. 

Step 2: cut eggs in half, remove yolk. Add to the yolks sweet pickle relish, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, dash of hot sauce, ground pepper to taste. Mash with a fork.

Step 3: Scoop egg mixture into a ziplock bag, seal, cut off a corner (to mimic a pastry bag). Pipe into eggs.

Step 4: Sprinkle with paprika and chill 

Dinner: leg of lamb, spring pea salad, nicoise salad, mac and cheese

best mac and cheese yet!

mmm lamb + mint jelly 

nicoise salad and spring pea salad

And we eat...

Dessert: lemon pound cake with honey vanilla neufchatel cheese and fresh fruit

till next year...