Spinach Madeline

This post originally appeared in July, 2010 but is being reposted for the holidays.

A Southern Holiday favorite for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Easter or any special occasion, this versatile dish is excellent year round. It compliments any type of entree: roast beef or steaks, turkey or cornish hens, baked ham and fish. It can also be served as a dip with melba toast as is or by adding lump crabmeat or steamed shrimp. I sometimes make it just because!

Spinach Madeline is particularly good when served at Thanksgiving or Christmas with Turkey, South Louisiana Cornbread Dressing and Giblet Gravy. This recipe is easily doubled, tripled and quadrupled depending on how many people you will be serving. It also freezes very well so it can be made ahead of time. One trick I do is multiply the recipe 6 times, divide that and freeze half for Thanksgiving and half for Christmas. It's such a hit with my family and friends that we all want leftovers to take home hence the large quantity!

2 packages chopped spinach, frozen
4 tbsps butter
2 tbsps flour
2 tbsps chopped onions
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup reserved spinach liquor
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp celery salt
3/4 tsp garlic salt
6 ounces Velveeta Mexican cheese, cubed
salt and red pepper to taste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Italian Bread Crumbs

Cook spinach according to directions on package. Drain and reserve liquid. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add flour, stirring until blended and smooth, but not brown. Add onions and sauté 3-5 minutes or until wilted. Add evaporated milk, spinach liquor and Worcestershire sauce slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook mixture until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. Add seasonings and cubed cheese. Stir until melted and combine with cooked spinach. This may be served immediately or put into a casserole and topped with Italian bread crumbs. The flavor is improved if the latter is done and kept in refrigerator overnight. Bake at 350.

***Note: see Tips and Information on Velveeta Mexican Cheese

Chicken Gumbo

Gumbo is an original creation and is a staple in South Louisiana cooking. The word "gumbo" comes from the Congo "quin-gombo" which means okra which is a thickening agent. While classified as a soup it really is more like a stew in taste and texture. Additionally, gumbo is served over rice, whereas, soup is not.

There are many different types of gumbo from chicken to wild game to seafood and the recipes vary somewhat. The gumbo we make most often in our house, simply for ease, economics and availability, is Chicken Gumbo. I have to admit, my favorite is Seafood gumbo but it gets really expensive to make if you don't live in South Louisiana! Here is a basic Chicken Gumbo recipe that you can start with and add other types of meat such as sausage, venison, duck or seafood. Have fun experimenting!

3 tbl Oil
3 tbl Flour
1 pkg Boneless Chicken breasts
1 pkg boneless chicken thighs
1 med onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 10 oz pkg frozen sliced okra
Tony’s, salt and pepper
Parboiled rice

In large pot, brown chicken in oil. Remove from pot when thoroughly browned on both sides. Add oil and flour and make a dark brown roux. Add onion and stir well; then add okra and blend well. Add all other vegetables except tomato and allow to cook down, cover if necessary to retain moisture. Cut up chicken into large bite size pieces. Add about 4 cups of water, tomato, and seasonings; blend well. Add chicken and stir. Cook down for about an hour adding more water if necessary. Recheck seasonings. Serve over rice.

***Note: If you will be making Giblet Gravy for the holidays, now would be the time to cook it as you need pan drippings and a little meat, not to mention that it can be frozen ahead of time. Add some extra chicken when making your gumbo then set aside some of it and all of the pan drippings from when you brown the chicken as stated above, then make your gravy while your gumbo cooks! This way, you can make the gravy ahead of time without having to do any extra work to obtain the two aforementioned ingredients.

Giblet Gravy

One Christmas, I must have been about 6 or 7, my great uncle gave me a HUGE candy cane as his present to me. Everything seems so much bigger when you are little but I swear, that thing must have been about 18 inches long and 3 inches in diameter! It was gigantic!

After Christmas dinner, one of my cousins kept teasing and tormenting me relentlessly and we started squabbling. My mother made me come inside and I was furious. My uncle took me aside and privately whispered to me that if my cousin bothered me again, I was to take that candy cane he gave me and whack my cousin with it! He wasn’t serious, but being a little kid, I took what he said seriously.

So, when my cousin started tormenting me again, I grabbed my candy cane weapon, swung it like a bat and {{{{CRACK}}}}, whacked him in the head with it! He let out a blood curdling scream. All the parents came running outside and there I was standing over him, holding my broken, shattered candy cane with a very satisfied smile on my face!

This is the Giblet gravy recipe that goes with my South Louisiana Cornbread Dressing. These are dishes that we serve at both Thanksgiving and Christmas unless we do a Cajun Christmas meal. I used to make Giblet gravy exactly the way my grandmother made it…with the actual Turkey Giblets. But after she passed away and in response to several requests, I stopped doing that and have since been using either breast or thigh meat.

Since this can be made ahead of time and frozen, I usually bake some chicken or make some Chicken Gumbo the week or two before. Then I use a little of the meat and the all of the pan drippings from it and make the gravy then, freezing it for later. Additionally, I usually double the recipe, then when it's cool, divide it in half and freeze both separately: one batch for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas!

3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 can chicken broth
Garlic powder, Onion powder, Celery salt and Tonys, to taste
1 to 1-1/2 cups Chicken breast or thigh meat, chopped fine***
Pan drippings

Over medium-low heat, combine the oil and flour in a large saucepan and make a dark roux. Slowly stir in the chicken broth, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the gravy is smooth and thickened. Add pan drippings and allow to thicken again.

Reduce heat to low, add seasonings and the giblets. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Recheck seasonings, adding more if necessary. This gravy can be made ahead of time and frozen or refrigerated until needed.

My grandmother's way of making it is as follows:

In a medium sauce pot, boil 1 stalk of celery and 1/2 a medium onion along with the turkey neck and giblets. Season water with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder. Cook until done. Discard celery and onion. Remove neck and giblets and allow to cool. Make a dark brown roux and add the pan drippings and the seasoned broth you just made (refer to recipe above for instructions). When neck and giblets are cool, remove meat from neck bone, finely chop it and the giblets. Stir that into your gravy. Recheck seasonings and serve.

***Note: I usually bake some chicken for dinner or make a pot of Gumbo the week before, separate enough chicken and the pan drippings and make my gravy at the same time. Then I freeze the gravy and later thaw it out in the refrigerator the day before I need it.

*** When I make chicken salad, I freeze my broth and use that when I make my gravy instead of using canned broth. See Gourmet Chicken Salad recipe.

***See Tips and Information for making a roux and for Tony's.

South Louisiana Cornbread Dressing

My grandparents used to own a cemetery in Louisiana. I was six and my sister was three when late one Thanksgiving afternoon, after we had all eaten, my oldest cousin snuck away to set up a prank on all of us younger cousins, 6 of us to be exact with the 4 oldest being boys (Seven with the oldest prankster). He then came inside, got us and took us up to the only above ground mausoleum in the cemetery, telling us we just "HAD" to come and see.

Once we got close, he told us the ghosts were trying to get out and were coming to get us and kill us! He had wedged a turkey thigh bone into the crack around the perimeter of the door and poured ketchup all over it to make it look like blood! When we got really close to look, he shoved us towards the door and screamed, "THEY'RE GETTING OUT" and ran down the hill and left us all there!

We were screaming and crying and trying to run away, bumping into each other and grabbing onto each other while still trying to escape (envision The Keystone Kops). All of my cousins older than myself and my sister were able to run but we, being the youngest, were so terrified and crying, we couldn't see and we stumbled around, running and falling until we made it down the hill and back home. My sister and I were traumatized about that for years to come!

Needless to say, our "old prankster" got the stick and we got the laugh! We sought revenge later in the weekend by luring him into the basement and later into the cemetery barn and scaring the bejeezus outta him both times by making ghost sounds and bumping around! Revenge is a dish best served COLD!

At any rate, my grandmother made the best cornbread dressing and it has been our family tradition to have it with Giblet gravy since long before I was born. She passed her recipes on to me and I took over some of the holiday cooking duties in my mid 20’s. Later I introduced Spinach Madeline (see recipe in another post) and that has now become our other traditional favorite dish along with Sweet Potato Casserole.

The Cornbread:
3 tablespoons bacon drippings or butter
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups corn meal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F. Put the bacon drippings/butter in a 9x13-inch baking dish and put it in the oven while it is preheating. It will melt while you're mixing up the batter.

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl until frothy. Add the corn meal, salt, baking soda and baking powder, and stir to combine. Add the buttermilk and stir well. Remove the hot dish from the oven. Swirl the dish to coat it with melted bacon drippings/butter then pour it into the batter and stir to combine. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake 20 to 25 minutes. The cornbread will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Make the cornbread a day before you intend to make your dressing. Leave it out, uncovered, overnight.

The Dressing:
1 9x13-inch pan of cornbread, crumbled
10 pieces white or whole wheat bread, heels are good (left out overnight)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 large stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped (2-1/2 to 3 cups)
1 large green pepper, chopped
3/4 cup butter (1-1/2 sticks)
4 cups chicken broth, canned or homemade
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp rubbed sage

Preheat oven to 375°F. Crumble the cornbread and white bread into a very large baking dish or pan (This is the pan you will cook your dressing in, and you need room to stir it while it's cooking). Combine the vegetables with the bread crumbs and mix well. Melt the butter and add it and the beaten eggs, chicken broth and stir. (You may need a little more chicken broth – its better if it's too moist than too dry; the uncooked dressing should be a little on the slushy side.) Add poultry seasoning, rubbed sage, black pepper, and mix thoroughly.

Bake 15 minutes then stir dressing from the sides of the pan into the rest so that it cooks uniformly. Recheck the seasonings, adding more if necessary. Bake until browning on sides and top and center has set.

Pot Roast

Pot Roast is a very popular dish in South Louisiana cooking. It involves the French technique of braising or pot roasting which comes from the French word “braiser”. The meat is seared at a high temperature, then finished in a covered pot with liquid, resulting in a succulent, flavorful meat and gravy. Coq au Vin is a well known French dish in which the braising technique is used.


History aside, it’s one of my favorite wintertime dishes as it fills the house with a wonderful aroma and is a hearty, warming, filling dish for a cold winter night. It’s one of those things where you sit on the couch under a heavy afghan in your warm fisherman’s sweater eating a big bowl of pot roast while watching your favorite movie or football team with your family. And then you fall asleep, warm and happy. Hmmmm.

When I was in Junior High, we lived on a corner; our side yard was very large and a long rectangular shape, completely unimpeded by shrubbery. It was the perfect place to play football and all the neighborhood boys and school friends would come play ball at my house in the fall during football season.


We would play no matter how cold it was and continue until it was so dark that we couldn't see anymore. By the time we quit and I went inside I was chilled to the bone, shivering badly and hungry as a bear. My mother usually had something cooking that was good and hot and she would hold up dinner until everyone went home and I came in. But what I loved and remembered about those meals was Pot Roast! By the time I changed clothes, she had dinner served. I would grab a bowl, go sit next to the fire and watch whatever my father had on TV and eat that wonderful incredible food. The warmth it brought would slowly spread through my cold body all the way to my finger tips and toes and leave me in a satisfied bliss.

POT ROAST (requires a large oven safe pot or roasting pan)

2 large chuck roasts
1 large onion chopped
5 stalks celery chopped
1 medium bellpepper chopped
8 large cloves garlic, minced
1 large bag baby carrots
5 large Red or 10 new potatoes, cubed (skin on)
Flour
Oil
Beef bouillion (I use Better Than Bouillion paste)
Tony’s

Salt, pepper and flour roasts, then brown both sides in oil. When browned, remove from pot. Add onion, celery, bellpepper and garlic and sauté, scraping the residue and drippings from the bottom of the pot. When vegetables are sauted well, push them to one side (or remove them entirely) and place roasts in bottom of pot. Place vegetables around the roasts; add potatoes and carrots and mix them with the sauted vegetables. In a large container, add 4 cups water and 3 tablespoons of bouillion (or 6 cubes) and dissolve. Pour into pot and add enough water to cover 1” over the top of the roasts and vegetables. Season with Tony’s and stir. Cover and bake in oven at 350 degrees (or cover and slowly simmer it on the stove) until roast is fork tender. Serve over rice.

**Note:

See Tips and Information on Better Than Bouillion paste.

When browning floured meat, leave it alone and don't move it for a few minutes (the residual flour around it will brown), then you can turn it. Otherwise the floured crust will come off and stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.

Shrimp Salad

Back in the early 80's when I was working as a dental assistant, a friend of a co-worker opened a little lunch place not far from our office. To help her jump start her business, we all went there for lunch on her opening day. I had the Shrimp Salad and it was nothing like any one I had ever eaten but I couldn't discern what made it so special as she had run the ingredients through a meat grinder. For years, I have looked and looked for a recipe that was close to what I thought hers was. Two weeks ago, I happened upon probably her identical recipe while surfing the internet. I made it this past weekend and Yep, it's the one! At Last....(conjurning up Etta James)! Here you go! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

1 pound shrimp
3 boiled eggs
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
Zatarain’s liquid crab boil
salt
Lemon pepper
Tony’s

Peel then boil shrimp on the stove or in the microwave with some Zatarain’s liquid crab boil and salt. Boil, cool and peel eggs. Chop celery, green onion and mince the garlic and place in medium size boil. Remove egg yolks from whites and break them apart with your fingers or a fork into bowl. Chop egg whites, add to bowl.

When shrimp are cooked and cooled, chop and place in bowl. Add mayo, lemon pepper, salt and Tony’s, mix well.
Check seasonings and add more or add mayo as needed. Cover and refrigerate to let the flavors all meld together. Serve on a bed of lettuce. I prefer finely shredded lettuce with this recipe. It’s also good on tomato slices.

*** You can coarsely chop all your ingredients, but I really like them finely chopped. This is the one recipe that makes me really miss my Cuisinart!!!

HOW TO OPEN A BOTTLE OF WINE WITHOUT A CORKSCREW

How many times have you needed to open a bottle of wine but didn't have a corkscrew because you either forgot it or it broke? Well, here is your solution! You don't need to know French to understand this video! Tres' Bien!

Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

In the mid 1990's I was living in Dallas and was leaving to go home to Louisiana for a visit during a particularly blustery and cold winter. I stopped to fill up my gas tank at a station just down the street from my house. While there, a Hari Krishna man handed me a carnation through my car window and wanted to discuss his religion with me. I politely declined but he gave me the flower anyway. I set it on the passenger seat with the intention of throwing it away at my next fill-up in North Louisiana. I forgot. I drove with that flower in the car next to me for the next 7-1/2 hours until I arrived at my mother's house. Unbeknownst to me, that Hari Krishna had the flu! Thirty-six hours later I was.....sick....as....a....dog. Ugggghhhh.

Fortunately, my mother had dinner at a friend's previously in the week, in which the friend served a wonderful Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup. Mom called her friend, got the recipe and made it for me. Oh My Gosh, it was divine! It warmed me up, soothed my sore throat, helped clear my stuffy head and was hearty enough to fill me up for awhile, gave me a little energy and was very comforting. It was the best vegetable beef soup I ever had. Upon my return to Dallas, when I finally felt up to it, I called Mom and got the recipe. I've been making this soup ever since....winter, spring, summer or fall...doesn't matter, I love it anytime of the year and all the time! The quantity of this recipe is very large so I like to put half of it up in the freezer for later use. To make this recipe you will need a large soup pot.

4 pkgs of stew meat or 1 lg roast, cubed
1 12 oz can tomato paste
5 stalks celery chopped
1 lg onion chopped
½ bellpepper chopped
1 bag peeled baby carrots (I use a large bag)
6 cloves garlic (I coarsely chop mine)
1/4 cup Worcestershire
2 tbls salt
2 tbls cayenne pepper
2 tbls Tony’s

Place all above ingredients in a large soup pot and fill pot with water to cover 3" over, stir, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow to cook down thoroughly, approximately two and a half hours, stirring occassionally.

Add:
1 can yellow corn, drained
1 can lima beans, drained
1 can green beans, drained
1 can early peas, drained
1 lg bag shredded cole slaw (1 lb)

Cook for another 2 hours or until vegetables are cooked and tender. Recheck seasonings and serve with buttered and toasted french bread.

****The secret to any good soup, especially this one, is to slowly simmer it for hours. I start it early in the afternoon so it's ready by dinner or cook it on the weekend for the next week.

Chicken Enchiladas

In 2002, I moved to Phoenix, AZ and began to learn a lot about my new environment and city. Yes, I am a southern belle and I was born and raised in south Louisiana, a lush sub-tropical environment. However, the desert has its own beauty at all different times of the year and I enjoyed discovering the nature there as well as learning about the western and Mexican cultures in my new home. Eventually, I met and began dating a local chef. From him, I learned many new things in the kitchen but I just loved his Chicken Enchilada's!! One lazy Sunday afternoon, we spent some time in the kitchen and he taught me his secret recipe. This is adapted from his restaurant recipe into a family kitchen recipe.

3 pkgs chicken breasts
2 lg pkgs Shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 lg. onion, chopped fine
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 small or 1 large carton sour cream
1 small can chopped green chilies, drained
2 cans mild red enchilada sauce
2 pkgs flour tortillas
olive oil
Fajita seasoning, dry shake-on
Tony's
salt and pepper

Rub chicken breasts with a light coating of olive oil and sprinkle both sides with fajita seasoning and Tonys. Roast in a casserole dish at 350 degrees until done, cool and cut into bite size pieces, set aside. While chicken is roasting, mix soup, sour cream, green chili's, more fajita seasoning, Tonys, salt and peppper in a medium bowl and set aside. Chop onion and set aside.

When chicken is cool and chopped and set aside in a different bowl, add pan drippings (from the casserole dish they were baked in) to the sour cream/soup mixture and stir.

Open flour tortillas and put a line of chicken down the length of the center of a tortilla, do the same with the onion and some cheese. Fold/Tuck/Roll up each tortilla and place seam side down in the same casserole dish the chicken was baked in. Sprinkle any remaining chicken and onion on top. A second casserole dish may be necessary to accomodate all.

Pour the soup/sour cream and chili mixture on top of enchiladas. Spread until all are coated well. Pour and spread enchilada sauce over all and heavily sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is brown and all is bubbly.
These make great leftovers and they also freeze well!

Jambalaya

Jambalaya (pro: Jum ba Lie ah) was an attempt by the Spanish to make paella in the New World. With the French influence, two different types of jambalaya developed: Creole or Red Jambalaya which includes tomatoes and Cajun jambalaya which does not. I've had many different types of jambalaya from wild game jambalaya's to seafood jambalaya's and all were excellent. However, the one I make the most is a cajun recipe made with chicken, pork and sausage.

How I came about this recipe is a story in itself. I attended a casual rehersal dinner for a family member. The host/hostess served jambalaya and it was wonderful, one of the best cajun meat jambalayas I've had. Repeatedly, I tried to get the recipe from the host and all he would say was that a friend had cooked it and that it was a basic recipe with a few special secrets. Well, that just egged me on to find out the secrets! I picked through the dish for the ingredients and taste tested each bite in an effort to discern the items that made this particular recipe so good! When I thought I had finally figured it out I wrote it all down. A few days later, I cooked a big pot of my "new" jambalaya recipe and it was perfect!!! Here it is...


1 pkg chicken thighs
1 pkg pork chops
3 8 – 10” links good quality Pork sausage, sliced (I prefer Manda's)
1 lg onion chopped
3 stalks green onion chopped
4 stalks celery chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 stick butter
1/3 cup oil
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans chicken broth
salt, pepper, Tony’s to taste
3 cups parboiled rice

Remove pork from bone and cut it and chicken into bite size pieces. Season chicken and pork chops with salt and pepper. Melt butter and oil in large pot. Add meats and cook until brown, remove from pot. Add vegetables to pot, cover and cook down. Add seasonings and soup to pot, blend well. Return meats and pan drippings to pot and cook about 5 min. Add rice, blend well and cook another 5 min. Pour in chicken broth and add water to cover 1” above mixture. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer without lifting the lid or stirring again until all rice is cooked and water has evaporated, approximately 40 minutes. Stir again before serving. See Tips and Information on Manda's and parboiled rice.

Shrimp and Spinach Salad or Dip

It was my first summer in Phoenix, Arizona and it was sweltering. I was looking for recipes that I could make in the microwave instead using the stove or oven thus heating up the house and I also wanted something cool to eat. Someone brought a Vegetable Dip to work, made from the Knorr Vegetable Soup mix. I absolutely loved it, but OMG was it ever fattening! I kept wondering, how can I modify this recipe to make it less fattening, more healthy but just as enjoyable? After some thought, I decided to cut back on the amount of sour cream and mayonnaise, increase the spinach and add seasoned, steamed shrimp. It turned out to be a winner!!!

3-10 oz boxes chopped spinach, steamed and squeezed dry
1- 8 oz container sour cream
¾ cup Hellman’s mayonnaise
1 package Knorr vegetable soup mix
3 green onions, chopped
1 lb shrimp, peeled
3 tbl Zatarain’s liquid Shrimp/Crab Boil
2 tbl salt
Tony’s
New York Style Garlic Bagel Chips or Roasted Garlic Panetini Toast

In a large bowl, combine sour cream, mayo, Knorr Vegetable soup mix and green onions; set aside. Steam spinach in microwave until cooked. I open the boxes, sprinkle some water in each and steam the spinach in the box until done then squeeze the excess water out and allow to cool.

Peel shrimp, place in microwaveable bowl, cover with water, add seafood boil, salt and Tony’s to taste, cover and cook in microwave until done (in increments of 6 min, stirring in between). When cooked, drain and allow to cool.

Combine the shrimp and the cooked/drained spinach with the mayo/sour cream mixture and stir well to fully incorporate all. Refrigerate overnight (doing this allows the flavors to bloom). The next day, check seasonings and add salt and Tony's if necessary. Serve on New York Style Garlic Bagel Chips or Roasted Garlic Panetini Toast. I serve this as a lunch item with fruit or as a dip. Wonderful!!!

Crawfish Fettuccine

Crawfish usually come fully into season midway through Lent. As a result, one of my family's favorite Easter dishes is Crawfish Fettuccine. It's a nice fattening celebratory splurge after the restrictive fast of the Lenten period so this is the only time I make it!! This dish is absolutely fabulous and really not all that difficult to prepare. You will need a very large pot and two large 9x13 casserole dishes (or equivalent), however. This recipe makes enough for a fairly large gathering or you can have plenty of leftovers. It also freezes well. Just put it into gallon size ziplock bags and squeeze all the air out before sealing the bag closed. Lay the bag on its side and flatten it as much as possible before placing it in the freezer. Shrimp may be substituted for the crawfish. Beware! Crawfish Fettuccine produces cravings!!!

2 lg onions, chopped
1 bellpepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 sticks butter
2 12oz pkgs fettuccine
¼ cup flour
1 qt Half & Half
1 can mild chopped green chili peppers
4 lbs crawfish tails with fat (or peeled Small to Medium Shrimp)
1 lb Mexican Velveeta cheese, cut up into chunks
Grated Parmesan cheese

Put pasta on to cook. In the large pot, saute vegetables in 2 sticks of butter. Add flour, blend well. Add peppers & crawfish. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until crawfish are done. Raise heat a little, add cheese and Half & Half slowly. Stir frequently until cheese melts. Drain cooked pasta. Add remaining stick of butter to crawfish mixture and allow to melt. Stir well. Mix pasta and crawfish mixture together until well blended. Separate mixture into 2 lg greased casserole dishes. Sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese and bake @ 350 for approx 20-30 minutes or until bubbly and browning on top. Serve with a nice salad and french or garlic bread.

Gourmet Chicken Salad with Snow Peas and Water Chestnuts

Southern Belles love their Chicken Salad and it is a summer staple in kitchens throughout the South. While there are many variations, I developed one myself that is a hit in my own home as well as at parties and luncheons! Snow Peas and Water Chestnuts give this chicken salad an Asian flair while the garlic and Tony's lend a delicious Cajun flavor. Lots of garlic is key in this recipe...you can't go wrong with this version! Serve it with sweet iced tea, a Chardonnay, freshly baked croissants and fresh cut fruit.

2 pkgs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 lg onion, ¼ chopped fine
3 lg stalks of celery, 1 stalk chopped fine
4 cloves garlic minced
4 green onions chopped
1 lb snow peas
2 cans sliced water chestnuts
1/3 cup White wine
Mayonnaise
Reserved chicken broth
Tony’s

Place chicken breasts in large pot. Cover with water (1” over top of breasts). Cut length of 2 celery stalks in half and ¾ of onion and add to pot. Season water with Tony’s & garlic powder (or salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic powder). Cover and cook until breasts are just done and firm but not falling apart. Remove breasts, reserve broth and allow both to cool.

While chicken is cooking, add about 1 cup mayo, white wine, garlic, green onion and remaining chopped onion and celery to a large mixing bowl. Season liberally with Tony’s and stir well. Add water chestnuts and snow peas, stir well to coat and allow to sit while chicken cooks and both chicken and broth cool.

When chicken is cool, cut it into large bite size chunks and place in the bowl with the seasoned vegetable/mayo mixture. Add about 1/2 cup of broth, more mayo as needed and stir, doing so until you get the desired consistency and the chicken is coated well (I like mine a little dry). Check seasonings adding more garlic, Tony's and salt, if necessary. Yummy!

***Note: I place the cooled broth in a ziplock bag and freeze it for future use! Seasoned homemade broth is better than store bought any day!!!

Creole Crawfish Etouffee

Crawfish Etouffee (pron: Ay-too-fay) is sometimes mistaken for Crawfish Stew. The difference between Cajun cooking and Creole cooking is Cajun food is more "country" cooking and Creole food is more refined "city" or French cooking. The Cajuns used roux's and heavy seasoning whereas, the Creoles used delicate, rich creams and their food was lighter in color and taste. This is a fine example of Creole Crawfish Etouffee. Compare the ingredients and photographs to my Crawfish Stew recipe.

1/4 pound butter
4 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped green peppers
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh chopped garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
4 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup half-and-half
4 lbs crawfish tail meat

Melt butter in large heavy-duty pot. Add onions, peppers, garlic and all seasonings. Saute, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent. Add flour and mix thoroughly for 1 minute, stirring often. Add whipping cream and half-and-half. Cook until cream thickens but does not boil, stirring often.

Add crawfish tails. Stirring often, cook until meat and vegetables are done. Crawfish may be substituted for shrimp.

Here is another version:

4 lbs crawfish tails
2 can cream of mushroom soup
2 can cream of celery soup
2 lg onion, chopped
2 bunch green onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
6 tbs parsley, chopped
2 sticks butter
Tony's seasonings

Saute' onions, green onions, and garlic in butter in a pot until onions are browned and wilted. Stir in cream of celery and cream of mushroom. Increase heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly.

Reduce heat to medium and stir in crawfish and Tony's seasoning. Cook for about 10 minutes and reduce heat to medium. Sprinkle parsley on top. Serve over hot rice.

Crawfish Stew

In my younger days *ahem*, I spent the weekend on a dear friends houseboat on Lake Verret in Louisiana and went waterskiing with friends up and down Bayou Corne. We attended a bonafide Cajun wedding on the bank deep in the bayou and the reception was held in a shack up on pilings high above the water accessible only by boat and you had to climb this TALL ladder to get in the house!

We had a huge crawfish boil one night and some local cajun friends joined us. After everyone finished eating, several of us peeled all the remaining crawfish and packed the tailmeat in ice chests.

The next day an older cajun couple came back to visit and the cajun woman taught me how to make Crawfish Stew. I learned alot that weekend from her and others. That's when I learned how to Cajun dance too!

The difference between Crawfish stew and Crawfish Etouffee is the stew is a cajun dish and is made with a dark brown roux while the etouffee is a creole dish and is made with cream.

1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup flour
1 lg onion, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
1 bellpepper, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 lg can tomatoes, chopped
¼ tsp tobasco
2 tbl worchestershire sauce
4 lbs crawfish tails
salt pepper cayenne & Tony's to taste
Approx 1-1/2 – 2 cups water
Cooked rice

Make a roux with oil and flour. Add vegetables except tomato and saute until cooked. Add tomatoes, sauce and seasonings blending well. Add crawfish tails and water, stir well. Simmer on low heat until cooked down, about 1 hour. Serve over hot rice with a salad and french bread.

Edith Head's Chicken

Edith Head was a famous Hollywood costume designer who worked for Paramount and Universal from the late 1930's to the early 1980's. She designed gowns for famous actresses such as: Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly and was the costume designer for equally famous movies: Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Rear Window and Breakfast at Tiffany's. She also designed Tippi Hedren's wardrobe for The Birds! This is one of her favorite recipes that my grandmother found in Life Magazine in the 1960's. It became one of my grandmother's favorites as well as my mother's and mine.


2 pkgs boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 lb fresh sliced mushrooms
2 lg cans black olives
1 bunch chopped green onions
3 cloves garlic, sliced or minced
2 cans chicken stock
1/2 cup cooking sherry or dry white wine
1/2 stick butter and 1/3 cup olive oil
salt pepper, paprika
Tony's, to taste
Rotini spiral pasta

Season chicken with salt & pepper. Saute in butter and olive oil until brown. Add mushrooms, olives and green onions, cover and simmer until vegetables are wilting. Sprinkle with flour and stir until blended. Add chicken stock, garlic and wine, stir. Sprinkle with paprika and blend. Simmer till tender. Serve over rotini pasta.

***See Tips and Information on Tony's.

Spinach Madeline

A Southern Holiday favorite for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Easter or any special occasion, this versatile dish is excellent year round. It compliments any type of entree: roast beef or steaks, turkey or cornish hens, baked ham and fish. It can also be served as a dip with melba toast as is or by adding lump crabmeat or steamed shrimp. I sometimes make it just because!

2 packages chopped spinach, frozen
4 tbsps butter
2 tbsps flour
2 tbsps chopped onions
½ cup evaporated milk
½ cup reserved spinach liquor
½ tsp black pepper
¾ tsp celery salt
¾ tsp garlic salt
6 ounces Velveeta Mexican cheese, cubed
salt and red pepper to taste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Cook spinach according to directions on package. Drain and reserve liquid. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add flour, stirring until blended and smooth, but not brown. Add onions and sauté 3-5 minutes or until wilted. Add evaporated milk, spinach liquor and Worcestershire sauce slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook mixture until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. Add seasonings and cubed cheese. Stir until melted and combine with cooked spinach. This may be served immediately or put into a casserole and topped with buttered bread crumbs. The flavor is improved if the latter is done and kept in refrigerator overnight. Bake at 350.

***Note: See Tips and Information on Velveeta Mexican Cheese

Shrimp Creole

Shortly after college graduation in December, 1990, I was staying at my paternal grandparents for Christmas. All my cousins and I were gathered there and were watching "Driving Miss Daisy" that night with my grandmother as she had been given a VCR and that video for Christmas.

After a filling Christmas lunch, we began to get hungry again so my grandmother pulled out some Shrimp Creole for us to thaw and eat. I hadn't eaten Shrimp Creole my entire time in college and it was fabulous...so warm, comforting and soothing. I asked my grandmother where she got the recipe. She said one of my aunt's made it and she pulled out an old, small, yellowed pamplet-type cookbook and showed it to me. Funny, it was produced by family members of my maternal great-grandmother! I was stunned!

My maternal great-grandmother was Bernadette Landry of the Landry family from Sorrento, Louisiana who settled there after migrating from Nova Scotia. Her cousins founded Don's Seafood, an old establisment in Donaldsonville and Baton Rouge back in the 1930's. Since then the business has expanded all over Louisiana and into Texas. This is their recipe taken from that same small recipe pamphlet Don's produced back in the 1960's. It's one of my favorite winter comfort foods, is so easy to make and very healthy!

2 lbs peeled shrimp
1 med onion chopped
½ bellpepper chopped
4 stalks celery chopped
4 green onions chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1 lg can tomato sauce
1 lg can tomato paste
2 tbl parsley
½ cup oil
1 tsp sugar
3 cups water
salt, pepper, cayenne, Tony's to taste
Parboiled Rice

In a bowl, season shrimp with Tony's, salt, pepper and cayenne. Heat oil in large pot, cook vegetables (except garlic) until wilted. Add tomato paste and fry 5-10 min until it begins to brown or change color, stirring constantly. Add tomato sauce and cook another 5 min. Add 2 cups of water. Cook about 40 min or until the oil comes to the top, stir constantly. Use more water if mixture gets too thick. Add shrimp garlic and sugar, stir well. Check seasonings. Cook 30 min or until shrimp are tender. Serve over cooked rice.

***See Tips and Information on Tony's and Parboiled Rice.
*** I double and sometimes triple this recipe so that I can freeze it for later use!