Charred Sea Scallop, Watermelon Pistou

It was a small bite by the Sous Chef to amuse the guest's palate, and a canvas for the sea to meet the vine.  The Sea Scallops where dry pack, seasoned well, and met the hot grill with enthusiasm.  The watermelon pistou was made earlier with some reduced watermelon, pine nuts, oil, and a few herbs.  The dish was finished with watermelon matchsticks, goat cheese, and black sesame seeds.  Stop by Martinique Bistro www.martiniquebistro.com for a bite of creativity.  Cheers.

Branden & Jenn's 3rd Annual Memorial Day Parte'

Dominoes is a game where you stack chips in a  strategic way in order to beat your other opponents.  Or you can line them up and see what happens when the first one is let loose.  When the chips are stacked right, the party just falls into place.

I was graciously invited via a flier to a Memorial Day Parte' this past week.   Starting out in a new kitchen is always a journey in itself, but bringing people together outside of work in a social setting eases the transition into the resturant family.  With all of the service industry involved, the food and booze were not going to run out, or they might have, but I had to leave early as I started with a sprint towards the finish line, as opposed to a casual jog.

Booze:  Gin Box with turkey basters, Dos Equis Keg, Natural Light, Bud Light, Rum, Vodka, Daquiris, Soda, Water, Abita Amber, and many other craft brews on ice.  The list includes what I saw, but certainly is not inclusive of all that was offered.

Food:  Boiled Crawfish, Oysters on the half shell, Venison Sausage, Jicama Slaw, Buffalo Chicken Dip, Chips, Corn & Poblano Dip, Smoked Hamburgers, Asian Tomato Pasta Salad, Sausages, Salad, Cheese Dip Extravaganza, and many other delicatble food offerings.

The driveway provided a perfect setting for sitting, eating, drinking, and conversating about many a different subject.  One young lady chose to break out a melodic improptu song, which caught the ear as a good meal catches the palate, clean and pure.  Arriving at the party, I knew only a handful of people through work, but leaving the party, I gained a new perspective of people who seem to enjoy the same thing as me, LIFE.  New Orleans writes its own script for a good party, and the narration of this event left my heart proud and my head a little imbibed.

Thank you again to the gracious hosts for an amazing Parte'.

New Orleans Pierogi

This is an older post from my days of cooking at PRAVDA! While I am no longer there, the TRUTH! Pierogi will always be near one of my menus.

Got some amazing produce in yesterday from the HollyGrove Market, which included some broccoli and goat cheese curds.  The curds are amazing from Ryal's Dairy.  The taste is something like a country version of American Feta, with a certain tang, chalk, salt. The flavor takes well to seasoning other dishes as a component, or simply served by itself with some honey, cilantro blossoms, toasted cumin seeds, it can be an amazing component to a harmonious orchestra of flavors for the palate.  So, this thinking lead me to the following Pierogi ideas.  Broccoli and cheese are amazingly classic components, and we happen to have both of them on hand, along with some fresh made Pierogi dough.  So today, Goat Cheese Curds w/ HollyGrove Broccoli Pierogis.

Yesterday, Linda brought me some amazing foraged parsley, cilantro blossoms, sage flowers, and mustard green blossoms.  They are pure ingredients, which make it easy for people like me to cook.

If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony.                                    

Fernand Point  

It is the unlikely story of a guy from New Orleans, trained in French Cuisine, making Pierogies at a Russian Absinthe bar in the French Quarter.  But like life, there is no formula, just make it happen.  So here is the recipe that I have been using at PRAVDA! If you have any questions, shoot me an email and will get to the answer for the both of us.

PRAVDA! Pierogie Recipe

    - 4.5C All Purpose Flour

    - 2C Sour Cream

    - 2T Melted Butter

    - 1T Oil

    - 2Each Eggs

    - 1Each Egg Yolk

    - Salt

Combine sour cream, butter, oil, and eggs in a bowl; whisk until mixture is smooth and lump-free; salt the flour; make a well in the center of the flour; pour sour cream mixture into center; incorporate into dough; let rest 15 minutes at room temperature; pinch off and roll out into desired size.  Place them into some berrling water until they float...done.  Pierogie!

If this is too much, the recipe conversion factor can be used to scale it up or down.  For instance, if you only have three cups of flour, divide three by four point five, then multiply the other quantities by that number to yield your new recipe amounts.  If you get stumped, convert all the measurements into the same category, i.e., 1C = 8oz; 1T = 0.5oz; 1 Large Egg = 2oz, etc.  Just use the intraweb and find the needed conversion.

    Once you conquer the dough, it becomes a blank canvas for flavors and imagination.  At the top is a quote from my Gastronomic Hero, Fernand Point, he shaped the way we eat.

For those of you about to cook, we salute you.

Riverbend Supper Club 5.24.2011

The Dinning Room Ceiling

Foraging For Berries

The day started off like any other day, with a dog walk, but the dog walk today ended with a bounty of fresh local produce from the Hollygrove Market.  Breaux and I decided to make the walk down to the market, a mere 2 miles, to retrieve my bicycle.  Upon reaching the Hollygrove, Breaux got a bowl of water, and I got to work with some of the vegetables in setting up for the Tuesday Market.  Once the volunteering was complete, and veggies in hand, we walked back to the house to plan for the evening's supper club.

It was a bright idea at the time for an adventure, foraging.  So we set out, map in hand, to find some of the resources of the neighborhood.  It seems my math is a bit off and most of the citrus trees had stopped bearing fruit a month or so ago.  So onto the levee for mullberries and blackberries.  But the river had swallowed up much of the green space between the levee, where the fruits are usually ready and willing to be cooked.

Mike's Seafood Market

So we foraged further, and this time it was a sure shot, the seafood market.  Ended up with fresh catfish, and some beautiful white shrimp.  So the meal was set, we have potatoes, tomatoes, squash, onion, garlic, herbs, and seafood.

Heirloom Tomato Chips, Basil Flowers

Port and Mint Roasted Potatoes

Local Shiitake Brown Rice

Shrimp, Squash, Kale Stirfry

Sherry Cured Steamed Catfish

Tomato, Basil Flowers, Salt

Potatoes, Port, Mint, Salt

The food was cooked, people ate, drank and conversated.  Keep your ear to the grindstone for the next Riverbend Supper Club.

Cheers

Eat Local, or Else.

Starting June 1st the New Orleans Locavores are challenging New Orleanians to eat food from within a 200 mile radius.  It is a message which has taken over much of the rest of America, and now finally we start to seeds of healthy food being planted in New Orleans.  Eating from within two hundred miles is not that big of a challenge, as it is a commitment.  Before refrigeration, people ate what Mother Earth provided, and the confining mentality of "gotta have it now" did not exist.  So challenge yourself, to eat healthier for your community.  The only requirement is the ability to ask questions.  Next time you are in a restaurant, ask where the server where the butter comes from, or where the onions are grown.  Just think about it like wine, where local variations in temperature and geography affect the taste of the juice.  And next time you are in a "local" supermarket ask why 75% of the food is not from here.

Checkout the Website for Details

www.nolalocavore.org