Poblano and Shrimp Corn Chowder

Poblano and Shrimp Corn Chowder

People occasionally ask if a recipe I post is original to me. I suppose they’re wondering if I envisioned it, wrote and tested, then published it. If that’s the case, the answer is probably uh, not really. While I’ve certainly followed those logical steps of recipe development before, most of my recipes are original simply because I’m not nearly that, well, logical.

My steps are more like:

  1. Buy a new cookbook- read it like a novel, ogle the gorgeous pictures while wondering how on earth someone gets themselves, their house, kitchen, food, and slightly overweight dog to look so pulled together for the photos.
  2. Decide you should make something for dinner because all this strenuous reading has made you hungry.
  3. Choose a recipe from the book based on a) the pretty picture, and b) the fact that you are absolutely sure you have at least three (okay maybe two) of the 19 ingredients called for.
  4. Make it. Taste it. Love it. Frantically write down what you did.

Voila! Original recipe.

That’s the sophisticated way this recipe came about. I was hungry, there were pretty pictures, and I had some shrimp (and I thought I also had celery and parsley and creamed corn and tomatoes) (but I knew I didn’t have shallots, because who actually has shallots?).

And also heavy whipping cream- well I did have some, but it was mostly all carton.

So, like I said, I had shrimp. (there was one brief moment of panic when I feared the shrimp might actually just be shrimp shells that I had saved in the freezer to make shrimp stock) Like that was ever going to happen.

And I definitely had poblanos, which I bought for some reason which now eludes me.

Anyway – I kind of followed the suggested steps in the instructions (although let’s be real, JT will tell you that I kind of dislike being told exactly what to do) with entirely different ingredients, and by golly if it didn’t turn out to be one of my top 5 ever!

Poblano and Shrimp Corn Chowder

Ingredients

4 slices bacon

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature

4 tablespoons flour

1 medium onion, diced

½ red bell pepper, diced

2 carrots, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped (or diced)

2-3 cups frozen corn

1 T. Better than Bouillon Chicken flavor

2 t. celery salt

½ cup heavy cream

1 can (10.5 oz) Cream of Chicken soup

4-5 cups chicken broth

¼ t. red pepper flakes

1 lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

¼ c. chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Finely chop all vegetables. An option is to pulse one of the chopped poblanos in a blender or food processor with about ½ c. of the chicken broth until pureed. (This will add nice color to the chowder and a greater consistency) While you’re chopping the vegetables, cook the bacon until crisp in a large Dutch oven. Remove the bacon to a plate, reserving at least two tablespoons of the bacon grease in the pan.

Add the butter and flour to the bacon grease and cook over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes stirring constantly. Add all vegetables, Better than Bouillon, and celery salt and sauté until soft, about 6-8 minutes.

Add the heavy cream, Cream of Chicken soup, chicken broth and red pepper flakes; bring to low boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and cilantro; simmer until shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

*To thicken, stir together 2 T. flour and 2 T. softened butter to make a paste and add, stirring until thickened, or add chicken broth to thin.

Serve with crumbled bacon, more chopped cilantro, and queso fresco cheese.

Speedy Dumpling Soup

Speedy Dumpling Soup

I spent a lot of time yesterday making cupcakes. Lots of cupcakes. And you would be correct if you also assumed that I spent a lot of time yesterday taste- testing cupcake batter, cupcakes, and frosting. Please don’t judge. This is what I do.

By evening, though, I had consumed my fill of everything sweet and knew I wanted something for dinner that was light and not even remotely cupcake-y.

I hinted around to my family before Christmas that I would love The Pioneer Woman’s latest cookbook, Super Easy, but my hinting fell on deaf ears. Not one to easily accept defeat though, I took matters into my own hands and smartly bought it for myself.

Merry Christmas to me.

When I was reading the cookbook before bed the other night (again, please don’t judge, this is also what I do) (geeky, I know) I came across the recipe for Speedy Dumpling Soup and was intrigued. Could something this simple and fast actually be good? Typically I’m a slow-simmer, all day long type cook, so I was a little skeptical. But on my last run to the grocery store I threw all the ingredients into my cart, and decided last night to try it out.

And it really IS so good. And it REALLY DOES take less than 30 minutes beginning to end.

You should make this for yourself- even if you don’t eat raw cupcake batter and read cookbooks like novels.

Lu

Speedy Dumpling Soup

The Pioneer Woman

**My bag of slaw mix was just 9 oz. so I threw in the whole thing, and instead of frozen dumplings I used pork pot stickers from the fresh sushi section of the grocery store- they came with two little containers of dipping sauce so I put those in the soup too! Make sure not to overcook -if you heat it too violently at the end, the dumplings/potstickers will begin to fall apart.

Ingredients

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Half a 12-ounce bag broccoli slaw mix (with broccoli, carrots and red cabbage) 

2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 tablespoon minced ginger 

4 scallions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

1 small red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced 

One 14- to 16-ounce bag frozen pork dumplings

Directions

  1. Combine the broth, slaw mix, soy sauce, ginger, scallion whites, garlic and red pepper slices in a large saucepan, then bring to a simmer. Add the dumplings and return to a simmer. Simmer until the veggies are tender and the dumplings are cooked, about 10 minutes. Garnish with the scallion greens.

Hello!

Obviously I’ve been on a bit of a blog haitus- so Hello! How’ve you been?

I thought I’d take this opportunity to post a fun recipe from a few years ago. I looked for several weeks for my King Cake recipe, finally locating it on my very own blog (well, my original blog Mudpuddle). I suppose it’s eerily similar to me looking for my phone while I’m actually talking on it. Anyone else??

Anyway, all personality quirks aside, I found the recipe and made it again for the first time in 5 years. (Pictured above) King Cakes are always garish and fun, and good ones (like this one) are also delicious. I’ll go ahead and share the entire post here and encourage you to make your own King Cake and be ready to join in the Mardi Gras season fun:

The King Cake is a traditional treat served throughout the Mardi Gras season. Although you’ll find many versions, (depending upon geographic area) most are yeast type cakes braided and formed into a ring. They may or may not contain a filling of some sort, but almost all are topped with a sweet icing and decorated with colored sugar in the very traditional purple, green and gold colors of the season.
The gaudier the better.
The cake is named for the biblical Three Kings and commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child. Many versions of the cake contain a small plastic Christ child figurine or other bauble (such as a dried bean) and the person who gets the piece containing it is either given a designation of “King” or “Queen” of the day or the obligation to provide the next King Cake.
It just stresses me to no end that someone might bite into the Christ child, though, so I just stick with a bean.
I decided to explore making my own King Cake because, honestly, I’ve had some really bad ones over the years. Not any disappointing ones from true Acadian bakeries mind you, but many other bakeries, to meet demand, just kind of throw together something that, while certainly gaudy enough, is often tough, flat, and just plain old bland.
This one, mais cher, is anything but blah…
All of the ingredients are probably in your pantry and trust me,this cake is something you need in your life.

King Cake

Luann Thomas

4 ¾ c. flour (divided)

¼ c. sugar (plus additional for topping)

1 ½ tsp. salt

2 pkg. dry yeast

¾ c. milk

½ c. water

1 ½ sticks butter

2 eggs

Powdered sugar, milk and vanilla for glaze

Green, gold, and purple sanding sugars

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 c. flour, 1/4 c. sugar, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, and 2 packages yeast.

2. Heat 3/4 c. milk, 1/2 c. water and 1 1/2 sticks butter until very warm, about 120 to 130 degrees

3. Add to dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer.

4. Add eggs and 1/2 c. flour. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Stir in remaining flour (2 3/4 c.) to make a stiff batter.

5. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. (Or if you forget about it, 4 hours like me…)

6. Remove dough from fridge and punch down.

7.  Move dough to a lightly floured surface and divide into 3 equal portions for one large King Cake, or into 6 portions for two smaller ones. Each small cake feeds about 10 -12!

8. Roll each portion out flat (if making one cake each portion will roll out to about 28×4 inches, and for two small cakes about 12×4).

Melt one stick of butter in microwave.

Have 1 cup sugar ready (and about 1 T. cinnamon). I decided not to use cinnamon this time…

Brush each portion with melted butter, sprinkle evenly with sugar, and cinnamon (if you’re using it)

9. Beginning at long end, roll each up tightly as for a jellyroll.


10. Pinch the seams to form long ropes. 

Braid, then form into an oval (or circle) Pinch the ends together to seal. Place on a greased baking sheet.

I brushed on the remaining butter, sprinkled on the rest of the sugar, cover and let rise for another hour (it was closer to 2 because I forgot to preheat the oven until the last minute…)

Bake at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes until lightly golden. Let cool on wire racks and then glaze with 2 cups powdered sugar mixed with 2-3 T. milk, 1/8 tsp vanilla, and a pinch of salt…

Then sprinkle with purple, green and gold sanding sugars and make it as gaudy as possible!

Meet the Freezalator

We have an appliance in our house called a Freezalator. You can’t order one online. You can’t find one in stores. Freezalators are just born. They appear (at the most inconvenient times) in your kitchen and they really never leave.

Several years ago when we bought our wonderful home, a very nice, almost new refrigerator came with it.

Awesome.

We lived happily with this fridge for about 3 weeks until one dreadful day it announced its transformation to freezalator by spraying copious amounts of water out from underneath its closed doors, flooding the kitchen floor and messing with the mind of the Geek Squad guy who was here working on our TV.

“Uh, lady?”

“Lady!” We got a problem here.”

By which he obviously meant that I had a problem, not him.

From that day forward this “refrigerator” no longer had a designated upper refrigerator section and lower freezer drawer. No, now it froze everything, everywhere, all the time.

It was now The Freezalator.

After the initial incident (and clean-up) we got over our shock and decided to just go with the flow, man, and live with it as it was-only instead of living in the kitchen, it would now reside in our laundry room and act as a kind of freezer, while we would fill its spot in the kitchen with a lovely new fridge that knew its proper place and didn’t suffer from weird personality issues.

For the most part this has worked well, especially since the very top part of the Freezalator keeps things just barely frozen, and anything stored near the bottom becomes akin to an iceberg.

I can pick and choose from various levels of frozen.

Very fancy.

There have been a couple of times that it decided to not be the Freezalator anymore and instead to be the No-More-Work-alator, but oddly, and I suppose with some humility, it has quickly repented and returned to its semi-freezer state.. Overall though, it’s behaved itself and been a big help when we entertain and need lots of extra kind-of-frozen space.

I would suggest you get your own, but evidently they choose you, not the other way around.

You should be so lucky.

Next up in kitchen fun- G!

Lu

Hey Hey Etouffee

One thing I learned while living in South Louisiana is that those folks know how to have fun! If it’s not a crab boil, an oyster feast or a crawfish festival, your next door neighbor has made a gumbo and insists that you and the kids come over “right now while the rice is still hot”. And “just come like you are, don’t put your shoes on,- we’re all a mess anyway”.

I could go on and on about Cajun and Creole food and what I learned about them when I was there, but today I’ll concentrate on one of the most fabulous E’s I could think of, and that’s delicious Etouffee.

Etoufee is typically made with some shellfish (mine pictured above is crawfish- tis the season!) and is served with white rice. Don’t even think of trying to substitute something like brown rice, quinoa, or heaven forbid, cauliflower rice. That’s a smack in the face to any good Louisiana cook!

The first step is to make a light roux which just consists of very slow-cooked flour and oil (or butter if you prefer). To the roux you add flavorings- onion, celery, garlic, seasonings, etc… then the stock, and finally the main ingredient, the crawfish. The whole dish is then smothered (cooked on pretty low heat with the lid on)(and, by the way, where the word etouffee comes from).

Unlike gumbo and some other tasty Cajun dishes, etouffee is pretty quick to prepare and lends itself to a lot of variations. I can actually get an Etouffee on the table in 45 minutes or less if I’m in a pinch, but it’s good to know that like a gumbo, an etouffee tastes even better the next day after the flavors have a chance to “marry”.

Y’all. I can’t tell you how good this is. And easy!!

Here’s my recipe:

Crawfish Etouffee

Ingredients

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. oil

3/4 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. chopped celery

1/2 c. chopped (any color) bell pepper

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 bay leaves

2-2 1/2 c. fish, shrimp, or chicken stock

1 T. Better than Bouillon (low sodium chicken flavor)

2-3 T. tomato paste

1 T. Cajun seasoning (such as Tony Chacherie)

2-3 t. Worcestershire sauce

1 lb. frozen crawfish tails (thawed)- or you can certainly use fresh is you’re lucky enough to have them!

chopped parsley and green onion (about 1/3 c. each)

Directions

  1. In a large heavy saucepan heat the oil and whisk in the flour. Cook, stirring constantly (!) until the roux is about the color of peanut butter.
  2. Add the onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves and cook until veggies are soft (about 10 minutes. Add chicken or shrimp stock (consistency is key! your etouffee should be pretty thick-more the consistency of a gravy), Better than Bouillon, tomato paste, Cajun seasoning and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil.
  3. Cook for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
  4. Add crawfish tails, parsley, and green onions and cook with lid on for about 20 more minutes.
  5. At this point you can add about 1/4 cup of butter (for richness)
  6. To serve, (and for a pretty presentation) fill a bowl about 1/2 full with etouffee and then carefully place a round scoop (I use my ice cream scoop!) of rice in the center. Sprinkle with a few more green onions and a bit of parsley for flair!!

I hope you enjoy- it’s one of my very favorites!

Lu

The Devil’s in the Details

We’re talking fun and entertaining and all things food-related, and we’ve made it on the alphabet train to D.

It’s already April and we’ve been basking in the warmer/milder weather that precedes the almost unbearable heat of summer. Outdoor get-togethers with family and friends are here at last.

If you’ve ever attended a family reunion in the South, you’ve been offered a Deviled Egg. It was likely served up on an egg plate (those nifty little trays with special indentations for each egg half), and was probably made with love by your Great Aunt Ethel who rode over 50 miles to attend the reunion holding those precious plastic-wrapped eggs in her lap the whole way.

Heaven forbid Uncle Aulsie gets a little too aggressive with his driving.

Deviled Eggs have been around forever and there are as many versions as there are chickens to lay those eggs, but have you ever wondered how the Devil got involved? Back in the 19th century the term “deviled” was often used to describe foods, many times egg dishes, that were spicy or zesty (remember the mustard and vinegar?)There are other names- stuffed eggs, salad eggs, dressed eggs, and even angel eggs.

But whatever you call them, only one thing matters:

Every family believes their recipe is the hands-down best, and everyone else’s recipe is frankly “just awful”.

The basic recipe calls for hard-cooked eggs which are first split, then to the yolks are added an array of ingredients, the most typical of which are mustard, mayo, vinegar, salt and pepper.

You can add a whole slew of other things too- herbs, sour cream bacon, onion, chives, cheese- you name it, it can go in!

For me, the tangy-ness of the mustard and the addition of vinegar are key. Mine are pretty simple and require little thought or measuring (and also no particular cooking talent)

  1. I gently drop the eggs into boiling water to cover and then boil for 10 minutes, then remove from heat.
  2. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for a couple of minutes, then plunge into cold water.
  3. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, roll each one on the counter with enought pressure to gradually break the shell all over, then just peel it off.

There is NOTHING more frustrating than trying to remove the shell from an egg that just absolutely won’t let it go.

4. Cut each egg in half, remove the yolks and to them add mustard, mayo, vinegar, salt and pepper (and whatever else you want!)

5. Then re-fill the egg halves with the yolk mixture with a spoon (or you can be fancy and pipe it in with a piping bag or a plastic bag with a corner clipped off). Top with your choice of garnishes.

Because you may be making just a couple of eggs or 50, add the mustard, etc… in small amounts, tasting along the way, until you get it just like you like it.

There’s really nothing for me that says Spring has arrived like a platter of Deviled Eggs.

I’d be so interested to know- do you love or hate them? What’s the secret to your own recipe?

And also, can you help a sister out with “E”? I’d be so grateful.

Lu

Say Shar-coo-tree. Now don’t you feel French?

C, naturally, is for charcuterie.

Don’t be disturbed if you can’t pronounce it, much less know what it is.

The French pronunciation is shar-coo-tree, and well, sometimes it pays to sound French.

But even if you’re just Texan like me and say this with all four syllables and lots of long r’s, it’s still the same- charcuterie is the culinary art of preparing meat products such as bacon, salami, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pates and confits.

We’ll save a talk about those last five for when we’re all feeling particularly studious (you’re welcome) , but in the strictest sense, charcuterie just deals with the age-old treatment of cured and prepared meats.

Simple.

Charcuterie boards, on the other hand, are a more modern iteration and have taken on a life of their own. You can find examples everywhere of this updated twist on your Grandma’s holiday meat and cheese tray.

In fact, current variations (like a pancake board? baked potato board?) have veered so far away from what traditional charcuterie is all about (the meat, remember) that they are really just boards, and that’s OK. They make a lovely centerpiece and are a fun food presentation for a crowd.

If you want to get on board (ha) the keys to making one are:

color (lots- remember that “we eat first with our eyes” thing)

variation (meats, cheeses, crackers, veggies, dips, sweet bites of dried fruits and nuts are staples) and

quantity (no one likes an anemic looking skinny board, so stuff that thing full to overflowing!)

Any way you load it up, a charcuterie board spells fun.

(Just with a lot of letters and a confusing pronunciation)

Lu

So many B’s, but let’s do Brunch.

The kitchen/cooking world is filled with all things B. Baking and broiling and breakfast. Broccoli, banana and burnt. You can enjoy bisque, borscht, and Bordeaux, but nothing says fun more than brunch.

I think you’ll agree, just the idea of brunch conjures up a picture of tasty food and a relaxed time with friends. Blessedly brunch is traditionally served at 10 am or after, so non-early birds (like me) can enthusiastially jump on the brunch-love wagon. And just think- all you early bird get the worm-ers can just think of it as a welcome snack between your way too early breakfast and lunch.

Brunch is everyone’s best friend.

After the last year of few to zero family/friend gatherings, perhaps a brunch is the perfect way to break out of the isolation routine..

What’s your idea of the perfect brunch?

Mine would include a variety of savory and sweet, breakfast-y and lunch-y type things:

Candied Bacon (help me)

Fresh Fruit Salad

French Breakfast Puffs (a must-have for me)

An egg dish or omelet bar

Maybe something with a little spice- like a cheese dish with jalapenos

A make it yourself Champagne, Mimosa or other fun punch bar.

The idea, of course, is to serve delicious food in a relaxed setting to people you love (or even just like!)

Who’s with me?

Lu

Fun is Not a Four Letter Word

Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com

At a time in our history which seems to reek of contention, whether you lean right or left, mask or no mask, or how you turn your toilet paper roll, I think we can all agree that 2020 was pretty darn hard. Perhaps we could at least join hands in accord on that one point? (Sanitizer available immediately thereafter, of course) I mean I know some great things happened in 2020 for a lot of people- grandbabies were born, people got married etc… but what seemed to be missing most though, from 2020, was fun. And without spending much more time bemoaning the last year, I’m here to say that I need some fun and I’m going to use this little nondescript corner of the internet to make some fun for myself if not necessarily anyone else.

You’re welcome to join me if you’d like. In fact I’d love that.

In sticking with a topic that I find fun (and for the life of me I just won’t understand someone who doesn’t agree) we’re talking FOOD and all things that go with it. And while we’re at it let’s hold hands again and agree that putting things in alphabetical order is fun and also orderly, so:

In the category of things commonly misunderstood/little used/confusing/or just plain interesting in the kitchen, we’ll begin with

A is for Apertif.

I’ll be honest, I’ve probably actually spoken the word apertif maybe two or three times in my entire life. I did not grow up fancy. I drank Tang and considered a TV dinner with some Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and 2 teaspoons of applesauce for dessert something wildly swanky simply because it wasn’t homemade. My Mom was the best cook ever, but kids are weird and don’t appreciate that kind of thing when all their friends are getting to eat Swansons out of aluminum foil trays.

So there were typically no apertifs at my house.

Many times confused with appetizer or maybe even asparagus, an apertif is just an alcoholic beverage served before a meal and is meant to stimulate the appetite. Years ago it started out as a sneaky conduit to deliver quinine to patients fighting malaria but the quinine is typically not included these days.

Hmm. To each his own I suppose.

The concept of the apertif basically made its way from Europe to the US in the 1970’s starting the phenomenon we know today as Happy Hour. I’m pretty sure though, with pitchers of beer and other super sweet and otherwise overdone umbrella-laced concoctions that we’ve strayed a bit from the original intent.

Because it’s purpose is to stimulate the appetite rather than satisfy and certainly not to intoxicate, a true apertif is typically just a taste of champagne, liqueur, or wine that is quite dry rather than sweet.

And clearly not served in a pitcher.

So for 2021 I say we all embrace the spirit of the apertif, or at the very least use the word in a sentence now and again.

Here’s a handy example:

I’ll take my apertif sans the quinine, thank you.

Lu

It’s The Ending That Counts


So the next generation would know, and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories, so their children can trust in God

Psalm 78:6-7

Did you know there’s a book named after you?

It’s kind of a hoot, isn’t it, to imagine the pastor starting his sermon with “Please turn to the book of Jennifer and let’s look at chapter 3, verse 5″.

Or “Today brothers and sisters we’ll, be reading from the Book of Jim Bob.”

But still.

Your story, rife with fault or full of faith, will live on forever in the hearts and souls of your children, your grandchildren and countless others who learn the ins and outs of how you’ve navigated this earthly journey.

And quite frankly, your little story, as opposed to the more familiar ones of Noah, Saul or Moses, may more likely be the one that guides someone else to discover the treasures in the divinely inspired stories of the Bible. Just imagine a group of 6 yr. olds in Sunday School hearing not about the story of Ruth, but the story of Rhonda.

Or Bob, Kevin, or MaryJo.

And while admittedly, I’m taking a bit of creative license here, let’s go ahead and glance at our legacy in just that way.

Will yours be one of drama, intrigue and betrayal like Saul and David? Or more of a suspenseful thriller like Rahab’s? Will your tale be full of sibling rivalry, romance and deception like Joseph’s, or more of a strong female lead production like Deborah’s?

Whether yours includes colossal failure, frequent relapses, or is just chock full of mess-ups, make no mistake- your story matters.

Despite the flawed characters, the plot twists or the years you’d rather erase, nothing about your story will ever dilute the beauty of the gospel if it ends with Jesus.

May all our stories end with Him.

Lu