Creole Cuisine; nope, it's not Irish.

Today is Saint Patrick's Day, a day the Irish celebrate for the patron saint of Ireland. In New York, 5th Avenue is shut down for the yearly parade; it's celebrated in many other places throughout the United States. My family is not of Irish descent, so have never celebrated this "holiday". "Green eggs and ham" is a Dr. Seuss story; I don't drink beer, so don't care what color it's dyed. As far as I'm concerned, it's just another day in my life. If someone is irked that I'm not celebrating, all I have to ask is, "Why does what I do matter so much to you?"

So, I'm going down the road less traveled once again, and giving you something completely different.

Creole Cuisine

Creole Cuisine originated in Louisiana, primarily in the New Orleans area; it is a melting pot of various cuisines: French, Portuguese, Spanish, Canadian (the Acadians, known for “Cajun” cuisine), Caribbean, Italian, Greek, Southern USA Native American, West Indies and African. These cultures were able to come together due to the various slave trade routes; the enslaved people brought, not just their culture to the United States, but their cuisines.

The basic ingredient for almost all Creole dishes is a roux. A roux, French for “brown sauce,” is a base used for gravies and sauces in Creole cuisine. A roux is used to make three of the most popular Creole dishes: red beans and rice, jambalaya and gumbo.

Roux

 When making a roux, using a saucepan or a skillet is dependent upon what recipe is being made, and how much is needed. It begins with equal parts of a fat (oil, butter, lard, etc) and flour; the fat is heated on medium heat. The flour is stirred in until well incorporated and the mixture is smooth. The color of the roux is dependent upon the flavor desired for the recipe, so can be lightly browned to dark brown; this can take 15-30 minutes. The mixture must be continually stirred and watched; if any black flakes appear, it has burned and must be started over. Once the desired color is achieved, additional ingredients can then be added such as broth (stock), milk, cream, herbs, seasonings, etc.

Creole Seasoning Mix
While salt is usually part of this mix; it’s up to the person making it to decide how much to put in. If you like it salty, start with 2 Tbsp and add more if desired; or add less, or leave it out altogether; the cook is the boss.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp each of onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano and dried basil
1 Tbsp each of dried thyme, black and white peppercorns, dried cayenne pepper and celery seed
5 Tbsp paprika

Preparation:

Using a blender, food processor, mortar and pestle or coffee grinder (labelled for herbs and spices only); grind all the ingredients together till well blended. Store in an air tight container. Makes 1 cup.

Shrimp Creole
This dish is often served over rice, but can be served over grits, polenta or mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil
½ cup each of diced green bell peppers, onions and celery
1 Tbsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp flour
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp hot sauce (add more if more heat desired)
1 Tbsp Creole Seasoning Mix (add more if more spice desired)
2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Preparation:

In a large skillet, on medium heat, heat oil; add in peppers, onions, celery and garlic; sauté for 10 minutes. Add in flour and stir till well incorporated.

Add in tomatoes and hot sauce; reduce heat to low and cover; cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in seasoning mix and shrimp; cook an additional 5 minutes (shrimp will turn pink and be opaque inside).

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour
March 17, 2011

Ah, my little croquette

Croquettes
What are Croquettes? In the culinary arts, a croquette is a small patty, ball, cone or cylinder of puréed or finely ground protein; seafood and poultry are the most popular, but beef and pork can also be used. Croquettes are bound together with a starch such as potatoes, rice or bread crumbs; breaded, usually in flour, and deep-fried. Crab cakes and salmon cakes are typical examples of croquettes. Additional ingredients of minced vegetables, herbs and seasonings complete the mixture; sometimes a grated cheese may be added. They are usually served with a sauce or gravy.

Croquettes are a way of using up leftovers, or stretching out a small amount of meat, poultry or seafood. The main ingredient should always be precooked before combining with additional ingredients to make the croquette. While the croquettes can be baked, they are usually fried in a deep skillet or cooked in a deep fryer. Either way, the crispy exterior of the croquette compliments the moist inside of the croquette.

Chicken Croquettes
Traditionally, these are served with mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:
Filling
1 ½ cups milk
1 ½ cups chicken broth
½ tsp white pepper
3 tsp minced parsley
1 stick salted butter (8 Tbsp)
½ cup of each: minced mushrooms, onions and celery
1 ¼ cups flour
4 cups of cooked and ground chicken breast meat

Breading
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
3 cups flour
3 cups plain, dry bread crumbs

Frying Oil
Peanut oil – fill deep skillet halfway up (about 2 inches), or fill deep fryer to fill line.

Gravy
3 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp butter
2 cups chicken broth
1/8 tsp of each: white pepper and paprika

Preparation:
Make the Croquette Filling
In a small sauce pan, high heat, bring milk, broth, pepper and parsley to a boil; remove from heat. In a large sauce pan, medium-high heat, sauté mushrooms, onion and celery in butter till softened; about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and coat all vegetables; slowly add milk-broth mixture and continue stirring until thickened and smooth. Remove from heat, mix in chicken and let cool in refrigerator. Makes 16 croquettes.

Shape and Bread the Croquettes
Measure out the filling using a 1/3 cup. Shape into a cone; place standing upright on tray lined with wax paper. Set out 3 bowls for the breading process: eggs beaten with milk in 1st bowl, flour in 2nd, bread crumbs in 3rd. Dip croquette into egg mixture, coat with flour, dip into egg mixture again, then coat with bread crumbs. Return to tray and repeat till all are done.

Frying the Croquettes
Preheat oil to 350F. Deep fry the croquettes, 4 at a time, for 3-4 minutes; coating will be golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels.

Make the Gravy
In a large saucepan, high heat, melt butter; whisk in flour till mixture becomes smooth and begins to brown; slowly stir in broth. Bring mixture to boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer until thickened; about 10 minutes; season with pepper and paprika.

Serving
Create a 4” circle of mashed potatoes on plate; place 2 croquettes on top; ladle gravy over all.

Makes 8 servings overall.

Mary Cokenour
March 15, 2011

Happy Birthday Roy!

Today is my husband's 39th birthday; Happy Birthday to a most wonderful man!!!

Roy was born in Denver, Colorado to an German immigrant mother and a nomad father of Scottish/Irish descent.  While his mom is a solid, steadfast woman; his father liked to roam from area to area, so Roy got to see much of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and various other states.  He finally settled in Moab, Utah with his mom.  His father,  divorced from Roy's mom, went off on his own adventures. 

Roy eventually grew up, went to college and became a graphic designer/illustrator.  Besides his own talented artwork, he has done book and album covers, and various other media.  You can see examples of his work by clicking on his two art links listed under “Favorite Sites and Links” to the right of this post.

As a man, Roy is amazing, but then again, I am biased.  He is sweet, kind, caring, and most of all, loving; I have only seen him get angry a handful of times, and still be willing to give the other person the benefit of the doubt.  He is very loved by his family, friends, pets, and, most of all, me.  I can go on and on about Roy, but you would end up getting terribly bored of my ramblings, or terribly jealous that I hooked him.

Happy Birthday my love…kiss, kiss, hug, hug.  Your presents await you at home, so hurry back once work is done for the day.

Your wife and bestest friend,
Mary

Clean out that fridge and make dinner!

Today seemed a good day to clean out the fridge; see what can stay, and what definitely should have gone a long while ago. If it moves on its own, and even talks to you, yeah, it's time for it to go. Luckily, I didn't have to evict anyone from the fridge, but there were a few items, a cup of this, a 1/2 cup of that while still good, were taking up room that I needed.

Hold on, I thought, I have this 2 lb sirloin roast in the freezer, and this would be a good time to get creative with it. I also had left over, a half small box of mushrooms, and didn't want to just toss them. Pulling out the 4 qt crock pot, setting it on low; I got started.

Simple Stew

Ingredients:

2 cups beef broth
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 lb roast
1 cup sliced red onion
1 cup chopped roasted red bell peppers
2 Tbsp sliced garlic (stored in olive oil)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
4 medium potatoes, cut into 1" pieces and parboiled.

Preparation:

Set 4 qt crock pot on low; pour in beef broth, add flour and black pepper; whisk till flour is well incorporated. Place roast into broth; place other ingredients, except the potatoes, on top of, and around, the roast. Cover, let cook for 6 hours.

Remove roast and break apart; return meat to crock pot and add in potatoes. Let cook for another 2 hours.

Makes 6 servings.

The final result was...DELICIOUS!!! The tastes of each item came out by being enhanced by the other ingredients mixed together. The sauce was so rich, and greedily soaked up by leftover biscuits I had made for breakfast. I most heartily recommend you try this recipe, but most of all, before throwing out anything from your fridge or pantry because there is very little left, a little creative thought just might end up going a very long way.

Mary Cokenour

Baking is exhausting when it takes all morning.

Roy's birthday will be on Tuesday, March 15th, and he will be turning 39 years old. I wanted to make him a special cake for his birthday; something without chocolate, as he is not too fond of it...terrible, I know. I remembered that he enjoyed the Italian Lemon Cream Cake we sometimes had from Olive Garden. The nearest Olive Garden to us is in Grand Junction, Colorado; and as much as I love Roy, I'm not driving 3 hours there, and then 3 hours back, just for a cake.

Dilemma solved! Make one, but easier said than done. Finding a number of copycat recipes on the internet, I needed to try them out and see which would come the closest. After a few trials, the closest I found was on Food.com, but it still needed a little tweaking. A little more of this, a little less of that, and I got my own copycat recipe!

...and here it is. So, if you're not a real fan of chocolate cake, like crumb cake and lemon flavor, you'll enjoy making this cake too.

Italian Lemon Cream Cake
Ingredients:
The Cake
1 (18 1/4 oz) package French Vanilla cake mix
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup oil
4 egg whites

Lemon Cream Filling
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon extract
3/4 cup whipped cream (homemade or canned; do not use a tub brand like Cool Whip)

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
5 Tbsp cold butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Garnish
powdered sugar

Preparation:
Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 10” spring form pan with nonstick baking spray; line bottom of pan with baking parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, water, oil and egg whites until smooth. Pour batter into pan; bake for 40-45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cake cool for 10 minutes before removing spring form. Let cake completely cool before cutting into two layers.

Make the Filling: In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon extract till smooth; fold in the whipped cream; set aside.

Make the Crumb Topping: In a medium bowl, cut the butter into the flour, powdered sugar and vanilla until little crumbs, about pea size, form. Refrigerate until ready to be put onto the cake.

Assemble the Cake: Flip top layer of cake onto flat dish; repeat with 2nd layer and remove spring form bottom and parchment paper. Flip 2nd layer back onto another dish, so cut part is facing up. Frost 2nd layer with half of the lemon cream filling. Flip the top layer onto the 2nd (cut sides together); frost top and sides of cake with remaining half of filling. Press the crumb topping onto sides of cake and evenly over top.

Refrigerate cake for 3 hours before serving. Sprinkle powdered sugar over cake for garnish.

Makes 10 servings.

Mary Cokenour
March 12, 2011

We've got cowboys out here!

Now, in yesterday's post, I titled it "This Cookhouse ain't just for cowboys", but what might not have dawned on you is, YES! We have cowboys out here!  Real, live cowboys that ride horses, wear boots and wide brimmed hats; a proof that the old West is still alive and well.  Now living out East, I mostly learned about the West from television shows like "Gunsmoke", "The Rifleman", "Wild, Wild West", "Have Gun Will Travel", "Big Valley" and "Bonanza".  In school, we covered American history, but nothing west of the Mississippi; and that was back in the 1960-1970's.  When my son was in school in the 1990's to 2000's, his history books covered exactly what I had learned so many years before.  In other words, school books were definitely not keeping up with the times.

Last year I attended the parade for "Pioneer Days" in my town, and I got the biggest thrill when the San Juan County Sheriff's Department came by.  They were all dressed up in their cowboy clothing, carrying their rifles and riding beautiful horses; just looking ooooooh soooooo sexy; the men that is, not the horses.  I took lots of photos, emailed them to friends and family with the caption, "Look, real cowboys!".  I'm sorry, but even when I see a cowboy walking down the street, I can't help but stop and watch him.  Now these guys are just dressed up in their everyday clothes, but to this Easterner, it's a big deal.

The cowboy, one of America's heroes; no matter if they're straight or gay, old or young; they are downright sexy.

...and here's a little stew to help heat up the situation.

Cowboy Stew for the CrockPot

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean roast beef, cut into 1 inch pieces

4 russet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into 1 inch pieces, parboiled

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into ¼” slices, parboiled

1 large onion, rough cut into 1/2” pieces

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp paprika

2 (28 oz) cans vegetarian beans

2 cups barbeque sauce

Preparation:

In 6 qt. crock pot, set on low, mix together beef, potatoes, carrots, onion, salt, pepper and paprika.  Spread beans over top, then bbq sauce.  Cover, let cook 3 hrs. before mixing beans and sauce into beef and veggies.  Let cook another 7 hrs, stir every 2 hrs.  Serve with cornbread or biscuits.

Note on leftovers, if there are any; the gravy will thicken and become richer.

Mary Cokenour

This Cookhouse ain’t just for cowboys.

MD Ranch Cookhouse - OUT OF BUSINESS as of September 2014

380 S. Main

Monticello, Utah, 84535

(435) 587-3299

Manager: Dan Hardy

Website: in the works

We’d heard talk that the Cookhouse was under new management, and we thought we’d give it another try.  Roy and I had not been to the Cookhouse since September of 2009.  Why you might ask?  I had asked our waitress, “Why don’t they serve real roast turkey in the open face sandwich, but thin sliced cold cuts instead?”  Her response had been, “Our menu is too big to be able to serve real food.”  “Real food?  You mean I’m paying good money for fake food?”; and her attitude towards me did not get any better with that little comment of mine.

We decided to give the new manager a good look over and see what changes, if any, the Cookhouse had experienced.  We showed up at 2:30pm, well past lunch, and way before dinner.  Dan greeted us immediately, seated us at a sunny booth and took our drink orders.  The décor had not been changed; opening the menu, we didn’t see many changes, but they were there.  A new item was the Southwest Eggrolls, a favorite of Roy’s, and I had to have my Corn Nuggets.  For a main meal, Roy chose the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich, and I got the Bacon-Swiss burger; we both had fries as a side.  For us, if an eatery messes any of these items up, then they have a problem.

Within 10 minutes we had our appetizers; the Eggrolls were crispy; the filling of beans, cheese and chicken was not overly spiced, so tasted great whether we used the ranch dressing or not.  The Nuggets were crispy on the outside, creamy and corn filled; a carb lover’s dream.  Ten minutes after that we had our main meals; and Dan made sure to keep our drink glasses filled.

Philly Cheese Steak – thin sliced, grilled, sirloin steak, grilled peppers and onions, Swiss cheese piled on a toasted roll.  Delicious and the grilled taste of the steak and veggies made it more so.

Bacon-Swiss Burger – a 1/3 lb grilled burger on a toasted bun, Swiss cheese covering it and thick sliced bacon (Roy stole some and rolled his eyes in delight – pig heaven!).  The accompanying vegetables were (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles) looked and, here’s the important part, tasted fresh.

Fries – shoestring cut potatoes, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and just the right amount to go with our sandwiches.

Since it wasn’t busy; we were the only folks in the place until we were getting ready to leave, then another couple came in; Dan seated, served and cooked our meal.  He did very well on his own; and he’s very friendly when you start talking with him.

I told him the story on why we haven’t been going there, and he reassured us that his food has been updated and improved – it’s real food.  Just talking with him, you could tell he has a passion for what he’s trying to achieve with the Cookhouse.  We definitely intend on trying out the dinner hour, and seeing what changes to the menu have occurred there.

The Cookhouse is located on Route 191, going south towards Blanding, and is easy to spot.  It will be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner once the tourist season rolls around; hopefully they’ll be able to reestablish their liquor license.  I do have a couple of suggestions for Dan though.  When first entering, off to the left, there is an area which has some souvenirs and postcards for sale.  That would make a great area to have a buffet set up; especially on the weekend – a brunch which offers the best of breakfast and lunch; then offering the regular dinner menu when that time comes round.   Secondly, advertise!  Not just the local papers, but hit the restaurant guide that’s printed in Moab – tons of tourists travel through there, and what better way to let them know about the Cookhouse?

No recipe from me today folks, but you could always try out the Cookhouse if you’re feeling hungry.

Mary Cokenour