Fruits of Our Labour

In the last month Jason and I both started new jobs. Haven't really got the hang of the new schedule yet, which means there haven't been any posts to this blog in a while. I still photograph all the food. It's the writing that is lacking. My new position is on a fruit research farm and one of my job perks is free fruit. Last Friday, I came home with a quart and a half of strawberries. Naturally, this produced a strawberry pie with fresh whipped cream on top.

Fried Green Tomatoes and Lulu's

About a year ago, Jason and I went down to the Gulf for Mardi Gras. One of the places we ate at was LuLu's in Gulfport, Alabama. Now admittedly, I am a parakeet who grew up to be a parrothead and LuLu is the sister of Jimmy Buffett so this may make me a little biased. We also have one of her cook books, "Crazy Sista Cooking", so I was excited to finally eat at her restaurant.

 

 

Jason and I had the fried green tomatoes for an appetizer, bowls of gumbo and split a piece of key lime pie for dessert. The dinning area was open air, prompt service and all the food was fresh and tasty. I've had great gumbo and key lime pie before. What really got my attention was the fried green tomatoes. Neither of us had ever had them - I'd only seen them in the movie by the same name. Sitting here, I'm not sure how to describe the flavor. It's like a sweetness with a jump and a skip in it. LuLu's makes a "WOW" sauce to dip the tomatoes in which sets off the flavor perfectly.

 

 

 

Since our visit to LuLu's, I've made fried green tomatoes three time. The last time being the best in my opinion. I was able to look at the recipe in her cookbook which was not surprisingly more detailed than what I had previously found online while we were in Washington. We had our fried green tomatoes with empanadas. Probably not a traditional pairing but they tasted good together.

 

 

Smoked Salmon and Leek Tart

Tonight Jason prepared this Irish dish. It's a smoked salmon and leek tart. I've been sitting here trying to think of what to say about it, but I'm so full I think it's slowing my brain function. The crust is prebaked and then filled with an egg and leek mixture. That is baked further. Once everything cools down (1-2 hours later) it is topped with smoked salmon and chives (we substituted in green onions). Very flavorful. Makes me happy that we spotted the smoked salmon on sale during our last grocery trip so that it could inspire this meal.

Leek and Smoked Salmon Tart

 Crust

1 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

8 Tbsp unsalted butter cut into ½ in cubes

3 Tbsp ice water

 

Filling

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 lbs leeks white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and sliced thin and cleaned

2 large eggs

½ cup half &half

Salt

Ground black pepper

1 Tbsp fresh dill minced

6 oz thinly sliced smoked salmon cut into ¼ pieces

1 Tbsp green onion

1 Tbsp olive oil

 

For the crust, grease a 9 inch two piece tart pan and set aside.  Whisk flour, sugar and salt together in a mixing bowl or food processor.  Scatter the cubes of butter into the flour mixture and cut it until it resembles coarse sand.  Add 2 Tbsp of ice water and mix until dough clumps into larger chumps and no powder remains.  Only add the remaining Tbsp of water if the mixture is not forming clumps. 

Take the clumps and line the Tart pan working from the center and pressing the clumps out to the outside filling all seems and grooves.  Push the excess dough cutting it off the edge of the pan and use it to fill in holes and ad to thin spots.  Place in the freezer on a tray or plate for 30 min. 

Heat oven to 375 with the rack adjusted to the middle position.  Place the frozen tart shell on a baking sheet and press a sheet of heavy aluminum foil into the tart and over the edges of the pan.  Fill the foil with baking weights (marbles, I use dried beans) and bake until top edge begins to brown, about 30 min.  Remove the shell from oven and gently remove the weights and foil.  Return to the oven and continue to bake until the shell looks dry, about 10 min.  Remove and let cool for 5 min.

While crust is baking, melt butter in skillet over medium heat.  Add leeks and ½ tsp salt.  Cook until softened, 10 min.  Take off heat and let cool for 5 min.  Whisk eggs, half & half, dill and ¼ tsp black pepper.  Once cooled stir in leeks then spread mixture into tart shell and bake until filling has set and the center is firm to touch, 20-25 min.  Let cool to room temperature.

Toss salmon, green onions and olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle evenly over cooled tart.  Slice to wedges and serve.

King Cake!

 

 

Ingredients:

PASTRY: 1 cup milk 1/4 cup butter 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast 2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 1/2 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour   Personal Notes: I use a braiding method instead of rolling up the king cake like a jelly roll. I also sprinkle extra cinnamon in the filling. The recipe as listed will make two king cakes. Splitting the recipe in half works fine and is what I've always done. Having two king cakes at once would be a lot of temptation for me.

FILLING: 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 2/3 cup chopped pecans 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup melted butter   FROSTING: 1 cup confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon water

 

 



Directions:

 

	1. Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
	2. When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture. Whisk in the eggs. Stir in the remaining white sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
	3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
	4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
	5. To Make Filling: Combine the brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.
	6. Roll dough halves out into large rectangles (approximately 10x16 inches or so). Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. 7. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes (cake may need to cook as long as 30 minutes). Frost while warm with the confectioners' sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.

NOT as seen on TV

This review is from a visit to the Gumbo Shack in Fairhope, AL on March 3, 2014.

 

                The Gumbo Shack is a local hangout in Fairhope, Alabama that was featured on the Food Network’s show, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  This show, hosted by restaurateur Guy Fieri, features restaurants from around the country that Guy visits and checks out their specialties.  I liked the show and Sara and I have visited a number of restaurants that have been featured on it.  We stopped in at the Santa Cruz Diner in Santa Cruz, Gott’s Roadside in St. Helena, Southern Kitchen Restaurant in Tacoma, and The Cattleman’s Steakhouse in Oklahoma City.  Now, all these before mentioned restaurants I enjoyed, but somewhere on this tour of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives this one missed the mark.

                Now, I would recommend the Cattleman’s and Gott’s.  I would tell you that the Southern Kitchen is good, but I go elsewhere in Tacoma.  The Santa Cruz Café was good also, but if I’m in Santa Cruz again I’m going to explore a little more.  However, when it comes to The Gumbo Shack, I don’t list them with these other restaurants.  As a matter of fact, I would never visit this place again.  How this restaurant ended up being featured on a nationally broadcast cable network show is beyond me.  Was there no research done on this place?  I know there had to have been some kind of research, because it was hidden in someone’s backyard.  In truth it was behind a running supply store, I should have got the hint.  It was like trying to find Diagon Alley, but there was no magic wand that was going to fix this meal.

                The place was just a local hangout, a small bar.  I had no preconceptions about the place and it looked as though it could be a nice local favorite.  Our initial service was friendly and the bartender was quite nice.  There wasn’t anyone there due to the fact that the Mardi Gras parade was passing by just outside.  Now the recommended dishes from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives were the Gumbo and the Jambalaya.  Sara ordered the Jambalaya and I had the Gumbo.  Really, the experience started off good, but then the wait got a little long.  It was about an hour which isn’t bad until we started eating.  My Gumbo was not hot and it was far more tomato based than I would have liked.  I tried to keep an open mind, but nothing about it really made it good.  It resembled more of a marinara sauce with a little shrimp and sausage in it with rice.  What Sara received however was what really told of the quality of the service that was being provided there at the Gumbo Shack.  Her food was flat cold.  It was lukewarm on the surface, but refrigerator cold in the middle.  A microwaved dinner.  If we wanted microwaved food, we could have stopped at a corner store or a gas station.  This is poor form and this place should never have made the national stage.

 

Jason's Gumbo






 Sara's Jambalaya

 

            Concerning this situation with this restaurant, it was more disappointing because of the backing of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  I personally want to believe that there are little places out there that are really good.  Treasured locations that are getting some national notoriety for doing something great.  Instead, what occurred is I not only had a bad dining experience, but I now question the expertise of Guy Fieri and the quality of all the locations featured on his show.   Due to this experience, this was the last time I referenced Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives for any eating locations.  After all, I don’t need the Food Network’s assistance on finding Hot Pockets.

 

Jason

                 

Lodge Logic

Lodge Logic Dutch Oven

                This is the Dutch oven that I use.  It is a 7 quart cast iron Dutch oven.  I use it all the time in the kitchen and also in outdoor cooking.  It is extremely durable and there isn’t any other pot or pan that I use more that is in my possession.  They are extremely affordable and can be found at major retailers for around 50 USD.

Jason

Valentine's Day

Jason and I had a lovely day yesterday. Starting in the morning, I made sour cream doughnuts. I've been thinking of making these for a couple of weeks and Valentine's Day seemed like a perfect time to take the plunge. I left off the glaze with the idea of saving a few sugar calories. Although obviously, if I was too concerned about that I wouldn't have been making doughnuts. The recipe worked great, and I was very pleased with how they tasted.

 

Lunch Was a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. It may make me a sap, but I've wanted to get one of these since I saw the ad the first time a few years back. The pizza was decently heart shaped although not quite as much as the ad. Overall, I think the pumpkin one they make for Halloween is cuter.

 

 

We also had a Fentimans Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger. I would hesitate to call it a soda. I think of soda as being more bubbly. What it was is a flavorful orange beverage with a little ginger added in for kick. The only other Fentimans product I've had is the Victorian Lemonade. It was the best lemonade beverage I've ever had from a store.

 

 

In the evening we had dinner, dancing and a movie. I made dinner - a Pork Wellington. Jason made dessert - pots de crème au chocolat. Italian opera music played softly in the background while we dined. There was some Elvis too. It truly was a wonderful Valentine's Day.