We have to move…

To keep a long story short, our internet provider will be changing in the next few days and during that transition I want to be sure that everyone’s bookmarks stay up-to-date.

I have moved all of the blogs over to wordpress.com. The new address for this one will be:

https://herbsaint.wordpress.com

All of the posts should have moved over alright and as far as I can tell all the comments and such should be OK too. If you registered at the old site, you’ll need to update your registration information over here.

Please update your bookmarks.

Thanks!

Technorati Tags: Oakland

Chocolate Doberge Cake

Better known simply as birthday cake to those of us from New Orleans. I grew up hearing this pronounced alternately as “DOUGH-bash”, “Doh-BAREzh” and as “Dow-BAWHzh”. Doberge cakes are closely related to Boston Cream Pies (which aren’t pies!) and they are the closest approximation to a Doberge cake you will find outside of the Greater New Orleans area. These come as chocolate (this recipe), lemon, caramel or any two of those flavors together. Not the easiest of recipes, but if you are a good baker, this should come out excellently for you as it is a fairly standard layer cake recipe. EDIT: to get a fondant frosting to stick well, many bakers will frost with another kind of frosting first. Use this frosting recipe as a first layer and then use the poured fondant (see Lemon Doberge recipe) for better coverage and a more professional looking cake.

Chocolate Doberge Cake

Cake:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:

2 cups sugar
10 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons salt
1 quart milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 whole eggs and 4 yolks, slightly beaten

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter
8 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
4 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar

Cake: Cream butter, shortening, sugar and salt together until smooth. Add egg yolks and blend mixture until smooth. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk and water and beat until well blended. Be careful not to overbeat, you don’t want to overactivate the gluten and make a tough cake. Add vanilla and fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Grease 9-inch cake pans and line with wax paper. Pour 3/4 cup batter into each pan, spreading evenly over bottom. Bake in preheated 375 degree; oven for 12-15 minutes. Repeat process until all of batter is used. The result will be 8 layers. When cool, put layers together with filling, reserving the top layer for the frosting. Chill cake before frosting.

Filling: Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, milk and chocolate. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat and pour a small amount of mixture over the eggs to temper them. Blend into mixture and cook over very low heat, add vanilla. Chill until set.

Frosting: Melt butter and chocolate over very low heat, use a double boiler if you have one. Blend in sugar and water, beat until smooth. Frost top and sides of cake.

Technorati Tags: Cake, Dessert, Food

Cherries Jubilee

A perfect dessert for a celebration. This dessert has an old world charm to it that makes New Orleans so unique.

Cherries Jubilee

1 quart good vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 cups brandy
1/2 cup sugar
2 pints of fresh cherries, pitted

Scoop the ice cream into dessert cups and put into freezer. Remove bowls from freezer just before adding cherries.

Heat the brandy and sugar together in a heavy saucepan until sugar is completely dissolved. Add the pitted cherries and light the liquid with a match. Stir the cherries around in the flaming brandy (be careful!) until the fire burns itself out. Spoon mixture over ice cream and serve. Serves 6.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Dessert, Food

Creole Bread Pudding

New Orleans is famous for its bread pudding and nothing can be said about this dish that hasn't been said already. Very easy to prepare and quite elegant, in an old school New Orleans sort of way.

Creole Bread Pudding

1 loaf stale French bread, cubed
1 quart whole milk
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup raisins
3 tablespoons melted butter

Bourbon Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
2 ounces bourbon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak bread in milk then use your hands to make sure milk is soaked through. Add eggs, sugar, vanilla, raisins and stir well. Pour butter in bottom of heavy 9 x 14 baking pan. Add bread mixture, and bake till very firm, approximately 40 minutes. Cool the pudding, cube it and put in individual dessert dishes. When ready to serve, add bourbon sauce and heat under broiler for a few minutes.

Bourbon Sauce:
Cream sugar and butter and cook in a double boiler until very hot and well dissolved. Add well-beaten egg and whip very fast so egg doesn't curdle. Cool and add bourbon. Serves 8.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Dessert, Food

Stewed Tomatoes and Okra

Good on a cold night as a side or as a main course. Many people think they hate okra, mainly because it’s gummy or slimy, but in this dish (and gumbo) it uses that “slime” to help thicken the dish. Good with french bread.

Stewed Tomatoes and Okra

1/2 stick butter (substitute 1/8 cup olive oil for vegan)
1 large yellow onion
1 package frozen okra
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 toes garlic, diced
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons creole seasoning

Melt butter in a large saucepan and add chopped onion and okra. Saute until onion is translucent and slime has mostly cooked out of the okra. Add all remaining ingredients. Season and then simmer slowly for 30 minutes or until it has acheived a stew consistency. Serves 6.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, Main Dish, Vegetarian

Barbeque Shrimp

Legend has it that Pascal’s Manale Restaurant on Napoleon Ave. invented this dish. It is not a barbequed dish (it was named by its inventor), though it is delicious. This recipe is supposedly as close to the original as possible. Easy, easy dish!

Barbeque Shrimp

1 lb. butter
4 tablespoon fresh black pepper
4 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
4-5 lbs. of large shrimp, whole, heads and tails on
1 whole lemon
Loaf of decent French Bread

In a saucepan melt butter and add seasonings. Heat for 2 minutes to allow spice to infuse in the fat. Add shrimp and cook for around 6-7 minutes. Add fresh lemon at the end and serve on platters or bowls with bread for sopping the juices. Serves 6.

Watch the shrimp… it cooks fast and you want this to have a good texture. Shrimp without the heads will not work, you need the fat from behind the eyes to mix with the butter for the best flavor. Messy and wonderful!

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, Main Dish

Jambalaya

Another flexible dish, like gumbos, with infinite combinations. There are two types of jambalaya that I am aware of; creole and cajun. Creole jambalayas use tomatoes and lean on the red side as a result, cajun jambalayas lean on the brown side and (as far as I know) don’t use tomato. The following recipe will be for a creole jambalaya.

I make jambalaya in a strange way… according to tradition. Rather than cooking the rice WITH the sauce, I cook them separately so that the rice comes out correctly each time. I found that when I did it the traditional way (cooking the rice in the sauce for an hour or so), the rice either came out underdone or mushy. If you choose to make it the traditional way, double the chicken/beef stock to 1 1/2 quarts.

Jambalaya

1 lb. smoked sausage or andouille, sliced and browned
1 lb. chicken thighs, cut from bone, diced and browned
1/2 cup + 2 Tbps. olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
2 toes garlic, diced
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 quart chicken or beef stock
1 small can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon creole seasoning (use more if you like)
1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce

6 cups rice, cooked

Brown the sausage and chicken in half the olive oil in a large saucepan or iron pot. When meat is nice and brown and you get the “gratin” on the bottom, saute the trinity. Add diced tomato (juice and all), garlic, bay leaves, thyme and heated stock. Add creole seasoning and bring to a simmer for 20 minutes at least, preferably longer like an hour or two. While sauce is simmering, in a separate small pot take 2 Tbps. olive oil and heat over medium heat. Empty can of tomato paste into hot oil and stir, stir, stir. This is called pincé-ing. Stir until paste is the color of mahogany (deep reddish-brown). Add paste to sauce. This will serve two purposes: one, it will thicken the sauce slightly and two, it will add that extra bite. When sauce is done, add cooked rice and mix thoroughly. Serves 6.

Variation: you may use pasta instead of rice. Add 1 lb. cooked pasta. Bake in a preheated 350 degree; oven for about 30 minutes in a casserole dish.

Pannéed meat

My grandmother used to make this dish all the time and I never questioned the use of the word “meat” in the name… I assume it was beef or veal, but it was New Orleans. “Pannéed” means pan-fried or pan-sautéed and you often find this in po-boy shops as “Pannéed Chicken”; if it’s deep fat fried then it’s not really pannéed. You can pannée chicken, beef, veal, fish and probably seitan. This dish is similar to the Italian “Parmigiana”, but without the cheese on top. For this recipe I am going to assume beef:

Pannéed Meat

6 beef or veal medallions
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
peanut oil, enough to be 1/2 inch deep in a skillet

First, you want the cheap-o beef medallions, as you are going to beat them tender. Get a meat tenderizer and beat, beat, beat the medallions until they are 1/8“ thick. Combine the egg and buttermilk and place in a bowl. Dredge the medallions in the egg/buttermilk wash and then in the breadcrumbs, making sure to completely coat both sides. Fry the meat in your heated peanut oil (medium heat) until one side is nicely browned (about 2 minutes) and then repeat on the other side. Place cooked medallions on a sheet of brown paper bag to drain of excess oil. You can eat this as is or smother this in red gravy. Also good as an accompaniment to red beans and rice. Serves 3.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, Main Dish

Creole Sauce

This is yet another flexible (and easy) red sauce that is most often known from the dish Shrimp Creole, this chicken creole. This tomato-based sauce is cooked relatively quickly (unlike red gravy) so that the vegetables remain distinct and somewhat crisp. Creole sauce is Spanish in origin and was probably carried to Louisiana by the Los Isleños (from whom I was spawned). The folks in New Orleans prefer the Creole Tomato for this dish as it has the richest tomato taste of any variety grown in the US (no lie!), but any tomato used for sauce will do (if using plum or Roma tomatoes, use 12 instead of 6).

Chicken Creole

3 lbs. cut-up fryer chicken
2 or 3 tablespoons flour
6 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons dark roux (peanut oil and flour, see below for recipe)

2 Spanish or yellow onions, roughly chopped
2 bell peppers, cored and roughly chopped
4 stalk celery, diced
6 large tomatoes, skinned and seeded and roughly chopped 
 (or substitute 1-28 oz. can diced tomato)
1 small can tomato paste
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce
3 (Turkish) bay leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon creole seasoning
hot sauce to taste

Roux: You may be able find jarred roux at some grocery stores, if you don’t have the patience to make your own, this is what you want to get. Roux can be made in large batches and refrigerated for several months. Start with ¼ cup peanut oil and heat over medium heat. Add ¼ cup flour and turn heat down to low. Stir constantly until it turns a color somewhere between milk chocolate and dark chocolate, this may take upwards of 25-30 minutes. If black dots appear, it is ruined and you will need to start over.

In a small saucepan, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat and fry tomato paste. Turn heat to low and stir paste until it turns mahogany and takes on a chunky consistency. Set aside.

Dredge chicken pieces in a little flour and brown in 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan or stockpot. Remove chicken and add (to the same pot) roux and sautée the trinity (onion, peppers, celery) until wilted. Add tomatoes and garlic, cook for 2 minutes or so.

Add all remaining ingredients to sauce mixture including browned chicken. Simmer covered on low for 2 hours. Taste sauce for seasoning after an hour and adjust as necessary. The sauce should be about the same consistency as gumbo when done.

Serve over hot rice.

Note: many people make Creole sauce and add seafood (shrimp, crab) instead of or along with chicken. Add seafood when the sauce is about 5 minutes from being done.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, Vegan, Vegetarian

Red Gravy

This sauce is more than just “spaghetti sauce”. Its flexibility allows us to use it on top of meatloaves, pannéed meats, po-boy, fish, sausage and, yes, even pasta. In fact, I make this for pasta sauce instead of plain marinara, I find its richness to be beyond compare.

Red Gravy

1/2 cup olive oil
1 whole bulb of garlic, with each toe sliced in half lengthwise
3 bay leaves
1 bell pepper, diced
1 cup onion, diced
3 cups vegetable stock
3 cups canned tomato purée
6 ounces tomato paste
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
2 teaspoons creole seasoning
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh basil (Italian or sweet)
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme

In a 2-quart saucepan or stockpot, heat the olive oil, sliced garlic cloves, and 2 of the bay leaves. Cook garlic slices to achieve browning on both sides (over medium heat), cooking for about 2 to 3 minutes and stirring often. Remove garlic from pan, you can toss this. Turn down heat to medium-low and add the onions to the pan and sautee until edges start to brown, about 6 to 8 minutes and stirring constantly.

Add the tomato paste and cook with the onions until the color deepens to a red mahogany color; it gets somewhat sticky, it will build up your forearm muscles. This step is important, so be patient! You want to carmelize the entire mixture; this is where almost all of the flavor for the sauce will come from. When done, add the third bay leaf and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer; here is where you will adjust your seasonings… I like mine on the spicier side so I actually add 2 tablespoons of creole seasoning rather than 2 teaspoons. Maintain a very low simmer and cook for about three hours and stirring frequently. The whole house will smell delicious for days after making this. Makes 6 cups and freezes well.

Technorati Tags: Creole, Food, Vegan, Vegetarian