Ladies who Lunch...

I am still catching up with friends since my return from Montana a few weeks ago. Katie and Susan were my lunch companions this past Saturday afternoon. We were able to find a table outside (under an umbrella, its beautiful here in New Orleans but a girl still needs a little shade) in which to enjoy cold beer, raw oysters, and a few other delights.

Grand Isle is a beautifully put together restaurant, founded by one of New Orleans premier restaurateurs/caterers, Joel Dondis and headed by Chef Mark Falgoust. The food is consistently delicious. Simple bistro classics, some of the best hand cut French Fries in the city, fresh and easy. The service can be a bit distracted and rushed but presented in a friendly way if you make an effort to be friendly yourself.



Since Gustav, oysters were hard to find for a few weeks but those salty Louisiana beauties were so good and so missed that we finished two dozen before we even had our second cocktail.


Marinated Blue Crab Claws were delightfully spiced with crushed Red Pepper and slicked with Olive Oil, served on a very random pale leaf of Napa Cabbage and accompanied by a plastic ramekin of spicy Remoulade. These plastic ramekins really bother me, they are so wasteful and honestly just look like junk. Everything else about this restaurant is top notch, a silver timbale wouldn't be a stretch in my humble opinion.

Large salads, one topped with gorgeous chunks Jumbo Lump Crabmeat and the other with Boiled Louisiana Shrimp were dressed with Dijon Vinaigrette and the house Green Goddess dressing respectively.

A great way to while away the afternoon and definitely a way to prepare ones self for a little bit of spending at Rubenstein's! (Just in case you decide to stop in, please ask for Tracey in the women's department, she's a star!)

Happy Birthday Becca & Casey

Happy Birthday Ladies! There really isn't anything better than cooking for people that you love! I wanted to make my ladies a really tasty cake for their birthdays, so I was able to come up with a cake that layered Classic Yellow Cake (see the recipe below) with my Candied Pistachio Brownie Cake. I alternated the layers with Apricot Frosting and then swathed the whole cake in Vanilla Bean Frosting, topped with Chocolate and Pistachio Brittle dipped Meringues


Here's the cake before the meringues are added (and before it almost fell on the floor, Yikes!).


Here is the end result, not only was I able to treat the ladies to a tasty birthday cake but I was able to use my tin cake carrier that I bought this summer in Montana. The most stylish way to transport a cake, I think I will be arriving at more parties with this in tow!


We celebrated with the ladies at Dante's Kitchen for Brunch! As always it was a scrumptious meal, Chef Emmanuel Loubier really knows how to run a kitchen (even if he may not have been in the house that day). From the spicy, clove laced Pickled Green Beans and Okra in our Bloody Mary's to the house made Hot Sauce it was all delicious.
nola bean yellow cake
yields: 2 nine inch cakes or 24 cupcakes

1/2 pound Butter, unsalted and room temperature
2 cups Cake Flour ( I use Swan's Down)
1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt, (I use sea salt for baking, since it is finer)
1 3/4 cups granulated Sugar
4 eggs (remember, cage-free is best!)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, butter cake pans and dust lightly with flour.

In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk lightly to combine and set to the side. In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy on a medium high-high setting. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs, one at a time, waiting to incorporate the next until the first is well mixed in. Add vanilla, beat to combine. Turn off the mixer and add 1/2 of the prepared dry ingredients, beat on a low setting and slowly add 1/2 of the milk. Turn off mixer and add the remaining dry ingredients, beat on a low setting and slowly add the remaining 1/2 of the milk. Scrape the sides of the bowl, mixing for 30 seconds on medium high speed to combine.

Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking time. The cooked cakes should be golden brown, and just firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the cake pans and cool completely. Frost and decorate to your hearts delight!

Kurbiskernol...Bless you!?

What a delicious discovery! One of my weekly clients just returned from one of many wonderful summer vacations, the most recent being Austria. They brought back a few decadent chocolates (that they keep in their bedroom! Love that!) a few loaves of artisan bread that they were very generous to share with me on most recent visit to their home and Kurbiskernol!


Kurbiskernol is an Austrian specialty, Pumpkin Seed Oil. This oil is unlike anything I have ever tasted and tastes remarkably of roasted, salted pumpkin seeds. After a little bit of online sleuthing I was able to dig up some facts. The pumpkin seeds that produce this oil are grown in East & West Stryria/Steiermark, in South Burgenland and in a small area of Niederosterreich and the oil that they produce are a European Union protected designation of origin product (much like champagne in France). The pumpkins grown are known as Stryrian Oil Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo var. styriaca) and are raised exclusively for their seeds. Unlike other pumpkins, the seeds inside of these green/orange/white pumpkins lack the hard white exterior hull that most pumpkin seeds have. The seeds are dried, roasted, cold pressed and then allowed to settle for up to 1 month and then finally bottled. The color can range from deep green to red.

The bottle that my family brought home is a viscous green that looks like murky emerald. It is delicious! Salty and deep, I paired it with Scallops. The Pumpkin Seed Oil is best utilized at room temperature, and looses its nutrients when heated. It also has a very low smoking point, so it could never be used for frying or sauteing. The list for what I would drizzle this on really could go on forever. For starters, Scallops (talk about that more in a bit), roasted Squash (especially acorn or butternut), into soups (puree of celeriac or even a oyster bisque sounds tempting), melon, beef carpacchio, raw or seared Tuna etc.

I was so overwhelmed with what to do with this new find I could barely keep myself from drizzling it over everything. I limited myself to roasted Acorn Squash and the Scallop Dish.

The Scallops were marinated in raw Garlic and Olive Oil, and then a hash of Shitake Mushrooms, diced Shallot, and Arugula. To top the dish off, I created a Curried Fuju Persimmon Vinaigrette. I haven't been able to taste the dish, but I just know that the flavors will work brilliantly together. My client promised that when she pulled the dish together that night she would take pictures and I will share them with you later this week.

The vinaigrette was a beautifully hued orange, it was the color of an yellow heirloom tomato. The base was concocted with Dulcet Madras Curry Mustard, a touch of Acadiana Honey, freshly ground Black Pepper, peeled and diced Persimmon and a mix of Canola and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It was so good and pretty, the teaspoon that I sampled with a drop of the Kurbiskernol was heavenly. Looking forward to their reaction.

To find your own bottle of Kurbisernol visit the Deimel Pumpkin Farm Website (in Stryria, Austria-for US shipping) and Hay River Pumpkin Farms (an American farm in Wisconsin that is raising the Austrian Oil Pumpkins).

Dinner Parties by nola bean

Almost everyone of my weekends are spent in the company of clients and private dinner parties are always a lot of fun to plan and execute. This dinner party took place last weekend at the home of my clients and they enjoyed a very special evening filled with good food, great wines (hand selected by my clients) and friends.


They started the evening with a salad that was taught to me by Chef Anne Kearney. Recently here in New Orleans, the chef who bought Anne's restaurant a few years ago decided to change the restaurant from what used to be Anne's Peristyle to what will now be Tom's Wolfe's. I have yet to visit Tom at the newly renovated space but I can't imagine how different Dumaine Street is without her beloved "Peristyle".

Getting back to the salad...I don't normally recreate items that former chefs have taught me, but with the passing of Peristyle I thought that recreating one of her signature salads was one of the very small ways that I could pay my respects. The salad starts with oven roasted Beets, thinly sliced and topped with pickled Red Onions. The Onions are pickled with a solution of Orange Zest, Red Wine Vinegar, Coriander and Water, and then allowed to sit overnight so that they turn the prettiest hue of purple. On top of the Onions, a combination of Jumbo Lump Crabmeat, Horseradish, fresh Aioli, Creme Fraiche, finely diced Chives, Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper which is topped off with a small Herb Nage (salad).

It really is one of the most divine and complex, yet still simple and satisfying salads. This salad is responsible for the transformation of many from Beet disgust to Beet love.


The second course was a Garlic Oil marinated, seared and sliced Pork Tenderloin served alongside a griddled Sweet Potato, Caramelized Onion and Parmesan Bread Pudding, Garlic Sauteed Broccoli Rabe and finished with a Steen's Cane Vinegar Demi Glace with fresh Thyme. A really great balance of acidity from the Broccoli Rabe and the vinegar laced Demi Glace and sweetness from the Sweet Potatoes and Caramelized Onions brought the whole dish together.


One of my favorite courses is always cheese! We are so fortunate to have a fantastic Cheese shop here in New Orleans called the St. James! Richard and Danielle are extremely dedicated and enthusiastic about their work and their cheese. Danielle was able to recommend the "Constant Bliss". Constant Bliss is a raw cow's milk cheese made by Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont. They describe their cheese below;

"Constant Bliss is based on a Chaource recipe, which we modified to suit our production schedule and cheesemaking facility. The result is a cheese which hardly even resembles a Chaource. It is a slow ripened lactic curd made only with fresh, right out of the cow, uncooled, evening milk. We actually begin the cheesemaking process before the cows have finished milking. Constant Bliss is made with raw whole milk. This is not a double or triple crème cheese as is sometimes thought. Seasonal variations in the milk result in variations on the surface and flavor of the cheese. We like to use Constant Bliss to highlight our milk, and rather than overpowering the natural microflora of our milk with cotton white mold, we prefer to see a mottling of diverse molds and yeasts, which are prevalent particularly in the summer months when the cows are out on grass. It is aged 60 days before it leaves the farm, and is a ‘sell it or smell it’ item for retailers.

We named Constant Bliss after a revolutionary war scout killed in Greensboro by native Americans in 1781. He was guarding the Bayley Hazen Military Road with his compatriot Moses Sleeper, who died with him."

I describe it as a sublime cheese! It wasn't too overpowering, grassy and sweet with just a tang that hits the back of your throat. I paired the "Constant Bliss" (how can you not love a cheese with a name like that?) with a thin slice of Quince paste and some Olive Oil Crisps. I instructed the guests that they should place the Quince Paste (just a tiny bit) on the crisp, top it with the cheese and to place the cheese down on the tongue so that the cheese is the first taste they experience followed by the quince and then the richness of the Crisp.

Please pardon my picture of the last course, I call it my "Fuzzy" Pavlova. Smith Creamery Heavy Cream lightly whipped (you can see how rich in butterfat the cream from the Smith's is by the almost butter yellow color) and folded into Creme Fraiche with peeled, chunked Colorado Peaches (which are not local but really out of this world in flavor right now!) that mousse like filling was rolled into a large rectangle of soft cooked Meringue. I served it on top of fresh Raspberry Puree and garnished with Confectioner's Sugar and crushed Pistachio Praline.

It was a great evening!

Slowly getting blitzed!

Lu Brown is truly a treasure here in the Crescent City! Lu is the bar chef at Cafe Adelaide & the Swizzle Stick Bar. Lu can create cocktails that not only look and taste delicious but they also have stories behind them.

The cocktail below, "The Hansen's Sloe Blitz" was inspired by Ashley Hansen and her family's Sno Ball Stand-Hansen's. Lu started the cocktail with a ribbon of peel from a whole Lemon, dry Gin and Club Soda. She topped the cocktail with a "sno-cone" of crushed ice, a bouquet of mint for fragrance and a generous topping of sloe gin syrup that she reduced herself.

There really is no other way to describe this cocktail other than it is one of the most delicious libations that I have ever enjoyed! Truly...the Sloe Gin syrup slowly trickled through the cone of ice and sweetened my Lemon Gin Soda while the Mint made the whole experience as fragrant as it was flavorful!

Sloe gin is a red coloured liqueur flavored with sloe berries, the fruit of the blackthorn bush which is related to the plum. The blackthorn bush, a thorny tall-growing shrub which is commonly used as a security or privacy fence, is found throughout the the British Isles and flowers from March to May, with fruit ready for harvest in September through October. Sloe Gin is traditionally made with Gin, Sugar and Sloe Berries and allowing it to sit until sufficiently infused. Sloe Berries are much to bitter to enjoy raw, and since they are not commercially cultivated in the US you really won't have the chance.


I have done my best to try and source the Blackthorn Bush online, but no luck. If you can find one in the US please let me know.

In my opinion I will just leave myself in the capable care of Ms. Lu and her sloe gin syrup!

Better Bacon...

An early day called for a bit of shopping this afternoon. I decided to spend my time and my dollars locally with "Ruby" owner Laura Lea Reid. Laura has decided to move the shop, currently located at 3932 Magazine Street, down the street (new address to be announced) and she is having a fantastic sale. One of the first things to catch my eye was a t-shirt manufactured by "Better Bacon".

"Better Bacon" t-shirts are produced by members of the Kids of Widney High, a Southern Cali band made up of young adults with developmental disabilities. My purchase of "Out of Shape Banana" was created by band member Peewee and inspired by the Velvet Underground Cd cover art by Andy Warhol really made my day!

Each of the shirts that band members create come complete with a tag that showcases a photo of the artist, their inspiration for the design and his/her personal credo. A proceed of sales directly benefits the "Kids of Widney High". Be sure to visit Laura over at Ruby to pick up a t-shirt, she doesn't have many left! She is the only distributor for Better Bacon in the state of Louisiana.

Want more info on the Kids of Widney High? Visit their website at;
http://kidsofwidneyhigh.com/

I'm getting all "Curried" away...

I have am very lucky to work in some of the most beautiful homes in New Orleans and today I made a delicious Curried Zucchini Bread for a client. This bread is delicious, scented with heat from ground Ginger, toasted Curry Powder, Poppy Seeds and a dash of White Pepper. Flecked with freshly grated Lemon Zest and chopped Walnuts the result is a uniquely spicy, sweet treat. The recipe yields 2 loaves of Zucchini Bread or 18 muffins so I made a few of each.


Curried Zucchini Bread Recipe
Yields: 2 loaf pans or 18 muffins

1 1/2 cups chopped Walnuts
3 cups grated Zucchini
1/3 cup Poppy Seeds
Zest 2 Lemons

4 ounces butter, soft (1 stick)
1 cup granulated Sugar
1/2 cup brown Sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

3 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon each, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pans with 18 liners or spray two loaf pans and set to the side.

In a large bowl combine the chopped walnuts (excluding 1/4 cup for the top of the bread or muffins), grated zucchini, poppy seeds and lemon zest. In the bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and both sugars. Whisk on medium speed till light and fluffy. Add the eggs, incorporating them one at a time, to the butter/sugar mixture and then add the vanilla extract. Mix until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients and add the dry mixture to the butter/sugar mixture in two batches, mixing on medium low speed after each addition. Add the zucchini mix to the mixing bowl and mix on medium low speed until the ingredients are just combined.

Divide the mixture amongst the muffin cups or loaf pans and sprinkle with the reserved chopped walnuts. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes for muffins and 35-40 minutes for the loaves. Be sure to rotate the pans in the oven halfway through the cooking time.

When just firm to the touch, remove the bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the loaves and/or muffins from the pan, place on the wire rack and allow to cool completely. Enjoy as is for a great breakfast or snack.



Other ideas for serving;
-Toast slices of the loaves and lather with ricotta cheese
-Tear loaves into rough pieces and mix with some crumbled cooked bacon, a few eggs, and 1/4 cup of heavy cream and bake for a savory breakfast "bread pudding"
-Top with Chocolate Frosting and serve as cupcakes, sprinkled with additional Curry Powder for garnish.

Saintly Sweets...

I've been perfecting my Sweet Potato Biscuit recipe since the beginning of the summer, so I took advantage of the Sunday Saints Brunch we hosted as one more opportunity to practice. These biscuits were in the company of a Caramelized Onion, Spinach & Gruyere Strata (a savory breakfast Bread Pudding of sorts), oven-roasted Hash Browns, Bacon, Vanilla-Almond Granola with Yogurt, and Shrimp Bisque. Spicy Bloody Mary's and Tangerine Mimosas started everyone off and we finished, crowded round the television enjoying Vanilla Meringues, Coconut Macaroons and sliced Peaches.

The Saints were defeated by the Redskins, 29-24 but the brunch was enjoyed by all!

NOLA Bean Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipe
Yields: 12 large biscuits or 24 minis (average)

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Salt
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
4 ounce (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, cubed and cold
1 # Sweet Potatoes or 1 1/2 cups canned Sweet Potato puree
1/4 cup Buttermilk
2 Tablespoons Butter, melted (for the biscuit tops before baking)

Make Sweet Potato Puree: Roast the Sweet Potatoes on a foil lined sheet pan in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. The Sweet potatoes should be knife tender. Allow the potatoes to cool, peel and puree in a food processor. (This should yield 1 1/2-1 3/4 cups of Sweet Potato Puree)

Prepare Biscuits: In a food processor combine the Flour, Salt and Baking Powder, pulse 2-3 times to combine. Add the cubed, chilled butter to the food processor and pulse 5-6 times to cut the butter into the flour. Place the butter/flour mixture into a large bowl and fold the 1 1/2 cups Sweet Potato puree and Buttermilk in. You are looking for a soft, not too sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut into circles or squares with a floured knife or biscuit cutter. Place on parchment lined sheet pan, spacing them 1/4 of an inch apart. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and refrigerate the biscuits on the sheet pan for 15-20 minutes. Brush the biscuit tops with the melted butter and bake the biscuits in the preheated oven, for 25-3o minutes rotating the pan halfway through the cooking process.

Home Sweet NOLA...

Things here in NOLA can be frustrating but mostly they are just delicious. Case in point, I went to join my good friend Beth to catch up after almost 3 days back from Montana. Beth a professor of World History at a local college moonlights at one of the best restaurants in the city as a bartender twice a week. Herbsaint, run by Chef Donald Link, has the most incredible Frog Legs I have ever tasted. Deep fried and tossed in a Buffalo Style sauce (Butter and Hot Sauce, I think they are using Crystal) topped with a few ribbons of Parsley. Nothing says welcome home more than a few great glasses of White Wine, Frogs Legs and good company. Many thanks to my friends at Herbsaint for easing me back into living in New Orleans!


Lets get back to one of the frustrating parts! We do receive our mail almost daily, but our Mailman never delivers packages, so I am constantly running to the post office to pick them up myself. Picking the packages up really does work out for the best though, at least they aren't being stolen off our front porch. (It has happened more than once!) Anxiously awaiting my many packages being sent from Montana I picked up the package below. You can see how well they handled and cared for my parcel. Unbelievably nothing was broken, so I was able to get my hands on my "Lava Jazz" bowl, courtesy of Mimi Warner of Finely Point, Montana.


I don't want to end on a sour note, so I snapped this picture of my favorite shrimp in the whole world...Louisiana Gulf Shrimp. Our Louisiana shrimpers work really hard to provide us with these babies and I thank them every day!

Missing Montana

I finally made it home! After 2 cancelled flights and few car rides I returned to NOLA Monday night. Things here are good, a little wind-blown, but good. The heat and humidity take their toll, but I really have no right to complain after 3 months in the most beautiful place in the world.



If you haven't had the chance to visit Montana, I can not express to you how much you are missing. Cold glacier lakes, purple mountains, snow in June, cool breezes and so much more. I have had a fantastic summer with my Montana family, my Montana girls and the company of some very special guests. I am already dreaming of what next summer holds.


I wanted to share some of the pictures that I took in my last week, enjoy and get yourself out to some big sky country!!

S'more Please!

Since I sat around watching CNN and the Weather Channel almost all day (fearing the hurricanes path towards my New Orleans home) yesterday an easy to assemble dessert was needed. Since temperatures are still dipping into the 30's and 40's at night we have kept a fire going for almost a full week. S'mores seemed like the answer. The Marshmallows may not have been homemade but the Graham Crackers were! Dusted with Turbinado Sugar and Cinnamon they "made" the Hershey Bars and Jet Puffed Marshmallows. Roasting the Marshmallows on driftwood sticks that Jessi and I whittled (I know...she whittles too!) points onto added just enough kitsch.

My sweet girl Maggie, has great taste. She could have cared less for the Marshmallows or the Hershey Bars but she sure did want some Graham Crackers!


Smore's in action below, this guest preferred a bit of char to her mallow!


With all this talk of dessert, dinner was an easy meal of Parmesan and Breadcrumb roasted Tomatoes (grown in the neighboring city of Ronan), pan roasted Broccoli, Roast Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes and Grilled Pork Paillards.

Cleaning out the Pantry...

We are nearing the end of our summer and my main goal is to utilize as much of my pantry staples as possible. I hate to buy too much for the summer and I take it as a personal challenge to throw as little away as possible. With Bobby's leftover Carrot Cake I made these Carrot Truffles.

Cake Truffles are super easy, you basically take your leftover cake, throw it in bowl and mash it up. I then shape the mixture using a small ice cream scoop, roll by hand to smooth and then pop in the freezer for a few minutes. They are best dipped fully in chocolate, but with my limited end of the year white chocolate supply I dipped only the tops and then in a mixture of toasted Coconut and finely chopped Walnuts. This recipe is really inspired by Bakerella's Blog, http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ ...her cupcake blog is a lot of fun.


For dinner this evening I cooked Rack of Lamb. Sorry for the "Meat Mountain" picture below, but in my haste to get the food out to everyone hot, my final dish pictures were not up to par. The meal was one of my favorites this summer, even though the summer weather is officially over we haven't been above 60 degrees for days.

The final dish consisted of a loose puree of Sweet, White Onion, and home grown Zucchini, Wilted Swiss Chard (also from the garden) the Lamb Chops and to finish it off a reduction sauce of Chicken Stock mounted with roast Garlic Puree, roughly chopped Nicoise Olives and fresh Marjoram.



For dessert...my favorite! Pavlova. This time around I rolled the soft baked Meringue around whipped Heavy Cream and chopped Cherries from our own trees. So divine, even the none dessert eaters had a piece and I had little to share with Jessi!