Artichoke Balls

I made these for the first time last night, but I've already modified the recipe. I'll provide the original, and then my modifications underlined.


Original:
3 cans artichoke hearts
3 c Romano cheese
3 c Italian breadcrumbs
3 beaten eggs
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder

Modified
3 cans artichoke hearts
3 c shredded Parmesan
3 c Italian breadcrumbs
3 beaten eggs
1/4 c olive oil
1tsp garlic powder
1 c chopped parsley
Tobassco and Chacheres to taste

Mash or blend artichoke hearts. Mix cheese and breadcrumbs. Add artichokes, eggs, oil, parsley, and seasoning. Mix together. Roll into bite-sized balls and bake for five minutes.

That much Romano can come off being quite strong. I think Parmesan is a milder and more thrifty choice, and it gets the job done quite well. The parsley lifts the flavor of the dish, and the Tobassco and Chacheres give it a nice kick.

For a vegetarian meal, you can serve these instead of meatballs with the sans beef version of my Babushka Bolognese.

King Cake!

Mix:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. dry milk
1 package rapid rise yeast

Add: 1 cup hot water & stir


Add: 1 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 c. oil

Add: 1 to 1 1/4 cup flour. Knead until spongy. Let rise 25 minutes.

Separate the dough into two and roll them out until they're long and about 4 inches wide
Mix: ½ stick melted butter
1 cup brown sugar 
1 tsp cinnamon 
1 T flour
Roll up – pinch – seal well
Braid the two rolls together
Let rise 15 minutes. 


Bake at 350º, 17 min.

To decorate the cake, mix up a simple frosting with a lot of powdered sugar and a little milk (I also add vanilla extract). Add the frosting while the cake is still hot and sprinkle purple, gold, and green sugar on top. You can find the sugar at most craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby.

As for king cake babies, you can buy them online, or if you're lucky, you can find them in some party stores with the stuff for baby showers.

Georgia Scallops

I came up with this recipe a few weeks back and have made it three times now.


Sauce:
1/2 stick butter
1 T crushed garlic
2–3 shallots
6 small mushrooms, sliced
1 cup white wine
3 sprigs tarragon
1 pint cream
Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco Sauce
dried basil


Scallops:
12–20 scallops
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 lime


Sauté the garlic, shallots, and mushrooms in the melted butter. When the shallots are translucent, add the wine and tarragon (tear the leaves off the stems, but don't worry about chopping the leaves). Gradually add the cream over the next ten minutes, stirring regularly. Season as you go along.


The trick is the scallops. You must use a non-stick pan. I tried to do it with the smoothest of cast iron pans, and it was a disaster. Get the pan literally smoking hot, then add the olive oil. I was going to write out all the details of how to sauté them, but it would just be a pain for you and me. So here's a video that shows you how to do it perfectly:








The only difference is that I use the lime to sprinkle the scallops instead of a lemon.


Plate rice and place 3–5 scallops on top. Then spoon the sauce on top of the rice. Garnish with torn parsley and serve. Serves four.


——


I first made these scallops for my sister, after whom they're named. She's the one that recommended I serve this over rice. I'm grateful for all my siblings, and I love to cook for them. I appreciate these lines by Christina Rossetti:


"For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands."

Chicken Fricassee and Fecundity

Different countries have entirely different takes on this dish. There are even significant variations within Louisiana, but this is the one I go with.

1 whole, raw chicken
2 stalks celery
1/2 bell peper
1/2 onion
4 medium carrots
1 cup Sherry
1/2 cup parsley
salt
——
2 sprigs rosemary
2 T garlic
salt
——
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup olive oil
——
3 sprigs tarragon
more Sherry
Tony Chachere's
Tobasco

Part the chicken. Here's a great video for how to do that:



Keep the breasts, legs, and thighs, but put the rest of the chicken (including the entire carcass) in a large pot full of water. Add all the ingredients from the first list and cook it down until you have about 3/4 of a gallon of stock left.

While that's going on, cook the breasts, legs, and thighs in a hot pan of olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and salt. Don't worry about cooking the thighs all the way through.

Wash out the pan and make a roux with the oil and flour. Follow the same procedure as the gravy here. After it's done and cooled off a bit, ladle in some stock.

Now, strain all the solids out of the stock. Put back in whatever meat you can get off the carcass and wings. Stir in the roux and the pan-cooked chicken. After a few minutes, pull the legs and thighs out, cut it off the bone, and toss it back in the pot. Tear off the tarragon leaves and add them in. Then just season to perfection. You may want to use some cayenne pepper or a bit of crab boil to give it a little kick.

Serve over rice.

——

Chicken Fricassee is a pretty inexpensive but delicious dish. I remember when I was a little kid that for a while, my dad was between jobs pretty regularly. We didn't have a lot, but we still ate well. One night, we were supposed to feed these missionaries from our church, so my mom decided to make fricassee since it is plentiful and cheap. We were just planning on two guests, which would have made seven at the table.

But suddenly, all of Christendom converged on our house. Naturally, my mom was worried that there wasn't going to be enough food. For one, people were scarfing it down (to this day I have not had better fricassee than that night's). For another, we weren't anticipating nearly that many people. It was double what we'd planned.

But somehow, there was plenty of fricassee in the pot, and even a generous amount left over. Since then, I have always associated fricassee with generosity. It is good to give, even when we don't have much to give. If you do good, things have a way of working out.

Shrimp & Artichoke Soup

1/2 stick of butter
1/2 onion (diced)
2 t minced garlic
1lb boiled shrimp
1 pint half and half
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can artichokes
Tony Chachere's, Tobassco, crab boil, white wine, and parsley to taste

Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter. Add shrimp. Place in a soup pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 15 minutes on low heat. Do not boil. Serves 6.

How to Chop an Onion

This pretty much changed my life:

Wyatt Gravy

A holiday is just not a holiday without this gravy. Once, since I was born, have I not had this gravy for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It is unstoppably good. Here's how it works.

Lots of water

2 stalks of celery

2 carrots

1 bell pepper

1 onion

2 T minced garlic

chunks of animal

——

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup olive oil

Stock

First, start off by filling your largest pot up with water and placing it on high heat. Then toss in all the ingredients in the first list. If you're making a bird-based gravy, use the neck liver, heart and gizzard. Just toss the meat in the pot and let that cook for hours—until you have a little over a gallon left. Remove everything out of the stock, but toss in the meat from the neck. (If you're doing a beef gravy, boil some spare ribs in the pot and chop up the meat and leave it in the stock.)

Roux:

While the stock is boiling down, in a frying pan mix the flour and oil together and cook on medium heat. This will take a while and all your attention. Continuously stir the mixture. It will go through a few phases. At first it will be a blond color, then caramel, then chocolatey, and finally it will look like really dark chocolate. Take it off of the fire just before it gets to that dark chocolate stage since it will cook for a little while after it's removed from heat.

This takes hours to make, but it is so worth it.