Salmon Patty Creole Style

Shrimp Boat Photo Taken in 2004 In South Louisiana

Growing up in New Orleans in the 50’s and 60’s we cooked frugally. Canned salmon was one very economic dish. I never actually ate fresh salmon steaks until I was an adult and moved away from Louisiana. Fresh salmon was not a fish you bought at the corner market. There were seafood stores in every small community and you bought what the local fisherman caught locally such as red snapper, catfish, crab, and crawfish along with other local catches. Below is a version of what my Mom would have served on Friday night.

INGREDIENTS

In Food processor chop finely:
1/3 cup onion (1 small onion)
1/3 cup celery
3-4 tlb. parsley

Beat In medium bowl:
1 egg

Mix in well:
¼ tsp. salt or to your taste
¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper or to your taste
½ cup Progresso flavored dry bread crumbs

Fold in very gently:
1 can pink salmon, drained and drained

Coating in Three Different Bowls:
1 egg
½ cup flour
1-cup bread crumbs

Fry in large pan in about:
¼ inch veg. oil
========================================================

DIRECTIONS

In the blender chop the onions, celery, and parsley till fine. In a medium bowl, beat eggs enough to blend yolks and whites. Fold in the breadcrumbs, onion, celery, and parsley mixture then season with salt and pepper. Stir all together until well mixed.

Dump the can of drained salmon on top of the onion mixture. With spatula carefully flake the salmon. Fold the chunks with the onion mixture. The secret is to mix as little as possible while incorporating the savory ingredients.

Shape into 5 patties, just about 1 cup each. For a really great crust put in three separate glass pie pans:
first pan, about 1/2 cup flour,
second pan, 1 beaten egg, and
third pan, about 1 cup breadcrumbs.

Form a patty and gently place in flour, flip to other side. Gently place in shallow plate with beaten egg. Then gently place in breadcrumbs. Make an even coating of each ingredient.

Place the coated patties in a large plate lined with wax paper placed well apart. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Use a large skillet to fry slowly over medium heat for at least 6 to 8 minutes on each side. Try to flip only once: use two turners. Cook till golden brown, and be sure they are heated through and through. Drain on paper towels. Serve very hot.

We like these patties served with asparagus spears covered & baked in a little olive oil. Serve along with some buttered rice.

Creole Shrimp and Artichoke Heart Soup

For many years Kirk Evans, my first cousin, was an executive chef at a restrauant on the North Shore of Lake Pontrachain about an hour drive from New Orleans. He is an amazing Creole cook and always made great dishes for the holidays when we went to visit with our family. One of my favorites was a creamed seafood and artichoke heart soup, delicate but flavorful. I have made a rendition of that in this recipe. It does not really approach his because he made up a special spice concoction that I do not know the ingredients for and he put in lots of fresh seafood including shrimp and lump crab meat. We use Chef Paul Prudhomme’s special seafood seasoning but it does not come close in flavor to Kirk’s special recipe and I buy frozen shrimp. Just not the same. I add creamed corn because my daughter loves it in soup and mild green chilies because Lew loves them. Keep the family happy.

Making the Stock
When Lew makes mashed potatoes he always saves the water from cooking them, cools it and puts in a plastic bag in the freezer for soups. I used about 2 cups of this potato stock. Lew peeled the shrimp then boiled these shells then strained that broth and added to the stock, it make about 1 and ½ cups. Then we added 2 cups chicken stock, 6 cups of water, and 2 cups of white sauce. To make the white sauce melt 5 tablespoons of butter and stir in 5 tablespoons of plain flour mixed together in a light reaux. When creamy blend with 2 cups of milk with a whisk.

The total liquid for the soup comes to about 12 cups. Use more or less of chicken stock, milk, and shrimp stock. The less water the more flavorful the stock will be...and the higher in calories.


Assembling the Soup, it is not as complicated as it sounds:

Put all the different types of stock in a 2 quart soup with out the cream sauce (do not add the cream sauce; keep in reserve to add after the vegetables and noodles are almost done.

Add to the clear stock the seasoning, potatoes, and noodles:
• 2 small potatoes chopped in small squares
• 2 cups of small egg noodles
• 2 to 3 Tlb. of Chef Paul Prudhomme’s seasoning for Salmon or other sea food (Do not use Ole Bay, that is too strong)
• 1 tsp. salt (some of other ingredients have salt in them so taste as you add ingredients
• 1 tsp. black or white pepper (I like to see the black pepper in my soup)
• 1 tsp. parsley flakes (fresh is better if you have it)
• 1 tsp. garlic dried or 3 fresh garlic buds chopped fine
• 2 bay leaves (what gives it the New Orleans taste)
• 1 small can chopped green chilies

You want to keep the soup delicate and not overwhelmed with spices.
Cook the potatoes and the noodles till they are el dente or almost done.

Add the 2 cups of white sauce and whisk into the clear stock with the potatoes and noodles.

After is looks good and creamy add the other vegetables:

• 1 or 2 cans artichoke hearts coarsely chopped (depending on how much you like artichokes)
• 8 small onions that come in a jar chopped coarsely (they are nice and mild and no crying)
• 1 can cream corn

When to add the shrimp:
When the whole mixture comes to a simmer add a minimum of 24 ounces of fresh or frozen shrimp. If using unpeeled shrimp, place the shells in water just to cover and boil shells for about 10 minutes. Strain the liquid into the soup broth. This really improves the flavor. The soup is even better if you add lump crab or claw met. Do not let the soup come to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes until the shrimp are done. Should only take about 10 to 15 minutes. Taste shrimp for doneness and seasoning adding more salt or pepper as needed.

This should make about ½ gallon, an ample amount for 8 servings. Serve with French bread sliced at an angle lathered with olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. We put the Tabasco on the table so guests can add the amount they are comfortable. Lew and I like a lot but be kind to your friends who may not have grown up with that stuff.

New Orleans Bread Pudding

My sister, Eloise Peris, has been making this bread pudding since I was a kid. She spent her young years in Arkansas and moved with the family to New Orleans as an adolescent. She became a great Creole cook. I have many recipes that I will share on this blog that had their origins with her and my mom. I live in Nashville and always ask Sis to make this when I go to visit her. It has a different taste when it is made with the “real New Orleans French bread.”

If you have never had New Orleans French bread there is really no way to describe how light, airy, and crunchy it is. The drawback to this bread is that it is chewable only one day and then it is stale…it turns as hard as concrete. Bread pudding was a way Europeans used their stale bread. The French brought this tradition to New Orleans where it is a staple of restaurants and homes. I love French bread either way, fresh with butter or made into a “Po Boy” sandwich or stale as bread pudding the next day.

Once I made bread pudding for my Dad without raisins. He looked at his pudding and said, “ Where are the raisins? Why have bread pudding if there are no raisins?”
I think he is right. In this recipe the pecans are optional but not the raisins. I have come to prefer white raisins because they are a little tart and have a softer texture.

What is this kitchen tool?

If you grew up in New Orleans you probably own one of these. It is to open Carnation evaporated milk cans.

We used evaporated milk every day, in our coffer, in baking, or in our cereal. Now, even in New Orleans, I don’t think it is as popular as for my generation. When the paycheck was lean we thinned it with water to make it stretch farther. It gives this recipe a richness and taste that just using whole milk or half and half does not provide.

Ingredients

8 cups of light French bread—better if not the heavy Italian type bread
1 and ¼ cup sugar
2 of the 5 oz. cans Carnations evaporated milk or one 8 oz. can
2 cups milk--whole or 2% (For a really rich pudding) using part half and half
1 tsp. vanilla
3 medium eggs or 4 small eggs
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup white or dark raisins
½ nuts optional

Directions

Spray the glass pan with Pam or coat with butter. Break up the bread into the pan and pour over the milk. Let stand about 20 minutes. Mash with you fingers.

Be sure the raisins are spread through out the pudding.Mix up all the other ingredients and pour over bread and milk. Mix well with a spoon. Use a 13 x 9 x 2 inch glass pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or longer. Cook till lightly brown on top and puffy with no damp looking areas. It will fall like a soufflé as it cools. It is fluffy and wonderful when hot and still tasty when cold but has a completely different texture. Store in the refrigerator. Lewis likes it with ice cream but I like it plain.

Above, my sister Eloise on one of my visits; we love to go to the antique shops in Covington, Louisiana.

Other bread pudding recipe from New Orleans

French Quarter Website History of Bread Pudding in New Orleans
http://frenchquarter.com/dining/BreadPudding.php

Homemade Granola with Almonds and Hazelnut Oil

For several years Lew and I have had the same person cut our hair, Heidi. Well, she cut mine when I had hair. The chemotherapy for the last 7 months did away with my hair but a recent change in my medication has caused my hair to start growing back. Kind of an interesting experience to have your hair come and go. Now it is fuzzy, wirery, and a color that is not gray nor red but “clear.” I digress...

Heidi gave us a taste of her homemade granola last year. We went wild for it and now every few months Lew makes a batch. The neighbors line up for some of it because the aroma of the Hazelnut oil fills the air all around the house. It is like a smoke signal going up that the granola is in the oven.

Lew never makes the granola the same way twice. He is a "pinch of this and a pinch of that" type of cook. Some versions have enough oil so that the oatmeal mixture sticks together so you can cut it into bars. Below is the version he made today.

Honey and Hazelnut Oil Granola

Put major dry ingredients in a large glass or metal mixing bowl:
4 cups oats
¾ cups shredded coconut
¾ c ups slivered almonds

In a small bowl put in other dry and wet ingredients:
2/3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup Hazelnut oil (this is the secrete ingredient!)
¼ cup honey



Directions:
Toss the oats, coconut, and almonds in a large bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Drizzle these wet ingredients over the oat mixture.

Spray a large jellyroll pan with Pam or grease with oil. Spread the oat mixture out in the large pan with sides. Bake at 325 degrees for 3 minutes. If you cook slower in a lower degree oven it will get cruncher and a warmer color.

Southern Beans Competition: Two Winners are Kidney Beans And Pinto Beans

Growing up in New Orleans we usually had red beans and rice on Monday night. This kidney bean dish is my idea of the ultimate comfort food. A steaming bowl was served in restaurants for Monday lunch, inexpensive and always good. A fast dish ladled up from a big pot brewing on the back burner in the restaurant kitchens. New Orleans, then and now, is a place to buy many verities of sausage. You could put so many different kinds of meat in the kettle from savory to mild taste… Cajun to country, with or without ham bones, and all delicious. Ham bones or ham hocks are my pork of choice. There is something that happens to pork when it stews in the spiced bean broth giving it a special flavor, color, and texture.

Type into Google the phrase, “New Orleans red beans and rice Monday night tradition” and you will get hundreds of hits. A lot of transplants like me reminiscing about their youth. A blog called Brood was one I really liked--A lovely story about ways to enjoy traditional New Orleans Red Beans and Rice. http://seaswell.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/red-beans-and-rice-sunday-dinner-6/

After living in Tennessee for 35 years I more often cook pinto beans than the red kidney beans of my childhood. My husband grew up with pinto beans so that sways my choice for cooking. Pinto beans are grown on farms all over this area. In the summer you can buy them fresh-shelled at the Farmers market and in some local grocery stores. During harvest months the Nashville Farmer’s Market have people in booths hand-shelling beans and one booth has a cool motorized mechanical bean-sheller. Pilled up in mounds right next to this noisy apparatus are stacks of smoked pork packages. Pretty good marketing strategy.

I am trying to get used to pinto beans. I have been working on this problem for three decades. Sometime I just have to use kidney beans when the nostalgia over takes my mental condition. New Orleans is to kidney beans like snow is to Alaskan native people. In south Louisiana you can buy beans of different sizes, colors, and shapes. Provides a difficult decision making a good dilemma for your grocery-shopping experience in the bean isle. We do not have this grocery-shopping problem in Nashville; there are not so many choices.

Note: A web link to one of many of the articles about native Alaskans words for snow: Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, and Fairbanks.
http://www.princeton.edu/~browning/snow.html

Southern Pinto Beans with Ham Bone

INGREDIENTS

Beans and Liquid

2 pounds dry Pinto Beans or use Red Kidney Beans (See Blog Article about difficult choice in beans).
1/2 teaspoon dried beef broth flavoring
1 pound of any of the following pork: county ham or sugar cured ham bone with meet chunks or ham hocks
8 cups water (should make very juicy beans)
2 cups chicken broth

Seasoning Spices

2 cups onions, chopped
2 cups celery, chopped corsley
1 tsp. parsley
½ to 1 tsp. garlic depending on your taste
½ tsp. Cajun seasoning: Tony Hachure’s, Zatarains or other of your favorite
½ tsp. pepper, taste broth as you go through the cooking process.
4 to 8 dashes of Tabasco or other Louisiana hot sauce depending on your taste. You could also use cayenne pepper or crushed red peppers.
½ tsp initially of salt, taste broth as you go through the cooking process. Depending on the salt content of the pork and the chicken broth you may need to add salt later.
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
2 bay leaves (remove after cooking, very bitter if you bite into one in your bowl)



DIRECTIONS FOR PREPARING AND COOKING BEANS

Prepare the Beans

Search the beans for rocks, yes rocks that got in beans during picking and processing.
Discard the dark and too shriveled beans.
Wash the beans in cold water and drain.
Soak beans--2 different methods to choose from:
a) Soak overnight in cold water. In the morning drain any remaining water.
b) Put in the pot you will cook in and fill water at least 2 inches about the beans; bring to a simmer. Put on lid and let sit for an hour and ½. The beans will absorb most of the water. Drain off remaining water.

Cooking the Beans

Put all the ingredients in a very large pot. Place lid on pot and cook for at least 3 hours. Start checking the broth for taste after the first hour. Taste the beans for doneness after 2 hours. Once the beans are soft use a potato masher to mash up some of the beans. Then stir and stir to make the broth thicken. This is the secrete to really great beans. I like mine really juicy with broth a lovely rich color.


Serve over rice with homemade Chow Chow (pickle relish) and Cornbread prepared in a cast iron skillet. Later I will post our favorite recipes for these three complimentary dishes.

Neighborhood Kitchen Fun Taken to New Orleans

Photo take in the late 1970's

Our neighbors for over 15 years were two couples we cooked and celebrated with, Lullabell & Clay Austin plus Sissy & Charlie Vantrese. As I am typing in our favorite recipes I realize a lot of them came from Lullabell and Sissy. The picture here was taken in New Orleans at my Mom's house when both couples came for a visit. Glowing up in New Orleans every Friday night was seafood night. A favorite seafood was boiled crayfish. As with most of the other "boils" it included corn on the cob and potatoes all in the same pot with the seafood including onions and a spicy flavoring mixture.

Lullabell recently passed away with just 3 months shy of her 100th birthday.

Black Berry and Peach Cobbler Lullabell Austin Recipe

We enjoyed Peach Cobbler on Easter Sunday when Kelly, Paul, & Milo came for lunch.

July 4th was always Blackberry Cobbler Day
Usually the blackberries come into season at the Nashville Farmers Market around July 4th. Lullabell would always make us cobbler for our neighborhood celebration. The cake like topping is a version of the Peach Cobbler recipe posted earlier.

For the peach version we use a large can of peaches with juice, mixed with a can of peach pie filling, and 1/2 cup water.

Fruit for the Cobbler

Cook fruit with sugar for a few minutes to make juice:
2 cups blackberries or other fruit
1-cup sugar

Put the butter in the pan and place in the microwave to melt.
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

Pan to use: for the blackberry pie with a small amount of fruit use a 10 x10 glass pan--for the peach version with a lot of fruit use an 11 x 14 inch pan. Put the cobbler pan in a bigger shallow baking pan to catch any drips. This will be much easier to clean than drips that get baked on the oven floor.

Batter for Cobbler

Mix well the following for the batter:
1-cup plain flower
2 tsp. baking powder
¾ cups sugar
¾ cups milk
Pinch salt

Above Kelly and Lewis demonstrate how to assemble the cobbler
Photo April 12, 2009 Easter Sunday

Pour the batter into the melted butter in the pan. Do not stir. Pour the cooked berry mixture into the middle of the batter. The fruit will spread out under the batter forming a cake like topping.

Fresh Apple Cake

This recipe was in my Computer Binder of Recipes that I typed into my green-screened computer over 30 years ago. I do not know where it came from but it was one of Kelly’s favorites growing up. It is kind of a cross between an apple pie and a cake.

Mix Together in large bowl and let stand 10 minutes:
2 medium apples chopped coarsely
1-cup sugar

This is very important because the apples make juice than helps make the right texture of the cake:

Sift together the following and add to the apple mixture:
½ cup cake flower
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice

Beat an egg with the melted butter and fold into the apple mixture:
1 egg
½ cup melted butter

Fold in raisins and nuts if you like them:
½ cup raisins—we like golden raisins
½ cup nuts

Left: mixture spread in pan ready for baking.
Right: finished baking with 2 helpings already scooped out!

Fold ingredients together just till blended. Pour into an 8 x 8 inch square greased pan. I like to melt the stick of butter in my glass cake pan then pour it into the egg. Bake in a moderate 350-degree oven till done and golden brown—about 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Spoon into a bowl hot with ice cream or whipped cream.

Cottage Pudding or One Layer Cake

One of my top five favorite cookbook for everyday cooking is the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I have used the 11th Edition 1985 for the last 25 years. I have bought many later additions for wedding shower gifts. This recipe is adapted from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. It is a really fast and simple cake and tastes really delicious. Light and fluffy. I love it hot with a little butter.

Sift together Dry Ingredients—do this twice to be sure the baking powder is mixed evenly:
1-½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup sugar

Mix Wet Ingredients with a wire whisk:
1 egg well beaten
½ cup milk (Of course, I use ¼ cup Carnations Evaporated Milk and ¼ cup milk)
½ cup butter softened in the microwave
½ tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until all the flour mixture is incorporated and fluffy. Bake cake in an 8 x 8 pan in a 400-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. You can also use cupcake papers in a muffin pan.

From the square pan cut into squares, cut into two layers, and stack with strawberries or peaches for shortcake. Top with whipped cream.

You can also use the Strawberry Syrup recipe from the Traditional Breakfast.

Fruit Cobbler Topping Quick and Easy

Church is a great place to exchange recipes. The following one dates back to the mid-80's and one we have given to so many others. Now with technology it will be passed along again. Double click on the recipe to make the print larger.

It has been Judy's custom over the years to hand write out recipes and embellish with a little art work, then file them in binders. This blog will be a place to post a lot of these since the binders are stuffed full. Enjoy a bowl of cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Meat Loaf: A Tennessee Art Form

Meatloaf making is an art form in the South…a staple of the meat and three diners and a favorite at our house. The loaf is wonderful when just out of the oven with vegetables and sides like mashed potatoes or Mac and cheese. But it is even more magnificent the next day on a sandwich with mustard and dill pickles. Oh, yum…mmm.

Lewis' Meatloaf
April 5, 2009

Preheat oven to 350 and start warming a large skillet. Rough cut one onion and one seeded bell pepper then run them through the Cuisinart to get a medium chop. Put two tablespoons of olive oil in the hot skillet and cook the chopped onion and green pepper until tender without color.

During the pepper and onion cooking, open 1.5 pounds of ground beef and a half-pound of high fat breakfast sausage. I have found that Tuckers is the best: but they put parchment in the roll to "help" separate the patties. It's a pain in the butt and must be removed.

When the peppers are soft, combine the meat with three slices of white bread crumbs soaked in a half cup of milk, with two fresh eggs and a little ketchup along with a tablespoon of beef bullion granules (soup starter). Add a little salt, fresh ground black pepper and 1/4 cup of steak sauce. Hint: the Bullion has lots of salt and so does the sausage, so be careful if you add extra.

Combine everything and form into a loaf and dump into a large Pyrex dish at least one inch deep sprayed with Pam cooking oil. There will be water in the beef and fat in the sausage that is the reason to cook in a deep dish. Cook at 350 for an hour and check the temp with a thermometer. It should be about 150 degrees after an hour.

But what about the Creole sauce on top? My favorite is a half-cup of catsup, a half-cup light brown sugar and a quarter cup of "La Costena" medium salsa. (It's in the Mexican section of your local market)

The meatloaf I am cooking today is 2 lbs. hamburger, 1 lb. sausage and the "Creole Sauce" is V8, Prego Italian sauce and 1/2 cub light brown sugar.

Let the meatloaf "rest" and soak up the juices that baked out in the oven. After the first meal from the loaf, lift out of the grease into a plastic container. Now for the good part, have what is left for those sandwiches tomorrow.

Ginger for the Sweet Tooth: Ginger Bread

View from the best East Tennessee front porch: a little piece of Mountain Heaven
Near Elizabethton in the foot hills of the Appalachians


Fall in East Tennessee with friends is a time to enjoy each others company and share recipes. On The Tolley farm you will get some of the best food on the planet.

Sam Trolley’s Ginger Bread
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup molasses
¼ cup fat free egg substitute or 2 eggs
3 tlb. Canola oil
1 and ½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
Combine first four ingredients, stir and mix well.
Combine all the dry ingredients, stir and add to the wet ingredients.
Pour into an 8 x 8 non-stick pan.
Bake for 25 to 35 minutes at 350-degree oven.
Cool on rack.

Sauce for Gingerbread
2/3 cups sugar
½ tsp. soda
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup margarine
2 tlb. Corn sunup
Boil for 5 minutes and pour over the gingerbread.

April Herbs Important for Food Flavor

Our Small Herb Garden is at the edge of our patio and few steps form our kitchen,


We have perennial herbs that emerge each spring and then we buy annual herbs that are our favorites like basil. Pictured below is the bounty from the Perennial Plant Society of Middle Tennessee sale in April of 2004.
This year the event was held yesterday April 4 at the TN State Fairgrounds. I was not able to go this year and will have to buy my herbs at places easier to get to in my scooter.


(Sale 2004) Ellen pictured with a crate of perennials and herbs and Kelly on the right at the Farmer's market in 2004 thinking about where to plant this treasure in her garden. We have had so much fun going together to different places for herbs and getting into the spring planting grove. The photos below were taken on April 6, 2009 and are the fledgling herbs that by mid summer will be knee or waist high.

Above Left Yarrow and Right Oregano

Sage on left and right the Rosemary that was our small Christmas tree from 2 years ago.