Boudin Chimichangas and Crawfish Cream Sauce

Hey y'all, bringing you another original recipe, straight from our crazy brains. This was a collaborative effort between myself, The Hubs, and Primo.

Last summer while down visiting in Louisiana, we saw a sign that Bourgeois Meat Market was selling boudin burritos.  

If you're not familiar with the awesomeness that is boudin:  it's simmered pork, mixed with seasoning, vegetables, and rice (generally about a 50/50 mix, though Bourgeois makes theirs with less rice, about 30%), inside a natural casing.  It's often served grilled, or smoked and cut into bite-size links, or the casing is completely removed and folks will roll it up into little balls, bread it, and then deep fry. Piece of Meat restaurant in New Orleans makes a boudin egg roll that is INSANE.

So a boudin burrito makes sense, I mean: rice and meat inside a tortilla?  A logical lateral train of thought.

But we wanted to go one better.  Because you know what's better than a burrito?  A deep-fried burrito...aka a chimichanga.  Top that with a homemade crawfish cream sauce, and now THAT....that would be something.  I pitched the idea to Primo who responded "10/10 would eat."

So before we booked it back to Missouri, we hit up NuNu's market for some of their amazing boudin, and a packet of crawfish tails. Along with some other essentials.

Now...when it came time to actually make this masterpiece...I didn't actually feel like deep-frying anything. (Especially after having a particularly bad frying incident the week before which scorched my arm and filled our house with smoke.)  So instead, I decided to feaux-fry them (aka oven bake).

INGREDIENTS: (makes 6)
1 lb boudin (fresh or thawed), casings removed
6 "soft taco" size flour tortillas
Oil or butter 
green onions (for garnish)

Sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp dried onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 tsp Cajun Seasoning (we use Fontenot & A Half which is extra spicy, so I just use 1 teaspoon)
12 oz crawfish tails
1.5 cups half & half or heavy cream
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese - OPTIONAL (note: most crawfish cream sauces don't call for this, but it wasn't really thickening up for us, so I added the cheese. I'd just recommend having it on-hand in case your sauce misbehaves as well.)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 400F.
Place about 1/2 cup of loose boudin in the center of a tortilla,

 ...fold in the sides, and then wrap/fold the long edges, and repeat six times.

Spray a 9x11 pan with olive oil, and then place the wraps inside, and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat, and add the onions and garlic.  Then add the flour and stir well.  Next, add the crawfish tails and cajun seasoning and let cook for 2 minutes.

Add the cream & Worcestershire sauce, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer, stirring often.  Let reduce for 20-30 minutes or until thickened/reduced by about half.  If sauce doesn't reduce/thicken to your liking, add the cheese.  

Let the sauce cool for about 5-10 minutes to help thicken, and then pour over the chimichanga and top with sliced green onions.  Enjoy!

What I've Been Eating Lately

As I mentioned last week, I've been traveling fair bit for work and such.  It's hard when it's for work and I have to be away from The Hubs & Lil' Man, but I make up for it by trying new foods and new brews.

But first...EASTER!  Yes...that feels so long ago, but it really wasn't.  We did our whirlwind tour of the Lake to visit the grand-folks, and my mom made us her famous chicken & noodles.  Which always makes my belly happy.

THEN--the Hubs & I went on a KID-FREE VAYCAY, to beautiful PUNTA CANA! (*read in your best Rod Roddy "Price is Right" mental voice*)

Our resort was super nice, and we had LOTS of delicious food. I can't even start to share it all here, but here's a few highlights:

Breakfast: croissant, pastry, ham & pineapple, sausage, bacon wrapped sweet potato, churro, ham fritter, egg crepe, fruit, & watermelon juice

Another breakfast, with a fresh-made omelette from the beach-side omelette station.  Also, churro with chocolate sauce and chocolate filled croissant, because I love carbs. Note: I ate this exact same meal at least 3 times.

Beach-side lunch: roasted chicken, fried fish, potatoes, pineapple, cucumber, and cabbage slaw.

Note: There were also many, many drinks.

Then, we had an authentic shrimp & crawfish boil at my office, to celebrate one of my coworker's 20th anniversary with the company.  Shrimp & Bayou Classics supplied all the seafood, direct from Louisiana, and boiled up everything onsite.  It was AMAZING. (Note: brussel sprouts in a boil = GENIUS.)

I even brought The Hubs a go-cup.

Then, I had to head out of town for work for a week.  We stayed at a lovely little hotel in Farmington, MO called The Tradition Inn.  Anything it lacks in frills and fanciness, it makes up for in the attached restaurant, Spokes Pub & Grill, which sports about 40 craft brew taps.  The property is owned by the great folks who also own Crown Valley Brewing, and so you can find nearly all of the Crown beers and ciders on tap, along with a wide and ever-changing variety of local craft brews (Farmington is just south of St. Louis, so no shortage of great breweries.) 

Their food is also excellent, even down to the pepper bacon BLT.

For Mother's Day, the Hubs made me "Cloud Eggs";

How gorgeous is that?  The texture is a little weird, but still tastes like a normal over easy egg.

Then, I had to hop a flight down to Louisiana for work.  Yes...on Mother's Day.  So I treated myself in the DFW Airport to some Red Mango:

And picked up some boudin balls from Hebert's Specialty Meats:

In New Orleans, I hit up Frey's Smoke Meats with my cousin Primeaux. The meal was awesome, but a ton of food, so I had some leftover brisket.  So the next day for lunch, I swung by Martin Wine Cellar to pick up a few things to accompany it...

(Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog goat cheese, rosemary crackers, and cornichons)

...and then went down to the Pontchartrain Lakefront to enjoy a bit of sun before hopping on the plane back home.

And of course, as discussed last week, I've been eating a lot of breakfast, and sharing them on Instagram.  Not all of those breakfasts are interesting, but I try to remember to capture them all.  But the ones I didn't?  Probably look a lot like this. :)

(cereal, yogurt, & soft boiled egg.)

Boudin King Cake - Happy Mardi Gras!

As you know, I get to travel to Louisiana about 4 times a year for work.  And I generally try to schedule the first quarter visit so that it overlaps with my favorite Mardi Gras parade--the Scott parade, which rolls past my friends Bonnie & Paul's house, so they always host a big shindig and it's a great chance to see all my old friends.  

But this year, I couldn't make it happen. I had to schedule my trip much earlier in the year, and missed Mardi Gras season altogether.  And was very, very sad.

So sad, that I convinced my coworkers to let me host a Mardi Gras potluck at our office, on Mardi Gras day!  (This really didn't take a lot of convincing.  My coworkers are generally down for anything that involves food and chit-chatting over lunch.)

My colleagues were up for the challenge. Our CFO made gumbo, the compliance team brought red beans & rice, our social media manager (whose wife's family is from Abbeville, LA) made crawfish macque choux...one of my teammates made shrimp cornbread, and a senior scientist (who also lived in Lafayette for a spell) helped me put together a shrimp boil, with jumbo skrimps fresh from the Gulf. We even had bread pudding with bourbon sauce.  Everything was AMAZING.

And me...well, I was so inspired by all the tales I heard of Twin's Bakery making boudin king cakes, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Now, if I ever make this again, I think I'll use the sheets of crescent roll dough from the refrigerated section.  I tried using pre-made pizza dough with this version and it ended up a little doughy.  But overall, it tasted amazing.  And it was relatively easy to put together!

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 12 servings)

2 rolls of pre-made dough sheets (again, I'd recommend trying crescent roll dough)

1 package boudin (I was able to find Richard's at my local market, which hails from Church Point, LA) - 2 links, casings removed

1 egg

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (you could opt for pork cracklins instead, like the Twin's original)

1/4 cup pecan halves, toasted in butter for about 5 minutes

2-3 Tbsp Steen's cane syrup

DIRECTIONS:

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, then roll out one of the dough sheets. Place one of the links down the center of the sheet, and then using a knife, cut slits along the sides, and then braid the slits together (over/under).  Leave the first two and last two unbraided, so you can use these to "tie" the two sides together.

Now roll out the second sheet and do the same, with the link curving toward the first braid.  Once braided, curve the two sides together until they meet (you may have to break the boudin link) and then use the unbraided ends to combine the two sides.  Mine ended up a little wonky where the two halves met, but it still baked up just fine.

Heat the oven to 350, and then bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and drizzle with the Steen's syrup, and sprinkle on the bacon and pecans.  Cut into about 12 pieces and serve while warm!

So while I didn't get to spend Mardi Gras season with my LA peeps, we still got to have a great time, eat some great food, listen to some good Louisiana music...

...and enjoy each other's company.  Because Missouri Yanks can pass a good time at work, even while the entire state of Louisiana enjoys their day off. :)  Happy Mardi Gras y'all!  

Top Posts of 2016

Hey gang--thanks for hanging in there with me for another year on the interwebz. It's been a weird one, definitely a year of transition, both for me and for this blog.  This is fairly evident from the posts from 2016 that were the most popular.  To those of you who read this, thank you.  Without you, I'm just a girl chucking her thoughts and recipes into the inter-ether. Which, I mean, I'm still going to do, regardless--this is my creative outlet after all.  But getting feedback from you makes it a whole lot more interactive and fun.

So, in no particular order, here's the top posts from 2016!

Boudin-Crusted Jumbo Shrimp

Looking Back: Journal Entries from a New Mom

Grits & Grillades

Working Mom Edition, Part 2

Fifth Wedding Anniversary Gift: DIY Wooden Puzzle

Why I'm Okay With Being An "Old Mom"

Thirsty Thursday Cocktail: Jumping The Shark

Pumping at Work

World's Best Grilled Cheese

Beach Vacationing With a Baby

Thirsty Thursday: The Riff Off (Toup's Meatery, New Orleans)

Last week I made my quarterly jaunt down to Louisiana for work.  After wrapping up all my site visits, I was rewarded by sharing an amazing dinner with my cousin Primo at Toup's Meatery.  This place has been on our radar for a while, and we finally got around to visiting.

(Photo Source: nola.eater.com)

Owner Isaac Toups may be familiar to you if you're a fan of Top Chef--he finished third on the 13th season of the show. But Toups Meatery has been around since 2012.  As opposed to Blue Oak BBQ, which sits catty-corner across Carrolton Ave and hosts a more laid-back vibe, the Meatery is more upscale, with low lights, small packed tables, plenty of ambient chatter, featuring a few local beers, double-digit cocktails and entrees ranging from $20-40.  Primo & I decided to start with the smoked trout deviled eggs, and then share the Meatery Board: $25 for a selection of their available house-made meats, pickled veg, and condiments.

Smoked Trout Deviled Eggs, topped with cracklin, pickled jalapeno, and trout roe.

Note: I swiped this photo from their Instagram--the low lighting inside didn't do much for my photos.

The Meatery Board didn't disappoint.  We enjoyed tasting our way through the variety of offerings, particularly the pickled wax beans, grilled jalapeno, housemade dill pickles, ginger sesame sausage, boudin ball, chicken-pork terrine with brandied cherries, and candied pork belly...

See...low lighting makes for crappy pics, and I can't bring myself to use a flash or bring in extra lighting.

...and OHHHH the rillons...I mean...pork belly is amazing in pretty well any form.

(Delicious photo borrowed from Tabelog.)

To accompany this, I selected the "Riff Off" from their cocktail menu.  While the name of course appealed my love of Pitch Perfect, the server's description of its contents sealed the deal.

Ingredients:

Plum Liqueur

Chicory Bitters

French Sparkling Cider

It's like fall, in a glass.  And it paired beautifully with the ginger/sesame sausage.

All in all, if you're a fan of tasty cocktails and housemade meats, this is a must for your "to dine" list. I do recommend getting a reservation, since even the bar was packed when we visited (8pm on a Friday).

Boudin Crusted Jumbo Shrimp

So, this idea was inspired by St. Patrick's Day and a delicious sounding recipe from Raised on a Roux.  The St. Paddy's idea was a boudin Scotch egg, while Genet made an andouille crusted shrimp.  Both sounded delicious, but think I started wondering--has anyone ever made a boudin-crusted shrimp?  After a quick Google search, it appears the answer is "no"...

UNTIL NOW.

Heads up--this is a messy recipe, and the boudin can get a bit crumbly, so prepare to get a little frustrated.  Also--PREP NOTE: You need to chill the crusted shrimp in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour to help the boudin crust set up, otherwise it will start to crumble when you're pan-frying.  But the end result is SO tasty.

INGREDIENTS: (makes 8 jumbo shrimp)
2 links boudin, removed from the casing (we use Zummo's with is the most common one found outside of Louisiana)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup panko
8 jumbo shrimp, peeled, tails on
olive or coconut oil for frying (add as needed)

DIRECTIONS:
Combine the boudin and egg in a small dish and mix well. In a separate dish, combine the breadcrumbs and panko. 
Then grab a handful of the boudin mixture, place a shrimp in the middle, and then squeeze your palm lightly to wrap the boudin around it.  Add more if needed to fully cover the shrimp.  If too loose, squeeze some of the egg out.  Then gently set into the breading mixture, shake the bowl to coat the sides, and then use a spoon to make sure the shrimp is fully coated.  Then gently place onto a sheet pan.  Repeat until you run out of shrimp or boudin.  Then place the coated shrimp in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour to help them set up.

Meanwhile, heat up a small skillet and add your cooking oil of choice. (I like to use a small skillet because it takes less oil to get about a 1/4 inch of oil in the pan.  You can cook up to 4 shrimp at a time with the small skillet.

Once the oil is hot, place up to 4 shrimp in the pan (again, gently--the boudin always seems to want to crumble because the rice is only par-cooked) and fry until golden, then flip.  Once golden on both sides, you can brown on the "back" side of the shrimp.  Then remove from the pan and place on paper towels to remove the excess oil.
These would make a great appetizer, or you can have them for dinner like we did.  Serve with "shrimp boil style veggies"--we did fresh Missouri sweet corn and red potatoes, but you could do mushrooms, onions, etc.