Thirsty Thursday (Primo Edition): No Throw Solo

Happy Valentine's Day!  You might be expecting a holiday-themed cocktail...and you'd be right...just not THAT holiday.

My cousin Primo messaged me over the weekend with this new cocktail recipe, so I had to get it posted for this week!  Since Mardi Gras season is in full swing down in in New Orleans, he created this as his cocktail special to run through Fat Tuesday (March 5 this year).  If you're going to be in NOLA for Carnival season, head over to La Bayou, say hey to Primo, and order one up...or you can make it at home.

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 oz Scotch (Primo uses Grant's Family Reserve)
1 oz dry Riesling (Kung Fu Girl)
1 oz pineapple juice
1/2 oz Thyme simple syrup (recipe below)

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice.  Serve over ice and garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme (and charred pineapple, if you have the means).

P.S. Don't forget to follow Primo's newest culinary adventure, Snaxidermy, a pop-up restaurant serving up killer creations like Texas brisket tacos and smoked rib sliders.

Thyme Simple Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
handful of fresh thyme

Combine sugar, water, and thyme sprigs in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and cool to room temperature(~30 minutes). Strain to remove thyme sprigs. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Guest Post: Primo’s Red Beans & Fries

Time for another guest post from my cousin Primo, straight from his pad in NOLA!  Seemed perfect to post on a Monday!

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It’s Monday and that means it’s red beans & rice day down here in New Orleans. In the 19th century, Monday was laundry day in the city. Without washing machines, the women of the house had to wash all of the household’s laundry painstakingly by hand, leaving little time for cooking.  So dinner had to be something that could cook without being fussed over.
Enter the red kidney bean, brought to New Orleans by those fleeing Haiti’s slave rebellion. The beans needed to soak overnight before cooking. After soaking and draining them, housewives simply set the beans on the stove with fresh water to boil until tender, and then added a delicious helping of sautéed “trinity”– the Cajun/Creole cooking base of diced onions, celery and bell peppers.  This would typically also be combined with leftover ham from Sunday’s big family dinner.
While I love red beans and rice, I wanted to mix things up a bit and put a small twist on a local staple. While Monday is ‘red beans and rice day’ down here, it’s Monday Night Football for  the rest of the country. Football and finger foods go together like, well, red beans and rice. Thus, red beans and FRIES were born.

(FeauxNote: if you’ve made up a big batch of red beans & have some leftovers, this is a great way to use them up.)
INGREDIENTS:
Frozen waffle fries (or if you have a mandoline, you can make your own)
1 can Blue Runner red beans
1 lb smoked sausage (traditionally andouille or tasso, but use what you like best)
1/2 – 1 cup of trinity (diced bell pepper, celery & onion)
Green onions for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 400F and when at temp, throw in your French fries (waffle fries hold up best for our purposes; Alexia makes some seasoned waffle fries, and Great Value sells a generic for about $2.00).

While I have the luxury of a modern washing machine, I decided to cheat and use a can of Blue Runner creamed red beans for experimentation purposes (and because I felt lazy). (FeauxNote: I can get Blue Runner at Wal-Mart in Missouri, but if you can’t find them, you can try this Crockpot recipe.)

While the beans heat up on the stovetop, dice a link or two of your favorite sausage—andouille in my case (FeauxNote: Johnsonville makes a New Orleans style smoked sausage if you can’t find real andouille near you) and drop the sausage in a medium skillet or saucepan to begin heating up and releasing that delicious fat. Enter your “trinity”. Again, I cheated and bought a container of pre-chopped veggies.

Add as much or as little to taste. Sauté those fine ingredients together until your onions become translucent. At this point, your peppers and celery will retain their crunch for a good texture contrast. Remove from heat.
Place a good base layer of your fries on a plate (platter if serving family style). Add a layer of the trinity/sausage. Heap your creamed red beans on top (FeauxNote: I added the Blue Runner beans to the pot and mixed it all together, rather than keeping them separate & layering—still tastes awesome). Lastly, garnish with some freshly diced green onions from your window garden…

…add a dash (or 5) of hot sauce, and serve.

Oh, and watch out for aliens posing as butternut squash. (Compliments of Feaux’s Hubs.)

Since the serving size on this varies (especially if you’re sharing with a group), I won’t attempt a NutriFacts sheet, but just use your brain—stop when you’re full.

Hey….I didn’t say it would EASY.  But just TRY to have some restraint.

Have a great week, folks!

Garlic Dill Refrigerator Pickles

I have a genetic affinity for pickles.  Seriously, it’s in our DNA.  My grandmother (whose house was the primary congregation point on weekends) would buy dill pickles by the case because my cousins & I went through them so fast.  Granted…there were a lot of us.  My mom is the middle of 15 (yes, FIFTEEN) kids, a good ol’ Midwestern farm family, and there’s currently (roughly) about 100 of us cousins (when you include cousins’ kids, since we’re getting…*ahem* mature…now).  On any weekend, there were at least ten kids running through the house, eating everything in sight.  But MAINLY pickles.  We even made games out of daring one another to drink the pickle juice…which is a pretty lame dare given that we were all more than game to do it.

Family reunion, circa 1986. I’m in the middle-ish, with the barely-there set of bunny ears. As opposed to Primo, who has two sets of bunny ears.

Since I’ve been old enough to have my own paycheck and own refrigerator to raid, there are typically no fewer than 3 jars of pickles or picked items in the door.  At the moment, I have 2 jars of olives, 1 jar of pickled okra, dill spears, dill ovals, sweet midgets…and these.

This was my first attempt at making pickles, so I didn’t want to go too crazy, lest they all turn out awful.  So I paired down the recipe to make two pint jars.  I also decided to make refrigerator pickles, rather than shelf-stable pickles, because a) I was planning to reuse some store-bought pickle jars, rather than buying mason jars, and b) I didn’t want to deal with the extra hassle of proper canning. 
I reviewed recipes, comparing differences & trying to figure out what would suit our tastes.  And I have to say, I was really pleased with the result!  Very crisp, tart, and just a hint of heat…and plenty garlicky.
I’ve portioned out this recipe so you can make as many jars as you like.
INGREDIENTS: (per pint jar)
Approx. 2 pickling cucumbers (will vary based on size), sliced into fat coins*
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp pickling spice
2 tsp pickling salt
2 cloves garlic (I used minced, but you could use whole cloves with slits cut in to help release the garlicky goodness)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp dried dill (or one dill head)
1/2 tsp peppercorns  (can omit if your pickling spice already has peppercorns in it)
1/4 tsp citric acid (this will help with the crispness)
*When you slice the cucumbers, be sure to dispose of the “blossom end” of the cucumber, as there’s an enzyme present that will cause the pickles to end up soft.
DIRECTIONS:
First off, sterilize your jars.  We use Easy Clean since we have it on-hand for The Hubs’ home brewing.  But you can also boil the jars, or use an oven at 275F for a minimum of 20 minutes.  If you boil or use the oven method, make sure the jars cool before filling them.
In a sauce pan, combine the water, vinegar, pickling spice and salt.  Bring to a simmer.
Place the garlic, red pepper, dill, peppercorns, and citric acid into the jars, and then add the cucumber coins.
Pour the brine over the top, leaving about 1/2 inch of headspace in the jar.

Add the lids, and if you’re making refrigerator pickles, you can stop now!  Label the jars, let cool to room temp, and place in the fridge somewhere that you can not be tempted by them for a while.  They’ll take about 3-4 weeks to make a proper pickle, so be sure to include the date. About once a week, shake the jars to mix up the spices, lest your bottom pickles hog all the garlic.
If you’re planning on storing these in your pantry, check this “how-to”.  They can be stored for up to a year (either in fridge or pantry).
Enjoy on their own, on a sandwich, or as part of a relish tray!

Shrimp Boil Salad (Guest Post)

Hey there FeauxReaders!  Today, I am thrilled to present you with a guest post from none other than my cousin Primo from New Orleans.  He dreamed up a delicious-looking warm (or cold) salad that I can’t wait to test out!

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I enjoy cooking. I enjoy challenges and experimenting with new recipes. I’m the kind of guy that watches shows like Chopped, Cutthroat Kitchen, and other game-type shows on Food Network and honestly thinks he could do well.

For my company Christmas party, we decided to do a pot luck lunch. As we were divvying up the assigned dishes, I deferred to making whatever dish wasn’t claimed since I don’t have a “signature dish”. In my office, that translates to “I can only make *insert item here*” Low and behold, the category I ended up with was… SALAD. What a slap in the face. Not only do I feel like that’s a cop-out dish for any pot luck, but I’m a meat and potatoes guy that doesn’t normally like traditional salads.

I had to make a salad that not only wowed my coworkers but would also be something new and exciting for me. After a couple hours of pondering and a quick brainstorming phone call with Prima, (aka Ms. FeauxCajun, herself) the shrimp boil salad was born.

Ingredients:

• Shrimp/Crab boil to taste (If you are unfamiliar with seafood boil seasoning, premeasured boil in bag versions are available at most grocers)
• 3 pounds of baby red potatoes cut in halves or quarters
• 1 pound smoked link sausage, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 pack of frozen corn on the cob (fresh Missouri/Iowa sweet corn on the cob would be best but it wasn’t available to me in Louisiana in December)
• 2 pounds peeled beautiful Louisiana shrimp  (if you’re unable to buy fresh gulf shrimp, any fresh or even frozen [then thawed] UNCOOKED shrimp will probably work with this recipe)
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons Creole mustard
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
• 2 local beers (for the chef while cooking)

Essential cooking tool.

Directions:

1. 1. Bring 10 cups water and boil seasoning to a boil in a large stock pot over high heat.

2. Add potatoes and sausage; return to a boil, and cook 13 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

3. While your potatoes are cooking, combine lemon juice, EVOO, parsley, Creole mustard, horseradish, garlic, and paprika and whisk together well.

4. Remove potatoes and sausage and set aside in your large salad bowl

5. Add corn to stock pot and return to a boil. Cook 3 minutes. Add shrimp; cover, remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink.

Now THAT is a beautiful sight.

6. Drain and peel shrimp. Cut kernels from cobs. Discard cobs. Stir together corn kernels, shrimp, potatoes, sausage, and lemon juice mixture in a large bowl.

7. Serve hot or cover and chill to serve cold the next day.

NOTE: While this dish is fantastic fresh out of the pot, it is equally as fantastic served chilled. The flavors remain strong. I think the new twist on a COLD shrimp boil combined with the lemon juice dressing made for an unexpected surprise.