NOLA Restaurant Review: Green Goddess (French Quarter)

 

Well, I’m back!  It was a whirlwind of a trip so I didn’t have the opportunity to post any blog updates while we were down there, but I have my notes & will be sharing here throughout the rest of the week. 

We arrived in NOLA (my hubs & I) Saturday, and ventured toward the Uptown district to catch a bit of the Krewe of Pontchartrain parade.  The hubs was surprised to hear that they have daytime parades—of course, those aren’t the big flashy parades that make the headlines in other cities (or, The Great Elsewhere, as Times-Picayune writer Chris Rose so frequently puts it).   These are less-extravagant floats, often filled with kids, riders on horseback, and marching bands with dance teams from the local schools.  But I still love them nonetheless.

Non-locals might not be aware, but Mardi Gras is more of a “season” than a day in Southern Louisiana.  Weekend parades begin several weeks before “The Big Day” rolls around.  And those are the parades I love, because it’s family friendly and less crowded & not so touristy.  It’s pretty well the opposite of what you see on “Cops: New Orleans Edition” (which always seems to center around Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras). 

(Bourbon St. during Mardi Gras day—no thank you.)

But we’ll talk more about the parades later in the week.  Today, we’re talking dessert.

A friend recommended The Green Goddess restaurant, located in the French Quarter down a little alleyway that reminded me of Venice.  There was little to no foot traffic which was a nice change from the raucous parade watchers up on Canal Street.  The restaurant is very cafe-style & features 3 or 4 outdoor tables, but with high winds and 40 degree temps, we shuffled inside. 

When you enter, you think, “well, I guess I’m going to have to wait!” because the cozy-borderline-cramped entry room features one 6-top table and two barstool seats.  However, we were ushered to another cozy-borderline-cramped room in the back, which held 5 two-seater tables with small candlelit lanterns.  Intimate indeed!

We had already eaten earlier in the day, so we were here strictly to get down to business, and try their “notorious bacon sundae”:

(Image pilfered from interwebs, as I had forgotten to put my memory card in my camera & my phone was dead.)

From the Website:

“Pecan praline ice cream with a creamy bacon caramel
sauce carrying a bit of both Pink Himalayan & Black
Lava Salts, & micro-planed Nueske’s Applewood
Bacon, layered with whipped cream, of course! $8”

To warm up, I also ordered a cafe au lait: Their brand uses a chicory coffee blend (as all good NOLA restaurants should) and sweetened condensed milk.  AKA—heaven in a tall mug.

We had to wait a bit for our sundae because they were making fresh whipped cream…but it was SOOO worth the wait.

I’m glad I had my husband there to experience & share it with.  Because there is no way I would have been able to finish it myself, and there’s no way our friends would believe how freaking awesome it was if I didn’t have some backup.

The ice cream itself is heavenly.  Sweet & slightly nutty & delicious.  The caramel bacon sauce is to DIE for.  And the blasts of saltines from the lava salts and the microplaned bacon just hurtled it over the top.

Paired with the cafe au lait, I think I’d be within my rights to say this is possibly the best dessert in NOLA. 

They open at 6pm, & we got there at 6:05 & they were already pretty well full (not tough to do when you only have indoor seating for 18 people), so I’d recommend getting there early. 

I’d love to go again & try some of the amazing dishes & cocktails—the menu is extensive and adventurous, although a little on the high end (like most of the more well-known restaurants in the Quarter).  Definitely worth a splurge if you have the chance.

And if you don’t have the chance, check out this entry on the Scoop Adventures blog, where blog author Lindsay has done her darnedest to recreate the recipe for this decadent treat.

Duck & Smoked Sausage Filé Gumbo!

When I lived in Louisiana, the majority of my coworkers were big into hunting.  Fishing too, of course.  Deer, turkey, duck, rabbit, squirrel… you name it, they’ll shoot it.  I learned the different game seasons by observing the Mondays that the office fellas showed up late because they’d been out in a field in camo at daybreak….or when they all started growing their beards out to protect their faces from the early morning winds.

After all, Louisiana is The Sportsman’s Paradise, particularly to those who have a long family lineage in the state.  Their great-granddaddies grew up living off what Mother Nature could provide, and that culture is as ingrained in their blood as their love for rice & gravy or pecan pie.

(Cal & Griff…two of the aforementioned coworkers, and the proprietors of my favorite Cajun seasoning, Fontenot & A Half…)

They all acknowledge that it’s an expensive hobby, and when you factor in the cost of gear, guns, ammo, & hunting leases, you’d be far better off taking your car to the nearest supermarket for pre-packaged meat rather than driving out to the Basin marshes.  But they continue on all the same, and who am I to say anything?  Me, who now lives in a landlocked state & has a closet full of scuba gear that gets used about 3 times a year (FYI—Missouri water is COLD.)

Plus, these are Southern gentlemen.  And Southern gentlemen share.  Which is why I actually know how to cook wild game, ‘cuz Lord knows my sleep-lovin’ butt isn’t going out to sit in a cold duck blind at 4am.  No thank you, I’ll still be tucked away in my warm bed.  You just bring it back, all cleaned & pretty, and I’ll cook it up when the clock says a reasonable hour & feed it to you.  How’s that sound?

So in 2007, when Chef John Folse (owner of the Lafitte’s Landing Restaurant and proprietor of the John Folse Culinary Institute) released his massive cook-bible “After the Hunt-Louisiana's Authoritative Collection of Wild Game & Game Fish Cookery”, I snagged an autographed copy from a book signing (at a pricetag of over $40—by far the most I’ve ever spent on a cook book.  But it’s over 800 pages, and according to Amazon, they retail for over $60 now, so I got a heckuva deal).

--

But when I moved to Missouri, I was no longer surrounded by hunters.  Which is nice at times because it means I don’t  get caught in “staff meetings turned fish tales” anymore, but it also means I don’t have coworkers sauntering into my office anymore saying, “hey, I brought in some extra packs of venison/catfish/squirrel; they’re in the freezer if you want one.”  And that part makes me miss my old beard-covered, marsh-loving coworkers a bit.

So when I found out that a couple of the guys in our field department actually are duck hunters, I got really excited.  And one of them was kind enough to bring me a freezer bag full of duck breasts.

What to do, what to do???

I busted out John Folse’s bible & flipped to the “Waterfowl” section.  (For the record, this is the only cookbook I’ve ever seen that has a “Waterfowl” section.)

(Other “normal size” cookbook & phone included for scale.) 

 

Also, said Waterfowl section is about 80 pages long.  So I had a LOT of choices.  Too many, perhaps.  So I ended up reserving half of the duck for a future recipe. 

But I figured it’s high-time I did a gumbo.  I haven’t made a gumbo post on this blog EVER, and I haven’t made a gumbo from scratch since…well…since I lived in New Orleans.  (Note: at that time, I was not aware of the subtle “rules” that govern gumbo making, and that one typically shouldn’t use more than two meats in a gumbo…so my chicken-sausage-clam-shrimp-okra gumbo had some really weird flavors going on.)

 

Ingredients:

3 moderately sized duck breasts (about 1 lb of meat)

6 cups chicken stock or broth

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 cup roux (whether you use instant roux or the traditional method is up to you)

1 cup diced onion

1/2 diced bell pepper

2 stalks celery, diced

3 minced garlic cloves

9 oz smoked turkey sausage (the original recipe calls for venison sausage, which is a great option if you have it.  I did not.  Sad face.)

Seasonings to taste (S&P, Cajun seasoning, garlic powder)

1/8 cup dried chives or green onions

Filé powder to taste (a somewhat earthy spice made from ground sassafras leaves, typical for gumbos that don’t have okra in them)

4 cups cooked rice

 

Directions:

Rinse the duck breasts & cut up into bite sized pieces…rinse again. Duck breasts are super lean & high in iron…but they’re also pretty bloody.  Thus the gorgeous dark color:

 

Place the duck meat in a large stockpot with the chicken broth & bring to a boil.  Add the bay leaves & red pepper, then cover, reduce to simmer, & let cook for about 45 minutes or until tender.  The salt from the stock will help tenderize the meat.

In a large skillet, make your roux:

(I will “rue” the day that I run out of this stuff.  HAH…rue…roux…get it??? *snorts* Ahem…moving on…)

 

…and after it turns a nice dark brown, add your veggies & garlic.  Sauté for 5 minutes.

When the duck appears to be ready, fish out the bay leaves & discard.  Add your roux-veggie mix one scoopful at a time to the duck & chicken stock, stirring well to combine & integrate the roux between each scoop.  When that’s all added in, add your sausage. 

Cover & let simmer for about 30 minutes, then add seasoning as needed to taste.  (File powder can be placed on the table for guests to add to their own taste, since it’s a very unique flavor, and some aren’t as accustomed to it as others.)

Serve one heaping cup of gumbo over 1/2 cup rice.

(Center rice ball formed using an ice cream scoop—then gumbo poured around & over it.  This is a pretty traditional serving presentation.)

 

NOTE: It’s also traditional to have potato salad as a side dish with gumbo—some people mix the potato salad in with the gumbo as well.  It REALLY complements the flavors of gumbo well, so I highly recommend this.  In fact, I may make some deviled egg potato salad soon to serve with this.  Some people really like to have a hard boiled egg on the side.

 

Many thanks again to the Eichmeyers for providing the duck!  I can’t wait to pick another recipe to use the rest of the duck meat for!!!

 

Nutrifacts: (Makes 8 servings)

Calories 388.2

  Total Fat 12.5 g

  Saturated Fat 3.8 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 4.1 g

  Cholesterol 104.6 mg

  Sodium 1,077.1 mg

  Potassium 368.0 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 39.1 g

  Dietary Fiber 4.5 g

  Sugars 4.1 g

  Protein 26.1 g

Recipe: Smoked Porter Chili

As I think I’ve mentioned here before, my husband & I are both fans of trying new microbrews & craft beers.  With our college days well behind us (when Keystone & Natty were not only acceptable, they were preferred), beer isn’t really associated with getting plastered (seriously, my liver can’t take that kind of tomfoolery anymore).  Rather, it’s more like trying a new dish at a restaurant—just something new and interesting…possibly good, possibly bad, but an experience nonetheless. 

So we periodically pick up mixed 6-packs from the local wine emporium (which also has a massive selection of micros & craft brews) of things we’ve never tried before and then we’ll share a bottle, so we both get the experience of trying something new (without the crazy-stupid hangover the next day). 

In our most recent mixed bag, we had a bottle of O’Fallon’s Smoked Porter:

O’Fallon Brewery is right here in Missouri and they make some of my favorites: Their seasonal pumpkin ale is by far the BEST pumpkin ale I’ve ever had.  And I was not disappointed at all by the porter.  Massively smoky and flavorful but completely smooth & easy to drink.

And it inspired me to make a batch of chili.  Because our Missouri weather is FINALLY behaving like Missouri weather should, and there was frost outside & you actually had to wear a coat.  Plus, chili is pretty well a superfood in my book.  There’s a negligible amount of fat, but tons of protein, fiber, vitamins, and flavor.  A 1-cup serving will fill you up & stick with you for hours.

Mind you—this is quick chili.  I have been known to make it from scratch, but it was about 7pm and the hubs & I were both starving.  So this was ready & thrown together in under 30 minutes.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb extra lean ground beef (or turkey if you prefer)

1/2 white onion, diced

1 jalapeno, seeded & diced

1/2 cup smoked porter beer (you can add more if you like, but I wanted to be able to drink some with my meal)

1 packet of your favorite chili seasoning (I love Williams, personally)

1 can black beans, drained

1 can preseasoned chili beans, not drained

1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes w/green chiles, not drained

1 (9 oz) can Rotel

1 can sweet corn, drained

4 dashes Worcestershire sauce

1 /2 tsp cayenne

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning

additional seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, cayenne, hot sauce, etc.)

 

Directions:

Brown your meat, jalapeno & onions…once the onions are translucent & meat is cooked through, add the beer & chili packet & stir well. (if you’re using lean enough meat, you shouldn’t need to drain it after cooking.)

Then add your canned goods.

 (As you can see, I have no brand loyalties.)

Stir well, then add your Worcestershire sauce & seasonings. 

(I love all the colors!) 

Cover & let simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  Add additional seasoning to taste.

 

Serve with shredded cheese:

Or, if you’re so inclined, leftover cheese dip from your recent Superbowl party. (What?  Don’t judge.)

 

Nutrifacts: (makes about 6 servings)

Calories 365.4

  Total Fat 14.2 g

  Saturated Fat 5.5 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 5.7 g

  Cholesterol 52.2 mg

  Sodium 805.7 mg

  Potassium 466.7 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 36.7 g

  Dietary Fiber 8.6 g

  Sugars 4.5 g

  Protein 23.0 g