Turkey Day with Virtual Potluck and Marx Foods

A group of food bloggers from around the country who were brought this Fall for the Emeril's cookbook promotion has together decided to continue to work together on other projects. I'm very proud to be a member of the Virtual Potluck group and hope to continue to do some amazing things such a wonderful and inspirational group of bloggers. One of our first promotions is to cook a virtual Thanksgiving meal with ingredients from Marx Foods, a gourmet specialty food company that can send amazing ingredients straight to your door. You can actually use a promocode this week to get a discount at Marx Foods: Enter “POTLUCK” into the “Coupon Code” field at checkout for 10% of everything in the store. Valid 11/21 – 11/27.  My contribution was part of "Turkey Four Ways" meal that I prepared for WBRZ news in Baton Rouge. The special should air the night before Thanksgiving. You can find links to the rest of the Virtual Potluck meal on Cookistry, and you can find all four turkey recipes at Deep South Magazine, but below is the recipe for the Smoked Sea Salt and Puya Chili Oil Seared Turkey Thighs with Brandy Wine Black Trumpet Mushroom Cream Sauce!

Smoked Sea Salt and Puya Chili Oil Seared Turkey Thighs with Brandy Wine Black Trumpet Mushroom Cream Sauce
2 turkey thighs
2 tsp. smoked sea salt (or kosher salt) - From Marx Foods
1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper or to taste
1 puya chili with stem removed (or guajillo or other medium-heat pepper) - From Marx Foods
3 T grapeseed, sunflower or canola oil, divided
1/2 ounce dried black trumpet mushrooms or other mushroom variety - From Marx Foods
1 cup hot water
2 shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup cream
1/4 pound butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pat turkey thighs dry with a paper towel. Lightly score the skin of both thighs with a knife in a crosshatch pattern. Sprinkle skin side with smoked sea salt and place aside to rest for at least 10 minutes. In a food processor, add the chili and 2 tablespoons of oil. Pulse the food processor to incorporate and make chili oil. Place dried mushrooms in hot water and let soak for at least 10 minutes. Heat the chili oil over high heat in an oven-safe sauté pan. Sprinkle the turkey thighs with black pepper and place skin down in the chili oil. Sear the skin side for 4-5 minutes and then flip the thigh over. Transfer pan to oven and continue to cook for 30-35 minutes until the thighs have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

In a separate sauté pan, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and place over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to stir for another minute or two. Drain the mushrooms, chop them a little if desired, and add to the pan. Add some freshly ground black pepper. Lower the heat to medium. Add in the white wine and cook until reduced by half. Carefully pour in the brandy and continue to reduce for a few more minutes. Add the cream and again cook until reduced by half. Reduce heat to low. Stir in and melt the butter. Taste and add salt as desired. Once the butter is in, do not return the sauce to a boil. Pour sauce over turkey thighs and pasta if desired.

Emeril's Blogger Party: Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto

Having been on a Gordon Ramsay reality show, I found it a little absurd that I had never actually been in charge of cooking a risotto before this dish.  Sure I had seen them done before on TV and even in person, but I had never actually be responsible for ladling the broth into the rice with precision.  When I saw the Shrimp and Asparagus Risotto recipe in Emeril Lagasse's new book Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders, I got excited about giving it a try!

I set my sights on a creamy rice with deliciously seasoned Gulf shrimp in hopes that this would be a meal to remember.  Like all the recipes for Emeril's Blogger Party, this one again started with a trip my locally owned Calandro's Supermarket to stock up on fresh produce, Gulf shrimp, specialty ingredients, and even some wine.

The first step after the mise en place was to peel and devein the shrimp.  After that I retained the peels to make a shrimp stock.  The peels were cooked off in a little olive oil and then I added water, onions, carrots, parsley, celery, salt and whole peppercorns.  Once the stock came together I strained it and then put it back in a pot to keep warm.  A flavorful stock is the key to a wonderful risotto as all of that flavor will transfer into the rice!

The shrimp were seasoned with Emeril's Original Essence and a little extra salt then sauteed in butter and reserved for later.  

I started the rice in the pot after I cooked down some shallots and garlic in a little butter.  I let the rice toast for a bit before pouring in some wine.  The rice soaked up the wine quickly and then I began to ladle in stock a cup at a time and allowing it to absorb before adding in more.  

Towards the end I added in some finely chopped basil, thyme and chives as well as some lemon zest and juice.  The rice had a wonderful nearly creamy texture and an amazing flavor from all the layers of deliciousness that were added throughout the process.

Once the rice was ready I added in the blanched asparagus and shrimp and let everything cook a little more until the shrimp and asparagus were brought up to temperature.  To serve I added a generous portion of freshly grated Parmesan cheese over the top.  The end result looked stunning and tasted even better.  I'd have to say that I am pretty proud of my first ever risotto!

Stay tuned to Bite and Booze because on my next post I'll giving you a recipe for a Tuscan White Bean Soup and a chance to win one of Emeril's new cookbooks: Sizzling Skillets and other One-Pot Wonders!

Emeril's Blogger Party: Red Wine and Port Braised Short Ribs

For my second recipe based on Emeril's Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders (my first posted featured deep dish pizza!), I decided to make a perfect recipe for the Bite and Booze side of me: Red Wine and Port Braised Short Ribs.  Braising is a classic French technique that usually takes a cheaper and not-so-tender cut of meat and simmers it at a reasonably low temperature for a long time until a lot of the fat and connective tissue has broken down, leaving you with fork-tender protein.  One of the keys of braising is definitely to have a a flavorful liquid that will impart layers and depth of tastes as you cook.  For this recipe I once again started at Calandro's Supermarket where I stocked up on supplies including shallots, turnips, herbs and, of course, Port!

The next step to cooking this kind of meal is to take care of the mise en place.  The French culinary term literally means "everything in place".  Basically it means you get all of the ingredients out and prepared before you start cooking.  For me, that meant to peel and chop the carrots, shallots and turnips, measure out some flour, garlic and black peppercorns, and be ready to rock.  Since the recipe called for beef stock and I didn't have any homemade stock on hand, I picked up some of Emeril's beef stock at Calandro's.  I figured that's probably what he would have wanted!

After seasoning the beef short ribs with salt and pepper and then browning them in a cast iron pot with some olive oil, the next step involved flavoring my braising liquid.  I cooked down the vegetables with a little more olive oil until they started to caramelize and then I added the flour.  After letting it toast and begin to stick to the bottom, I deglazed the pot with red wine and let that cook down a little more.  I soon added the thyme, bay leaves, parsley and whole peppercorns followed by the Port and beef stock.  After coming up to a boil, I had a very flavorful braising liquid that I knew would work extremely well with the short ribs.

Once the liquid got to that rolling boil I removed it from the stove and add the the short ribs back to the pot. I got them all as submerged as possible and then transferred everything to the oven where I let it sit for about 2 and a half more hours.  I opened it up once to mix the ribs around and then removed the lid for the final time.  The fragrance from the pot filled the entire house and I knew that this would be an amazing meal.  However, the work hadn't quite finished there.  I first needed to strain the liquid to remove the herb stems and bay leaves.  I separated the vegetables and beef as well in order to get a gravy left in the pot.  After letting it simmer for a little while longer, the remaining liquid coated the back of a spoon and I returned the beef and veggies to the pot one more time so they could soak up more flavor and come back up to temperature.  I also used that time to make a batch of yellow corn grits to serve the ribs over!

The final product: an extremely tender and flavor-packed beef short rib served over yellow corn grits with carrots and turnips.  I couldn't be happier!

For doing these blog posts from Emeril's new book I received a free advance copy.  It is available in stores in late September.  I'll also be giving away a copy of the book in an upcoming blog post, so stay tuned to see if you can win one!  Also of note, this recipe actually called for parsnips instead of carrots but I couldn't find any.  Carrots worked very well though!

Vote for Bite and Booze in Draft Magazine's Annual Great Grill-Out Recipe Contest!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm at it again.  This year, a recipe of mine has been selected as a Top 10 finalist for Draft Magazine's Annual Great Grill-Out Recipe Contest.  The theme of the contest was right up Bite and Booze's alley: "recipes are limited to 10 ingredients or less - one of them must be beer - and your dish should be made on the grill."  The only pantry ingredients we were allowed to include that didn't count as our ten were salt, black pepper, and olive oil.  This contest was a no-brainer for me to enter and I'm thrilled that my recipe has been chosen as a finalist.  If I win, I could get another Big Green Egg Smoker/Grill Package, a dual faucet kegerator from BeverageFactory.com, Omaha Steaks, a beer club membership, and more!

Please help me vote.  This contest has a 1 vote per IP address per day limit and only lasts until September 9th.  Give it all you've got and help me win another grilling contest!!  Share this link of Facebook, Twitter, message boards, etc. or email it to all your buddies!  Thanks so much everybody!

Vote here: http://draftmag.com/recipecontest/vote/
My recipe, which is also seen below, is the "Grilled Pork Chop with Spicy Peach Chutney."  Click on it and it'll show you the recipe... then click on the vote button and you'll cast your ballot for me.  Come back daily until September 9th to vote again!

Grilled Pork Chop with Spicy Peach Chutney

Grilled Pork Chop with Spicy Peach Chutney

Ingredients:
6 bottles of slightly fruity wheat beer
2 cups brown sugar
1 Tbsp Allspice
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
4 thick cut pork chops
1 stick of butter
2 shallots
2 jalapenos
1 garlic clove
2 peaches
salt
pepper

Step 1: Make a beer brine.

Pour 2 bottles of beer into a grill-safe pot. Heat the beer until simmering or slowly boiling. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar, 1 Tbsp of allspice, 2 tbsp of cinnamon, 2 tbsp salt and 2 tbsp ground black pepper. Heat keep over heat until all ingredients have dissolved into the beer and come together as one. Remove from heat and chill.

Once at room temperature, add the pork chops to the brine and allow to soak for at least an hour or two.

Step 2: Drink a beer while the brine is cooling and the pork chops are in the brine. Okay, drink two beers.

Step 3: Make spicy peach chutney.

Once the pork is getting close to coming out of the brine, finely chop the shallots, jalapenos, garlic and peaches. Melt some butter in a pan over the grill. saute the shallots in the butter. Once soft, add in the jalapenos and garlic. Saute until cooked down and soft, then add the chopped peaches. Continue to cook down. Add about half of a beer (drink the other half), the 1/2 cup of brown sugar that remains, and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook it down while moving on to step 4.

Step 4: Cook the pork chops.

Remove the pork chops from the brine. Place on the grill over a medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, then flip. Cooking times will vary depending on thickness of the chop and temperature of the grill. Probably 5-10 minutes per side. Cook to a medium temperature.

Remove the pork chops from the grill. Allow them to rest for just a few minutes. Top each chop with the spicy peach chutney, and enjoy with your last beer from the six pack.


I have made this with Bayou Teche Brewing Company's Grenade, which is a Louisiana Passionfruit beer. I suggest something with some fruit characteristics but nothing overly sweet. Pork and fruit work really well together, and a lot can mix with peach, so perhaps a raspberry beer, strawberry beer, or even a pumpkin spiced beer could work.

Grilled Pork Chop with Spicy Peach Chutney

I came up with this recipe on the fly while walking around Rouse's Supermarket in Lafayette prior to doing a Louisiana MasterChef cooking demo.  I really wasn't sure what I wanted to cook, but all of the sudden it hit me: pork, fruit and booze.  I've seen that combination play out well for me before! Walking through the store I found some lovely peaches and some amazing thick-cut pork chops.  I just went with it from there.  Here is the recipe of what turned out to be a great dish.  I'd make that spicy peach chutney again any day!

Grilled Pork Chop with Spicy Peach Chutney 

6 bottles of slightly fruity wheat beer (I used Bayou Teche's Grenade)
2 cups brown sugar
1 tbsp Allspice
2 tbsp Cinnamon

1 bay leaf
4 thick cut pork chops
1 stick of butter
2 shallots
2 jalapenos
1 garlic clove
2 peaches 

Slap Ya Mama white pepper blend
2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper

Step 1: Make a beer brine. 

Pour 2 bottles of beer into a grill-safe pot. Heat the beer until simmering or slowly boiling. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar, 1 tbsp of allspice, 2 tbsp of cinnamon, 1 bay leaf, 2 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp ground black pepper. Heat keep over heat until all ingredients have dissolved into the beer and come together as one. Remove from heat and chill.

Once at room temperature, add the pork chops to the brine and allow to soak for at least an hour or two.

Step 2: Drink a beer while the brine is cooling and the pork chops are in the brine. Okay, drink two beers. 

Step 3: Prepare spicy peach chutney. 

Once the pork is getting close to coming out of the brine, finely chop the shallots, jalapenos, garlic and peaches. Melt some butter in a pan over the grill. saute the shallots in the butter. Once soft, add in the jalapenos and garlic. Saute until cooked down and soft, then add the chopped peaches. Continue to cook down. Add about half of a beer (drink the other half), the 1/2 cup of brown sugar that remains, and Slap Ya Mama white pepper blend to taste. Continue to cook it down while moving on to step 4.

Step 4: Cook the pork chops. 

Remove the pork chops from the brine. Place on the grill over a medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, then flip. Cooking times will vary depending on thickness of the chop and temperature of the grill. Probably 5-10 minutes per side. Cook to a medium temperature.

Remove the pork chops from the grill. Allow them to rest for just a few minutes. Top each chop with the spicy peach chutney, and enjoy with your last beer from the six pack.


And in case you missed it, here is the little video I put together of the cooking demo with myself, Brant Langlinais, and Jason Broussard... all in the Top 100 on MasterChef Season 2!

Bite and Booze Entry: Marx's Foods Iron Foodie 2010 on Foodie BlogRoll

VOTE FOR BITE AND BOOZE IN THE IRON FOODIE 2010 NOW!!!

I recently had the pleasure of being selected as one of the top 25 challengers in the Marx Foods Iron Foodie 2010 contest on Foodie BlogRoll.  You can find the blog post that I wrote to enter here... but the best part was getting to cook with the secret ingredients that Marx Foods sent me!  I had no idea what to expect when I opened the package, but to my surprise there were some pretty interesting ingredients awaiting some culinary creativity.

Eight Products To Choose From

The challenge asked each competitor to choose three products from the group of eight secret ingredients.  My secret ingredients included:

• Dried Aji Panca Chilies
• Vanilla Beans
• Fennel Pollen
• Dried Wild Porcini Mushrooms
• Tellicherry Peppercorns
• Dulse Seaweed
• Maple Sugar
• Smoked Sea Salt

The dish I decided to create was a pan-seared duck breast with smoked sea salt and dried Aji Panca chilies over a homemade Tellicherry peppercorn pasta with a wild Porcini mushroom cream sauce.  I got hungry just thinking about it.

The first step was to place a little bit of the smoked salt on the skin side of the duck breasts and let them sit over night in the refrigerator.  This helps to draw out the moisture in the skin and allow it to get extra flavorful and crispy when cooking the next day.

Duck Breasts with Smoked Sea Salt

Next I needed to rehydrate the dried wild porcini mushrooms, so I placed them in a bowl with some warm water.  I also gathered some of my other ingredients for sauce including shallots, olive oil, white wine, brandy, cream, butter, salt, and some tellicherry peppercorns.

Imgredients for the Wild Porcini Mushroom Sauce

Next it came time to make the pasta.  I gathered the flour, eggs, water, olive oil, salt, and crushed black peppercorns and then starting combining them to make the dough.  

Tellicherry Peppercorn Pasta Ingredients

After I got the pasta rolled out and cut, it was time to put the focus back on the porcini mushroom cream sauce.  I started with cooking down the shallots in olive oil.  After they were translucent, I added the brandy and white wine (1 cup each), peppercorns, and mushrooms, then let that reduce about before adding a cup of cream.  Once that had reduced about halfway, I started whisking in the butter.

Wine, Brandy, Shallots, Mushrooms, and Peppercorns Reducing

Wild Porcini Mushroom Cream Sauce

Now that my sauce was left to just simmer and let the flavors continue to meld together, all I had to do was boil my pasta and cook the duck breasts.  I put the homemade pasta in boiling salted water and let it get nice and tender.

Boiling the Homemade Peppercorn Pasta

And now the highlight: I added a little bit of chili oil that I made with the dried Aji Panca chilies and olive oil to a pan, sprinkled some chili seeds on the salted duck breasts, and seared the duck skin-side down for a few minutes to ensure a crispy skin.

Duck Breasts Searing in Chili Oil

After I got a good sear on the skin side, I flipped the breasts over, seared the bottom very briefly, then moved the pan to the oven with the skin up.  I let them continue to cook in a 400 degree oven for about 8-9 minutes, then removed them and let the duck rest for a bit.

Crispy-Skin Duck Breasts Moved to the Oven

Smoked Sea Salt and Aji Panca Chili Duck Breasts Resting Before Being Sliced

Now that everything was cooked, all I had to do was plate the dish.  I move the boiled pasta into the pan that the duck breasts cooked in with little chili oil residue.  I then ladled some of the mushroom cream sauce on to the pasta and tossed that around to get coated really well.  I started the plate with the pasta and cream sauce at the bottom and then topped that with a sliced duck breast, then finished the dish with a drizzle of the cream sauce over the duck and a little parsley for garnish.  Bon Appetit!

Finished Product: Seared Duck Breast with Smoked Sea Salt and Dried Aji Panca Chilies over Homemade Tellicherry Peppercorn Pasta with a Wild Porcini Mushroom Cream Sauce

Pear and Bourbon Reduction Chutney

This week a group of friends and I celebrated our Third Annual Friendsgiving.  Friendsgiving is a dinner club meeting where we eat a pot-luck, family-style, Thanksgiving-themed feast during the week before Turkey Day.  It is typically our largest dinner club gathering of the year, and it has been extremely memorable on every occasion.  There will be another post about Friendsgiving, but for now I wanted to share the pear and bourbon reduction chutney that I created to top the bacon and scallops that I cooked for a Friendsgiving appetizer!

I began my culinary creativity at Southside Produce where I came across a delicious display of fresh pears.  Not knowing which variety of pear to choose, I went with one of each!  I'm pretty happy with that decision.

Red Pears, Bosc Pears, and D'Anjou Pears at Southside Produce

After doing a little more shopping I returned home to begin the cooking process.  Like a lot of good dishes, I started with a little olive oil in a nice, thick bottomed skillet.  I'm not much of a measurer, so I just eyeballed what I thought would be enough and put it over medium heat.  I know this doesn't help for perfectly recreating the dish, but what's the fun in that anyway!?

My Olive Oil Heating Up

Next, I diced a few shallots to create a base for the sauce.  Shallots are an interesting vegetable and one that I don't use very often.  I typically go with a full white or yellow onion, but this occasion seemed too special for that.  I needed the mild nature of the shallot to give a little flavor to the chutney without being overpowering.

Sliced Shallots Getting Ready to be Diced

Once I had the shallots finely diced I transferred them to the pan with the olive oil and let them sauté for a few minutes until the little pieces of shallot were turning clear. 

Shallots Sautéing in Olive Oil

As soon as the shallots were cooked down enough, it was time to add the fun stuff!  I momentariy removed the pan from the heat while I added a generous portion of Knob Creek Kentucky Straight Bourbon.  Knob Creek is one of my favorite mass-produced and widely available bourbons on the market. 

After adding the bourbon to the pan I placed it back on the heat and then added about two-thirds of a can of Swanson chicken broth (that's about how much bourbon I used as well).  I left those ingredients over the medium heat of the burner and allowed a little time for the mixture to heat back up.  I then sprinkled in some of my absolute favorite Cajun seasoning, Slap Ya Mama!  Thanks to the recommendation from Luna to include white pepper in the sauce, I used Slap Ya Mama's white pepper blend, which is fantastic and simple.  For those that can't get it in your local supermarket, you can order it online!  The white pepper blend contains four ingredients with no preservatives or other filler: red pepper, white pepper, salt, and garlic.  The Cajun spices were followed by a fair amount of pear infused vinegar, a sizeable portion of brown sugar, and about a third to half of that small bottle of honey.  All of the ingredients were stirred together and brought to a slight boil before I added the fruit.

Knob Creek Bourbon, Swanson Chicken Broth, Slap Ya Mama White Pepper Blend, Pear Infused Vinegar, Brown Sugar, and Honey

With everything above fusing in the pot, the time had come to turn my attention to the glorius pears that I selected from Southside Produce.  I took my knife to the fantastic fruits, carving out their stems and seeds while leaving the juicy flesh on the cutting board.  The wedges of pear were then diced into small morsels and added to the pot of simmering sauce.  I actually only used about half of each pear in the chutney with the rest going straight to my belly!

Red Pear, D'Anjou Pear, and Bosc Pear

With all of the ingredients now in the pot, all I had to do was wait and stir every once in a while.  I put the burner on low heat and let the flavors combine with each other while the sauce reduced to a chutney consistency.  I let the mixture simmer for what was probably a full hour or more before I removed it from the heat and let it cool.

Pear and Bourbon Reduction Chutney Simmering on the Stove

I created this chutney to go over some bacon wrapped scallops that I cooked the next day for our Friendsgiving feast.  For that recipe and to see the finished product with the chutney on top, you'll have to check back for the next post.  As much as I like to eat, sometime I forget how much I also like to cook every now and then.  If I only I had somebody to do the damn dirty dishes for me!