Raised on a Roux | Recipes and Life Lessons from a New Orleans Family Kitchen (2024)

Fried Shrimp

Genet

After posting my Boiled Shrimp recipe, one of my devoted readers reached out to me via Twitter asking me to please share my Fried Shrimp secrets with her. I’m so glad she did because I thought I had already posted this one. My Fried Shrimp recipe really should have been one of my initial postings considering most NOLA babies cut their teeth on them–a popular Friday night dinner, local kid’s menu and weekly school lunch item. Finally, here it is.As I’ve written about before, I believe different types of seafood need different batters to not only enhance [ ... ]

Finger Food Friday: Cheesy Garlic Bread

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Now that football season is here, I know many of you are searching for one or two new items to add to your game-day buffet. I think my creamy, cheesy, garlic bread would be a perfect addition because it can fill a variety of voids. Need another finger food? Cheesy Garlic Bread holds its own as a meatless French bread pizza. How about a bread side to compliment your Creole-Italian themed menu? My recipe’s a tricked out version of the traditional garlic bread accompaniment. In search of a little something to help your guests [ ... ]

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Genet

My kids have been back in school for only a month now and I’m already struggling with school snacks. Mind you, all three are beyond designated snack times. But to get them through their long days, I need to stash their lunch bags with extra food. Since they have already grown tired of my old faithfuls–turkey jerky, cheese sticks and nuts–I started making one scratch sweet a week. Nothing too over the top. Last week, I made two batches of my Three Ingredient Muffins (I have 3 kids and a midnight-snacking husband; they go fast). This week I jumped on [ ... ]

Boiled Shrimp

Genet

A seafood boil is a culinary tradition we carry out every chance we get. It’s a casual outdoor cooking event where we boil mass quantities of fresh seafood, sausage and vegetables in huge pots of highly seasoned water. When the cooking’s done, we usually spread everything out on a large table lined with newspaper and invite everyone to roll up their sleeves, grab a cold beer and dig in. We plan seafood boils for everything from christenings and birthdays to graduations and wedding rehearsal dinners. We also have boils to celebrate holidays and cheer on our [ ... ]

Crab and Corn Bisque

Genet

While a warm bowl of bisque may not appeal to many of you this time of year, I can’t think of a better way to bring together two of the summer’s most appealing ingredients, Louisiana blue crab and corn. Each serving just screams, “ Sweet sunshine!” And if you already have some rich seafood stock socked away, it will come together quickly.Like most soups, this Crab and Corn Bisque will improve in the fridge for a day or two. And because it can be successfully frozen, I highly recommend doubling the recipe so a few months down [ ... ]

Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Genet

When I’m in the mood for pork, I usually run to the grocery store, buy whatever’s on sale and build a recipe and a meal around that particular cut. The best buys are most often extra large pork loins and broad shoulders. Two cuts I can do plenty with. Occasionally, the plain, petite tenderloins hit the sale rack and when they do I grab a few of those. Until about three years ago, though, I never bothered with the tenderloins. I found them a challenge to cook to the recommended internal temperature without having them [ ... ]

Grilled Calamari

Genet

This summer, I’m grilling out more than ever. Aside from being a lover of all things hot and humid, I’m still trying to shake the chill from Snowmageddon 2014. Was that not the worst? Okay, maybe not a big deal for some of you. But for this Deep South girl, it was catastrophic. For the life of me, I cannot understand how people endure that type of weather year after year. I’ll take the sweltering heat, runny makeup and sweat-stained clothes over that any day! Which brings me back to the grill, on [ ... ]

Broccoli Salad

Genet

I often make big batch salads on the weekends to kick off Sunday suppers with my family and feed me lunch throughout the week. In order for these types of salads to work, they need to be made with tasty and tough ingredients. You know, foods that won’t wilt or spoil before I’ve reached the bottom of the bowl later in the week. Pastas and potatoes are obvious choices for these types of salads, but they tend to leave me sluggish–a feeling I’d rather not fight every afternoon. So I lean more towards hearty greens and [ ... ]

Grandma Benson’s Peach Cobbler

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Grandma Benson was the hubby’s maternal grandmother who, unfortunately, passed away before he and I began dating. I did not have the pleasure of meeting her or sharing a meal at her table. I was, however, put to the Grandma Benson “test” early on in our relationship by a couple of Larry’s cousins (whose names shall remain anonymous) along the Uptown parade route no less. It was the typical, old-school New Orleans line of interrogation: “Who’s your mama?” “Are you Catholic?” and “Can you make a roux?” (The latter question also generally means, can you cook.) Thankfully, my mother was [ ... ]

Finger Food Friday: Crescent City Sin

Genet

If you live in the south or have ever done any SEC tailgating, you’re probably familiar with Mississippi Sin or, as it’s called by some, Mississippi State Sin. It’s a devilishly delicious dip dotted with specs of ham and chopped green chiles that apparently originated in the kitchen of some big MS Bulldog fan. Up until a few months ago, I had only heard of this Southern college game-day tradition. Then, while flipping through a community cookbook my mom recently gave me (The 2nd Annual South Area Diversity Cookbook of the USPS), I came across the recipe [ ... ]