Welcome to the fanciest dinner club we've had thus far! The theme was Cajun/Creole and the host (Anjanette) wanted us to wear high heels and lipstick! So we did. And I was in pain. In fact I didn't even wear them past the front door. As you can see from the picture above; some of our neighbors wear heels REALLY well! Lookin good ladies!
This months host was Anjanette T. She's the one in the fancy black shoes on the far left. Her house is beautiful and pristine even though she's got two girls, the youngest of which is just over a year old!
Look at how beautiful her table setting was.
Gumbo
1 cup olive oil
2 cups flour
4 tsp butter
1 ½ onion, chopped
½ green bell pepper, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic
3-4 whole bay leaves
½ tsp ground mustard seed
½ tsp celery salt
2 tsp hot sauce
3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 – 16oz cans of chicken and/or fish stock
1 – 8-10 oz bottle of clam juice
2 chicken bouillon cubes
4-6 cups water
6-8 oz smoked turkey, diced (or a small smoked turkey wing flat section)
1 lb Cajun andouille sausage, sliced or diced
½ lb skinless boneless chicken thighs, diced into large chunks
1 lb peeled and deveined raw shrimp
1 lb of crab legs, section at joints
1 cup cut okra
Filé powder (optional)
Make a roux (gravy) using oil and flour over a medium low heat. Stir constantly for about 30-45 minutes until roux is a rich toffee brown color. Watch heat carefully and do not let roux burn. Add butter, onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic to roux. Add veggies one at a time and sauté until veggies are softened. In a large stock pot add fish/chicken stock, seasonings and smoked turkey and bring to a boil. Brown sausage and add to roux, cook for a couple minutes. Then add roux to stock mixture. This will become your gumbo base. Simmer gumbo base on medium heat for about 30–45 minutes. Add seafood and enough water to cover up to about 2 inches above seafood/meat. Simmer on low for another 2 hours. Add okra after about an hour or so.
Serve over rice and sprinkle each individual serving with a dash of filé powder. Do not add filé to the pot. For the best flavor, make gumbo a day ahead so flavors have time to really meld into each other. Then reheat for about 30-60 minutes on low prior to serving.
Note: You can also add 1 cup shelled oysters, 1 cup clams and/or 1 pound of diced fish fillet. Just increase your stock or add additional water to cover appropriately. If you don’t like seafood, you can use the gumbo base, minus the claim juice and fish stock, and make a turkey or chicken gumbo. Just use chicken stock, add 2 pounds of diced turkey/chicken and reduce water accordingly.
Buttery (almost) Pound Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened and room temperature
5 eggs, room temperature
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract
2 ¼ cups flour
½ tsp salt
Lemon Glaze
1 stick butter
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup water
1 cup sugar
Zest of ½ lemon
¼ tsp of lemon extract
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar and butter in large mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Continue beating and add eggs one at a time, until well mixed. Add sour cream, milk, and flavorings. Continue beating and scraping bowl often until well mixed. Reduce speed to low and add flower and salt, until just moistened.
Spoon batter into a well greased floured bundt or tube pan. Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Melt glaze ingredients together in a saucepan. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool 15 minutes, then pour ¾ of glaze over warm cake. Allow to continue cooling and remove from pan. Then pour remaining glaze over cake.
Teresa made this Cajun Creole Scallops with Rice on the run. She found and made this recipe only about 25 minutes before dinner club began - so if that's not a testament to how quick and easy it is then I don't know what to tell you. It was so good I'll be making this for my husband sometime soon for sure!
P.S. Teresa is the one wearing the black shoes with the chain around the heel. Second from the right.
Cajun Creole Scallops with Rice
1 can (approximately 15 ounces) stewed tomatoes
12 to 16 ounces sea scallops, fresh or frozen and thawed
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper
hot cooked rice
Preparation:
In a medium saucepan combine stewed tomatoes, scallops, onion, and green pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 5 minutes. Blend flour with water; stir until smooth. Add flour mixture to the hot tomato mixture and continue cooking until thickened, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve on hot cooked rice.
Melissa made this yummy shrimp scampi. Melissa (like me) is not accustomed to wearing high heels but she certainly knew how to rock them. She's second from the left in the picture above. Her shrimp scampi is another one I plan to make often. I knew it would be a hit when my daughter (who came with me to dinner club) asked to try a noodle and then she asked for more! Yay! She wouldn't eat the shrimp but I still consider it a win.
Shrimp Scampi
1 1/2 Shrimp
1/2 C butter - divided
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C chopped parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
1 C. dry white wine
1Tbsp. flour
1 1lb pound box of spaghetti or linguine
In a large pot, heat water to boiling and add the pasta. Cook for about 7-10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Shell and devein the shrimp.
Heat 1/4 C. butter in large skillet. Saute the shrimp over medium heat for 5 minutes or until pink. Remove the shrimp and set aside.
Melt the remaining 1/4 C. butter in the skillet. Add salt, pepper, garlic and parsley and cook for 1 minute. Add the lemon juice and wine. cook until the mix has reduced by 1/4. Whisk in the flour until dissolved. Return the shrimp to the pan with the cooked noodles and mix well. Serve immediately.
Lynn T. made this yummy bread pudding with a whiskey cream sauce - I'll try to get the recipe for this. It was so good; the cream sauce almost knocked my socks off. That's not saying much, I'm quite the lightweight.
Lynn is also a newcomer to our dinner club - welcome Lynn, we loved having you there and can't wait to see you again soon!
Cajun cornbread made by another newcomer to our dinner club, Emily! Welcome Emily we're so glad you could make it. Emily is actually going to be gone for about a year :( so her first dinner club is also her last until next year. We can't wait to get you back Emily. Emily is wearing the super cute shoes on the far right side in the picture above. Super cute! I'll try to get her recipe for the cornbread.
See that delicious looking concoction to the left? I was just about in a coma after drinking it. It tasted like juice, you couldn't even tell there was alcohol in it. Shannon is responsible for this one! She's also responsible for the sugar high I was in all night from these awesome pralines. So good! She's pictured in the middle of the very first picture wearing the wedges because she hurt her ankle; but I've seen her high heels and they would me in a cast if I tried to wear them. Hopefully recipes to be posted for both soon! Thanks as always Shannon!
Lisa W. made the yummy dish above. I'm wracking my brain trying to remember what she called it but as usual I can't remember. I will update this as soon as she hits me over the head and sends me the recipe. :) Love you Lisa! Thanks for coming!
I also wanted to throw a shout out to Tineill who is another newbie to our dinner club. She wasn't able to make it for the whole night because she had her kids with her but we're looking forward to seeing her next time!
I made Red Beans and Rice for the event and I will post the recipe separately for it. Isn't that a great picture of my dinner plate? I ate it all. Yes I sure did! Then I had dessert. I must be stopped. Oh, and don't forget the bowl of gumbo I ate that isn't pictured. Geesh. The Red Beans and Rice are at the top - you know, with the red beans. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment