Mess of Greens

full bellies | warm welcomes

Louisiana

Dining Out MoG: Cochon Butcher NOLA

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I’m kind of an obnoxious traveler when it comes to picking where we eat on our vacations…and I guess where we stay and what we do, too. 😉 (If you want to see the super involved and intense travel itineraries with choose-your-own-adventure outlines for each day that I made for Italy and Portland one day, just ask.) I guess these plans are only obnoxious if your idea of a vacation different than mine. On my trips to new places, especially places that I don’t expect to get to visit very often, I want to SEE and EAT everything that is local and delicious. Always at the top of the list are farmers markets and special groceries, food stalls, art and antique open air markets, breweries, and casual but delicious eateries.

On a less than 12 hour trip to New Orleans (which is possible because Laurel is only 2 hours north) to take our little person to the aquarium because he has an octopus and sea lion obsession, I STILL wanted to eat as much good food as possible. There wasn’t even time to traipse over from Downtown to the French Quarter, but thankfully Cafe Du Monde has a branch RIGHT next to the aquarium near a parking garage with MUCH shorter lines than the original location and then, just around the corner was Cochon Butcher, a place I’d been salivating over since I followed them on Instagram so we took the opportunity to pop in.

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The Mississippi Bahn mi

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For our anniversary, Boone and I took a jaunt to New Orleans in May for a two night get-away. My parents’ next-door neighbor and long-time friend has an apartment RIGHT IN the French Quarter, so we had a pretty lovely spot to drink, eat, and wander. This is, of course, exactly what we did. Our first stop was Dong Phuong Bakery, a place my dad had heard about from friends. This tiny spot had a sit-down noodle shop on one side, and a pick-up bakery and banh mi shop on the other. Oh, y’all. I’d never had a Banh mi sandwich before, so we ordered THREE different ones (before you judge, you take look at the menu and see how you’d choose just one.) There’s nothing nothing nothing good to say about colonialism. However, I guess Banh mi is one example of a food fusion that was created in French-controlled Vietnam, AND is also an example of a sandwich that was basically MADE for life in New Orleans, home of one of the strongest (if not the strongest) Franco-fusion culture in our country. It turns out that there’s a pretty large Vietnamese-American community in south Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and they are shaping and molding local flavors to their own tastes, and in return, influencing the local cuisine to reflect their presence (SO AWESOME). I fell in love with the sandwich, but unfortunately, my sweet little town doesn’t have our own Vietnamese Bakery. (Here’s hoping.) In the meantime, I started trying to figure out how to make my own at home.

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What to drink before the parade: Le Roi Cafe’

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I LOVE Mardi Gras. I just love it. It turns out that I went a bit overboard this Mardi Gras season…buying King Cake Flavored vodka, and King Cake Flavored coffee… I drew the line at King Cake Flavored soda, but it’s a pretty thin line. But then I realized that most of the drinks people are making with King Cake vodka are just plain terrible and honestly I’m not sure that anyone but 21 year old tourists in New Orleans for the first time ever would drink them. King Cake coffee is pretty delicious, but maybe just a bit too much for everyday consumption.

So what do I do? I make a pre-parade slash post dinner party coffee cocktail (AND a virgin version for festive non-drinkers.) As a nod to KING Cake, I named it Le Roi Cafe.` You’ve had Irish Coffee, right? Well, this just might be better.

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Tradition to Adopt: Stewed Okra and Tomatoes as a Thanksgiving side

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Its about time for me to share this recipe… although I made it back in early September with a HUGE, gigantic sack of okra a friend brought to us and the last of our garden’s tomatoes, it really would be a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving side dish. Also, most recipes I found call for frozen okra and canned tomatoes, so you really can make this year-round.

I’ve always thought of Thanksgiving as an important holiday for Americans to celebrate our “meltingpot” cultural heritage, and okra is an amazing food that does just that. Originating in modern-day Ethiopia, okra was most likely brought to our country by enslaved Africans (like most delicious southern food). It’s also called “gumbo” although it’s more likely that you’ve heard this word in context of soups thickened with okra rather than references to the vegetable itself. Aggie Horticulture writes of the name, “Both of these names are of African origin. ‘Gumbo’ is believed to be a corruption of a Portuguese corruption, quingombo, of the word quillobo, native name for the plant in the Congo and Angola area of Africa.” This dish definitely has its roots in the Cajun and Creole traditions of the south… plus, a version of stewed okra and tomatoes recipe found in Indian cuisine as well. What’s more meltingpot than a vegetable and recipe that immigrated to the US from multiple parts of the world? Definitely a contender for a new Thanksgiving side dish tradition.
Confession: Okra’s hairy-sliminess isn’t always palatable to me… but this recipe breaks down the okra and makes it a smooth texture, plus the flavor of it and the tomatoes comes out beautifully. My grandmother used to make this and for a long time it was the ONLY way I’d eat this vegetable.

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MoG Dines Out : The Dock

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It’s pretty dreary and cold today and last week was BRUTAL, (although yesterday I saw the sun and it was nearly 60 degrees) so I needed a little reminder about how WONDERFUL the weather can be and what I have to look forward to come springtime.

The Dock is definitely one of the things to look forward to. This FANASTIC little gem of a restaurant hidden in Lake Providence, LA is definitely worth my 50 minute drive across the River. Boudain balls, Fried Crawfish tails, alligator bites,… this Louisiana Delta hotspot serves up some fare that Mississippi Deltans just don’t get very often but wouldn’t mind having just a little more of.

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Classic Red Beans and Rice

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OH. MY. STARS. it’s been too long.i’ve had three posts raring to go since late January and then things got busy and the last thing I’ve wanted to do when I got home was turn on my computer…and then I got into Game Of Thrones on Amazon… but it’s time. I miss blogging about food, and taking pictures of food, and just generally talking about food. (plus… my pretty friend Fancy flattered me by asking when I was going to post something new. Fancy, here you go!)
This recipe was supposed to come out around the time of Mardi Gras, since what’s more Louisiana that Red Beans and Rice? Even if the weather has gotten a little warmer (but not much! what’s up with the freaskishly cold weather??) and the confetti and beads are long gone from Beale Street, this recipe still tastes divine. It’s a combination of my grandmother’s classic Louisiana recipe, the Cook’s Illustrated test kitchen version, and the one from the River Road Recipes Cookbook.  Read on.
What you Need:
To cook:
Andoille Sausage (1 package, or a 1.5 lbs)
1 tablespoon of oil
2 onions
5 garlic cloves
1 green pepper
2 ribs of celery
1 cup of Camellia brand dried red beans (washed, dried, and soaked)
2 table spoons beef stock
3-5 cups of water
2 squirts of ketchup
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
 
To Serve
1 bunch green onions
Hot sauce
1/2 cup of rice per serving
What to Do:
Obviously, begin by rinsing and soaking the beans (overnight is best, but 6 hours will do in a pinch. Basically, you want them full of water and tender.)
Dice the garlic, green pepper, onion, and celery. In a large stock pot, sautee’ the onion in the oil until translucent then add in the other three ingredients to release the flavor, stirring for 1-2 minutes.
At the same time, boil the sausage, pricking after a 5-7 minutes to release the oil. I think this makes it just a little bit healther since it gets rid of the excess fat. Once the sausage is parboiled, cut it into 1/2″ or 1″ rounds and brown in a skillet.
Remove from the heat and put it aside to add in later.

 

Add the Stock and liquid to the large stock pot with the vegetables. Add in the bay leaf, the red beans, the red vinegar, the squeezes of ketchup for good measure, and the sausage. Simmer on low heat for 2- 2.5 hours. The longer and slower this cooks, the more flavorful and creamier the red beans will be.

Once the liquid has cooked down somewhat and the beans are soft, take about 2 cups of the beans and liquid and using a food processor or blender, puree’ that amount. Add the pureed beans back into the pot with the rest of the beans. This makes them even creamier and smooth.

Serve with hot sauce, vinegar, green onions, and white rice.

 

 

 

French Market Beignets

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this weekend was a big alumni party at the hopson commissary (which, btw, was the first location we scouted for our wedding 2.5 years ago) with  lots of drinking, and talking, and dancing. we ended up with five wonderful friends staying with us after the party, and what kind of southern hostess sends her friends away without breakfast? the bad kind, which, if you ever call me know that “them’s fightin’ words.” but of course, if it’s true I want to know so i can fix it. 😉
annnnnyway, going out and drinking is synonymous with a visit to New Orleans, so it just makes sense to look there for the perfect hangover brunch. 🙂 enter French Market Beignets.
until i met boone, i actually just bought the Cafe du Monde mix at the grocery store (and it’s SUPER easy to find in south Mississippi, where i grew up) but boone’s mom, a master baker, shirley, makes beignets from scratch every single Christmas morning as one of their most treasured family traditions and serves them on BEAUTIFUL milk class plates. merry christmas to us!
anyway, since we did Christmas in the Delta, boone didn’t get any beignets (because the recipe in the Joy of Cooking is awful. DO.NOT. TRY. IT.) but after called boone’s mom for the recipe before our friends came to town and were in dire need of brunch, we had the perfect chance to fix that.
if you’re wondering, making them from scratch is pretty simple, and so, so, so delishy.
French Market Doughnuts (call them Beignets and they’ll taste better)
Adapted from the Junior League of New Orleans Plantation Cookbook
 
What you need:
1 pkg (8 oz) yeast
1/2 cup warm water (just above your body’s temp)
1 egg beaten (at room temp)
4 Tbs sugar
1 C evaporated milk (each can is 11/2 C)
3 C Flour
Vegetable Oil (11/2– 2″ deep)
Powdered Sugar in a plastic bag
Note: you have to let this sit overnight, or at least for several hours, so plan accordingly!
What you do: 
Mix water and yeast by sprinkling the yeas on top of the warm water. Add 2 Tbs of sugar until the yeast rises and doubles (about 10 minutes). It will froth and bubble.

Add the other 2 Tbs of sugar, the egg, and the milk, then add in the flour one cup at a time so you can actually stir it. When you’re finished, the dough should be wettish ( a quote from Boone’s mom). at this point cover the dough and refrigerate it overnight so it rises.

it will be beautiful and much bigger.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface (obviously), and roll it out about 1/4″ thick.

 

using a knife or a pizza cutter (Cafe du Monde’s suggestion),  cut the dough into 2 1/2″ squares.
Heat the oil to 350 to 365 degrees (use a candy thermometer or your very own fry baby, which we DO have, but isn’t getting very hot these days) and then drop the dough into the hot oil to fry it. (boone put 3 in at a time, and that seemed to work well. They should flip over by themselves, BUT we used thongs when they didn’t.

 

dry the beignets off on a paper towel, then drop them into a bag of powdered sugar and toss. you won’t be sorry.

serve immediately so they don’t get cold… coffee and fruit are the very best things to pair them with in my opinion. but you don’t have to take MY word for it. 😉

this is jess’s plate by the way. does she have a possible future in food styling? i think so.