Bye Mardi Gras

Last week was shortest long week ever. 

I was off for Mardi Gras (another benefit of working at a college in South Louisiana). Long four day weekend then only three days then off again for the weekend. 

The last king cake I made for the season 

It was only three working days but it dragged by and it felt like I hadn't had a break in months. I welcomed the weekend. 

But I was happy to have my parents down for a couple of days over the long weekend. We just tooled around town and I showed them some of the Mardi Gras stuff. But did steer clear of most of it. 

I did make them dinner the night they came into town. Spinach pasta w/an artichoke tomato sauce and caramelized onion and chicken meatballs. It was very tasty and they were happy. 

Getting dinner going for my parents 

I found the pasta at Fresh Market and I also bought the tomato sauce as well. I know... Some people frown upon store bought anything, but to me, if it is a great product and you like the company that produces it, why not? And I had just finished a week of making over 100 king cakes so I was looking for all the time saving help I could. 

So much yumminess 

The sauce did need some doctoring up. I cooked up the meatballs and some pancetta pieces and then poured the sauce into the same pan I cooked the pancetta (took the pancetta and meatballs out and put on a paper towels to absorb some of the grease and also wiped out some of the grease from the pan). I added in some artichoke hearts I had in the fridge, and tossed the cooked pasta to the mix and added the meatballs back to the pan. 

All finished. Spinach egg noodle pasta with artichoke and tomato sauce w/caramelized onion and chicken meatballs  

My parents were happy. When I served them the pasta with some garlic bread, I topped the pasta and meatballs with the crunchy pancetta pieces. They got seconds :)

It was also Valentines weekend as well... 

I went out to eat with my parents and my cousin, and then went back to the house. We made some cocktails and watched the Ole Miss basketball game. 

Instead of just flowers for Valentines, I got a garden. I have to say I was a very happy girl. Planted tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs and lettuce. Can't wait to write and tell y'all about how my plants are growing and what recipes I'm using them in. Happy Eating! 

My Valentines gift. A garden!! 

Eau de King Cake

I’ve always lived in parts of the country that don’t heavily observe the Mardi Gras season. In my hometown, there was only one very small “parade” on Fat Tuesday. It consisted of a handful of people wearing the traditional colors of Mardi Gras, the beads, a few trumpeting a zydeco/jazz tune and walking around the downtown square before heading into their favorite bar.  

Find Me waiting for the bead throwing 

When I was out in Colorado, it was the same idea. A handful of bars had stuff up for Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and some drinks that were named after some popular streets in New Orleans, Louisiana. Even drinks made to taste like king cake.

Photo w/Krews Queen and King

Being down in south Louisiana I’ve gotten to see more of carnival season. There are different balls of the Krews on the weekends at the first of the carnival season, then the weekends closer to the end there are the parades for the different Krews. Now this is how it is here in Baton Rouge. I know that in other places, like NOLA and even over in Mobile, Alabama, the parades of the Krews take place the night of the ball; which I find a whole lot of fun and enjoy.

Mardi Gras Ball w/a college friend 

I thing I do enjoy is that everywhere you go, there is some form of king cake available. The traditional king cake is made up of a Danish dough, and filled with a cinnamon filling. After it is baked, the cake is coated with an icing and then topped with yellow, green and purple sugar. You can even get different fillings if you like. I prefer the traditional cinnamon.

King cakes 

I’ve made a lot of king cakes this season. Seems like every time I turn around there is another request/order for king cakes. It’s a labor of love. At work I use a premade Danish dough and cinnamon smear and go to town. I roll, split and twist every log and then decorate. 

I feel like my perfume during this time of year is Eau de King Cake. It has hints of sugar, butter, cinnamon and flour.

When I'm making king cakes or other types of pastries at home, I always go for scratch. It taste better. Don't get me wrong, I do use some store bought puff pastry dough and fillo dough. There just isn't enough time in the day if you don't have your own menions helping you out. 

View of my recipe from my notebook 

I have to admit I’m happy that the end of the season is coming… I can make different desserts. I look forward to making other things with seasonal produce. I can’t wait for the new produce of Spring. Hurry up Spring!!!

Happy Eating!

Little Things

A couple of months ago I had a dessert/tweet shown on a tv show called The Kitchen on Food Network. 

Screen shot of the TV w/the picture of dessert and Sunny Anderson show the Cherpumple 

I did a take on a cake that one of the chefs, Sunny Anderson, had shown on the show. She made a chocolate cake with an apple pie baked in the center. 

My version was a pecan pie baked inside the chocolate cake. I then topped the cake with a bourbon chocolate ganache and toasted pecans. I called it The Two For One.  

Two For One. Dark Chocolate cake w/a pecan pie center, topped w/bourbon chocolate ganache and toasted pecans

The tweet of that dessert became very popular. So much so that it was shown on the show that the hosts shared what other viewers of the show had done with other recipes as well. 

It was really neat/cool to see that on national tv. It's the little things. But what was fun was hearing Sunny Anderson talking about it and then hearing the other hosts vocally mmm at the description of my take on the dessert. 

Sunny then showed another dessert that she called The Cherpumple. It's a cheesecake with a pumpkin pie in the center. 

I loved how Sunny said," I see your chocolate cake and I raise you The Cherpumple." So took that as a challenge. 

I made The Presley. It's a no-bake cheesecake with a fudge insert. The Presley is an homage to Elvis Presley's favorite sandwich; a peanut butter and banana sandwich with bacon on white bread. 

So what I did was to make the cheesecake (which I made banana), and then made a peanut butter fudge for the inside. I put it all together then I fried off some bacon. I crumbled up the bacon and garnished a slice with the bacon. It all sounds like it wouldn't be good together, but surprisingly it is delicious. 

The Presley. Banana cheesecake w/peanut butter fudge center topped with pan fried bacon 

I grew up less than an hour from where Elvis Presley was born and less than hour from Graceland. Knowing that Sunny Anderson spent some of her life in the South, I figured she would appreciate this nod to Elvis.

I find pleasure in the little things. It was no more than a minute being mentioned on TV but I got mentioned. Little things. I'm still a pastry chef that looks at all things for inspiration. You will always surprise yourself on what inspires you. Happy Eating!