Transform a pork shoulder into this simple but amazingly delicious dish with a quick sear, simple seasonings, lightly caramelized onions and a simple roux. Fantastic.

Smothered Pork Roast with Rice

This Smothered Pork Roast recipe is as simplistic as they come.  A seared pork roast, seasoned with salt and pepper, smothered in a gorgeous garlic, rosemary and thyme infused gravy, and braised in a covered Dutch oven, low and slow.  It is a heavenly way to utilize a cut of pork that is most often reserved for pulled pork sandwiches. The fragrance of it will surely bring you back to grandma's kitchen and the flavor is just simply pork perfection.

The original recipe calls for a boneless pork butt or shoulder, but I could only find a 7 pound bone-in pork shoulder, and even that just barely squeezed into my Dutch oven. The downside to using the bone-in roast is that there is less meat, but it was enough for the two of us.

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Real Cajun Cookbook Review

I asked Santa to bring me a copy of Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link's Louisiana, for Christmas this year, and what a beautiful, mouth-watering testament to The Deep South did it turn out to be. The first recipe I decided to try from it, was this simply delicious smothered pork roast, and let me tell you - if this roast doesn't drum up some memories of pork roast at grandma's house, I don't know what will.

This recipe was exactly that - a take on the very memories Chef Donald Link recalled from his own Granny's pork roast. Mine is a slightly adapted version of that recipe.

Donald Link is the chef-owner of two restaurants in New Orleans, Herbsaint and Cochon, and was awarded the James Beard Best Chef South Regional Award in 2007.  Jimmy Buffet, our own native Mississippian, said of Real Cajun,“Donald Link’s book simply makes me hungry the way I used to be around my grandmother’s kitchen down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” I couldn't agree more, because this cookbook represents real, belly warming, down to earth Cajun cooking. Reading this cookbook reminds me of what it is that is so very special about where we live.

In the introduction, Link shares with us how it was the simple things that shaped who he is as a chef, even more so than all of his formal culinary training. Fishing with his granddad, making gumbo with his granny, meals built around fresh produce that came right out of the garden, seafood fished from local waters, and wild game straight from the woods. This is our life here in The Deep South.

Link recalls how as a child every occasion revolved around food - spicy crawfish boils, crab boils, fish fries and lakeside meals out of a cast iron skillet over a campfire. Holidays, festivals, funerals, any number of occasions where a family is brought together - from birth to death - food is so central to the southern way of life and is certainly reflected in the pages of this gorgeous cookbook.

Real Cajun is a beautiful testament to The South, and particularly to simple, Cajun country cooking. With stunning photography and deliciously described and drool-worthy Louisiana Cajun recipes, you will love this book. The recipes are divided into six sections La Vie Couchon, From Louisiana Waters, Family Gatherings, All the Fixin's, Outdoor Living and Louisiana Sweet Tooth. Here's a tiny taste of what's within the covers.

Crab Cakes with Jalapeno Remoulade

Billy Boy's Crawfish Etouffee

Grilled Redfish "On the Half Shell"

Fried Chicken Livers with Hot Pepper Glaze

Super Bowl Sunday Seafood Gumbo

Old-School Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

Pan Fried Bass with Lemon and Browned Butter

Grilled Pork Ribs with Spicy Coonass BBQ Sauce

Homemade Boudin and Pork Sausage

And the recipe featured here today
Smothered Pork Roast over Rice

And a little somethin' somethin' for the sweet tooth maybe?

How 'bout Apple Pie with Buttermilk Ice Cream? Wait till you see the German Chocolate Cake. Mercy.

Real Cajun is just hands-down a beautiful cookbook with so many recipes that I want to try, including this one that has eluded me forever. Could this be the true, old fashioned, homemade cafeteria rolls? Remember them? Well, I've tried many recipes across the net that claim to be these well loved rolls, and not a single one of them have come close, so I am anxious to try Link's recipe to see if they meet the criteria from my memories. I have no doubt these will be good, but I'll let y'all know if this one, is the one.

I hope that I get to meet Donald Link some day. After devouring his cookbook front to back, I sort of already feel like kin really. Real Cajun literally had me drooling over it, page by page, laughing sometimes, shaking my head in agreement often, and a few times, even drawing a tear to my eye. If you love Cajun food you will both treasure and use this cookbook. You can purchase Real Cajun right from from the Deep South Dish store.  Buy it.  I know you'll love it.

In the meantime, do try this roast. It is to die for. And... it'll be a perfect addition to your New Year's Day menu.  LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER!!

Disclosure: I received this cookbook as a Christmas gift, however, we paid for it out of our own pockets. Neither Donald Link, or Clarkson Potter/Publishers in New York have any idea who I am. I just love the cookbook and wanted to share it with my readers. The affiliate links listed with this post, however, are from my Amazon store. A small percentage of proceeds from any purchases made through the Deep South Dish store help to financially support my work at this site.

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Black-eyed Pea Jambalaya - Deep South Hoppin' John

Our Deep South version of the low country favorite, Hoppin' John, this Black-eyed Pea Jambalaya contains bacon, ham, spicy smoked sausage, black-eyed peas and rice.

Deep South Hoppin' John

Black-eyed Pea Jambalaya is just the way we down here in The Deep South look at what most other southerners call Hoppin' John, but let me tell you. I have seen lots of folks, from magazines to big bloggers, being scolded by Hoppin' John purists all around the internet here lately for incorrectly referring to a dish of black-eyed peas as Hoppin' John. Yes, and that includes not so big little ole me for my reference to "Hoppin' John, Kinda," and those of the rest of you who also like eating black-eyed peas spooned over rice.

Anyway, while I think that what really defines a dish as Hoppin' John as simply one that includes black-eyed peas, some kind of pork - generally in the form of sausage and ham - and rice, many say if that rice isn't cooked in with the black-eyed peas, it's not Hoppin' John.

Black eyed peas have been around for a long time, of course, and well before we adopted them and made them a New Year's tradition in The South, and there are many versions of how the name "Hopping John" came to be. I like the one that says it was named by Confederate soldiers who observed the way the peas popped up and down in the kettle while they were boiling. "Hehehe, now, lookie thar, how them thar peas er jus' a hoppin' John."  Yeah. I can totally see that!

So, while I prefer my black-eye peas served over the rice, in the same manner as say, red beans and rice, or butter beans, we also do cook them Hoppin' John style, only, in this part of The Deep South, we generally call that jambalaya. So here it is, our Deep South version of the low country favorite, Hoppin' John, or what we call Black-eyed Pea Jambalaya.  While my preference for the new year is black-eyed peas spooned over steaming hot rice, I gotta say... this jambalaya is pretty darned good.

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A great cold weather soup, this delicious beans and greens soup starts with a chicken base and includes both black-eyed peas and collard or turnip greens.

Greens and Black Eyed Pea Soup

This super quick and easy recipe for Greens and Black-eyed Pea Soup is a basic take on good ole beans and greens, but in a soup form. You can use either collard greens or turnip greens and it won't matter a bit.

I developed this soup from a simple inventory of my pantry, and a need to get something warming into my frozen bones thanks to this long hanging southern chill from Mama Nature. I used canned collards because that's what I had left in the pantry and with a few cans of black-eyed peas in there too, this soup seemed fitting for the week of the new year.

Since I decided to go with all canned products, and utilize their liquids, there is already plenty of sodium included within the recipe itself, so there is purposely no added salt. If you use lower sodium products due to a sodium restricted diet, you'll want to drain and rinse the canned items and then taste and adjust any added seasoning you use to taste. As always, add a little, taste and adjust.

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A mixture of long grain rice, Louisiana crawfish tails, cream soups, bell pepper and spicy seasonings brings this rice dressing to life.

Crawfish Rice Dressing

I recently had the chance to give Cajun Country Rice a try and they provided me with a Crawfish Rice Dressing recipe that sounded too good to pass up. A recipe that has been handed down from mother to daughter, it was absolutely delicious and would make a fantastic addition to any holiday, including your New Year's Eve party menu.

Super easy too. I just mixed together the soups and seasonings, then added in the raw, uncooked rice.

Once that is mixed together well, then carefully fold in the seafood. I used a pound bag of frozen Louisiana crawfish and a full pound of claw crabmeat.

Click Here to Read More & to Get Recipe »

A fantastic and tasty sweet breakfast casserole that you throw together the night before and then just slide into the oven.

Overnight Baked French Toast Casserole

Overnight French Toast Casserole is one way to get a delicious and well loved breakfast favorite prepared for a crowd and quickly on Christmas morning or New Year's Day. Those are two of the rare occasions where I can actually manage to remember to prep a breakfast casserole the night before.

Put it together the night before, pop it in the oven the next morning, and it's ready in about 45 minutes - just enough time to let everybody rip into their Christmas gifts, or to tame that morning after headache with a dose or two of caffeine while waiting on breakfast on New Years Day.

Managed to forget to put this together the night before? I totally understand, trust me.  But, if you get up early enough, and if you have young children waiting on Santa, you will... you can still throw this together and let it rest in the fridge for just a few hours with great results.  If you love Pain Perdu or good ole basic French toast from sliced bread, I think you'll enjoy this oven version. It has all of the typical flavor you find in your pan-fried version, except in an easy oven casserole form that you can stick in the oven and enjoy the festivities without any tending. Here's how to make it.

Click Here to Read More & to Get Recipe »

Cajun Potato Salad made from potatoes boiled in crab boil, the fabulous Trinity trio of vegetables, a flaky Creole seasoning, spicy mustard, southern Chow Chow & what else but bacon!

Cajun Potato Salad

From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
Published: December 23, 2010

What is Cajun Potato Salad?  There is no real definition for it that I can find, and in fact, most people just make a typical southern style potato salad, add a bit of spicy mustard and Cajun or Creole seasoning, and call that Cajun Potato Salad.  Well, I decided I needed to remedy this!

Since we love our shrimp and crab boils down here in The Deep South, and one of the usual add-ins at any boil is gonna be little new potatoes, I thought why not add some liquid crab boil into the water to boil potatoes for a potato salad?  Then I figured a good next step for a Cajun potato salad would be to include, not just the typical onion and celery, but the full out Holy Trinity of Cooking - so, onion, celery and sweet, green bell pepper it is!

Then I thought after tossing the potatoes with the usual salt and pepper, a nice, big and flaky Creole seasoning like Zatarain's Big & Zesty Original Creole seasoning would be the best way to go. That would give it the Cajun flavors, but would let the seasonings contrast against the whiteness of the potato salad and make for a nice presentation.

Of course, like any good southern potato salad, we would need the usual mayo dressing, but instead of regular yellow mustard, it should definitely be a spicy mustard, so I used some Zatarain's Creole mustard instead of yellow. Now, some people like a little potato salad with their mustard. Not that there's a thing wrong with that, it's just that while I do like a little bit of mustard in my potato salad, I am not one of those people. If you are, that's perfectly fine with me! Just use the amount and types of mustard you like. I just used the spicy Creole mustard, and no yellow at all, but combine the two if you like.

The typical pickle add-in to potato salad, was replaced here with an overflowing spoonful of Chow Chow, a southern relish. The one I used was purchased locally at Nature's Bounty, and is made of cabbage, onion, jalapeno peppers, and is in a nice vinegary sweet syrup. If you don't have access to Chow Chow, just use your favorite pickles, sweet or dill, or pickle relish, whatever your preference.

Even though the ritual of le boucherie is not as predominant in these modern times, pork will always be king in The Deep South, so to be Cajun Potato Salad this must absolutely contain pig in some form. I decided on bacon, but I wanted to feature it as a contrasting texture. Rather than combining it into the potato salad, I decided to utilize it as a garnish. When you are ready to serve the potato salad, sprinkle the top very lightly with a bit of additional Cajun/Creole seasoning, and garnish with the crumbled bacon and a scattering of sliced green onion. Perfect!

So, right or wrong, this was the makings of what I consider to be a Cajun Potato Salad! I gotta tell y'all - I really didn't know how I would like the green pepper in potato salad, but it worked, and between the crab boil and the seasonings, there is just enough of a Cajun kick to this potato salad, that it leaves that nice little happy tingle on the lips. Now that's what I'm talking about.

While I realize some of you won't have the same access to the exact products I tested with, certainly if you have better access to different products, make appropriate substitutions. Enjoy! 

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Cajun Potato Salad 
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

3 slices bacon, cooked crisp and chopped,
   set aside for garnish
3 pounds of potatoes
3 large eggs
2 large pinches of kosher salt for the water pot
1 tablespoon of liquid crab boil
Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon of big flake Cajun/Creole seasoning,
   or to taste, plus extra for garnish (see note)
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/4 cup of chopped celery
1/2 cup of chopped, green pepper
1 cup of real mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of spicy mustard, or to taste
1 tablespoon of Chow Chow relish, optional
1 green onion, sliced, for garnish

Cook bacon to crisp; set aside.  Rinse and scrub potatoes, peel and cut into cubes or chunks.  Place into a pot of fresh water and cover with twice as much water; tuck the eggs down into the potatoes to cushion them; bring to a boil. Add a couple of generous pinches of kosher salt and the crab boil, and boil just until the potatoes are tender - time will depend on the type and size of the potato, but don't overcook. Test by piercing with a sharp knife. Drain potatoes well and set aside to cool. Remove eggs and plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking process.

Once cooled, transfer the potatoes to a serving bowl and sprinkle with salt, pepper and Cajun or Creole seasoning, to taste; gently toss. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper. Peel and chop the eggs and add to the potatoes; gently toss.  Combine mayonnaise, mustard, and relish.  Pour over potatoes and gently toss.  If not serving immediately, cover and refrigerate to allow flavors to blend.  Just before serving, sprinkle the top very lightly with additional Cajun/Creole seasoning.  Finely chop the cooked bacon and garnish the top of the potato salad with the bacon and the sliced green onion.

Note:  Substitute any type chopped pickle for the Chow Chow if desired. I used Zatarain's liquid shrimp and crab boil, Zatarain's Creole mustard and Zatarain's Big & Zesty Original Creole seasoning. I thought that the larger flake of the Big & Zesty would let the seasonings show through better on the potatoes and make for a nice presentation. If you substitute a more finely ground Cajun or Creole seasoning than the Big & Zesty, keep in mind you will probably need less, so take that into consideration when seasoning. Use less, taste and then adjust.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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Southern Style Potato Salad
Cold Baked Potato Salad
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A fantastic custard dessert sauce, perfect for a wide variety of cakes, assorted fruit, or as a dressing for fruit salad.

Old Fashioned Custard Cream Sauce

This old fashioned sauce is perfect for cakes and fruit. Just drizzle it on fresh fruit, cakes, or stir it into fruit salad. This is really just my Old Fashioned Drinking Custard recipe, with a few minor changes for thickening. Try it drizzled on pound cake.

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Grandma's Old Fashioned Boiled Custard Recipe and Eggnog Base

An old heirloom recipe, Old Fashioned Boiled "Drinking" Custard, was once used regularly as a simple drink meant to sooth the sick. It's a rich and creamy beverage, just like Grandma used to make, delicious anytime and an excellent base for homemade eggnog.

Old Fashioned Drinking Custard

Looking for the best eggnog recipe? Well, look no further than old fashioned boiled custard, because that is the beginnings of a most excellent eggnog.  I'm pretty sure that boiled custard, or "drinking" custard as it was once commonly referred to, is decidedly southern. Not only is it a traditional drink in The South for the holidays, but it was often used to comfort those in the sick bed. I do know one thing for sure, we southerners absolutely do love our custards, and we love them in many forms.

Homemade custard in banana pudding is simply to die for, but I love a good old fashioned custard pie or a simple baked custard myself. Boiled custard is an old timey recipe that you really don't hear much about anymore, but when Mike, one of our Facebook readers brought it up, I knew it was time it found a home here. Essentially, boiled custard is simply the base for eggnog, but minus the alcohol.

Calling it a "boiled" custard is really a misnomer though, since you don't ever want a custard to boil, but rather to cook slowly. It's a very basic cooked custard really, similar to homemade custard for banana pudding, only thinner, but using the same procedure with a double boiler, and frequent, near constant stirring. You'll know that the custard is ready when it coats the back of a spoon and you can drag your finger through the middle, leaving a path. Since it's a drinking custard we strain it for creamy perfection. I use cheesecloth over a kitchen sieve.

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Original Magic Bar Recipe - 7 Layer Bars with Variations

If you Google looking for 7 Layer Bar recipes, most of what you will find are bars listing these five basic layers (though many do add another layer of butterscotch chips) yet they all seem to count the graham crackers and butter as individual layers.  Some recipes do melt the butter, and then simply pour the graham crackers on top, rather than mixing and pressing them in, so I guess that's one way to consider them separate layers. Others layer the bars differently, adding the coconut right on top of the graham crackers, then the chips, some the chips and then the coconut, and pouring the sweetened condensed cream on the very top. I really don't think that the order of the layers much matters to be honest.

At any rate, this recipe is the one that I believe to be the original Magic Bar recipe, of which that 7 Layer Bar recipe was apparently birthed. Far as I know, the bars made their debut as Magic Bars on the Eagle brand condensed milk label sometime in the early 1960s, so it is another retro recipe that has been around for many years and has definitely become a holiday tradition.

No matter how you layer them, a graham cracker and butter crust makes the first layer, topped with sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, or a mixture of butterscotch and chocolate chips, a layer of coconut, finished off with pecans, and then baked. Truly, anything after that is just lagniappe for a bar that is already just dreamy.

I found that a lot of people know these Hello Dollies, a name that appears to have come from a 1965 magazine called "The Week" that featured a recipe submitted by young 11-year old Alecia Leigh Couch of Dallas, Texas, called Hello Dolly Cake, that contained these same basic five ingredients. Alecia said that the recipe was from her grandma, though it appears that an Oklahoma newspaper had earlier that same year, already published Hello dolly Cookies, with similar ingredients.1

The recipe is also known by a number of other names beside 7-Layer Bars, including 7-Layer Cookies, Chewy Delights, Chocolate Graham Squares, Graham Chips Squares, Washington Cookies, and of course, Magic Bars, and carries a multitude of variations now.  I so wanted to make the white chocolate variation show below for Christmas, but I figured I'd better get the basic version up first.

What variations do you love?

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Original Magic Bars - 7 Layer Bars
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

1-1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs (about 8 planks)
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, melted
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
   (NOT evaporated milk)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips*
1-1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Press crumb mixture firmly on bottom of 13×9-inch baking pan.

Pour condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with remaining ingredients; press down firmly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Run a knife around the edge of the pan while still warm to loosen.  Cool on a wire rack. Chill if desired to speed up firming. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

*7 Layer Bars - Hello Dollies Variation:  What makes these 7-Layer Bars and I "think" what sets apart Hello Dollies from regular Magic Bars, is the addition of 1 cup of butterscotch chips along with the 1 cup of chocolate chips. All other ingredients are the same, though in some recipes, I have noticed that the graham cracker crumbs and the coconut are reduced.  Peanut butter flavored chips or white chocolate chips may be substituted for butterscotch flavored chips.

Variations:  Add 1 cup butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, or a mixture; add 1 cup dried cranberries; substitute 2 cups chocolate covered peanuts for the chocolate chips and chopped nuts; substitute 2 cups plain M&Ms for the semisweet chocolate chips.

Great holiday idea!!  Use only white chocolate chips (NO semi-sweet ones), then thin some raspberry jam and drizzle it over the bars after baking.  ~Thanks, Marna - great idea!!

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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1Source: The Big Apple

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Old Timey Rum Balls or Bourbon Balls

Rum balls have been a traditional southern holiday favorite for many years. I use 1/4 cup of rum, and bourbon can also be substituted, but use what you like.

Old Timey Rum Balls

Old timey bourbon or rum balls have been a holiday favorite here in The Deep South for as long as I can remember, and this is the basic recipe, with a few coatings and add-in variations. While I know that cake balls and cookie truffles are all the rage these days, to me these are the original title holder since the 1960s.

Best I remember, my Mama used to make these pretty strong to where you could near about feel your head spinning when you bit into one of them. Course, even though she may have teasingly slapped that hand away, saying "those aren't for kids," that also pretty much kept you from sneaking too many of them!

Adjust the liquor to your own tastes. One-quarter cup of rum is plenty strong for me, though some would disagree. At any rate, despite the fact that my mother's generation may have turned a blind eye to us sneaking a few of these, you should keep these reserved for adult parties to avoid underage sneaking. These cookie balls are also delicious without alcohol too of course. Simply add a bit of vanilla extract for flavoring and enough water to draw the dough together.

Finish the balls by rolling them in sifted powdered sugar, a mixture of sifted powdered sugar with cocoa, very finely minced pecans or walnuts, finely crushed Nilla wafers, coconut, or dip them in melted chocolate or almond bark.  If you dip them, decorate the tops with a white chocolate or vanilla almond bark drizzle for a pretty finish.

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Cajun rice dressing, or dirty rice, is a rice based mixture often served during the holidays. A roux is what sets the two apart in my recipe box. Read on to see how to make this a Cajun Farre dressing for sandwiches!

Cajun Rice Dressing

This Cajun Rice Dressing is essentially a dirty rice recipe, jazzed up a bit with a small roux for the holidays, where it often makes an appearance both stuffed into some kind of bird or beef, or just simply as a side dish. While I intended to make this dish for the blog anyway, instead of chopping the giblets or leaving them out altogether, I wondered if I finely minced them with the food processor instead, could I pull this off and get The Cajun to at least taste it.

Well sure enough, it worked! Not only did he eat it, but he went back for more. I know - don't judge. The man often has nothing but a mental aversion to things when he knows what they are, but will often try something not knowing what is in it, only to love it!  Course if you are totally opposed yourself, you could certainly substitute in a few links of raw sausage, like fresh, un-smoked andouille, or boudin instead, though any raw sausage will do.

I decided to use the Zatarain's Big & Zesty Creole seasoning here, for the bigger flakes, instead of my usual Slap Ya Mama, but use whatever is your own favorite. If you are using something like Slap Ya Mama, or some other more finely ground Cajun or Creole seasoning, you will probably want to tone it down from that full tablespoon though. As always, add a little first, then taste and adjust.

If you use a spicy raw sausage, absolutely taste before adding any Cajun/Creole seasoning, or you may risk over seasoning it.  Canned mushroom steak sauce, like Giorgio Dawn Fresh brand, is an excellent compliment for rice dressing, though cream of mushroom soup is a perfectly acceptable substitute if you can't find it.

Click Here to Read More & to Get Recipe »

Old Fashioned Baked Custard

I had a taste for some old fashioned baked custard the other day.  Whether it was the freezing weather prompting the simple warmth of the hot custard itself, or because I hadn't been eating enough eggs lately, the craving was very specific. I wanted this delicious, heart warming custard.

Course, I really don't need a strong craving for me to enjoy custard - either straight from the oven like this, in the old fashioned simplicity of a custard pie, or in the form of the creamy homemade custard in my banana pudding - I have always adored this pure mix of egg, milk and sugar. My favorite way is simple, unadorned and piping hot from the oven, but this time I decided to make it with some toasted coconut. It was excellent, but if you don't like coconut, it'd be equally wonderful even without it.

A slow gentle heat is best here for cooking the custard, so use a nice water bath to bake them in, or a Bain-Marie (bahn-mah-REE) if you wanna get all fancy. That simply means cooking one container, the ramekins, in a larger container, the baking dish, surrounded by hot water. Egg proteins can be rather sensitive, so a slow gentle heat provided by the cushion of hot water will keep them nice and smooth and will help prevent curdling.

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Old Fashioned Baked Custard
   with Coconut
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

2-1/2 cups very hot milk
1/3 cup of sweetened coconut, toasted and divided
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Whole nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter six small ramekins; set aside. Heat up enough water to fill a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish halfway. Heat milk to near boiling in the microwave or on the stovetop; set aside. Toast the coconut in a skillet; set aside to cool. Reserve one tablespoon of the coconut for garnish.

Whisk the eggs; beat in the sugar a little at a time. Add the salt and slowly beat in the hot milk, a little at a time, so as not to scramble the eggs. Add the vanilla and all but one tablespoon of coconut. Pour evenly into six small ramekins. Sprinkle tops of each ramekin with a fresh grating of nutmeg.

Set the ramekins in the baking dish, and slowly pour the hot water around them, up to just under the rims, taking care not to allow the water to come up over the tops.

Bake at 325 degrees F, for about 45 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven slowly to avoid splashing water into the ramekins and using an oven mitt, carefully remove each ramekin from the water. Sprinkle the reserved coconut over the top of each custard as a garnish. Let cool; can be served warm or cold.

Makes 4 to 6, depending on the size ramekins used.

Note: The coconut can be omitted for a simple egg custard.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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A cup of hot chocolate, spiked with Kahlua if you like, and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne.

Spiked and Spiced Hot Chocolate

This Spiked and Spiced Hot Chocolate came about thanks to the frigid cold weather that moved into most of the eastern part of this country last weekend, including the deepest of The Deep South, and my apparent need to warm up from the inside out. It was bone-chilling cold for this southern gal, and although I was wearing two pairs of sweats, two long sleeved shirts, socks and slippers, and had the central heat going, none of it seemed to help at all. It was definitely a hot chocolate kind of night, and we have another couple of those heading in tonight for the weekend. Just in time for that last minute Christmas shopping, brrrr!

I love hot chocolate and when I want it, I usually break out a saucepan and make the good ole familiar and well loved, old fashioned Hershey's cocoa recipe that many of us have been making all of our lives. This time, there on the counter sat these inviting packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips waiting for holiday treats, and just begging for a feature spot in a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

I also had those nice roasted McCormick spices in the cabinet from our BlogHer Food swag, so I thought why not spice things up a bit too? And of course, why not a little pinch of cayenne pepper to help boost up the good ole circulation while we are at it?  What resulted was a delicious blend of spicy flavor, all of which complimented the chocolaty goodness. I probably used somewhere in the middle of 1/8 and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne and it was a very nice, healthy lip tinglier.  Feeling adventurous? Go ahead and stir in a bit of Kahlua.  Give it a try!

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Fresh garden corn milked right off the cob combined with fresh tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, garlic and jalapenos, make a fabulous popular Deep South dish all on it's own, but add in a little chicken, serve over rice and you've got a great main dish meal.

Chicken Maque Choux

Maque Choux, a dish that is said to have been passed down to the Cajuns by Native Americans, is a traditional south Louisiana dish. Sort of a smothered corn and tomato stew, and sometimes, as in this case, made with chicken. Maque Choux is perfectly good all on its own of course, making a great side dish for anytime, but I also love adding in chicken - which usually comes from a chicken that I have poached or roasted and stripped and then used the stock.  This is also another great dish to add to the list of what to do with a deli rotisserie chicken when you're in a time crunch.

Maque choux (pronounced mock-shoe) like many southern dishes, had to have been born out of what was in season and needing to be used up from the garden - fresh tomatoes and corn being the key components. Course we are pretty much out of that season down here at the moment, but don't fret. While in this modern day it's possible to find both even in the midst of winter, it is also perfectly acceptable to use canned and frozen products for a pretty darned good maque choux.

You start off with a saute of some onion, bell pepper and garlic. Some folks like to add in celery too. Then you stir in some fresh, chopped tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. If you like, add in a bit of chopped jalapeno. You can also substitute two cans of drained, diced tomatoes, one of them preferably Rotel, if you like.

Add the corn {and the milk from scraping the corn when you use fresh corn on the cob}, and a little sugar. Add in about half of the broth, or use the stock from the chicken if you poached one. Give it all a stir, bring it just up to a boil and then let that simmer about 15 minutes. To substitute, use two cans of whole kernel plus one can of cream style corn, or two small packages of frozen, and simmer for less time.

Stir in the additional chicken broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, if it begins to get too dry. Some people use a great deal of butter, and often cream in this dish, but I like the flavor of the added chicken stock. You can certainly substitute additional butter, and milk or cream for part of the stock, especially if you are using canned or frozen corn.

Fold in the cooked chicken, Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper, and simmer covered until warmed through, another 10 minutes or so. Stir in a bit of cream at the end if desired...

...and you've got one pretty darned good and hearty stew.

Corn Maque Choux and Chicken Maque Choux are traditionally served atop a bed of hot, steaming rice. Eh, what's a few more carbs, right?  Enjoy!

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Recipe: Cajun Chicken Maque Choux

From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

Prep time: 10 min |Cook time: 30 min |

Yield: About 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients:

3-4 cups of cooked chicken , torn into bite sized pieces
3 tablespoons of butter
1-1/2 cups of chopped onion
1 cup of chopped green bell pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2large tomatoes, chopped*
2 tablespoons of sliced pickled jalapenos, chopped
2-1/2 cups of chicken broth or stock
8 ears of corn, stripped and cobs milked*
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon of Slap Ya Mama, or your
   favorite Cajun/Creole seasoning, or to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup of heavy cream, optional
Hot boiled rice

Instructions:

Heat the butter in a Dutch oven or soup pot and saute the onion, and bell pepper until soft, but not brown. Add the garlic and saute another minute.  Add the tomatoes and jalapenos; cook and stir about 5 minutes. Add half of the chicken broth, corn and the sugar, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring several times. Add additional broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, as needed, if stew gets dry. Fold in the cooked chicken, Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper, and simmer covered until warmed through, another 10 minutes or so. Stir in cream, if desired, in the last few minutes of cooking.  Serve alone, or over fresh boiled rice.

Variation:  To make this corn maque choux, omit the chicken and, if desired, substitute 1/4 pound of chopped tasso, smoked sausage, or bacon, if desired. Cook the bacon or sear the meat first, and remove before sauteing the vegetables. Add back in with the broth.

Note:  When fresh corn and tomatoes are not in season, you can substitute. Substitute 2 cans of diced tomatoes, drained, and use 2 cans of whole kernel corn, drained, with 1 can of cream style corn, or about two 10-ounce packages of frozen corn. Overall, you'll need roughly 4 cups of canned or frozen corn, and you won't need to simmer it as long. Also, can substitute more cream or whole milk for part of the broth, if desired, especially when not using fresh corn on the cob.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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Posted by Mary on December 17, 2010

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