A quicker, off-season version of Crawfish Bisque made using frozen pureed and whole Louisiana crawfish tails, commercial seafood or chicken stock, the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery), tomatoes, corn and Cajun seasonings.

Shortcut Crawfish Corn Bisque

Bisque is a soup. A fairly thick, generally smooth and creamy soup, made from seafood, though often fully pureed to intensify the flavors, leaving no recognized ingredients behind, except perhaps of a garnish. Seafood is precious, even down here on the Gulf Coast where it is abundant, so I prefer not to puree all of it, but rather to use a fairly rough puree to add body to the soup, but also keep some pieces whole, along with the trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery) for texture and appearance.

For a classic Cajun-style Louisiana crawfish bisque, you would first have a big crawfish boil, then pick enough meat from those freshly boiled crawfish, reserving the crawfish shells and claws to prepare a simple stock. The bodies would be cleaned well and then stuffed with a seafood bread stuffing that will be added to the bisque before serving.

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Cake Recipe Roundup

A collection of cake recipes from Deep South Dish blog!

If you make these or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

Yum

Typically southern food blogs and recipe books will provide you with lots of dessert recipes. Sometimes more sweets than anything else and even cookbooks dedicated solely to them. We do love our sweets in the south!

Personally, I am not a huge sweets person. Oh, don't get me wrong! I love something sweet on occasion as much as the next person, but you may have noticed there is a lot more savory than there is sweet in the pages of this blog.

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An easy, snack-sized chocolate cake, made with cocoa and chocolate chips and a smear of caramel sauce, poked into the warm cake, then finished with a powdered sugar icing drizzle.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Caramel Poke Cake

I'm not a huge sweets person. You've probably noticed that since there's a lot more savory, salty things on this recipe blog than there are sweets. Just like anybody else though, I love something sweet once in awhile and pretty much any kind of cake is right at the top of my list.

Although I do have a few layer cakes I've done over the years, I'm really not a baker. Mostly they're not very pretty, though they're certainly tasty! The cakes I make most often are simple pan cakes, bundt cakes, or smaller, snack-sized versions, rather than tall, multi-layered cakes. I'm not a big fan of super sweet icings on any cake either, and the truth is, I usually scrape it off! I know. Kind of cake blasphemy isn't it? Most frostings are just too sweet to me.

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Roasted Shrimp

Jumbo shrimp, tossed in a seasoned olive oil mix and oven roasted.

Well, now... we had a tad bit chilly start to the day here in the Deep South this morning and today temperatures were in the low 70s, instead of the 90s - finally! Perfect opportunity to turn on the oven to try some roasted shrimp.

Just as with vegetables, roasting really intensifies and brings out the natural flavor in shrimp and they're perfect to use anywhere you would use a pan-sauteed shrimp, or even to just eat as is, with a nice side salad, or a veggie and some bread.

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Nicely seasoned, thin cut, bone-in breakfast pork chops, and simply pan fried. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Homestyle Breakfast Pork Chops

While chicken and seafood are pretty common on our table, I have to say, pork is one of my favorite meats, and you can't beat a good thin cut pork chop for a quick meal.

They're referred to as breakfast chops because they are super thin, taking only a very short cooking time. This means they can get on the table fast, even faster than most typical pork sides like ham steaks, sausage and bacon. I would venture to say that they're likely just as often served for supper. Great either way!

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A simple and easy side dish casserole made with diced yellow squash, bacon, small shrimp and corn.

Squash Casserole with Shrimp and Corn

Yeah, yeah, I know... everybody is all about pumpkins, soups, stews and fall dishes right now, but I'm still working on end of summer amid these nearly 100 degree days we're still having along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. That hasn't stopped me from making fall favorites like chicken and dumplings, shortcut shrimp etouffee and Cajun-style chicken and andouille gumbo, because I've fixed all of those the last couple of weeks!

This recipe involves the use of yellow straightneck or crookneck squash, a veggie once relegated strictly to the summer months, but now available slap dab in the middle of winter these days. I admit, it's nice but I can't quite get used to that, although you still can't beat the flavor of one that's plucked right out of your backyard.

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An easy and flavorful skillet ragu made with sweet or hot Italian sausage, a mirepoix of veggies in a light broth and tomato base with pasta.

Sweet Sausage Ragu - Ragù Di Carne

I have been cutting back on expenses this past year. We rarely go out or do social events outside of family events anymore - been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. We don't even eat out much, so home entertainment and wireless services were the first two to get trimmed back.

Since ditching expensive satellite television, I've been watching a lot of antenna TV. It's not completely reliable though, so I did eventually enroll in a streaming service, of which there are many to choose from these days. Far less expensive, I have found that I actually like that far better than cable or satellite. Unfortunately though, when we ditched our expensive cell service, we also lost our unlimited internet, so I had to start budgeting the streaming time.

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Summer Vegetable Gumbo - Garden in a Pot. A mix of summer's best veggies like sweet onion, fresh corn, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, green beans, sweet bell pepper and okra, a perfect dish for the veggie lovers!

Summer Vegetable Gumbo - Garden in a Pot

Let's have a last hurrah for summer y'all! We are finally at the end of it this Friday, well, at least according to the calendar. There won't be any fall-like temperatures showing up here in the Deep South for awhile yet even then. In fact, the past two days there has been a heat index advisory of 110 degrees. Hey, the good news is this dish can be served hot, warm or at room temperature!

I love vegetables, and this stew is loaded with the summer vegetables I love. Other than just a general vegetable stew, I actually wasn't quite sure what I wanted to call this recipe when it was all said and done, but when I opened the stored container to heat up a serving the next day, and the aroma immediately spoke gumbo to me, so that's what I settled on. While there's no roux, okra acts as a thickener and with a sprinkle of filé powder at the end, qualifies it I suppose.

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A mixture of fresh and imitation crab, veggies and a homemade ranch style dressing, perfect for a sandwich, snacking or stuffed into a tomato or avocado half.

Crab Salad

This salad has been a favorite for me many years, and you may remember something similar called the Seafood Sensation Salad from Subway, where you could get it on a sub or in a salad. I used to get them for lunch in my corporate working days, loaded up with vegetables. While mostly removed from their menu, I think you can still find it at Subway in some markets, and you will probably find some version at your local grocery store deli.

Now... I realize that some of y'all are gonna get mad at me, because while ingredients vary, this salad has always been made with imitation crab or in combination with imitation lobster. Relax a bit.

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Fresh green beans, quickly skillet blanched, then stir fried with sweet onion, garlic, a hint of brown sugar and herbs.

Skillet Green Beans

I love green beans. They're easy to grow, but even if you don't grow them, they're readily available and reasonable, and you can even buy them in the middle of winter these days. It's one of the few vegetables The Cajun will eat, so we eat them in one form or another pretty often.

As to cooking them, let's face the truth here. If you are from the south, you, probably, like me, aren't super fond of crispy green beans, unless, of course they are battered and fried. You, like me, likely rather love the slow-stewed green beans that cook down forever.

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