Gumbo, Muffalatas, And Carmel

It is one of those unfortunate mornings where I woke up and for no good reason couldn't fall back asleep. I'll spare you the time I actually regained consciousness and just say it's far to early for me and my fish to be blogging. I actually have two fish, but they don't get along. Belle lives downstairs in the fishbowl and Bruce lives upstairs on the desk in a small aquarium. Belle is more social and comes over periodically to check out what I'm doing.

Sunday was a wonderful day as Husband and I made our favorite Gumbo. Husband is of the opion that nothing can top our three meat feast (shrimp, sausage, and pheasant). I tend to agree.

First I cook up my Roux to a lovely dark brown. I've read the best roux is very,very dark and is on the verge of burning. Of course burning the roux is not acceptable so it is a rather fine line to walk there. I would just like to take this opportunity to point out to various people that I've not yet burned a roux nor ruined a gumbo. When my roux is the perfect shade of very, very dark brown I add my holy trinity of vegetables: celery, green onion, and green pepper. Garlic is also added at this point. Over a medium/medium high heat I saute my holy trinity for a couple of minutes till slightly tender and proceed to add my liquids. I saved the water in which I cooked the pheasant so that it could have a nice flavor and then just suppliment that with water from the sink. I then move on to adding the sausage (which I had browned earlier) and the pheasant (which Husband had so graciously prepped after being cooked). Bringing it all to a simmer I add Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning, about half a bottle of Louisiana brand Hot Sauce, and about half a dozen shakes of Tabasco Sauce. Personally I don't think the Louisiana Hot Sauce is very hot but it has the taste I like, thus the Tabasco Sauce is where I add the heat. After simmering for about a half hour I add the shrimp for the last ten to fifteen minutes and serve it with a lovely green salad on the side.

It is the perfect blend of flavors and makes my mouth slightly tingly.

Monday night was Muffaleta night. I actually found this recipe at the grocery store on one of those free cards they give out with dinner ideas. It must be known that I had never actually had a muffaleta before I made these and last summer when Jessica and I tried them at a sandwich shop I was pleased to discover mine tasted the same! So I suppose I'm making them right.

1-4.75 oz jar pimento-stuffed olives, drained & chopped
1 large tomato chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T red-wine vinegar
1/2 t Italian Seasoning
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 medium size round Italian bread loaf, cut horizontally in half
Your choice of meats and cheese (salami, provolone, ham, mozzarella ect)

Mix olives, tomato, celery and garlic in a bowl. Whisk vinegar, Italian Seasoning, salt, pepper & oil in another bowl. Add to olive mixture & refrigerate for at least one hour. Pull out some of the bread from the inside of your Italian loaf (both sides). Spoon 1 cup olive mixture over bottom half of bread. Layer meats and cheese. Top with remaining olive mixture.

At this point I like to toast my sandwich laying open in the oven or my toaster oven. I like how the cheese melts and tries to hold everything together.

Now for my carmel adventure. I was really quite impressed that this is a fairly easy recipe. For some reason I thought candy making was an art only done by the most impressively trained homemakers of times past. Well we can now lay that myth to rest as I've made carmel and it doesn't taste half bad. We'll poll the audience at Grandma's tomorrow.

Grandma Alice Carmel

Heat to 245 degrees:
2 cups sugar
1/2 t salt
2 cups light karo syrup

Slowly add and then heat to 235 degrees:
1/2 cup eagle brand milk
1 t vanilla
3 cups whipping cream

Pour into buttered pan and let sit 12 hours.

I found on the second heating the carmel wanted to boil out of the pan so I would recommend using a larger pan than you would think.

Well I think that about wraps up my kitchen adventures for the week. Last night was tuna casserole but I don't think anyone wants to hear about that.

Pizza Rolls and Breakfast Casserole

Exciting! Exciting! So I work at a magical bookstore that also has a lovely bakery/lunch counter (we simply call it the Pantry), and on Saturday a couple of batches of rolls didn't turn out as light and fluffy as they were suppose to. A tragedy really.... for the customers. I ended up taking home two dozen rolls! For free! Lucky me! Thanks to the lovely girls at church we just had an activity on food storage and smart shopping; that sort of thing. There was a part in there about using up stuff and being creative. So Sunday night Husband had the brilliant idea to make little pizzas on said rolls. Isn't he brilliant!? So here is what we did:

Ingredients:
Rolls
Pizza Sauce
Cheese
Your choice of topping

Slice the rolls in half and place on cookie sheet. I prefer at this point to brush them with olive oil and boil them for a minute or so. This should crisp up the tops so the sauce won't make the rolls soggy.

After crisping your rolls, top with pizza sauce (ok I'll admit we used Hunts pasta sauce from a can).

This next part is rather controversial and has sparked many heated discussions. You do what you think is best.

Husband prefers to layer: cheese then topping
I prefer to layer: topping then cheese (I feel the cheese on top holds everything together)

Now pop back into the oven to melt cheese and pow! Pizza on a roll. Yummy good and easy.



Yummy pizza rolls only took half a dozen of two dozen rolls, so this morning I made Yummy Breakfast Casserole!

Ingredients:
Rolls (or other bread)
Sausage
Green Onions
Eggs
Milk
Salt, Pepper, dry Mustard
Cheese

Brown sausage in pan and drain. I use Jimmy Dean or Tennessee Pride brand. Cube bread and chop onions. I am a lover of vegetables so I also chop up some green peppers and celery if I have it.

Now layer two layers each of the bread, sausage, and vegetables in a baking dish. Top with shredded cheese.

Mix Eggs (I use 4 for a small baking dish and 8-10 for a large baking dish), milk (1-2 cups for 4 eggs, three cups for 8 eggs), salt, pepper, and powdered mustard.
Pour over casserole effectively making all bread soggy.
Bake at 350 for about an hour. If the top starts to brown too quickly cover with aluminum foil.



What other adventures are in store for defective rolls? I don't know for sure...Maybe a yummy chicken salad sandwich. We'll see how much time I have to make a lunch in the morning.

Sausage Dip

I kicked off my month of November by making a wonderful sausage dip. I remember this dip marking major holidays (such as Thanksgiving and Christmas). My sisters and I would eat it like it was going out of style. Still do. It's great for office parties and for get togethers.

1 package JimmyDean sausage (or similar brand)
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 package cream cheese

First brown and drain the sausage.
Add the can of Rotel tomatoes and finally add your cream cheese.
Heat until the cream cheese is melted and then enjoy with tortilla chips (we prefer the lime flavored ones).

JimmyDean sausage is best though I do use the Tennessee Pride brand (due to a budget). And Rotel tomaotes are best. This can also be kept warm in a crockpot or on the stove in a pot.

Hope you love this as much as I do!

The Chocolate Moose

The Chocolate Moose is a blog to share my kitchen adventures (...and misadventures). I really like food, good food, may I say great food. My menu for the month will include an appetizer, main dish, side, and something sweet. One dish for each week of the month. I find amazing recipes everywhere: cookbooks, word of mouth, labels, or I make what sounds good. I also love to share my discoveries and favorites. So here's to you and and best wishes in your kitchen creations.