For You Chef Paul

On October 8, 2015 Louisiana lost one of its brights culinary stars, Chef Paul Prudhomme.  This man was a legend in Creole cooking who was famous the world over for his blend of Southern and American style cuisines.  I distinctly remember watching him cook on television when I was little and thinking how cool was his hat and how odd it was that he cooked sitting down.  Now that I am older I can admire him for the amazing accomplishments he has had.  He was the first American born Executive Chef at Commander’s Palace.  He has had a successful restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, since 1979.  His brand of seasonings with his happy smiley face on the bottle can be found in all 50 states.

Today I decided to pay homage to Chef Paul by cooking one of his signature dishes, blackened fish.  Now I don’t have any fresh red fish on hand but I do have some tilapia and a jar of Chef Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning.  Before I start my cooking I thought I’d read through some words of wisdom from the chef himself with some cooking tips found on his website.

Everyday Cooking Hints from Chef Paul

1. Always use fresh ingredients when available.
2. Always start with food at nearly room temperature.
3. To get the best flavor, remove excess moisture by patting meat with a clean paper towel before seasoning or applying heat.
4. Apply oil to meat or vegetables, instead of in pan.
5. Always start with a hot pan.
6. Season and taste every step of the way.
7. Be careful to not overcook your meat, chicken, or seafood.
8. Make sure to have a good meat thermometer on hand and use it to know when meat is cooked.
9. For more flavor when making sauces or soups that contain meat: season and brown off meat, then set aside and complete sauce or soup. Then add browned-off meat and finish dish.
10. Add butter at the last moment to get the taste, but not the fat.
11. Always remember that whatever is added last to the dish will be tasted first; i.e. garlic, sesame oil, ginger, butter, etc.

Ok now that I’ve learned something its time to cook.  The recipe is simple.  Super hot cast iron skillet.  Very little butter.  Liberal sprinkling of blackening season on each side.  Keep flipping until it becomes flaky.  In theory this seems doable.  Lets see if it really is.

I watched a few YouTube videos first just to see how other people cooked it…you know just in case so I didn’t burn my house down.  Turns out lots of people put a stick of butter in their hot pans and that worked out really well for me.  It didn’t make anything greasy or soggy it was just enough so the fish didn’t stick.  Since I had thin fish it literally took a minute and a half on each side.  This was absolutely the best fish I have ever cooked.   It was moist and flakey.  The seasoning wasn’t over powering it was just enough to make a yummy curst and have lost of flavor.  Do yourself a favor and pick this stuff up!  You won’t be sorry!

 

                                             

      

Day 13: Favorite Foods

  I was sort of excited to do this one until last night.  I’m not one to toot my own horn but I can cook pretty well.  I like to take recipes and make them my own.  I like to try new things.  Well last night (after working a double at my 2nd job) I thought I’d be smart and make blackened chicken and spinach madeline.  I smoked out the kitchen with my chicken and caught my spinach on FIRE in the oven.  Not such a good food night.  So maybe PB & J sandwiches for tonight and just a fun blog about foods I like to eat and successful recipes with them.  My challenge says I have to do 10 so lets see if I can.

1.  Goat Cheese – I didn’t discover this until I was older but I LOOOOOOOVE it.  The first thing I really liked this with is the Chicken Bryan at Carabbas.  I like to make spinach and goat cheese stuffed chicken with prosciutto and breadcrumbs.  I kinda have my own recipe for this one but mine is pretty close to this.

2.  Peanut Butter – I hate peanuts but I think peanut butter is the best invention known to man.  I eat it with all sort of things…on a sandwich, on a cracker, in candy, in a smoothie, in baked goods….its just soooo yum.  My favorite way though is a really simple recipe that makes cheerio treats (  I personally like it better with frosted flakes but still good).

3. Potatoes – I probably should have put this one first.  Potatoes are to me what shrimp are to Bubba on Forest Gump.  Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Potatoes, French Fries, Tator Tots….My favorite way to eat them at this moment, which is so incredibly bad for you, is Poutine.  Potatoes with cheese and gravy, uh hello can you say delicious.

4.  Pesto – we have already established that I am a wannabe Italian.  One of my favorite flavor combinations is basil and garlic.  It doesn’t have to be in a fancy pasta it could be just a really good sandwich.  I don’t usually make my own pesto because pine nuts are majorly expensive but this is a good recipe for it.

5. Tomato Soup – like my weird peanut thing I think raw tomatoes are gross but I thoroughly enjoy cooked ones.  Tomato soup is my absolute fav.  I’ve had it from every different restaurant and tried every kind of can but the end all for me was on a trip to California to the Corner Bakery for their Roasted Tomato Soup.  I found the copy cat recipe and make it pretty often.

6. Salty Stuff – ok so there is no recipe for this but when I want to snack I never want candy or ice cream or anything like that.  I want  salt!  my favorite things to eat are pickles, olives and sour cream and onion Pringles.

7. Pineapple- this is definitely my favorite fruit.  I love just eating it from the can.  But the best way to eat pineapple is with a Dole Whip.  Here goes my Disney side again but its my favorite treat to get there.  This is a copy cat version I’ve done before that’s pretty good but nothing beats the original.

8. Broccoli – The dreaded green vegetable.  I refused to eat this when I was little like most small children but my taste  buds changed and now I can’t get enough.  I like to eat it steamed or with cheese but the best way to eat it is in alfredo pasta.  I make this at home all the time.

9. Lemon – As funny as my face looks when I eat raw lemons that is not how I like to indulge in this one.  I think a little lemon juice brightens up any dish.  I especially like to add it to seafood dishes like anything with shrimp or scallops.  I also like lemon in sweet items as well.  Lemon tarts are a treat I especially like to indulge in.

10.  Anything Made By MawMaw – For those of you not from the south Mawmaw is my grandmother.  She is the best cook on this entire planet.  She makes the best crawfish etouffee, rice and gravy, pork chops and peanut butter and syrup sandwiches.  Even chicken nuggets fried by Mawmaw are better than any I could do.

Now that I’ve officially made myself hungry I’ll head home to make dinner.  Instead of PB & J maybe I’ll do homemade beef and broccoli with fried rice.  Hopefully I don’t burn the house down.  Happy eating everyone!