Crawfish Etouffee

To honor Mardi Gras, I decided on a crawfish étouffée. Name of the cookbook/author to come. Almost every item in this recipe already existed in my fridge or pantry. I just needed the crawfish, which I found at…Walmart! I bought a frozen bag of crawfish tails for about $8. While my crawfish run took an hour, it was still better than driving to Fredericksburg and killing 2 hours (at a minimum). Ah, life in a small town! I’ll run the full version below, but I made half the batch (but ALL the crawfish!). I did make a few tweaks. I used almond flour instead of regular flour, I used a handful of sweet red baby peppers instead of a bell pepper, I used a handful of diced grape tomatoes instead of a small tomato and Cholula hot sauce instead of Tabasco. I also...

Waffle Meatballs with a Marinara Sauce

I’m still on my WaffleIronKick™. Simply put, I’m cooking meat that will take advantage of the traditional nooks of a waffle, meant for syrup. And I’m think various sauces. And the classic sauce is a marinara. So tonight I made a waffle meatball…and the results were absolutely stunning. This is one of the best tasting meals I’ve prepared, and I’ve made a few. There are 3 parts to this recipe. 1) The Sauce. 2) The Meatballs and 3) The Additions. Each one is responsible for how well this turned out. Start with the sauce so it can meld while you do the rest. My traditional small batch sauce is: THE SAUCE:1/2 onion diced, sauteed in onion2 cloves of minced garlic, add just before the onion is done1 15 oz can of tomato sauce1...

Waffle Gyro Dinner

Gyro Waffles or…Fun with the Waffle Iron 2.0, Chicken Gyros with a tzatziki sauce sauce. This was on my mind once the waffle iron made it’s Amazon Appearance on my doorstep. This is based on a recipe I’ve been cooking for years (decades?). Normally the mixture would go on a grill, and then placed on a bun with yogurt, red bell pepper slices and katamala olives. And it is really good. Here’s the link to that. https://goodpointofview.com/2010/07/29/gyro-burgers/ But for tonight, I wanted to try a couple different things. Fresh spinach and a classic tzatziki sauce. And I also made this from half a pound of ground chicken, so I reduced the amount greatly so I had two portions of 1/4 lb chicken. But the recipe I’m about to share will be...

Waffle Chicken with a Mushroom Cream Sauce

These days I’m adding items into my kitchen to make it a perfect for a visiting couple via AirBnB who are foodies. That will be my ‘hook’. My goal is to rent out the Storybook House during the Summer months so I can travel (when the heat and humidity is much like Florida) to cooler climates. I already have a cottage booked in Ireland for this Summer. Colonial Beach offers this opportunity, as the town books solid from May through September. This was why buying the Storybook House was a no-brainer. This is a beautiful house, a short walk to the beaches and the bars…and the kitchen will be fully stocked. So this week’s addition was a waffle iron. And, of course, I had to have some fun with it right out of the gate. I just made up this...

Bourbon Sweet Corn and Smoked Trout Chowder

Wednesday night’s dinner was simply divine. On a cool winter evening, I settled down in the Storybook House’s kitchen and made a delightful Bourbon Sweet Corn and Smoked Trout Chowder. We adapted a recipe from a cookbook called The National Parks Cookbook. This recipe celebrated Grand Teton National Park. FOR CHOWDER 3 tablespoons butter 1 yellow onion, diced 2 celery stalks, diced 1 cup corn kernels, thawed if frozen 1/2 cup bourbon 2 cups chicken broth 2 cups seafood stock (see below) 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch chunks 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more as needed 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream (we used light cream) 8 ounces smoked trout, crumbled 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill, plus more for garnishing For the seafood stock: I...