good ‘ol southern cooking

Breaking Bread

Lately we have been trying out some Southern dishes, just to try our hand at the cuisine, including an early creole Christmas dinner.  The most important thing I have learned is that when cooking blackened catfish, they mean it when they say to cook outside and DON’T breath in the smoke. This week we thought, why not bring some creole to Monday Night Dining??  Our trio gathered with Luke and Lindsay, for the tastes of the south.

We started the evening with Louisiana crab cakes with piquante butter sauce and pickled okra/sweet pepper relish.

Although we have already been accused of messing with our crab cake recipe, this is a nice change. The crab cakes are lightly breaded, which added a nice crunch on the outside. The spice from the sauce, combined with the tartness of the pickled Okra, balanced the dish nicely.

For our main we had a southern classic, Cajun style Jambalaya.

With chicken, shrimp and andouille sausage, this is a nice hearty mid-winter dish.  The creole spices, add a depth of flavor and a nice heat on the finish. We had extra hot sauce at the ready, but it really didn’t need it.

While the tea was brewing, we got to hear some of Lindsay’s tales from down under, especially from working on a banana plantation. Being in season, however, we cannot pause for too long, so out came the Molasse cake with sweet potato ice cream and praline sauce.

I know what you must be thinking… “sweet potato ice cream? Has Monday Night Dining gone off the rails?” Adding these sweet tubers to the ice cream base, made for a lovely flavor. Although I think next time I may not thicken the base quite as much. The molasses cake has a sweetness, but had a bit of ginger too. The praline sauce was gooey and added the crunch. The final product is a bit on par with a sticky toffee pudding, but with a southern flair. The recipe mentioned topping the cake with marshmallow and browning it but we really thought that might be overkill…

All in all, we have quite enjoyed the spicy and sweet flavours from the south.

2 thoughts on “good ‘ol southern cooking

  1. We need some of that Southern comfort on a cold, damp, foggy Toronto January Monday evening. it was truly tasty and set us up just right for choir practice ; ) See ya tomorrow night!

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