Yum!!!
We’ve been making classic (andouille and chicken) gumbo for our new Christmas tradition for a few years now. It is amazing, the flavor that builds from a good, slow roux. (We joke that we “roux the day” that we make our big batch.)
We learned our recipe from the New Orleans School of Cooking. Mwah.
If you like cooking and find yourself in NoLa, it’s a very fun way to spend part of a day. We learned gumbo, jambalaya, pralines and bread pudding and a ton of culinary history of the area. You don’t actually do the cooking, but have a good view, can take notes and drink beer if you want, and get to try everything, and leave with a pile of annotated recipes.
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Roux can be made in the oven, BTW. It takes just as long (and is possibly more wasteful energy-wise), but you don’t have to stand there stirring the whole time.
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oh, but I like to stand and stir! makes me feel all “chef-ly”, like I know what I’m doing or something (ha! as if!).
my job, way back when, had me in NOLA back in the early 80s. learned a thing or two and picked up some tricks in the kitchen, but mostly forgotten until I pick up some ingredients and think, “oh yeah!”
BTW, how are you with boudin balls? I like them and there is a carneceria not too far that sells a decent boudin (and the andouille is excellent!). fun to make if you can get the sausages.
that place also has gator tail for sauce piquant, but that is another chapter in this story.
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Boudin is one of those foods I generally leave to the pros. The real stuff involves some less common organ meats. I love it, but I don’t make it.
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Basil! I love that stuff. I brought some home from the farmers market and let one sprout in water and stuck it in a pot. Fingers crossed.
Yeah, probably too late in the season. If you think there are seasons in San Francisco.
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I do use pumpkin flesh but the real treat for me is washing the seeds and roasting them in oil, salt, and chilli flakes.
That I love and it’s great on top of spicy pumpkin soup. With nasturtium flowers if you are feeling showy.
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You’re really someone from Styria pretending to be Irish when online, and I claim my € 5.919.
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I don’t even understand that!
Nasturtium was apparently a staple in the old days. The leaves were used before cabbage though I don’t know if the green seeds were pickled to make fake capers. I’d like to think they were but really there is very little known about old cuisine here.
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Styria is pumpkin central (at least for Austria) and they think the unthinkable when finding new ways of using gourds in the kitchen.
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Don’t wash them! Just roast the seeds and innards all together. The non-seed stuff toasts and adds delicious somewhat-naturally-sweet toasted flavor.
Saves time and trouble, AND makes it even more tasty, IMO.
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Thank you! Very good call.
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I should add that I don’t use any oil—so I’m not sure how oil might affect the toasting of the non-seed stuff.
I just spread the innards/seeds out in a big glob on a glass pie plate, sprinkle with salt, and put it in the microwave, where I can watch it carefully. The salt sticks to the soft stuff, not so much to the seeds. I stop to stir and break it apart a few times as it toasts. And yes, it does toast. When done, the formerly-soft stuff is dry and browned, and will break up into small flakes. Some of it sticks to the seeds themselves.
It’s maybe not as pretty as clean-washed seeds can be, but oh, so much more flavorful 
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I will second this. I’ve never used the microwave, but roasting the innards along with the seeds lends a yummy slightly sweet umami to the seeds themselves. I drizzle with a touch of oil. Mmmm. Going to do this this weekend.
Bonus: if I’m feeling lazy and think I need to wash the seeds, sometimes I’ll just chuck them instead of going through the bother. But knowing it comes out good either way means I don’t throw them away.
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temps and humidity here in the way, way south have finally become pleasant enough to fire up the grill and eat out on the porch.
today’s grill-up is a favorite for me and the mum: mahi (dorado), spiny lobsters, asparagus and late season squash from the farmers market.
kinda pretty, so I will share:
the mahi are still biting out over the Islamorada Humps and this has been a very good year for spinies. this is the season I live for!
edit tyop.
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That looks delicious!
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But he can’t be from Styria! No mention of pumpkin seed oil!
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