Hungry for Louisiana – Hungry for Louisiana

Crawfish, Interviews with expats, Louisiana, LSU

Painting Houston in purple and gold

Earlier this month, the LSU Houston Alumni Association held an event that speaks volumes about the long arm of Louisiana’s culinary culture. The group met at the Firehouse Saloon to savor 3,100 pounds of boiled crawfish provided by the Boil House at what has become a major fundraiser for LSU. It’s the chapter’s biggest gathering of the year, says President Lisa Bunch, a Slidell native (BS, Psychology) who moved to Houston for work in 1998.

With about 650 members, LSU Houston is one of the most active alumni chapters across the country. As part of my interview series with Louisiana expats, I checked in with Lisa about the Bayou State’s gravitational pull — a theme in my book, Hungry for Louisiana, An Omnivore’s Journey. We talked about what it means when members of Tiger Nation get together to carry out the rituals of home, whether it’s to watch a game or belly up to a pile of crawfish.

Easy, Fruit, Healthy, Local, Louisiana, Strawberries

Strawberry salsa bursts with spring flavor

I’m a huge fan of salsa. I love a green salsa with tangy tomatillos. Gimme fresh tomato salsa, heavy on the cilantro and garlic. And I’ve always loved fruit salsas. Mango is the workhorse and is one of my favorite toppers for cedar-roasted fish. Pineapple salsa also works great on grilled fish, pork and fowl. And now with strawberries in full seasonal swing in Louisiana and elsewhere, it’s a great time for strawberry salsa.

This past weekend, I had a chance to sample fresh strawberry salsa made with local berries at a pop-up event held outside Alexander’s Highland Market, a gourmet grocer here in Baton Rouge. World renowned obesity and nutrition research center, Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC), also located in Baton Rouge, had a booth at the pop-up along with several local food entrepreneurs. I was there signing copies of Hungry for Louisiana. PBRC Communications Director Alisha Prather and respected research pathologist Jennifer Rood were handing out samples of this healthy fruit salsa, which you can also make with fresh blueberries. It’s light, flavorful and versatile and was developed in-house at Pennington.

Louisiana Spring Salsa

Makes 2 cups

1 pint strawberries, washed and diced, or ½ pint blueberries, washed and sliced in half
¼ of 1 medium red onion, finely diced (I used ¼ cup)
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
Juice from ½ lime (about 1 tbsp.)

Combine all ingredients and serve on salads, fish, chicken, chips or cheese and crackers. Use within a day.

Nutrition facts per ½ cup serving

Calories: 35
Protein: 0.5 g
Carbohydrates: 8 g
Fat: 0.5 g
Fiber: 2 g

Maggie’s variation with avocado and jalapeño

Being an avocado junkie and a fan of heat, I added the following to Pennington’s recipe.

Half of 1 ripe avocado, diced
1 tbsp. chopped fresh jalapeno pepper
Juice from remaining half lime

For additional healthy recipes developed by Pennington, click here.

Breakfast, Farmers Markets, Healthy, Local, Louisiana, Strawberries

Almond-oatmeal bars with fresh Louisiana strawberries

I love to use local strawberries in homemade sorbet, on spinach salads with bacon and feta and with farmers market teacakes topped with fresh whipped cream. I also love to make strawberry oatmeal bars to serve for breakfast or as an after school snack.

My version of strawberry oatmeal bars uses fresh berries in a quick filling rather than strawberry preserves. I also like to top them with sliced almonds. And, I use white-whole wheat flour and less butter than many recipes so they’re a little healthier.

This is an easy and tasty use of the season’s bounty. Enjoy!

Asian, Chicken, Healthy, Louisiana, Soups, Vegetables, Weeknight

Pollen got you down? Chicken & vegetable soup with wontons

The sinister underside to Louisiana’s otherwise perfect spring is pollen — and that stuff is about to kill me! Recently sprouted leaves on our neighborhood’s famed oak trees are now layered with fuzzy clumps of oak pollen that give the trees a yellowish sheen. Stand near one long enough and you see pollen dust falling like evil snow. It’s all over our cars and streets. There. Is. No. Escape.

Most years, this isn’t a big deal to me, but I must be getting old and intolerant because being outside makes my head feel like an oversized melon.

Only one thing to do – make a spring soup.

Hungry for Louisiana, The Writing Life

First book signing a sell-out!

Thanks so much to all who came out to the Baton Rouge Gallery, Center for Contemporary Art on the officially launch night of my book! We SOLD OUT that evening of copies of Hungry for Louisiana, An Omnivore’s Journey and noshed on some great food by Kathy Mangham and Gourmet Girls Catering. Kathy made fabulous seasonal hors d’oeuvres, including two of the book’s 18 recipes! We also enjoyed the first truly pleasant spring evening of 2015 after a long, wet and chilly winter in Baton Rouge. It was Friday the 13th, and it was awash in great omens!

I’m hearing from many folks about how much they’re enjoying reading the book and learning more about Louisiana’s irreplaceable food culture. I love feedback and would love to hear your thoughts. You can find the book through the link on this site, on Amazon and at numerous regional Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BAMs and local independents. Lots of signings coming up! Click here for Events.

Thanks again!

Maggie

Crawfish Fennel Salad with Tangy Vinaigrette, one of 18 recipes found in Hungry for Louisiana.

Dairy, Farmers Markets, Hungry for Louisiana

Mmmmm….Creole cream cheese

Creole cream cheese. Ever heard of it?

If you’ve got roots in New Orleans, or some parts of Cajun Country, or if you’re a Slow Food disciple and track endangered foods, it might be familiar. But there are still a good many people throughout Louisiana and the rest of the country who have yet to discover this indigenous farmhouse cheese and its unique flavor profile.

A few years back in South Louisiana, when both Smith Creamery and Chef John Folse’s Bittersweet Plantation Dairy were making Creole cream cheese, you could find tubs of it on local grocery stores shelves. Then Smith Creamery experienced a large fire, and was later bought by Kleinpeter Dairy, and Folse opted to close his operation and focus on other ventures. Creole cream cheese was still being made in the region, but Baton Rougeans couldn’t buy it without special ordering it or driving over an hour to the Covington or Crescent Farmers Markets. Now you can find it again in the Capital Region as well as other parts of the state.

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