Maggie Heyn Richardson – Hungry for Louisiana

Good and fast: Breakfasts-to-go in Baton Rouge

October 7, 2015

Okay, it’s Saturday morning.

Where do you go for breakfast when you’re short on time and not inclined to wait for a table? (I’m not talking about fast food sausage biscuits, although I admit to occasional trashy lust).

Lately, this is the situation I’ve found myself in, as my husband and I juggle early morning swim practice, cross country meets and general family insanity. As nice as it would be to linger over a carefully composed plate of eggs Benedict, it ain’t happening on our Saturday schedule. I want something yummy, but I need it to go.

The good news is that there are plenty of delicious breakfast eats you can get on the fly around town. Here are a few of my favorites.

Tiger Deaux-nuts

Tiger Deaux-nuts on Government Street in Mid City has made a name for itself with gourmet cake-style doughnuts in trendy flavors, including maple bacon, caramel apple and strawberry lemon basil. Don’t look for a large case of pre-made pastries in this stripped-down eatery. The small batch doughnuts are made throughout the morning. Less known on the menu, but equally appealing, are the sweet-savory breakfast sandwiches. Layers of fried egg, cheese and either bacon, sausage or a boudin patty are stuffed between two halves of a grilled unglazed doughnut. Yum. Just yum.

Kolache Kitchen

I love this place. Fruit-filled or savory kolaches, breakfast tacos, stuffed-to-oblivion empanadas, sweet rolls and other stuff, the Kolache Kitchen has more hand-held breakfast items than you have room to eat. And the kolache dough is made fresh on site. I’m a big fan of the breakfast taco with chorizo, and my son is still dreaming about his spicy sausage and cheese empanada. Great prices, too.
Locations on Nicholson and Jefferson.

Strands

Downtown parking is not so awful on Saturday mornings, enabling you to dart into Strands on Laurel Street, a European-style bakery with a pastry counter brimming with beauty. Check out the plump cinnamon rolls, Australian scones and all manner of plain and stuffed croissant. There are also frittatas and great coffee and tea. Hours vary. Definitely call first.

Whole Foods Market, Baton Rouge

Before I take a thrashing about Whole Foods being a national chain, let me say that they do a great job of supporting local farmers and food producers, and I’m digging that Mississippi River mural in the newly renovated cafe area. In the morning hours, the hot food buffet features changing breakfast items, including breakfast pizzas, scrambled eggs, grits, biscuits, Belgian waffles and so on. And when they’re not on the buffet, the store stocks freshly made breakfast tacos and breakfast bagels in a case near the deli meats. They’re hot and delicious, and breakfast doesn’t get much faster.

Appetizers, Apples, Fresh from the Gulf, Shrimp, Tailgating

Spring rolls at home

September 22, 2015

During halftime of last weekend’s delicious LSU-Auburn game (sorry, Auburn friends!), my friend Sara and I headed into the kitchen to work on appetizers while our combined six kids and two husbands headed outside. It was beastly hot, so much so that organizers a few miles away at Tiger Stadium had made special arrangements for extra water — and paramedics. Even here in the comfort of our air-conditioned house, something cool and refreshing was in order. We set out the ingredients to make Gulf shrimp spring rolls.

Louisiana, On the Road, Southern, Travels

Spider webs and pepper mash: My trip to Avery Island

September 1, 2015

Throughout my childhood, my paternal grandmother was constantly armed with a bottle of Tabasco. Bland food was the enemy, and there was a lot of it around back then in restaurants, the occasional hospital room and church suppers. In her mind, it all needed correction. She’d reach into her purse for a standard issue 60 ml. bottle of Tabasco, and start dousing. Fast food fries would go from pale beige to orange in a matter of seconds.

That tradition stayed with me when I left Georgia at 18 for college in Washington, D.C. This was forever ago, when dining halls produced food that was crazy tasteless, and I took great pleasure in taking out my own secured bottle of Tabasco. Maybe all that Tabasco love was foreshadowing, because I ended up going to graduate school at LSU soonafter, and then finding myself never able to leave Louisiana.

But in all these years of food writing from Baton Rouge, I’d never written about Tabasco. I was thrilled a few months back when I got a magazine assignment on the McIlhenny family that granted me a behind-the-scenes tour of Avery Island and the Tabasco plant.

What an incredible institution this condiment is.

Labor Day, Salads, Tailgating, Vegetables

Bleu cheese coleslaw great for Labor Day and fall tailgates

August 26, 2015

I am a huge, huge coleslaw fan.

Given a choice between coleslaw and potato salad, I’d choose the former every time. I love the crunch of the cabbage. I love the range of dressings, from creamy to vinegary. I love to experiment with old-fashioned, church supper versions steeped in mayonnaise-y simplicity, as well as modern takes that incorporate stone fruits or Asian flavors. I love slapping coleslaw on a hot dog or a pulled pork sandwich. And I love when the homemade barbecue sauce on my smoked baby back ribs seeps into the adjacent pile of slaw on my plate.

With Labor Day right around the corner and the fall football season nearly upon us, it’s time to get into a slaw routine. It’s incredibly easy to make at home with fresh ingredients, and a lot cheaper than using packaged cabbage and bottled dressing.

Cooking with Kids, Healthy, Vegetables

Healthy snacks for the back to school frenzy

August 18, 2015

Recently, my friend Katy asked if I had any suggestions for healthy snacks for young people. Her high school aged daughter is a dancer, and finding lunchbox and afternoon snacks that offered nutritional value and not just empty calories was a challenge. I’ve got two swimmers and a runner in my household, and now that school has resumed, I’ve been asking myself the same question. Truly nutritious snacks take more thought than that oversized box of Sun Chips from Costco, and it’s not easy when you’re operating at break-neck, back-to-school speed.

For advice, I shot an email to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, an international leader in nutritional research and a sometimes overlooked local resource here in Baton Rouge. In addition to ground-breaking metabolic research, Pennington also has lots of easy recipes and healthy eating tips. PBRC staff members Alisha Prather and Stephanie Malin fired back a list of kid-tested snacks that don’t require a ton of ingredients.

Fresh from the Gulf, Shrimp

Fried shrimp at home feels like summer year round

August 11, 2015

Shrimp are harvested from March to December in Louisiana, and one of the enduring ways to savor them (despite the calories) is fried.

What’s the right way to fry shrimp? Ask anyone with ties to the Gulf South, and brace yourself for strong opinions. Timing and temperature are an issue. You shouldn’t overcook the shrimp, yet the oil has to be hot enough so that the brief cook time ensures crisp texture. Then there’s breading and seasoning. What’s in the wet better? What’s in the dry batter? How much salt, pepper and other spices do you add to flavor the shrimp without overshadowing its delicate profile?

Before the summer slips completely away and we return to back-to-school order and discipline, I’d like to share my dad’s tried-and-true formula for decadent, deep-fried Gulf shrimp, something my family and I savored this past weekend.

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