Gulf Coast: Louisiana Sunburst Salad

The salad is dressed with an unusual and wonderful cinnamon and Tabasco vinaigrette.

Salad:

24 ounces mesclun mix (mixed baby lettuces, like mâche, frisée, radicchio, baby spinach, etc.)
2 ounces dried cranberries
2 ounces almonds, sliced and toasted
2 ounces crumbed Stilton cheese (or blue cheese) - we used blue, Stilton is for the really intense cheese-eaters out there
2 ounces ruby port wine

Vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ounce vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 ounces raspberry vinegar
1 ounce water
5 dashes of Tabasco

Soak dried cranberries in port - leave overnight.

Combine cinnamon, vegetable oil, raspberry vinegar, water, and Tabasco in small bowl. Whisk until emulsified. Toast almond slices with a tiny drop of canola oil. Lightly dress the greens and garnish with the almonds, cranberries, and blue cheese.

The recipe for this bright, delicious salad was adapted from a salad served by Chef Robert Bruce at the Palace Café on Canal Street in New Orleans -- a beautiful restaurant located in the old Werlein's for Music building.

Gulf Coast: Cajun Okra Bruschetta

Cajun Okra Bruschetta from Alyssa

vegetable oil

1/3 c. onion

1/3 c. red pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

Cajun seasoning to taste
8 oz. okra cut into 1/3-inch rounds
6 Tbs. water
1/4 c. diced canned tomatoes in juice
2.5 tsp. red wine vinegar
1.5 tsp. capers
baguette slices, toasted

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and sauté until tender. Add garlic and cajun seasoning; stir 1 minute. Add okra, water and tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until okra is tender and liquid thickens, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar and capers. Add additional cajun seasoning to taset. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill.

Best part is you can make this one day ahead. Just toast your baguette slices and top with the bruschetta.

This is also great served as a side with grits.

Gulf Coast: Pimm's Cup

Pimm's Cup from Alyssa

A British import and a NoLa favorite, this was a very refreshing and light cocktail. A big hit. Too bad there was a spill of (almost) BP proportions. Luckily our clean-up efforts were decidedly more successful. (Too soon?)

1 part Pimm's No. 1
2 parts Ginger Ale
2 lemons, sliced
1 orange, sliced
10 mint leaves
1 cucumber, sliced

Combine all ingredients and a few slices of cucumber, stir (do NOT shake) to muddle the flavors, and serve over ice with a cucumber garnish. Laissez les bon temps roulez!

Best cake ever...bananas and nutella

Ladies - I went to a dinner party last night and a friend of mine is starting a catering company called Moveable Feast. She made the birthday cake for this party and it was so amazing I felt like I needed to share.

here is the recipe in euro measurements (Note, she lined the bottom row of the sides with pecans and didn't put anything on top, looked much nicer:

BANANA, PECAN AND NUTELLA CAKE

pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C

ingredients

4 over ripe bananas

340g castor sugar

340g self raising flour

340g soft butter

6 eggs

100ml milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

80g roughly chopped pecan nuts

then

cream butter and sugar

add the eggs

mash the banana together with the vanilla and the milk

mix all ingredients together

pour into two 25cm baking tins

cook in oven for 40 minutes

leave the cakes to cool whilst preparing the icing

nutella icing

2 tbs Nutella

225g Creme cheese

400g icing sugar

1 tbs vanilla

Mix together

when the cakes are cool put them together with a layer of the nutella icing

generously ice the top of the cake

decorate with fresh banana slices and icing sugar

(if you are a kitchen whizz the bananas taste even better than ever caramelized)

Next theme: In honor of the Gulf of Mexico

The next DCBitchinKitchen will be at Laura's house and will be in honor of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. I thought this a fitting theme given that every day I go to work, I'm pushing for policy to make our environment that much cleaner and safer and we have all been witness to what will likely be the biggest environmental disaster of our time. Also, I'm such a stranger to southern food, let alone food from Louisiana. I think this link gives good background about what shaped the style of cooking in Louisiana and will be helpful when picking out recipes. Maybe we should invite Paula Deen?

Alright, see ya'll on August 10th!

Alyssa's Inspiration Behind the Theme "Farmer's Market"

For our friend Pete’s going away dinner a group of us went to Sidra Forman’s house and had a delicious locally-sourced wine-paired multi-course meal. Sidra puts so much love and effort into her dishes and uses fresh ingredients found at our many local DC farmers markets to inspire her menu. Her food and passion were inspiring and I hoped that we would capture some of that. I think we did quite well.

DCBitchinKitchen ladies @ Alyssa's Place