Butter Pecan Pound Cake

This recipe was passed on to me at work from my boss and friend Liz. We trade recipes on a regular basis and she seems to cook a lot more than I do these days, she has many opportunities to prepare some really good meals for her family.

I am not sure of the origin of this recipe, but I have seen variations on the Internet and in some family style cookbooks. This is one of the moistest cake recipes I have ever run across, the amount of liquid, eggs and oil combined with the addition of icing in the batter and then baking at a very low temperature for three-quarters of the oven time ensures a very moist cake.

Cooling on wire rack

This recipe is so quick and easy to prepare and requires only 7 ingredients, and while not a complete from scratch recipe, it does utilize some brand name items that can be found in just about every store across N. America.  A versatile cake too it can be served as dessert to just about any meal, makes a great breakfast bread with coffee or perfect for an afternoon break with a spot of hot tea.

Ready to serve

At the request of my step-son Bryan who will be starting his Sophomore semester at LSU in August,  I have created this new category for the CCR blog and will add some quick and easy recipes that are suited to college life. Typically that means eating in a cafeteria for your three squares a day, or cooking in a small apartment or cramped dorm room or common area kitchen.

Let’s face it the focus should be on College Algebra 101 or Biology 1001 classes and time spent in the kitchen is quite limited. So the recipes tagged for college life cooking will be geared toward quick, easy and nutritious meals that make enough for a few days of leftovers or enough to feed a small group of friends or room mates. One of the first recipes that I prepared often when I attended college was a simple lasagna dish and that will be my first installment later this week.

The first time this recipe came across my purview was during a culinary practicum at the University of New Orleans (UNO) Hotel and Restaurant Training (HRT) kitchen. The practicum consisted of the spring semester of 1984 where the Delgado Community College culinary apprenticeship shared a class with the senior HRT students, practicing restaurant operations in a learning environment. The senior HRT students ran the front of the house and the culinarians ran the back of the house. The first month involved making up rotations of team members and then developing menus based on various themes ranging from several cuisines to a Culinary Olympics menu as well. Most of the meals were prepared as a luncheon for UNO staff, but a few of the meals towards the finale of the course were dinner evening meals. One such meal was the French cuisine dinner, it was a 7 course event and also featured a pre-dinner party with canapes and Hors d’oeuvres, one of them was the Shrimp Imperial.

I was the sous chef for this particular meal, and while the designated chef apprentice became ill and missed this day I had to step it up and no backing out now even though I also happened to be running a 101 fever. I worked through the 14 hour day somehow without fainting or collapsing, I guess the adrenalin kept me going. I was young then and could endure a lot of adversity, but it certainly was a test of strength and stamina, the energy came from somewhere and is still a mystery to this day!

The second time I made this recipe was for a Halloween party I put together in 1992 at my home, of course it was a big hit. And the biggest hit for me was the first flirtation with my wife Monique was in reference to this dish. We were friends then and she told me “You can make these for me anytime”, and I said “There’s a price for everything!” So for a third time I made this dish for Mother’s Day a few weeks ago and again, Monique loved them.

This recipe calls for ½ lb. of back fin crabmeat and ½ lb. of claw crabmeat for added flavor, and I find the claw meat also adds a bit of firmness to the texture of the stuffing as well. The Panko breadcrumbs are actually an addition to the original recipe, and the cocktail sauce is served as an alternative to the traditional beurre blanc sauce that would be served on the side also. Another ingredient that is found in the traditional “Imperial” preparation is mayonnaise, and it has also been eliminated from this version.

After 25 years and only preparing this dish 3 times the historical recipe is finally documented and shared with you, and hopefully it will continue to impress those in your life too. I just hope to make it again sooner than later!

We got a copy of the Creamy White Chili recipe from Ben’s girlfriend’s mom a few weeks ago and decided to prepare it for our dinner a few Sunday’s ago. I have taken the original recipe and made a few changes, it had called for canned chicken breast, cayenne pepper and whipping cream. I modified the recipe and used some cooked chicken breast and dark meat that was left over from a roasted chicken earlier in the week. I also replaced the cayenne pepper with my Cajun spice blend, and instead of whipping cream I made a quick bechamel sauce with some milk and a blonde roux.

This recipe is a really tasty alternative to your typical red meat, chili powder and tomato based chili recipe. The green chilies add the heat and with a little cayenne pepper from the Cajun spice and the black pepper blend it makes up for not having any chili powder. The Great Northern Beans are a great addition and add body along with the chicken. I would venture a guess that white kidney beans or cannelloni beans would be really good too. The sour cream and bechamel sauce incorporated at the end offer a hint of coolness that is reminiscent of the texture and flavor profile similarly found in a Stroganoff.

Yield: 6 servings