Before I get into the details of this delightful dessert I want to remind everyone to start voting for your next Food Blog Star on Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog. The voting started at 9:00 am EDT today and continues through Thursday, September 23, 2010, and the winners are announced on Friday, September 24, 2010.  Of the original 1,890 contestants participating in round one which is known as “Ready, Set, Blog!”, only 400 get to advance to the next round of the competition.

You can vote by clicking the link to Challenge #1: Ready, Set, Blog!

On to the recipe…

Fresh berries are one of the finest dessert ingredients you can find, and when lightly coated then gently tossed with a rum infusion and a bit of sugar, the fresh berries come alive and meld well with a classic Crème Anglaise dessert sauce.

The Crème Anglaise is a classic French dessert sauce preparation, and if you learn only one dessert sauce you should perfect this one. It is a true masterpiece, and when executed perfectly makes any dessert even better. In its pure simplicity and with just five ingredients, this dessert sauce is to die for!

For the Crème Anglaise

For the Berries

A big thank you goes out to Lyz Nardo at the Baddish Group for sending me a sampling of Zaya Rum along with some coupons for Driscoll’s fresh berries. The rum is a delightful selection of rums sourced and blended in Trinidad and Tobago in the Southern Caribbean. The rums in question have been aged a minimum of 12 years in used bourbon barrels before being blended together by the Master Blender. Once the blend is complete, the rum is bottled at 80 proof (40% abv) and shipped

Another view…

Bon appetite!

CCR
=:~)
©2010 CCR

Cajun Chef Ryan Considered

The Foodbuzz Project Food Blog Challenge widget for Cajun Chef Ryan.

The Project Food Blog Challenge championed by Foodbuzz is an exciting adventure, and it is great to be a part of this opportunity along with the online foodie blogger community. Having started the Cajun Chef Ryan (CCR) blog in May of 2008; it has grown into something more than ever imagined over just two years ago. And with this post, I hope to convey the uniqueness of the CCR blog, what set’s it apart from other food blogs, and why I have what it takes to be the next food blog star. Moreover, coming up with what describes me as a food blogger with just over 29 months of blog history, I decided to find out for myself what illustrates the Cajun Chef Ryan blog.

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards,” so lets go back and see what CCR has been up to for the past few years to understand our story. “What illustrates the Cajun Chef Ryan blog?” A page from the Culinary Apprentice Log Book, an example of the document and account from the culinary formative years. This is Ryan at work on a mirror display at a Garde Manger class, and an example of sharing the early days in the industry, Cold Food Presentations and Displays ~ Garde Manger. Looking back, the CCR blog has evolved from a quiet little place where original recipes from my bygone era in the restaurant business get documented and recorded for preservation, and today, where we share a world of cuisine. The CCR blog is also a place for home cooks and foodies alike; they join in comment, and share their own piece of culinary history through guest blog posts. Over the short period in existence, the CCR blog has added over 300 posts, with 6 pages, in 71 categories, including over 1,335 tags, has accumulated over 3,100 approved comments, and gathered a legion of fellow foodie friends and family from social networking sites including Foodbuzz, Stumble Upon, Cook Eat Share, BloggerAid, Facebook, and many others. Shrimp and Grits, just one of the popular Southern favorites we share on the CCR blog. However, the CCR blog is so much more than just the collection of posts and comments; it is a location and tool for preserving my culinary and cultural heritage. It is a place to share my world of cuisine. It is a setting for learning more about myself and continuing to grow in my writing and photography abilities. It is a community where I have met many new like-minded folk from around the world, who also enjoy the finer pleasures of gastronomy. I blog for many motivations, one of which is to find and meet new friends who share experiences with food, family, and friends, another is to share my twenty one plus years of experience and knowledge base accumulated from my restaurant era. “My passion for food and edible ingredients is unbounded.” Mom and Dad Boudreaux Cajun dancing next to the fig tree in the back yard. This photo was captured during one of many crawfish boils we prepared over the years. I actually started cooking at home at age thirteen, and my passion for food and edible ingredients is still unbounded. For example, figs are one of those ingredients that just does it for me, I melt when I find them fresh and ripe for the eating. We had two fig trees in our back yard, one would produce four times as much as the other, guess it was the age, or orientation to the planets. Walking out the back door and picking a dozen or more figs at a time and just throwing them in, savoring the sun kissed warmth of summer succulence, nature appreciated. The sweet natural sugars and fig juices squeezed with every pinch off the tree, creating a mouthful of earthly delight, divine rich flavors from Gods creation, fruits of the earth, nourishment for the body, pleasures for the mind, and spirits for the soul. “Food is so much about experiences, good or bad, and sharing them with those you love.” I am lucky to tolerate just about any foods and ingredients, knock on wood! However, I have a vast appreciation for those who are not so fortunate. In fact, I spent over seven years of my restaurant career in the health care field in the capacity of chef, then director of food and nutrition, and I can tell you that there are plenty of dietary guidelines that require specific challenges with each plan. Food is so much about experiences, good or bad, and sharing them with those you love. Celiac disease is just one of those intolerant food illnesses, which I came to know well in the late 1970′s when my father was diagnosed with the illness. At the time my mother and I were on a baking binge and producing loaves of whole wheat, double cracked wheat berry, and rye breads in huge amounts. My dad would eat a loaf of bread a night, we did not know it then, but our bread baking was making him sick. After ten days in the hospital and in great pain, the doctors discovered that the cilia in the lining of his intestines were swollen up so much; he could not absorb any nutrients.  A biopsy of the intestinal lining confirmed the illness. My dad to this day maintains a gluten free diet, and it is personal stories like this that I continue to share through the CCR blog. “Is Cajun Chef Ryan all about Cajun cooking?” You would think that with a blog entitled Cajun Chef Ryan, that all you would find is Cajun inspired recipes. Not so, in fact, while the name contains “Cajun”, and I am a Cajun, I enjoy a world of cuisine, and this is why my blog description “Feeling and sharing a world of cooking, more than your average Cajun” stands at the masthead of the CCR blog. Is Cajun Chef Ryan all about Cajun Cooking? The CCR blog is Cajun, but whole lot more! In the 300 plus blog postings, only 39 are listed in the Cajun category. In all considerations, it is humbling how much CCR has accomplished looking at where we have been, and now making a difference for tomorrow. As the motivational speaker Krish Dhanam says, “You are not responsible for your heritage, but you are accountable for your future.” You may not get to choose your parents, but what you make of your life is entirely up to you. Continuing to enjoy a world of cuisine, one fork full at a time! Bon appetite! CCR =:~) ©2010 CCR

Asian Chicken Salad

We always enjoy a crunchy meal, and this Asian inspired salad with the Napa cabbage, carrots, and rice noodles satisfies our chomping desires. The recipe uses Newman’s Own low-fat sesame ginger dressing, and when tossed to order gives this salad just the right kick with you wanting more.

Prepare all the ingredients in advance and store them in zip-type bags, when ready to serve portion out and measure what you need for each serving into a large bowl, then toss with the dressing, garnish with the rice noodles and chopped green onions for a flavorful and elegant salad in must minutes. Keeping the ingredients separated until service time gives you the advantage of serving this salad in individual portions, and tossing in the dressing just before serving, thus preventing any ingredients from getting soggy or wilted.

The recipe…

Serving Tip: When mixing the salad in small batches, and for each individual serving portion out about 1 cup of the Napa cabbage, ¼ cup each of the chicken, edamame, cucumber, and carrots, and then put all of these ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Then portion out about 1 Tbsp each of the cilantro, radishes, and dressing. Toss well, and then fold in 1 Tbsp of the oranges and then portion out evenly on individual salad plates. Garnish with 1 tbsp each of green onion, rice noodles and ½ tsp optional black sesame seeds.

Typically, Monique and I would eat this meal together, so I would portion out two servings into a large bowl, then toss well with the dressing and divide it out into the two individual salad plates. So for the two servings I would double the amounts listed above, i.e. 2 cups Napa cabbage, ½ cup chicken, etc… If you wanted to portion out four servings then you would add 4 cups Napa cabbage, 1 cup chicken, etc… make sense?

TIP: Edamame, which is green soybeans are now a staple ingredient for most grocery stores these days, not just Asian or Oriental supermarkets. Typically found in the freezer section and sometimes fresh in the produce section, either in the shell or out of the shell, edamame is sold in one pound plastic bags or containers. Edamame only takes about 5 minutes to cook by steaming or boiling, and makes a great snack or appetizer.

The single recipe yields four servings; however, we doubled the amount so that we could have enough salads for several days.

Dinner is served…another view…

Asian Chicken Salad…another view

Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)

©2010 CCR

Creole Succotash

Our friend Janet came bearing gifts from her garden again and bestowed upon us a mess of okra from the winding down plots in the back yard patch. Monique and I decided to honor the okra with splendid fashion by building around it’s foundation a version of our own Succotash, with a Creole angle. What makes this a Creole variety is the use of the Cajun/Creole Trinity, the onions, celery, and bell pepper which is the American version of the French mirepoix. Of course, the okra and tomatoes brings this dish to the deep roots of Creole and southern Louisiana heritage.

Succotash derives its original meaning from the Narragansett word msickquatash, which translated from the Native American Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language as “boiled corn kernels”. This dish has evolved over time to include lima beans, other beans, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and sausages or pork based proteins in some southern versions. Our version includes this and the fresh garden okras, creating a unique one-dish meal when accompanied with some fresh cooked rice complete the assembly.

TIP: One cup of uncooked white rice will yield about three cups of cooked rice. As a rule of thumb, use two cups of water for each one cup uncooked rice, with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer for twenty minutes. Fluff with a fork, and remain covered for another 5 minutes.

The recipe…

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we all did. This recipe makes about twelve servings. If you want to speed up the process you can use frozen corn, frozen lima beans, and frozen okra, and you can cut the simmer time down to 10 to 12 minutes or so.

Dinner is served …another view…

Creole Succotash…another view

Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)
©2010 CCR