Ladies Night is almost here!
/I am looking forward to Ladies Night at Twins Ace Hardware in Fairfax tonight and hope to see some familiar faces there. If you head over, come find me at the Canning Info table. Go ladies!!
Crawfish remoulade, kale quiche
/A few weeks ago, my friend, Lili, a Louisiana native and cook, discovered a copy of her father's remoulade sauce recipe, handwritten in his familiar scrawl. Understandably, she was thrilled, and I, a major remoulade fan, was excited to try a new version. Quickly: what is remoulade sauce? In Louisiana, it's a mayo-based condiment spiked with kicky additions like Dijon mustard, horseradish, garlic and scallions in its white form, and colored with paprika and/or ketchup in its red form. I've never been a fan of red remoulade, but the white version is the cat's meow, especially when paired with seafood. Boiled shrimp and crawfish, seafood cakes...they LOVE remoulade. So does a good apple and fennel slaw. Hell, even Saltines love remoulade.
So tonight, recalling the pounds of Louisiana crawfish I'd brought back from New Orleans last month, I decided to make crawfish remoulade to top an avocado-ruby grapefruit salad. Divine. I used Lili's dad's recipe and was quite pleased. Texas toast sticks were the perfect accompaniment. And this was just our starter.
Our entree was a kale and quinoa crustless quiche that I wanted to sample. T and I agree that it's nice but bland, definitely in need of more cheese and a kick here and there. I'll work on that.
Mother's Day and Appreciated Teacher gifts
/Do you know what makes for awesome Mother's Day and Appreciated Teacher treats? Homemade jams, jellies and chutneys! I just checked my stash and am flush with a small amount of some great flavors:
Spiced Apple Butter
Pear-Apple Butter with Cardamom
Citrusy Mango Butter
Mango Chutney with a kick
Blood Orange-Prosecco Jelly
Strawberry-Rhubarb-Lemon Jam
Three-citrus Marmalade
Meyer Lemon cocktail syrup
Treat yourself, a mom, a teacher or a friend to some of these goodies! Yum!