Nola Cuisine

If you’re ever in the neighborhood of Commander’s Palace in the Garden District, you can almost follow your nose to the front door by the aroma of bread pudding which wafts across the neighborhood. I always picture a looney tunes character, closing their eyes, nose to the air, flapping their hands and floating along the [...]

This is a very old school dish, I know, but my oh, my does it ever taste great. In my book, rich and bubbly, cheesy Thermidor sauce with chunks of lobster is the stuff dreams are made of, old school or not. There is a lot of debate over this dish regarding not only it’s [...]

Fried Okra is sometimes called Southern popcorn, because when you start eating it, you just can’t stop. Try making some as an appetizer at your next gathering to see why. I served mine with a Green Onion Aioli, recipe is below. Enjoy!
Fried Okra Recipe
1 lb Fresh Okra, both ends trimmed and cut into 1/2 [...]

This soup has all of the wonderful flavors of Red Beans and Rice, but in soup form. I like to puree a third of this soup to give it that velvety texture while still retaining some of the chunky goodness of the cooked beans and vegetables. I added some diced, cooked Andouille to the soup [...]

It was cold as hell here in Michigan with a high of 6 degrees F today, Gumbo was definately in order. Here is how I made it today. I make it different every time because in my opinion, Gumbo is an evolution that improves as the cook ages and gains experience.
Okra Gumbo with Chicken [...]

When trying to figure out what to make for dinner last night, my wife suggested Mexican, and I had a taste for soup, so we met in the middle of the road.
Tortilla Soup is an uncomplicated soup that is just bursting with flavor! I puree my Tortilla Soup then garnish with the texture (as well [...]

It’s Twelfth Night tonight, January 6th, the traditional start of the Carnival season, and that means King Cake parties in Louisiana. Whoever gets the baby trinket in their piece of King Cake either hosts the next King Cake party, or chokes to death because their host didn’t warn them that it was within the cake, [...]

The smell of Etouffee, be it Crawfish (**NEW**my Crawfish Etouffee Recipe) or Shrimp, is one of the most heavenly aromas that I know, along with the smell of Shrimp a la Creole. The word Etouffee (Ay-2-FAY) translates roughly to smothered , stewed, or braised. To me it simply translates to happy taste buds.
I always [...]

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you and yours have a fantastic holiday season filled with good food and family. We’re certainly enjoying this holiday, it’s our baby’s first Christmas, I feel like a kid again myself. On to the food…
Last night I made Filet topped with Fried Oysters and Bearnaise sauce, because hey, who’s counting [...]

I had a taste for Southern Fried Chicken last night, so that is what I made. Sometimes you need to scratch your own itch, and boy did I do some scratchin’ last night, this was the best batch of Fried Chicken that I’ve made to date. Perfectly seasoned, crispy as heck, tender and juicy [...]