Hey Everybody!  Today we are are celebrating over 10,000 hits on my new website. We are cooking a shrimp stew for dinner. We haven't eaten it yet, but it looks delicious. We got our shrimp from Tommy's Fish House in Prairieville and the herbs from our garden. Here are some pictures and the recipe. Enjoy!!!

          Till next time,
             jrfoodcritic

1 cup oil
1cup flour
1 box seafood stock (32 oz.)
2 lbs. shrimp
1 large onion
1 large bell pepper
2 stalks of celery
3 cloves of garlic
6 eggs
salt & pepper to taste

In large pot, mix oil and flour. Cook roux to a little darker brown that a paper bag. Stir constantly. In a food processor, chop onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. When roux is ready, add vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add stock a little at a time and stir constantly. Let roux and stock simmer for 1 hour. Add Shrimp and let them cook for about 10 minutes. While simmering, crack 6 eggs into stew and don't stir as to not break the yolk.  Let cook for 30 minutes and serve over rice.  Enjoy!

Heritage Festival & Possum Stew

Hey everybody. Yesterday we went to the Heritage Festival at the Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge. It was awesome. I got to taste possum over there. It was great!!! We went go see what Louisiana was like in the past! We saw the house's that they lived in and how they cooked food! It all was fantastic!  We also went through a corn maze and threw balloons at scarecrows!

Check out the pictures below. That's me eating possum!!!

Till next time,
   jrfoodcritic!

Beignet Done That!

Hey everybody, today we made some Beignet's!!! They were delicious! We used some Cafe Du Monde Beignet mix! Which was great. We rolled out some dough and cut out some squares, then put them in the fryer. They were awesome. My sister made a beignet heart that came out perfectly and I made a triangle that was perfectly made exept for the big beignet pimple it had :).

The second thing we made today was some crab cakes topped with poached eggs!!! I really didn't make them so here is a special guest my sous chef and Dad SEAN PRADOS...Hello food world. I love being Michael's help in the kitchen. We have lots of fun cooking and trying new foods. Mom and Ellie are also great cooks and food adventurers.  Thanks for reading!...Sean

              Till next time,
                 jrfoodcritic

Back to New Orleans

Hey everybody, we just came back from New Orleans. It was great!!! When we got there it was already dinner time so we went to Couchon, which means pig in French. The first thing I noticed was the smell of the food and it was amazing. For appetizers we had rabbit liver and fried alligator!! It was actually good!! For my main course I had rabbit and dumplings, and my side was macaroni and cheese. It all was fantastic!!! Everyone else had different types of pig. I tried them all, and they were awesome!!! Our server was Ms. Angelina and she was very nice.

For lunch the next day, we went to Luke's - a Chef John Besh restaurant. We didn't have any appetisers so for my main dish I had 6 big fried shrimp served on a wooden cutting board with ranch dressing. It tasted really good!!! For my side I had some great french fries wrapped in a menu and placed in a bucket. My sister had 3 mini burgers which I tasted, and were delicious. We also had some grillades (pieces of veal and gravy) and grits they were very tasty. Our server was Mr. Chris he was awesome!



               Till next time,
                  jrfoodcritic

Frog Legs Provencale & Ellie's Grilled Summer Salad

Hey everybody. Last night we cooked Frog Provencale... and Ellie's Grilled Summer Salad (which was great)!!! It was a very easy dish! The reason I love being Cajun is the FOOD!!! Me and my dad cooked it, except for Ellie's Grilled Summer Salad (she did that) as shown below in the pictures!!! The recipe is also below!!! ENJOY!

Recipe from Chef John Folse's cookbook -  Hooks, Lies & Alibis. Provencale is a style of cooking in Southern France.

        Till Next Time,

            jrfoodcritic

6-8 servings

20-24 frog legs
1/4 pound butter
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
granulated garlic to taste
1/2 cup sliced or minced garlic
1/2 cup minced or diced onion
1/4 cup of red bell pepper
1/4 cup yellow bell pepper
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup chardonnay
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
3 cups of shellfish or seafood stock
5 sprigs of fresh thyme

In a 12 inch saute pan, heat olive oil and butter. Season frog legs with salt, pepper and granulated garlic.Saute frog legs 4-5 minutes turning often. Set frog legs aside and keep warm. Add garlic, bell pepper and onion. Saute 2-3 minutes until soft. Sprinkle flour and mix well. Deglaze with chardonnay and add tomatoes. Add stock and bring to rolling boil. Reduce to simmer and let it reduce to preferred consistency. Add fresh thyme sprigs.Return frog legs to skillet, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. Serve over rice or pasta.

Ellie's Grilled Summer Salad

Romaine lettuce sliced in half
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
diced red and yellow bell pepper and tomatoes
lite champagne dressing
shredded Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Brush olive oil on lettuce halves. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat grill to medium high. Place lettuce on grill sliced halves down. Grill just enough to get markings on lettuce. Place on plate and sprinkle cheese. Garnish with bell pepper and tomatoes.

Italian Veal Skewers

Serves 4-6

4 veal cutlets (scallopini)
8 thin slices of prosciutto
Sage leaves
Italian Parsley
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
Olive oil
4 skewers (soaked for at least 30 minutes)
 
Lightly salt and pepper. Place sage, chopped parsley and prosciutto on each piece and roll jelly roll style. Skewer each piece and cut 4 to skewer. Heat oil and butter in sauté pan. Saute skewers for 10 minutes turning frequently. Garnish with chopped parsley.

We served this with pasta and a simple tomato sauce. Enjoy!

Video with Chef John Folse

Hey everybody, I hope you saw me on TV yesterday with Chef John Folse and Chef Amanda on WAFB. If you didn't here it is! We went to TJ Rib's to celerbrate. Thanks Mr. Kevin! I had 2 platers of awesome chicken wings. I thought they were delicious! Our waitress was the best! She was so nice -her name was Ms.courtney. Till Next Time! jr food critic

Cooking with Chef John Folse

Hey Everybody,

Tomorrow July 14, 2011 I will be cooking with Chef John Folse and Chef Amanda. It will air during the 5 o'clock news on WAFB Channel 9 in Baton Rouge. Here are some pictures. I hope you enjoy. I will be cooking Veal Skewers!!! They are delicious. You can check out the recipe at www.wafb.com tomorrow. Please watch if you can!


Till next time,
jr food critic

 

Hi everybody hope your having a good summer!!! Yesterday we went to Mugshots! It was great!!! For appetizers we had mild buffalo wings! A little messy but they were awesome!  I just had a plain old cheeseburger which was good. I thought their french fries were great!!! The guys who came up with the idea for Mugshots got some of their ideas in Hawaii and put those on the menu including two new Hawaiian words I learned "Ono Pupas" which means "great appetizers". We also really liked the buns the burgers were on they were a little sweet and soft like the Hawaiian rolls you might see in the store.

               Till next time!!!
                  jrfoodcritic!

More Louisiana Seafood!

Hi everybody, This past week we cooked a crawfish bisque and some mahi mahi tacos. They were both great. We shared the crawfish bisque with family and friends and they really enjoyed it. I helped with the roux and stuffed the heads. We got ideas from chef John Folse's cook book "Hooks, Lies & Alibis".

The mahi mahi tacos were awesome. They were finished with a citrus vinaigrette slaw and lemon wedges to squeeze on top. Here is the recipe and some pictures!!!!!

Mahi Mahi Tacos
serves 6

2lbs of fresh mahi mahi
soy sauce
salt, pepper, cumin, and Tony's
canola oil
Tbsp of butter
1 bag of coleslaw

vinaigrette
1Tbsp lime juice
1Tbsp orange juice
1Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup canola oil

tortillas
guacamole
pico de gallo

About 1 hour before cooking, brush fish with soy sauce and refrigerate. Mix vinaigrette together by whisking ingredients together and drizzling in canola oil slowly. Toss together with a bag of slaw and set aside.

Heat oil in saute pan. Take fish out and season with salt, pepper, cumin, and Tony's. Put butter in pan then sear fish on both sides and put on side to rest. My dad also sauteed onions.

Heat tortillas, break fish apart and serve with slaw, guacamole and pico de gallo. Enjoy!

Hi everybody, sorry I haven't blogged in awhile!!! Now that school's out I can blog more over the summer! Last week my dad went on a fishing trip and caught a tuna bigger than my sister. When he came home we cooked some big tuna steaks and they were delicious!!! They had little layers of meat in them it was awesome!!!

Also, yesterday was my Mom's birthday!!! We went to Ruths Chris Steakhouse!!! Our servers name was Ms. Rhonda. She was very nice!!! Our appetizer was Barbequed shrimp! It was awesome, they had mashed potatoes at the bottom of the plate and if you mixed the shrimp with the potatoes it was extraordinary!!! I ordered a Filet (medium rare) with broccoli au gratin and sauteed spinach for my sides!!! My Mom got her birthday lobster. It was all very delicious!

    Until next time,
       jrfoodcritic!!!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!

 Hi everybody sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, I've been pretty busy. I can't wait for school to end! Today for Mother's Day we served my Mom breakfast in bed. The recipe for the "Savory Egg Nest" we made is below, we also cooked her some bacon and french toast. Her favorite!!! My dad and sister helped out also!!!

Happy Mothers Day to all the awesome moms out there!!!

Savory Egg Nest

Ingredients
6 slices of bread
2 pieces of cooked bacon
6 Tbsp shredded cheddar
6 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare muffin tins with non-stick spray. Remove crust from bread and flatten with rolling pin. Tuck bread in muffin pan. Put bacon pieces and cheese in bread nest. Scramble 6 eggs and season with salt and pepper. Divide eggs into each bread nest. Place in oven for about 20 minutes or until done. Enjoy!

Hi everybody!
Last weekend my family and I had a crawish boil at my Grandparents camp in Belle River. All of my Mom's family was there. It was great!!! The crawfish weren't that spicy, they were good and not much was left over. My Dad also recently fried some froglegs and for those who don't know they taste just like chicken! Maybe a little bit chewier than chicken. Here are some pictues!!!

 

Hi everybody,  Happy Mardi Gras! My family had its first crawfish boil of the season on Monday, they were awesome and very spicy!  On Tuesday, we visited Parrains. My servers name was Simone. She was great! I had some fried alligator for an appetizer and some oysters for the second time. I still like the taste of the sea. The alligator tastes a little like chicken. For my entree I had a black and bleu tuna. It was blackend tuna on top of bleu cheese linguine. It was moist and cooked well. We had a great time on Fat Tuesday, see pictures below.  My sister, Ellie is going to guest blog today about another place we visited on Tuesday, check out what she has to say below!

For those observing Lent don't forget my potato soup minus the bacon makes a great option for "no meat" Friday's.

Till next time,

jr food critic

Hi my name is Ellie.  I am seven years old and I am happy to blog today. On Tuesday we had beignets from Rue Beignet in Baton Rouge.  They were hot and made me think of being in New Orleans.  We had two different kinds, the regular shaped beignet and beignet fingers, which are really cool, especially for kids. Hope your able to visit them real soon, I know I will be back!

Bye,

Ellie