Last week my bubbly friend and I attended a spectacular cooking class  at the Shenandoah Club in Roanoke, Virginia.   Chef Roger Light shared his favorite holiday appetizer recipes with us.

Crawfish Cornbread

This cornbread is a fabulous appetizer and would also be a delicious stuffing to serve beside your Thanksgiving turkey.

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

3  scallions, chopped

1 pound Andouille sausage, diced

2 pounds crawfish tailmeat

To taste Cajun seasoning

To taste cayenne pepper

1/2 batch (9″ x 13″) of your favorite cornbread recipe

Saute onions,  bell pepper,  celery  and scallions in a little butter, cooking until onions are transparent. Add Andouille sausage, mix together.  Add crawfish tailmeat and cornbread batter, stir to combine all ingredients.

Pour into a greased 9″ x 13″ pan. Bake 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 55 minutes (check center of cornbread for doneness).

My bubbly friend and I love to cook and her birthday was last week, so we decided a cooking class was the perfect way to celebrate her birthday!

Fried Deviled Eggs!

Super Delicious!!! Chef Carlos demonstrated how to make fried deviled eggs, starting with hard boiled eggs. Cut the eggs in two and place the yolks in a mixing bowl.  Place the white halves on a paper towel lined baking sheet. Blot the egg white halves gently with paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible.

Grind panko bread crumbs in a food processor or blender to make the crumbs more like the consistency of flour.  Place flour in one bowl, egg whites mixed with a little water in another bowl and panko bread crumbs in a third bowl. Dip the egg white halves into flour, then egg white wash, then panko bread crumbs.  Place them on the paper towel lined baking sheet (replace paper towels if the towels are moist). Press the crumb mixture into the egg so that it adheres well.

Heat canola oil in a large pot on the stove.  Fry the egg white halves in hot oil until they are light golden brown. Remove the eggs from the oil with a slotted spoon or tongs and place on the paper towel lined baking sheet.  Allow to cool.

Using the hard-boiled egg yolks, prepare a deviled egg filling the same way you prepare your favorite deviled egg filling recipe. Add mayonnaise, pickle relish, mustard, or balsamic vinegar.  Sprinkle some crisp crumbled bacon in each fried egg half and then fill with the deviled egg filling. Garnish with smoked paprika or chopped chives.

Chef Carlos added sugar to his deviled egg filling which  was so yummy.  That got our group to talking about southern cooking traditions. Sprinkling sugar, salt and pepper over fresh garden tomato slices for instance. I shared the name of one of my favorite southern cookbooks with our group ~ “Being Dead Is No Excuse ~ The Official Southern Ladies Guide To Hosting The Perfect Funeral. ”  by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. Here’s their recipe for “Sweet Stuffed Eggs”:

Sweet Stuffed Eggs

You’ll need a big egg plate for this recipe ~ it makes twenty-four servings.  By the way, it’s tasty but not fancy ~ notice we use plain old French’s mustard instead of some rarefied moutarde.  These are what we call peckerwood eggs. 

Ingredients:

1 dozen hard-boiled eggs

sweet pickles or sweet pickle relish (start with 2 teaspoons and continue to taste)

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

2 teaspoons French’s (!) yellow mustard

1 teaspoon onion, finely minced

2 tablespoons Durkee Famous Sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Paprika for garnish

Makes 2 dozen servings.

Billionaire’s Bacon

Double or triple this recipe ~ it will be gone in a flash! The perfect combination of salty, sweet and crunchy! (Use medium to thick cut bacon for this recipe.)

http://www.thevspotblog.com/2013/07/brown-sugar-dijon-candied-bacon.html

“Miss Luan” shows off her fabulous Shrimp Lettuce Wraps served with Thai Peanut Sauce.

Ingredients for the Shrimp Lettuce Wraps/Spring Rolls:

3/4 pound shrimp, cooked

2 heads butter lettuce

1 each carrot, peeled, grated

1/4 cup basil leaves

1/4 cup cilantro leaves

1/4 cup mint leaves

1/4 cup peanuts chopped

1 package cellophane noodle

Spring roll wrappers

Ingredients for the Thai Peanut Sauce:

1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

3 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons lime juice

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon sriracha sauce

1 tablespoon minced ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Porchetta

Ingredients for Porchetta seasoning:

2 tablespoons fennel seeds ~ Chef Light showed us how to toast the fennel seeds in a saute pan on the stove, then crush the seeds to release the flavor and aroma of the toasted seeds.

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground

2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh sage, chopped

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 each orange zest

The seasoning was rubbed into the pork tenderloin, then the tenderloin was wrapped in bacon and baked. Then slice and serve, delicioso!

Smoked Salmon With Cream Cheese, Capers and Red Onions

8 ounces cream cheese, softened mixed with:

2 ounces capers, roughly chopped

1/4 cup red onion, minced

1 lemon, juiced, zested

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon dill, chopped

Kosher salt, fine crack of black pepper

Spread the cream cheese mixture over lightly toasted baguette.

Top the cream cheese mixture with 8 ounces smoked salmon.

Thank you and Cheers to Chef Light and the Shenandoah Club Culinary Team!

Our new kittens are so happy in their forever home!  As you can tell from the photo above, “Ziggy” never stops moving until he falls asleep. I took them to the vet to get their “well baby check” and Ziggy jumped in the sink, then jumped in the trashcan. We had to give him a bowl of baby food to slow him down enough to give him his vaccination.

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