Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: Mardi Gras

Showing posts with label Mardi Gras. Show all posts

Friday, February 23, 2024

Shrimp and Grits for #MardiGras @MaddieDayAuthor

MADDIE DAY here, with a Mardi Gras recipe a little late!

I happen to love grits, which isn't too different from polenta or what in West Africa they call fufu. It's a creamy starchy pile that provides a perfect vehicle for a savory sauce. In my Country Store Mysteries, Robbie Jordan often serves grits with breakfast in her restaurant, sometimes topped by sausage gravy.

Shrimp and Grits

This yummy Mardi Gras recipe is adapted from Southern Living.

Ingredients

1 lb. large raw shrimp

5 cups water, plus more as needed

1 1/4 cups uncooked stone-ground white corn grits

3 tsp. kosher salt, divided

1 tablespoon oil

1 (4-oz.) pkg. diced pancetta or ham

1 yellow onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

12 ounces mushrooms, sliced

2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons butter, divided

1 cup chicken or seafood broth

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)

black pepper

salt

Dash of hot sauce (optional)

Directions

Peel and devein shrimp, discarding shells. Place shrimp in a medium bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Bring water to a boil in a medium pot over high. Whisk in grits and 2 1/2 teaspoons of the salt.

Reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring often, until grits are tender, liquid is absorbed, and the mass pulls away from the sides of the pot, about 30 minutes.

If grits thicken before they are tender, add more water, and continue cooking. Remove from heat, and cover to keep warm.

After grits have cooked for 15 minutes, heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add pancetta, and cook, stirring occasionally, until crispy and fat has rendered, about 4 minutes.

Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have softened and charred lightly, about 5 minutes. Remove to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium; add flour and 1 tablespoon of the butter to the same pan, and cook, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and flour has mixed in, about 1 minute.

Slowly add broth, stirring constantly, until fully combined. Sprinkle in Cajun seasoning. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium-high.

Add shrimp and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are cooked through and opaque, and sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5 to 8 minutes.

Add the vegetables back in plus several turns of pepper and salt, if needed. Heat through.

Stir cheese and remaining 3 tablespoons butter into grits.

Divide grits evenly among 4 shallow bowls, and spoon shrimp and gravy evenly on top of each bowl. Garnish with hot sauce, if desired. Serve hot.

Readers: How do you celebrate Mardi Gras? Any favorite foods?

📖🍷🥗

Deep Fried Death, #12 in the Country Store Mysteries, is out!

Murder Uncorked, Cece Barton Mystery #1, released in late October.

Next to release is A Case for the Ladies on March 12. Do you love the cover as much as I do? Be sure to drop by here on Sunday or Monday to read all about my new historical!

After that comes Murder at the Rusty Anchor in late June. It's the sixth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery.

Check out all my writing:

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Gluten-Free King Cake #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #MardiGras

Libby Klein I've always seen these brightly colored king cakes in the bakery, but I've never been able to try them because they don't come gluten-free. This year, I finally worked up the nerve to just make one myself. I was surprised to find out that this is just a giant cinnamon roll. It's not really a cake at all. I used a recipe that said either fill the dough with cinnamon and sugar, or a cream cheese pecan mixture. I went with the cream cheese and pecans because it seemed fancier. I think I would have liked just the spices. I also used a spice blend called speculoos. It's a combination of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, anise, ginger, and cardamom. You can just use cinnamon for a more traditional flavor.

The tradition says that you put a little plastic baby inside the cake, and whoever gets the baby has to buy next year's king cake. I left the baby out because one - I am the only one here eating this thing so I'll have to make it again next year anyway. And two - I'd be that one person in a million who would cut that baby in half. I once swallowed my crown because I thought it was a walnut in my oatmeal.

If you put the baby in - or if you've ever been the lucky one to get the baby in your slice - let me know.

Gluten-Free Mardi Gras King Cake

Yield: 1 cake

Ingredients:

Dough

1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cups gluten-free one-to-one flour blend
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 Tbsp psyllium husk powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sour cream
6 Tbsp soft butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
zest of 1 lemon

Filling

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 large egg

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

Glaze

2 cups gluten-free powdered sugar

3 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp melted butter

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Green, Yellow, and Purple decorating sugars

Directions:

For the Dough

Heat the milk to just barely warm. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the dry ingredients. Whisk around to combine. Using a dough hook or metal beater, add the warm milk, followed by the sour cream, soft butter, egg, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest. Beat until a soft dough forms. It will be very sticky. Scrape dough into the center of the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let proof until doubled in size.

Make the Filling

Beat the cream cheese with the egg, sugar, cinnamon, and Vanilla. Fold in the toasted pecans. Set aside.

Prepare the Cake

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9" spring form pan.

Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread the filling down the lower half of the middle of the dough lengthwise. So not in the middle, and not all the way at the bottom. You want to be able to wrap the very bottom 1/4 of the dough over the filling. Then roll the dough over the filling into a log. I made a quick egg wash because I was afraid of the filling spilling out. Also, notice how I crimped both ends of the dough. You don't want the filling going all the way end to end either.

Once you have a log, gently lift it into your prepared spring form pan and form a ring. Overlap the ends and crimp together. Be sure you don't roll your dough too thin. You can see mine had a rip on top. I added a piece of greased foil to the spot to keep the filling from running out.

Make sure your don't roll your dough too thin. Mine ripped on top.

Now set this somewhere warm to double in size. I really like putting it in my oven with a pan of just boiled water below it. Remove the ring before baking so you'll get even browning.

Bake in a 350-degree preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

I've taken off my foil patches. You can see how my dough wasn't thick enough, but I'll cover all that with my glaze. Let this cool, and if you're shoving that plastic baby inside - now is the time.

Make the Glaze

Mix the powdered sugar, milk, melted butter, lemon juice, and vanilla together until a smooth but thick pourable glaze forms. Spoon over the top of the cooled cake. sprinkle with your Mardi Gras sugars.

Other than the rip in the dough, I was really excited about how this turned out. It rose beautifully and had a great texture that you would not know was gluten-free. I think the next time I'll just make the cinnamon and sugar filling. Don't forget to let me know what you think!

Gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister and her aunt Ginny are looking forward to a quiet, homey Christmas at their B&B in Cape May, but unfortunately, death isn’t taking a holiday this year . . .

Ever since Thanksgiving, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery of the romantic kind. But at least this mystery isn’t the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex’s restaurant—and he’s frozen, not fresh.

For once, it’s not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can’t escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her. Now, while Aunt Ginny plans a tree-trimming party and pressures Poppy to decode a mysterious old diary, the amateur sleuth is asked to “unofficially” go undercover at the restaurant to help the police. Until then, the only crime Poppy had been dealing with was Figaro’s repeated thefts of bird ornaments from the tree; now it looks like it’s going to be a murder-y Christmas after all.

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

How to Make Beignets (Step-by-Step) by @CleoCoyle #MardiGras

From Cleo Coyle: Today is Mardi Gras, and nobody knows how to celebrate "Fat Tuesday" better than the city of New Orleans.

Marc and I loved the time we spent there. If you've visited the Big Easy, then you know the jazz and the food are well worth the trip. And you cannot leave without sinking your teeth into a warm, fresh beignet from Cafe du Monde, one of our country's oldest, still-operating coffee stands (1862).

Today we're re-sharing our love of those New Orleans beignets with you, along with the recipe we use at home to make them.

Happy Mardi Gras, everyone, may you feast with joy!

~ Cleo

Order Up!

For a free, downloadable PDF

of this recipe that you can

print, save, or share, click here.

Click for Cleo's Free
Beignet Recipe PDF.

Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery
series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.

A Recipe Note from Cleo

Once in your liftetime, you have got to give yourself the treat of making beignets from scratch. True, many people, have FOY (fear of yeast) or FOHO (fear of hot oil), but fear not, friends! This recipe will take you through the process, step-by-step, with tips to help you make beignets like a pro.

This recipe, which Marc and I perfected in our kitchen, makes light, tender, slightly chewy, and amazingly delicious beignets. It's the very recipe we published in our 15th Coffeehouse Mystery, Dead to the Last Drop, and quite a few readers asked us to share it online again. So here it is. Once again, for Fat Tuesday, I'm happy to say... Laissez les bons temps rouler and let's get our beignets on! ~ Cleo

☕ Cleo Coyle's

Coffeehouse Beignets

Makes about 30 beignets, depending on size

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons RapidRise active dry yeast (a little more than half of a 1/4 -ounce envelope)

1 extra-large egg, slightly beaten

1 small (5‑ounce) can of evaporated milk (a little more than 1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons canola, vegetable, or another neutral-tasting oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)

3-1/2 cups bread flour

A little extra bread flour for dusting and rolling

Canola or Vegetable oil for deep-frying

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar (approximately) for coating beignets

Directions:

Step 1—Make the yeast mixture: Combine the water, sugar, and yeast in a container. Allow to sit for 15 minutes. The mixture should appear active and produce foam. If not, the yeast is dead. Trash the mixture and begin again with fresher yeast.

Step 2—Create the dough: In a large mixing bowl, fork-whisk the egg. Whisk in the evaporated milk, oil, and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture that you made in Step 1.

Whisk in 1 cup of the bread flour until dissolved. Continue to add the rest of the flour (2-1/2 more cups for a total of 3-1/2 cups), stirring as you add.

Cleo Tip: No mixer needed if you use a simple long grilling fork. As you add flour to yeast dough, it becomes thick and sticky. Instead of pulling out a mixer, I pull out my large grilling fork and use it like a dough hook. While adding flour, I continue to work the dough with the fork, until it becomes stiff enough to knead by hand...

Step 3—Knead by hand: Flour your hands and knead the dough within the bowl until smooth. If you need to add more flour in this process, sprinkle on more...

Step 4—Rise the dough: Remove the dough from the bowl. Clean the bowl, lightly grease it with oil or coat with nonstick spray. Place the dough back into the bowl and....

Place the bowl inside a plastic shopping bag and tie the handles. (This is a very effective method for coaxing dough to rise—and it's my favorite.) Or you can cover the top with a towel. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours or until double in size.

After 2 hours, the dough
has doubled in size.

Step 5—Roll and cut the dough: Divide the dough in half and work with one half at a time. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.

Cleo Tip: When rolling dough, be sure to turn it for even rolling in all directions (as you see in my video above). If more flour is needed to prevent sticking, sprinkle it on your board, your hands, and on your rolling pin.

Cleo Tip: If your dough is very elastic, you may have trouble rolling it. If that's the case, carefully pick it up as you see in my video above and gently stretch it as shown (a little like pizza dough). It will become more pliable and you can return to rolling it on the board.

Cut into squares 2‑by‑2‑inch in size, but you can make them smaller or larger, your choice.

Step 6—Fry the beignets: If not using a fryer, pour oil (about an inch in depth) into a skillet or cast-iron pan. Preheat the oil to 350°F—the oil must be very hot and remain hot. Don’t crowd the pan. When you crowd the pan, the oil temperature drops, giving you greasy beignets. So keep the oil hot, but not so hot that the beignets burn. Use your judgement during the cooking and adjust the heat as you fry.

As you see the beignets rise and puff up, flip them over. Look for a golden brown color on both sides.

Remove the fried beignets with a slotted spoon and allow them to drain well on paper towels. While still warm, dust generously on both sides with powdered sugar and...eat with joy!