Paul Salvant, The Bug Man, cooks some wild game gumbo and boils oysters in crawfish boil. His gumbo is all wild - mallard ducks, gizzards, and nutria sausage. I guess having a pest control service has its perks - all the nutria you can capture! He had some nutria processed into fresh sausage (a 50/50 mixture with pork) and fried it in a cast iron skillet. He rendered all the fat out of the ducks by baking them and used a dry roux mix to eliminate extra fat, so this gumbo is heart healthy! Then, he uses crawfish boil in a new way - to boil oysters whole. 2 bags of Creative Cajun Cooking's seafood boil is perfect for a turkey frying-size pot.
Outdoors:Top water trout fishing out of Golden Meadow, LA, with Capt. Chad Billiot, Marsh Rat Guide Service. Capt. Chad uses Top Dogs to bring in a ton of trout - for a trip with The Marsh Rat, call him at (985) 637-5058 or check out his website at www.TheMarshRat.com.
Kitchen:We're on location at Gorman Brothers Appliances. Marissa makes a creamy corn and andouille chowder, spicy shrimp & zucchini with cucumber dip, and showcases some specialty meats from Ralph's Market. The specialty meats are easy, just pick up what you want from the meat section at Ralph's (boudin stuffed chicken or chops, sausage stuffed eggplant, whatever you like) and bake it in a 350 oven until the middle registers 180 degrees. For the other recipes:
When you go fishing with Venice Charters Unlimited, Capt. Brent Roy will put you on the fish. On this trip, Franklin and Sean catch a limit of reds and bring them home for Marissa to cook. Capt. Brent made us all hungry, telling us how his momma cooked it when he was a kid, so we went old-school in the kitchen: Panfried (in butter) Redfish with homemade Hollandaise sauce.
Sight fishing for red in the Leeville marsh with Capt. Chad Billiot, The Marsh Rat. He takes us out of Bobby Lynn's Marina to find those copper beauties. Capt. Chad always puts us on the fish and is a great guide for family trips (or just the guys/girls). To book a trip with him, call him at (985) 637-5058. For more about his guide service: www.TheMarshRat.com.
Evan Gonzales of Ascension Granite & Marble was also on this trip and he gave us a great offer for our viewers - if you hire him to install over 35 sqft of granite or marble, he'll throw in an undermount sink for free. Not too shabby! Call his shop at (225) 644-2231 for a free estimate. www.AscensionGranite.com
Full Episode:
Paul Salvant, The Bug Man, shows us how to catch and cook Pontchartrain drum. First, he makes a BBQ Shrimp appetizer, smothers some potatoes and corn macque choux, then grills sheephead, redfish, and drum on the half shell with a little of his homemade barbecue sauce and some Pickapeppa sauce - and, don't forget, lots of Magic Swamp Dust! With us is Lisha Rabalais, Paul's friend, who demos some A-Z, Oregon wines (you can find at Ralph's Market) that go well with all of our dishes.
Since you know how to cook 'em, you should know how to catch 'em - and that part is the most fun. Just call Capt. Greg Schlumbrecht with To Fish Charters in Lake Pontchartrain (985) 960-1709, www.ToFishCharters.com.
It's that time of year!! KING CAKE SEASON!! Too bad that because of the freeze, it's not crawfish season too - but we do a minipot seafood boil anyway, just to get that flavor. First we head to Ralph's Market in Gonzales and talk to Velma Jack and Tammy Lee about how they make Ralph's famous king cakes. We see the process for plain and filled cakes. If you have a custom filling or color you'd like to order, go to www.RalphsAG.com.
Ronnie Trosclair shows us the new bulk section in the produce department - it rivals the big Baton Rouge stores for selection of organic, healthy products! Stop by the Gonzales store, pick up a king cake, and check out all the renovations!
Velma and Tammy set aside some king cake dough for me to take to Gorman Brothers Appliances in Prairieville. They shaped it into a G for me, so all I had to do was proof and bake - it was so easy in Gorman Brothers' Jenn-Air wall ovens. Silly me, I could have used one to proof and one to preheat/bake, but I was so used to being limited by a range oven, that I didn't even think of it and had to take my proofed cake out before I could preheat. Now I gotta have those wall ovens in my kitchen!
Anyway, I threw some of Creative Cajun Cooking's low-sodium Seafood Boil in a pot, and boiled up some shrimp from Cajun Catch, some sausage from French Settlement, and also made some yummy party dips. I make a quickie remoulade with Cajun Ketchup from Game Day Foods, mayo, creole mustard, and of course, Magic Swamp Dust. Perfect for the shrimp and sausage! I also make an Andouille Cream Cheese dip to go with our purple and gold tortilla chips. Crispy andouille bits - better than bacon in almost anything.
Redfishing with Venice Charters - Capt. Brent Roy (225) 268-8420. Capt. Brent takes us to his honey hole in one of the passes at the mouth of the Mississippi and we catch redfish as fast as we can put our lines in the water. Brent was catching them left and right on Bandit crankbaits. We love riding in his new Skeeter boat and you will too! Call for guide rates and accomodations at Riverview Rentals.
Cooking on location! Jimmy Babin, Creative Cajun Cooking, shows how he can handle cooking for a crowd at any site. Today he's frying chicken and smoking ribs, serving it from his new buffet lines. To get your event catered, check out his website for menus and pricing: www.CreativeCajunCooking.com
Kitchen: Marissa goes to Gorman Brothers to cook on that awesome Thermador demo range. She gives a tutorial on how to fry soft shell crabs, then makes some mini hot sausage poboys with carmelized onions, and a rustic apple tart in a cast iron skillet. Full bellies all around!
Outdoors: Mike and Doug Gorman go out fishing with Sean Turner and Capt. Anthony Buquoi of Spot On Fishing Adventures out of Leeville, LA. They had a great day pulling trout out of the water and into the boat! For a trip like this: www.SpotOnFishingAdventures.com, (225) 806-8808.
Outdoors: Sean talks to fellow Vanishing Paradise member, Capt. Ryan Lambert of Cajun Fishing Adventures about how the sediment diversion at Fort Jackson in Buras, LA, is helping build habitat in the Mississippi River Delta. Then we go back to the lodge for Ms. Lupita's Crab and Shrimp Mole. Looks like a roux stew, but is sweet and spicy. So good! For more info: www.VanishingParadise.org, www.LaCamo.org,www.CajunFishingAdventures.com
Kitchen: So many recipes! Marissa starts at Gorman Brothers Appliances to do a little cooking on her favorite Thermador range. We make Bacon Wrapped Asparagus, Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs with Pineapple, Andouille Mac & Cheese, and a No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake dessert. Doug Gorman tells us about the specials they have on Thermador appliances at Gorman Brothers.
Outdoors:This week, we're fishing with Capt. Anthony Buquoi (Spot On Fishing Adventures) out of Leeville, LA. Mike & Doug Gorman (Gorman Brothers Appliances) and Sean head out on a perfect day and fill up the box with speckled and white trout. For a fishing adventure like this: www.SpotOnFishingAdventures.com (225) 806-8808.
Kitchen: Marissa is on location at Gorman Brothers Appliances cooking up the fish the guys caught: pan fried trout rolled in Gator Wing Batter and served with citrus sauces. She makes a Lemon Butter Caper sauce, an Almondine, and a Sea Salt & Lime sauce. She also makes a quick and easy jambalaya with LSU Jambalaya mix, pork, and French Settlement Sausage.
Outdoors:This week, we're fishing with Capt. Anthony Buquoi (Spot On Fishing Adventures) out of Leeville, LA. Mike & Doug Gorman (Gorman Brothers Appliances) and Sean head out on a perfect day and fill up the box with speckled and white trout. For a fishing adventure like this: www.SpotOnFishingAdventures.com (225) 806-8808.
Kitchen: Marissa is on location at Gorman Brothers Appliances cooking up the fish the guys caught: pan fried trout rolled in Gator Wing Batter and served with citrus sauces. She makes a Lemon Butter Caper sauce, an Almondine, and a Sea Salt & Lime sauce. She also makes a quick and easy jambalaya with LSU Jambalaya mix, pork, and French Settlement Sausage.
Outdoors:Top water trout fishing out of Golden Meadow, LA, with Capt. Chad Billiot, Marsh Rat Guide Service. Capt. Chad uses Top Dogs to bring in a ton of trout - for a trip with The Marsh Rat, call him at (985) 637-5058 or check out his website at www.TheMarshRat.com.
Kitchen:We're on location at Gorman Brothers Appliances with an incredible 40% off sale on their Pacific Living Outdoor Oven. Marissa makes a creamy corn and andouille chowder, spicy shrimp & zucchini with cucumber dip, and showcases some specialty meats from Ralph's Market. The specialty meats are easy, just pick up what you want from the meat section at Ralph's (boudin stuffed chicken or chops, sausage stuffed eggplant, whatever you like) and bake it in a 350 oven until the middle registers 180 degrees. For the other recipes:
Sight fishing for red in the Leeville marsh with Capt. Chad Billiot, The Marsh Rat. He takes us out of Bobby Lynn's Marina to find those copper beauties. Capt. Chad always puts us on the fish and is a great guide for family trips (or just the guys/girls). To book a trip with him, call him at (985) 637-5058. For more about his guide service: www.TheMarshRat.com.
Evan Gonzales of Ascension Granite & Marble was also on this trip and he gave us a great offer for our viewers - if you hire him to install over 35 sqft of granite or marble, he'll throw in an undermount sink for free. Not too shabby! Call his shop at (225) 644-2231 for a free estimate. www.AscensionGranite.com
A great place for family gatherings and recipes for party dips - what a fun show!
We start out at St. Gemme de Beauvais Bed & Breakfast in Ethel, Louisiana. We took the family for a 3-day weekend and had a blast fishing, trail riding (in our golf cart), eating, and relaxing. We had such a good time, especially since we reserved chef-prepared dinners for each evening. So good! Call Cynthia Beauvais for availability (225) 721-1514 or see her website for rates/info: www.StGemmeDeBeauvais.com. (For a quick tour, see the video below.)
We also hang out at Creative Cajun Cooking with Jimmy Babin and Catrina Bonomolo to learn how to make big party dips. Everything from cocktail sauce to Jimmy's cream cheese dip with Gator Pickle juice. I'm also gonna have to try to make pina coladas out of that fruit dip!
Even better, hire Creative Cajun Cooking to make all these things for your party! www.CreativeCajunCooking.com for catering menus and more!
This week's show: The Daly's outdoor kitchen, Shish Kabobs, Crab Dip, Crawfish & Corn Egg Rolls
One of our sponsors, Kevin Boudreaux (KTB Properties) just finished building a gorgeous outdoor kitchen and we just had to check it out. We made some wonderful shish kabobs and crab dip. I've been experimenting with recipes and has a great one for leftover crawfish from a boil: crawfish & corn egg rolls. To see more pics of the project, go to www.KTBProperties.com.
We spend the day at Creative Cajun Cooking with Catrina Bonomolo of Catrina's Cake Cottage to show you how to make the best buttercream cakes! Catrina gives us lots of tips for baking and decorating with buttercream. She also shows us how to make cake parfaits. If you've ever wondered how professionals make their cakes, this is the show for you! How about a cake without all the work? Go to www.CatrinasCakeCottage.com to make an order!
We also check in on Jimmy Babin at a crawfish boil - just a couple o'THOUSAND pounds of crawfish to be boiled and served all at once, along with red beans and rice, jambalaya, potatoes, corn, condiments, veggie salad, and dessert for 400. Just another day for Jimmy! He can do it all, on location. If you need catering for a large crowd, go to his website to see his menus and make an order. www.CreativeCajunCooking.com
Ronnie Corkern hosts the 2014 DEMCO Big Buck Contest Awards Ceremony. Congrats to all the winners, including Youth Winner Gabe Jewell!
Marissa is on location at Gorman Brothers Appliances to make some super easy deer and jambalaya recipes. She grills some backstrap on their Thermador cooktop, then puts a sizzling slice on top of herbed goat cheese in puff pastry. You ever get a taste for a red jambalaya? Marissa makes one with Game Day Foods' jambalaya mix, a little tomato sauce, shrimp, and French Settlement Sausage green onion smoked sausage. Look for the mix with the LSU logo on it! www.GameDayFoods.net, www.FrenchSettlementSausage.com.
Looking for just the jambalaya recipe or just the appetizer recipe? Look below:
This week: Lent Recipes
One of the seasons we get the most recipe requests for is Lent. I guess everyone knows how much we love seafood! So, we experimented a little and came up with some options with lots of flavor (but not too weird, so the family will still eat it)! Sean loves grilled oysters, so we came up with a way that he can practically make them by himself. He's a cheese hound, so there's lots of cheese in every breadcrumbly bite. He also loves alligator (Momma wanted scallops but got out-voted when we were in Cajun Catch buying seafood). We soaked the alligator meat in orange juice (like we do our venison), then marinated it in a sweet-spicy mixture that gives it a lacquer like coating when cooked on a hot griddle. Couldn't stay out of it! Now, everybody's used to having fish for Lent, so we've got that too. We dusted some speckled trout with Magic Swamp Dust and cooked it on the griddle with some butter. Then we blended together some strawberries, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and jalapeno for a drizzle. I was worried about putting strawberry-jalapeno with fish, but I like it on chicken and waffles - and this was even better!
Bobbi Jo Guerin tells us how the Watson Gumbo Cookoff got started and how it benefits local veterans. What a great event! We had so much fun talking to the cooks and folks in the crowd - not to metion the GUMBO!! Congrats to the winners, especially since they donated their winnings back to the cause! This year's event benefits Raven's Outreach Center for homeless veterans in Baton Rouge. For more info on the event or to sign up for the email list, contact Bobbi Jo by email at BJGuerin65@gmail.com, or (225) 337-0041.
Since I'm tired of the cold, I wanted to share some warm weather fishing footage. It's time to call your favorite guide and schedule your spring trip! Want to go fishing with The Marsh Rat? Call Capt. Chad Billiot at (985) 637-5058.
It's that time of year!! KING CAKE SEASON!! Too bad that because of the freeze, it's not crawfish season too - but we do a minipot seafood boil anyway, just to get that flavor. First we head to Ralph's Market in Gonzales and talk to Velma Jack and Tammy Lee about how they make Ralph's famous king cakes. We see the process for plain and filled cakes. If you have a custom filling or color you'd like to order, go to www.RalphsAG.com.
Ronnie Trosclair shows us the new bulk section in the produce department - it rivals the big Baton Rouge stores for selection of organic, healthy products! Stop by the Gonzales store, pick up a king cake, and check out all the renovations!
Velma and Tammy set aside some king cake dough for me to take to Gorman Brothers Appliances in Prairieville. They shaped it into a G for me, so all I had to do was proof and bake - it was so easy in Gorman Brothers' Jenn-Air wall ovens. Silly me, I could have used one to proof and one to preheat/bake, but I was so used to being limited by a range oven, that I didn't even think of it and had to take my proofed cake out before I could preheat. Now I gotta have those wall ovens in my kitchen!
Anyway, I threw some of Creative Cajun Cooking's low-sodium Seafood Boil in a pot, and boiled up some shrimp from Cajun Catch, some sausage from French Settlement, and also made some yummy party dips. I make a quickie remoulade with Cajun Ketchup from Game Day Foods, mayo, creole mustard, and of course, Magic Swamp Dust. Perfect for the shrimp and sausage! I also make an Andouille Cream Cheese dip to go with our purple and gold tortilla chips. Crispy andouille bits - better than bacon in almost anything.
When you're a caterer, who do you hire to cater your own wedding? Why, you do it yourself of course! It took 3 days of prep to turn his equipment bay into a wedding hall, but Jimmy did it - with a Prime Rib and Lobster sit-down dinner on top of that!! To book your event, go to www.CreativeCajunCooking.com - you can have it at Jimmy's beautiful place on the Diversion Canal or at your location. Cheers!
This week, we're fishing with The Marsh Rat, Capt. Chad Billiot, in the Tidewater Canal - launching out of Bobby Lynn's Marina in Leeville, La. Our guests, Vic and Mike from Tommy's Lock & Alarms catch plenty trout and reds (even with a 20 mph wind howling). Thank goodness for great guides! If you're interested in fishing the Leeville - Grand Isle - Fourchon area, call Capt. Chad Billiot to book a trip (985) 637-5058. Stay at Bobby Lynn's Marina and you'll be right on the water! www.MarshRatCharters.com
Now, how you gonna cook them specks and reds? Gotta fry up those trout fillets or griddle those redfish fillets and make some tacos! We go to Taco Boudreaux in Baton Rouge where Chef Brennan Ledet shows us items on his new menu and talks about how he's not just feeding his customers, but needy folks in our community too (with Eatiply). Taco Boudreaux is on Sherwood Forest Blvd at I-12 - www.TacoBoudreaux.com
Happy Thanksgiving! This week, we've got some great holiday recipes for you - cornbread, shrimp cornbread dressing, oyster cornbread dressing, Gator Pickle dip, and easy Shrimp Alfredo. Jimmy Babin, Creative Cajun Cooking, shows us how he makes seafood dressings for his holiday meals. We get a bunch of shrimp and oysters from Cajun Catch Seafood in Gonzales and go to work! To wrap it up, Bryce & Bryant Viverata come over to cook in Jimmy's kitchen - they make an easy Shrimp Alfredo.
Our annual trip to Fayette, Mississippi for the Youth Hunt at Last Chance Hunting Club. This is always so much fun for the kids and the grownups! This year, we had 13 kids competing in the Mini Pot Jambalaya competition. We had 4 deer come into the camp, including Sean's first buck - a 10 pointer! Tommy Firmin, Double D Daiquiris, shows us how he makes Rooster & Sausage Gumbo. We also get some info about the Watson Gumbo Cookoff coming up January 25, 2014. Then we go to Gorman Brothers Appliances in Prairieville to cook up some of that fresh venison tenderloin. We marinate it in orange juice instead of milk and it is SO good! Don't forget, Gorman Brothers has HUGE sales going on until Thanksgiving so get your new fridge now!
We go offshore fishing with Steve Tomeny Charters out of Port Fourchon, La. Kevin Boudreaux, KTB Properties, chartered the trip for some of his construction clients and invited us along. The guys had a great time catching amberjack, mangrove snapper, and even a black grouper. For a trip like this: www.SteveTomenyCharters.com
This week: Make it easy!
We make a seafood gumbo in a Crock Pot that's as close to "dump and go" as you can get. Then we make cucumber rolls like they make at the sushi restaurants, but much easier - just pop the seeds out of the center of a cucumber slice with an apple corer, then stuff with whatever you like. We use crab, avocado, cream cheese, and more! Then we pump up the flavor of a blueberry muffin mix by using freshly squeezed orange juice instead of water. So good and so easy!
I let Sean come up with this week's recipes and he wanted to make use of some of the deer meat we had in the freezer. He LOVES deer meatballs, especially with BBQ sauce or brown gravy. I challenged him to come up with a new topping and he wanted to use queso. We added some Mexican spices to the meat, threw it on the grill, topped it with queso and andouille and WHEW! WAS IT GOOD! I love a good pasta salad, so we added the andouille bits to a creamy ranch pasta salad, tossed in some Creole tomatoes and parmesan cheese. I wish I still had some left!
On location in Jimmy Babin's kitchen at Creative Cajun Cooking, making all kinds of goodies with Louisiana-made products. Tony & Celeste Griffin stop by with some Wow Wee Dipping Sauce to show us how to make a hot crab dip with their Spicy Cajun Dipping Sauce. Jimmy uses the mild dipping sauce in a crabmeat stuffing for flounder, then serves it with their Spicy Cajun Tartar Sauce. Then Jimmy makes a Fig Bread Pudding using fig preserves and syrup made from fig hand-picked by the folks at Ole Homestead Jellies. Talk about good!
This week, we're fishing with Capt. Elton Rodrigue of Catchdat! down in Cocodrie, catching trout and redfish. Franklin and Sean had a great time! To book a trip with Capt. E, call him at (225) 715-2105 or check out his website at www.Catchdat.com!
Since we've got some great fish, we needed some great recipes - so we went to Taco Boudreaux in Baton Rouge (I-12 @Sherwood Forest) and Chef Brennan Ledet shows us some seafood dishes. Fish tacos, surf & turf fajitas, seafood enchiladas, MexiCajun pizza with cochon de lait, crawfish etouffee burrito, and the Abita-Rita are all on the menu! www.TacoBoudreaux.com
This week:
I let Sean come up with this week's recipes and he wanted to make use of some of the deer meat we had in the freezer. He LOVES deer meatballs, especially with BBQ sauce or brown gravy. I challenged him to come up with a new topping and he wanted to use queso. We added some Mexican spices to the meat, threw it on the grill, topped it with queso and andouille and WHEW! WAS IT GOOD! I love a good pasta salad, so we added the andouille bits to a creamy ranch pasta salad, tossed in some Creole tomatoes and parmesan cheese. I wish I still had some left!
This week: Ralph's Market, Pelican Point, is featuring Louisiana products Saturday, June 15 from 12-3pm. Jimmy Babin, Creative Cajun Cooking, will be on site frying whole chickens for sale. They'll also have a big sale on GATOR PICKLES!!
We also go fishing with Capt. Anthony Buquoi, Spot On Fishing Adventures, out of Leeville. Even though the wind was howling, Capt. Anthony still had us pulling in fish of all kinds. He's great with kids, too!
Paul Salvant, The Bug Man, cooks some wild game gumbo and boils oysters in crawfish boil. His gumbo is all wild - mallard ducks, gizzards, and nutria sausage. I guess having a pest control service has its perks - all the nutria you can capture! He had some nutria processed into fresh sausage (a 50/50 mixture with pork) and fried it in a cast iron skillet. He rendered all the fat out of the ducks by baking them and used a dry roux mix to eliminate extra fat, so this gumbo is heart healthy! Then, he uses crawfish boil in a new way - to boil oysters whole. 2 bags of Creative Cajun Cooking's seafood boil is perfect for a turkey frying-size pot.
This week: Capt. Chad Billiot takes the boys redfishing in the shallow salt marshes out of Golden Meadow, LA. Sean Turner and Gabe Williams catch reds on Black Shad Die Dapper Saltwater Bass Assassins as a front moves through. Want a great guide to take you and your kids fishing? Call Capt. Chad - (985) 637-5058 or check out his website: www.MarshRatCharters.com
This week, we announce the winners of the 2013 DEMCO Big Buck Contest. Congrats to all the DEMCO families who participated and won prizes! Thanks to Ronnie Corkern for telling us about all the hard work it takes to keep a deer camp productive for its members! Marissa and Sean finish the show with a simple recipe for deer boudin. For the recipe, click here: Boudin & White Bean Gratin
We're on location at Taco Boudreaux Louisiana-Mexican fusion restaurant on Sherwood Forest at I-12 in Baton Rouge. Chef Brennan Ledet shows us some of his favorite fusion dishes. He also serves seafood platters, traditional Mexican, and traditional Louisiana dishes so everybody can have what they want. Kid's day on Sundays, you gotta let 'em try the Snakebite mocktail. My favorite? The Cochon de Lait fajitas - it doesn't get more Cajun-Mexican than that! www.TacoBoudreaux.com
Field trip!
First, we check in with Jimmy Babin, www.CreativeCajunCooking.com, to see how he gets lunch put together for the Honeywell Geismar Fire Brigade training sessions. On this day, he's got roast pork, rice and gravy, green beans with bacon, salad, french bread, and pudding. Jimmy cooks everything at his catering facility, then loads it in his catering trailer and brings it to the LSU Fire and Emergency Training Institute in Baton Rouge where the crew is training. Jimmy can feed any size crowd, with any kind of food - from weddings to office lunches to crawfish boils. If you'd like to cater a holiday party or just order fried turkeys for Thanksgiving or Christmas, give Jimmy a call at (225) 445-1555. For his roast pork and gravy recipe, go to his website: www.CreativeCajunCooking.com.
When we get to the fire training facility, St. Amant Fire Chief James LeBlanc talks about how he trains and feeds this hungry crew. He tells Sean all about the firey props they're training with, what kids need to know about fire prevention, and what it takes to be a fulltime fire fighter. For more on fire prevention: www.nfpa.org.
In the second part of the show, we travel to Woodville, Mississippi for their Deer & Wildlife Festival. Marissa, Franklin, and Sean are judges for the wild game cookoff. The categories were deer, fowl, wild hog, and exotic (anything from alligator to redfish to squirrel). The entries were all amazing! We've got pictures of the cooking teams and food, and video of the winner announcements. While we're judging, Festival Volunteer Jackie Lee talks to one of the festival presenters about how to film your own hunt.
Scott Wesberry and Hillery Orgeron talk to Franklin about what it takes to put on a large festival in a small town - lots of sponsors and volunteers. We had a great time and look forward to going next year! We can't thank Scott, Hillery, and their families enough for all the hospitality they show us! For more info on the festival: www.DeerAndWildlifeFestival.com
This week: Lent Recipes
One of the seasons we get the most recipe requests for is Lent. I guess everyone knows how much we love seafood! So, we experimented a little and came up with some options with lots of flavor (but not too weird, so the family will still eat it)! Sean loves grilled oysters, so we came up with a way that he can practically make them by himself. He's a cheese hound, so there's lots of cheese in every breadcrumbly bite. He also loves alligator (Momma wanted scallops but got out-voted when we were in Cajun Catch buying seafood). We soaked the alligator meat in orange juice (like we do our venison), then marinated it in a sweet-spicy mixture that gives it a lacquer like coating when cooked on a hot griddle. Couldn't stay out of it! Now, everybody's used to having fish for Lent, so we've got that too. We dusted some speckled trout with Magic Swamp Dust and cooked it on the griddle with some butter. Then we blended together some strawberries, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and jalapeno for a drizzle. I was worried about putting strawberry-jalapeno with fish, but I like it on chicken and waffles - and this was even better!
This week: We're in the Creative Cajun Cooking kitchen with Jimmy Babin's granddaughter, Bree Babin, making some cajun style appetizers. Bree has created some great little dishes for parties using Magic Swamp Dust and sweet-n-spicy Gator Pickles. First, she makes Cajun Shrimp Bruschetta: a hot and bubbly shrimp and cheese mixture on French bread slices. Then she makes Cajun Crackers with a dipping sauce - the secret ingredient is the juice from a jar of Gator Pickles, so it is sweet and hot at the same time, while the creamy dip cools the palate. I don't think a crumb was left after we taped this! Most of Jimmy's products (the Seafood Boil, Magic Swamp Dust, Gator Pickles) are available in stores around South Louisiana (and Canada!) but the rest of you will just have to order them from www.CreativeCajunCooking.com. Let me tell you, it's worth it! Also, you can check out Jimmy's videos, "Creative Cajun Cooking Classes for Couyons" on his website too.
We had a little extra time at the end of the show, so we pulled some fishing footage from our archives (tell you the truth, I've been missing the sunshine and the old man in the video, Mr. JB Salter.) Mr. JB is in his 80s now and doesn't get to fishing much, but he's still active in the Salter's Jiggin' Poles business. This was the most fun I've had in a boat. Thanks, Mr. JB!!
This week, we've got Rebecca Triche, Director of Louisiana Wildlife Federation, giving us info about the upcoming LWF Convention in Baton Rouge (Feb 22-24, 2013 at the Embassy Suites). They'll have a dinner dance to kick things off, then they'll get down to the nitty gritty over the weekend, debating all the issues affecting Louisiana's wildlife. For more info: www.LaWildlifeFed.org
How about a fancy holiday recipe? Jimmy Babin, Creative Cajun Cooking, shows Sean Turner how to make shrimp en brochette. That's a fancy term for bacon wrapped shrimp, but Jimmy goes a step further by dipping those bacon wrapped beauties in Gator Wing Batter and deep frying them. How about that?
Our son, Sean Turner (age 9), hosts the show with Chris Macaluso of Vanishing Paradise. We're trout fishing in the MRGO and Biloxi Marsh out of Chalmette. Chris uses artificial bait, Sean and his daddy Franklin use live shrimp and they all catch lots of trout and a few sheephead. Chris tells us about what's going on with the BP settlement money, about the Vanishing Paradise campaign, and what still needs to be done to restore our coastal wetlands. For more information about Vanishing Paradise, click here for their website.
2012 Youth Hunt Weekend at Last Chance Hunting Club, Fayette, MS
We love going to the Youth Hunt! This year, we've got Kirk Braud cooking a Deer Sauce Piquante and he shares his secret ingredient - raw honey. The kids of the camp try their hands at mini pot jambalaya and we have a little competition for them. Sean Turner interviews the contestants: Dawson Brock, Kenli Conyers, Cade Conyers, Brooke Everett, Karley Braud, and Jaylyn Braud. The kids show us their deer, too. Cullen Edmonston, Brayden Knight, and Corbin Taylor all brought deer to the camp. Jambalaya Champ of Champs Carlos Braud gives the kids tips on how to make a great jambalaya. What a fun show!
First, we check in with Jimmy Babin, www.CreativeCajunCooking.com, to see how he gets lunch put together for the Honeywell Geismar Fire Brigade training sessions. On this day, he's got roast pork, rice and gravy, green beans with bacon, salad, french bread, and pudding. Jimmy cooks everything at his catering facility, then loads it in his catering trailer and brings it to the LSU Fire and Emergency Training Institute in Baton Rouge where the crew is training. Jimmy can feed any size crowd, with any kind of food - from weddings to office lunches to crawfish boils. If you'd like to cater a holiday party or just order fried turkeys for Thanksgiving or Christmas, give Jimmy a call at (225) 445-1555. For his roast pork and gravy recipe, go to his website: www.CreativeCajunCooking.com.
When we get to the fire training facility, St. Amant Fire Chief James LeBlanc talks about how he trains and feeds this hungry crew. He tells Sean all about the firey props they're training with, what kids need to know about fire prevention, and what it takes to be a fulltime fire fighter. For more on fire prevention: www.nfpa.org.
In the second part of the show, we travel to Woodville, Mississippi for their Deer & Wildlife Festival. Marissa, Franklin, and Sean are judges for the wild game cookoff. The categories were deer, fowl, wild hog, and exotic (anything from alligator to redfish to squirrel). The entries were all amazing! We've got pictures of the cooking teams and food, and video of the winner announcements. While we're judging, Festival Volunteer Jackie Lee talks to one of the festival presenters about how to film your own hunt.
Scott Wesberry and Hillery Orgeron talk to Franklin about what it takes to put on a large festival in a small town - lots of sponsors and volunteers. We had a great time and look forward to going next year! We can't thank Scott, Hillery, and their families enough for all the hospitality they show us! For more info on the festival: www.DeerAndWildlifeFestival.com
We go offshore fishing with Steve Tomeny Charters out of Port Fourchon, La. Kevin Boudreaux, KTB Properties, chartered the trip for some of his construction clients and invited us along. With us is Deven Le of Infiniti of Baton Rouge. The guys had a great time catching amberjack, mangrove snapper, and even a black grouper. For a trip like this: www.SteveTomenyCharters.com
This week, we're at the annual Valero St. Charles Refinery United Way Fishing Tournament. Jimmy Babin of Creative Cajun Cooking has once again created a feast for the weigh-in with pastalaya, red beans and rice, veggies, dessert, and (of course) his famous deep fried naked chicken. Creative Cajun Cooking offers catering for even the largest events - give Jimmy a call at (225) 445-1555. Since we caught some nice fish, we've got a little lagniappe recipe for you - Catfish Buras - that's perfect for holiday cooking. It's got a little orange and pecan flavor and is so good with any white fish, especially catfish or trout.
During the show, we meet some of the Valero St. Charles team and learn about their new project - Diamond Green Diesel. They're creating clean, pure diesel fuel out of used cooking oil and waste animal fats. What a great thing for Louisiana!
We head to the Woodville, Mississippi Deer & Wildlife Festival to judge a wild game cookoff. We had such a great time and can't wait to go again next year! www.DeerAndWildlifeFestival.com
French Settlement Sausage (225-698-3667, www.FrenchSettlementSausage.com) processes wild game. Sean felled a deer last year and requested it be made into boudin instead of regular sausage. (We got some of both, processed half-n-half with pork, and hickory smoked. Good stuff!!) Call the FSS office to inquire about game processing.
We got some good stuff cooking this week! We start out at Ralph's Market with Jimmy Babin, Creative Cajun Cooking. Jimmy's dunking whole chickens in his Smokin' Fryin' Rub and then deep frying them in his mobile fryer. Wow! You can get his seasonings at Ralph's Market or at www.CreativeCajunCooking.com
Then we take a little family trip out to the Gulf with Capt. Chad Billiot of Marsh Rat Charters. He's so good with kids - what an amazing trip. The sharks moved in on us near the rocks at East Timbalier, so we went for a ride and found some tide movement on a wellhead. Chad's Lowrance said there was a bunch of fish there and it did not lie. We found a new honey hole full of BIG trout! www.MarshRatCharters.com or (985) 637-5058. Shake-a-head, Shake-a-head!!
This week: Wesley Babin (American Industrial Plant Service, Inc.) takes us bowfishing with Louisiana Bowfishing Charters. Then we head to Jimmy Babin's kitchen at Creative Cajun Cooking and Wesley makes blackened redfish on a griddle, tops it with Poor Man's Crab (sheephead boiled in seafood boil) and sauteed tomatoes. So good! Sean Turner and Nick Babin make Sean's favorite appetizer: crispy Gator Pickle Bruschetta.