Spiced Pear and Ricotta Salad
This salad has it all – the sweetness of fried pears are balanced by bitter and spicy greens and mellowed by creamy ricotta. The deep flavors are brightened by a fall spiced vinaigrette, and wrapped up in the crunch of roasted sunflower seeds.
Muffuletta
It’s meaty, it’s cheesy, it’s briny, and oh so good! Muffulettas (muff-a-lotts) are an Italian American sandwich invented in New Orleans by Sicilian immigrants. It boasts layers of salami, ham, cheese, and olive salad on a round Italian loaf topped with sesame seeds and happens to be my favorite childhood sandwich.
Tomato, Cucumber, and Onion Salad
A salad can’t get much more refreshing or more summery than tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions topped with olive oil and vinegar. It’s flashy and classy. It belongs equally at a potluck picnic or on a fine dinner table.
Fish with Mango Salsa
It’s fresh, light, decadent, and special. It’s summer sunshine on a plate and no one can imagine how something so simple is so delicious. No one would ever imagine it’s so simple.
Smothered Summer Squash
Smothered summer squash is a versatile side dish that plays well with almost anything. Pair it with grilled or baked meats, fish, or stews. The squash flavors are deep and sweet and will have you coming back for more.
Fish Courtbouillon
It’s spicy and soul-warming yet light with fish and bright with lemon juice. Fish courtbouillon is a Cajun dish that is often not found in restaurants and mostly unknown to people outside of South Louisiana.
Roasted Butternut Squash and Peanut Salad
This salad has almost everything I love in food, the deep notes of caramel in the squash, the brightness of fresh herbs, the grounding peanuts, and the fruity tanginess of pomegranate molasses.
Dandelion Fritters
The cornmeal gives the most delightful crunch while the petals give you a nice chew. If you’re hesitant to try them, please do, they’re delicious. The fritters remind me of fried fish but with the most delicate of herb flavors.
Grits and Grillades
Grits and Grillades are the classiest and most comforting of all brunch dishes in New Orleans. It’s pieces of beef cooked in the most flavorful and complex of gravies. While tomato sauce takes the back seat, it creates depth of flavor and cloves gives it the unexpected hint of sweet and bitter that warms the soul on the greyest of winter days.
Yorkshire Christmas Pye
Nothing like spending Christmas with George Washington. Yorkshire Christmas Pye is a savory delight that warms the soul.
Chicken and Andouille Gumbo
Gumbo is one of the only foods I can think of that equally belongs at a fine dining restaurant, school cafeteria, hunting camp, tailgate party, Christmas parties, concession stands, and weeknight meals. Perhaps gumbo fits so many occasions because of its ease of cooking, forgiving nature, bold flavor, and soul-warming capabilities.
Beet and Burrata Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette
It’s fabulously fresh with a citrusy vinaigrette. It’s sassy with crunchy broiled grapefruit that brings tartness but sweet with yellow beets to cut the sour. Burrata brings a creaminess to the salad, yet remains light, and pistachios compliment all of the components.
Pomegranate and Cranberry Salad with Spiced Orange Vinaigrette
It’s light and feisty with spicy greens, mandarins, pomegranate, cranberries, and pecans. The salad is perfect to pair with a rich holiday meal or to use leftover Thanksgiving ingredients to create a filling salad. The beauty of this salad is almost anything goes and the point is to have a delicious dish while cleaning out your fridge.
Charred Carrots with Apple Brown-Butter Vinaigrette
Charring carrots brings on a marvelous complex of sweet and deep that is brightened yet grounded with apples, lemon, and browned butter.
Turnips as Cardoons
They’re buttery, decadent, and a little bit sweet. It’s everything a turnip should be: comforting, complex, a bit unexpected with just a hint of bitterness.
Cabbage with Onions Two Ways
Cabbage and onions are simply buttery bliss or you can take them one step further and turn them into fritters. Either way you’ll wish you knew this recipe a long time ago.
Halloween Salad: Cabbage, Carrot, Raisin, Pecan Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
The perfect Halloween festive salad that is as tasty as it is colorful. It’s bold, sweet, salty, and has texture for days. The dressing brings the perfect amount of zing that balances the sweeter components.
Grande Pates
Grande pates is dough that is pulled, fried, and served with smoked sausage and a good helping of Steen’s cane syrup. It’s a perfect harmony of sweet, savory, and smoky.
Peanut Soup
I began the meal with peanut soup and that first bite warmed and relaxed my most inner soul. It was creamy with a faint, but lingering peanut flavor.
Cucumber and Peanut Salad with Tahini Dressing
Cooling cucumbers give you all the freshness you want on a hot day and peanuts and tahini bring you an earthiness to keep you satisfied.