Posted on 02/27/2006 11:54:22 PM PST by Slip18
A++++ for you, Truthie!
Oh, I'm in for a wild day with cakes like that! Absolutely beautiful! Thank you!
I just realized that I beat everybody else into the thread today.
The world is doooooomed...
I have already shoveled the snow we got overnight, and am headed down to the workout dungeon, to work out. Nothing sultry about my day so far, but it isn't over yet. ;) See 'ya later.
So sorry about your breathing problems..........and your weather woes.
guess you missed the flashing, earlier....
that looks YUMMY!
thanks, slippy, they smell good too. They have a nutmeg-y smell. you use lemon juice in the icing to cut the sweetness too.
i found 2 errant babies in my drawer, so the king cakes were not baby-less after all!
Congratulations on No. 1 poster!
Have a good day, ti!
LOL, thanks for the reassurance.
Since I am not normally up at that hour.. it was reality altering.
He is smart. I stuck to the shrimp instead.
The coyotes woke me and then I couldn't go back to sleep.
4-pork mushroom gumbo
Take 1 pound reasonably lean bacon, trimming excess fat, and cook about halfway in a skillet. Remove from heat and set aside. Drain reasonably well; a li'l mo' bacon fat here ain't gon' hurt notin' hon'.
Take 1 1/2 to 2 lbs pork loin, cut into bite-size cubes. Sear over high heat in either olive oil or bacon fat, 2-3 minutes (measured from the time the oil is up to temp). Drain reasonably well and set aside.
Combine 1 1/2 cups bacon fat, rendered, with 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour over medium-low heat in a large pot or Dutch oven. Stir more or less continuously, raising the heat gradually, until the roux is chocolate-coloured, about 20 minutes. Add 3 large onions, 2 green bell peppers seeded and stemmed, 4 or 5 ribs celery, all well-chopped, and stir until onions are beginning to turn translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
Add 6-8 medium cloves fresh garlic, either finely chopped or pressed. Stir in for about 2-3 minutes. Add 2 to 3 quarts chicken or (better) fresh pork stock. Season with 1 tbsp salt, 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, then stir once and reduce heat to medium-low (simmer, presumably), for 10 minutes or so. Do not cover -- we want to start to reduce the stock here.
Add the half-cooked bacon, seared cubed pork loin, 1 1/2 lbs Andouille (or any good spicy smoked) sausage cut into small discs, and 3/4 lb non-watered ham diced to the gumbo. Half-cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Stir in 1/4 tsp ground cayenne (more to taste, of course, or if you've any Cajuns in the crowd), 1 1/2 tsp each fresh chopped thyme and sweet basil (dried is ok -- use roughly half the amount). Test for taste and reseason the salt and black pepper if need be. Now, stir in 1 tbsp gumbo filé, both for flavour and for thickening.
Add 1 lb, or more to taste, assorted sliced mushrooms, white, portabella, chanterelle. I wouldn't use shiitake, morel, lobster, and so forth here because their wonderful flavour gets, uh, ''lost in de gumbo''. Half-cover and simmer for between 15 and 60 minutes, depending on how thick you like your gumbo and how paranoiac you happen to be about less-than-well-done pork. The pork loin should be just past medium after 15 minutes.
Note: gumbo should never boil, only simmer.
Serve with slices of crusty French bread, garnish with chopped green onions and/or chives. Recommended side dish: sweet cinnamon rice (easy, delicious).
Serves 2, if I'm one of them, or about 14-16 otherwise.
Yo gonna lak dis one, Ah gar-on-tay. Happy munchon, boo!
;^)
All docs say if it's an absolute emergency to go to Urgent Care, which I would never do. TB and weird infectious diseases are rampant there with all the illegal aliens. You just call an ambulance and go to the hospital. You get right in and your insurance pays for it.
It's hard staying in the house all day. I'm getting cabin fever. Cyber goes to work, but he gets a "clean room" for his work. He's got it, too, though. So do our pharmacists, grocery store workers, doctors and nurses. It's the air quality. And until we have some rain, it's going to be like this. So we're all just sucking it up. Wish I had bought stock in vaporizers and Vick's.
Cyber and I laugh about it at night. "Do you remember the great dust bowl of ought six?"
Did I spell "ought" correctly.
Hey, you know what you've got to do if you want the croqs to throw any beads to you. (If you are too embarrassed to show off in the classroom you can always freepmail us a pic or two.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.