organic bay leaves

Homemade Organic Basic Creole Sauce

I found the original recipe over at Nola Cuisine.  I wanted to share my version with the amounts of seasonings I used in my sauce.  It turned out great and I used shrimp stock in my first batch.  I opted not to use any thickeners in my sauce as I wanted the flavors to “marry”.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

  • 2 Tbsp home rendered lard (or other fat for sauteing)
  • 1 organic bell pepper, julienned (One can use frozen or different colored peppers, just use approximately enough for one bell pepper.)
  • 1 organic yellow onion, julienned
  • 2 organic celery ribs, julienned
  • 1 organic tomato, diced
  • 1-1/2 to 2 cups of Homemade Organic Chicken Stock, or Homemade Wild Caught Shrimp Stock or Homemade Organic Country Boil Stock.  (Or, any other stock you’d like)
  • 1 cup of organic crushed tomatoes
  • 1 Tbsp. organic garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp. Real Salt
  • 1/2 tsp. organic freshly ground peppercorn blend
  • 1/2 tsp. organic dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. organic cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp. organic dried parsley, OR 2 Tbsp. fresh organic flat leaf parsley
  • 2 organic dried bay leaves (use fresh if you can!)
  • 1 Tbsp. organic Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. Homemade Organic Jalapeno Pickle Brine  (or Homemade Organic Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce would work, too)
  • 3 organic green onions, thinly sliced (optional.  I didn’t have any and my sauce still turned out great.)

Here’s How I do it:

  1. Heat the lard over medium heat.
  2. Add the Trinity (onion, bell pepper and celery) and saute until slightly wilted.
  3. Add the garlic and diced tomatoes; Cook for about 1-2 minutes.
  4. Cover the vegetables with the stock by 1/2 inch.
  5. Add the bay leaves, salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce OR jalapeno pickle brine.
  6. Bring to a boil.
  7. Lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes.
  8. Add the sliced green onions, if using.
  9. Simmer for an additional 20 minutes (regardless of adding the green onions or not).
  10. Once the mixture has reached the proper consistency (Not too thick, and not too thick), remove it from the heat.
  11. Remove the bay leaves.
  12. Enjoy!

Homemade Organic Cajun Red Beans and Rice

This was a huge hit with my family.  I found the original recipe here and have adapted it to make it organic and use sausages that I could find.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

  • 2 cups of dry organic kidney beans
  • 4 Tbsp. lard
  • 1 large organic onion, chopped
  • 1 large organic bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. organic garlic, minced
  • 2 ribs organic celery, chopped
  • 6 cups stock (Homemade Organic Chicken Stock, Homemade Organic Vegetable Stock, Homemade Organic Pork Stock, a combination of stocks, etc.)
  • 2 organic organic bay leaves
  • 1/2 tsp. organic cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp. organic dried thyme
  • 1/4 tsp. organic dried sage
  • 1 Tbsp. organic dried parsley
  • 1 tsp. organic Cajun seasoning
  • 1 lb. package of organic “Little Smokey’s” frankfurters
  • 1 tsp. Real Salt, optional
  • 2 cups organic brown rice

Here’s How I do it:

  1. Sort through the beans to make sure there’s not any dirt or rocks in them.
  2. Rinse the beans thoroughly.
  3. In the bottom of a stock pot, heat lard over medium heat.
  4. Cook the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and celery in warm-hot lard for 3 to 4 minutes.
  5. Rinse the soaked beans and add to the stock pot along with 6 cups of homemade stock.
  6. Stir cooked vegetables into the beans.
  7. Season with bay leaves, cayenne pepper, thyme, sage, parsley, and Cajun seasoning and bring to a boil.
  8. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
  9. Simmer for 2-1/2 hours.
  10. When you have about 1 hour until the dish is ready, prepare the 2 cups of brown rice (add 4 cups of stock or water, 1 tsp. Real Salt and 2 cups of brown rice to a saucepot with lid.  Cover and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 1 hour.)
  11. Stir sausage into beans and continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
  12. Serve over freshly cooked brown rice.
  13. Enjoy!

Homemade Organic Country Boil

This is such a great recipe.  I’d never had a Country Boil before trying this out, and it’s wonderful.  I’ve adapted the recipe to make it organic and slightly adjusted some ingredients and the method.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

  • 4 quarts of water (I used  1-1/2 cups of Homemade Organic Chicken Stock, and think Homemade Wild Caught Shrimp Stock would be a great addition.  I would use 2 quarts of any type of stock maximum.)
  • 2 Tbsp. Homemade Organic Copycat Old Bay Seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp. Real Salt
  • 3/4 tsp. organic cayenne pepper (you can add more or less, to taste)
  • 3 organic bay leaves
  • 2 organic yellow onions, peeled and quartered
  • 2 organic garlic bulbs, peeled and halved
  • 1 lb. small organic red potatoes
  • 4 ears fresh organic corn, husks removed and halved
  • 1 lb. organic smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch diagonal slices
  • 1 lb. large wild-caught shrimp
  • Organic French baguette, organic lemon wedges, melted organic pasture butter, and additional Homemade Organic Copycat Old Bay Seasoning, for serving

Here’s How I do it:

  1. Bring water (and/or stock) and all ingredients, except shrimp and serving ideas, to a boil in a 8-quart (or larger) stockpot.
  2. Simmer for 23 minutes.
  3. Add shrimp, cover, and turn off heat; Let shrimp sit for 15 minutes to absorb flavor.
  4. I suggest to save the cooking liquid, label it “Country Boil Stock” and freeze for future dishes.
  5. You can add other things, such as crawfish, frog legs, chicken, whole hot peppers, or anything else you can come up with.
  6. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Homemade Organic Savory Tomato Soup

This recipe is adapted from the Southern Heritage Plain and Fancy Poultry Cookbook.  This is a wonderful recipe for tomato soup that doesn’t have any sugar in it at all.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

  • 8 medium organic tomatoes, diced (approximately 6 cups)
  • 3 cups water (I used Homemade Organic Chicken Stock instead.  Homemade Organic Vegetable Stock or Homemade Organic Beef Stock would work, too.)
  • 1 medium organic onion, chopped
  • 2 small organic bay leaves
  • 1 1/2 tsp. organic celery seeds
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Real Salt
  • 1/4 tsp. organic freshly ground peppercorn blend
  • 1/4 tsp. organic red pepper (I used organic cayenne pepper)
  • 4 Tbsp. organic pasture butter
  • 4 1/2 Tbsp. organic unbleached white flour

Here’s What I do:

  1. Combine the chopped tomatoes, stock or water, chopped onion, bay leaves, Real Salt, peppercorn blend and cayenne pepper in a large stockpot.
  2. Bring to a boil, stirring well.
  3. Make a roux out of the flour and butter.  (Combine until it forms a paste.)
  4. Add roux to the soup and stir until it is well blended.
  5. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
  6. Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves.
  7. Allow the soup to cool slightly, then use an immersion blender to blend the soup into a puree.
  8. Enjoy!