Saucy Contessa

Shrimp or Crawfish Boil

Saucy Mama — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:48:24 +0000

Mark Bittman, chef, cookbook author, food activist and blogger extraordinaire just posted a fantastic recipe for a shrimp/crawfish boil on his blog. A boil is a great, fun way to share food with family and friends. Grab some corn, grab some shellfish, and of course grab some hot sauce, and get boiling! Also, be sure to check out Mark Bittman’s website, it’s an amazing resource.

Crawfish or Shrimp Boil, Louisiana Style

Simply scale up or down depending on how many people you’re cooking for.

Makes: 4 to 6 servings

Time: 30 minutes, plus time to cool

It’s traditional to serve the seafood (and vegetables; see the variation) in the center of a newspaper-covered table with some French bread and a bowl of the cooking water—which will taste pretty good after having all this cooked in it—handy for dipping.

About 6 quarts water, fish stock, or shrimp stock

4 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried thyme or several sprigs fresh thyme

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

3 cloves

4 small dried hot red chiles

Salt

4 pounds whole crawfish or shrimp

Tabasco or other hot red pepper sauce for serving

Lemon wedges for serving

Freshly ground black pepper

Garlic mayonnaise, or tartar sauce for dipping, optional

1. Bring the liquid to a boil in a medium to large saucepan and add the bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, garlic, coriander, cloves, chiles, and plenty of salt. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

2. Add the crawfish or shrimp. Cook for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the seafood cool down for a few minutes in the liquid.

3. Remove the crawfish or shrimp with a slotted spoon, sprinkle with more salt, and serve, passing hot sauce, lemon wedges, black pepper, and sauce at the table.

Crawfish or Shrimp Boil with Vegetables. More of a meal: In Step 1, add 11/2pounds waxy potatoes and 1 pound onions (all cut into large chunks if they’re big- ger than eggs). Boil with the seasonings until just beginning to get tender, about 10 minutes. When you add the seafood in Step 2, add 4 to 6 ears of shucked corn (cut in half if you like). Proceed with the recipe.

Panic Attack Averted

Saucy Mama — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:11:28 +0000

PHEW! That was close! Saucy Mama nearly had a melt down. Over the past month I have become extremely addicted to Uncle Brutha’s No. 9 Allsauce. It’s a green hotsauce that is full of garlic and cilantro and other all natural spicy goodness. I used an entire bottle of it in about a month. I mentioned this fact to the Contessa, “Hey, I really love Uncle Brutha’s, I’m going to need some more.”

“I’m not sure he makes it anymore.” she replied.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!” I responded. I think I may have also broken out in a sweat. How much did I have left? I checked the fridge, just enough for application on one last yummy scrambled egg breakfast burrito. This was serious.

The Contessa was on the case, though and within about an hour she got back to me with the good news “Ok, More is coming, he is still in business!”
According to the Washington Post, the award winning Uncle Brutha’s met with some bumps in the road that led him to close his orginial store “Uncle Brutha’s Hot Sauce Emporium”. Now he’s switched gears and creates hot sauce in small batches using local ingredients. He sells the sauce online to individuals and through small retailers. Thank goodness! My new favorite sauce is still around! A The Contessa will have a bunch at the store soon. This time, I’m going to get the BIG bottle.
Here’s the article in the Washington Post about Uncle Brutha’s.

Sriracha, The Gateway Hot Sauce

Saucy Mama — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:36:41 +0000

Sriracha is the little hot sauce that could. I started seeing the stuff around a few years ago, mainly at houses of friends who had traveled to Thailand or Asia and tasted similar sauces. The spicy chili sauce can now be found in nearly ever major grocery store around the country. Bon Appetit voted it the ingredient of the year in their January 2010 edition. Not only is it commonly found on the tables of many restaurants but also in the kitchens of many home cooks, globally.

Saucy Mama herself has a big bottle of it in the fridge, and I use it fairly often, however Sriracha is now just one of a growing arsenal of hot sauces in my kitchen. Though it packs a serious punch and adds a slightly Asian taste to many dishes, there are hundreds if not thousands of other hot sauces out there to try. For example, I find that I really enjoy a green sauce on cooked vegetable dishes, while a nice smokey chipotle sauce really brings out the flavor of burgers and steaks.

If you’ve already started dabbling in the world of hot sauce with Sriracha, I encourage you to start branching out into other varieties. There’s a whole world of hot sauce out there waiting for you.

Yummy, Summery, Frittata

Saucy Mama — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:04:03 +0000

This morning, my friends at Morning Dew Farm sent out their weekly CSA newsletter which contained the following recipe for a summery squash and veggie frittata. I recently discovered the joy of hot sauce and swiss chard, and this frittata will be fantastic with additional (there’s already some in the ingredient list) hot sauce. Frittatas are great in the heat because all though you do have to spend a few minutes over the stove, they quickly go into the oven and are delicious served hot, room temp, or cold.

Morning Dew Farm’s Summer Vegetable Frittata

Chop entire bunch of scallions. Separate the root half and saute in butter or olive oil over medium heat for 3 minutes. IN AN OVEN PROOF OR CAST IRON PAN.
Meanwhile fold chard bunch over itself like a taco shell and chop thinly. Add chard to pan, push around for a few minutes until wilted, another 3-5 minutes.
Break 10 eggs into a bowl. Add salt, pepper, pinch nutmeg, hot sauce to taste, scallion greens, and any other herbs sitting in fridge. (You leftover dill, for instance.) Add ½ cup milk or half and half and whisk all together thoroughly.
Increase heat to med-high, add more oil if pan looks dry, and add eggs. Cook as if cooking an omelet, pushing outside edges into center for the first minute, then reduce to medium and let cook until eggs are ¾ of the way done, 4-5 minutes.
Thinly slice zucchini/summer squash and separate into piles.
Grate 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Turn on broiler.
Take pan off stove, top with cheese evenly, arrange zucchini in alternating ring around edge of pan.
Broil fritatta for 3 minutes, or until golden brown. I love to push the golden brown envelope. Think it’s done? Leave it in 1 minutes more. Let cool for a few minutes and serve.

Bloody Mary With Two Kinds of Hot Sauce

Saucy Mama — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:25:29 +0000

We are experiencing a massive heat wave here on the East Coast, and are looking for fast ways to cool down. You may already know that hot sauce actually can cool you down, but when it’s too hot to cook, what do you slather your sauce on? How about a nice, cold Bloody Mary? You don’t need a mix to make your own Bloody Marys at home, and in fact, as true with many things, Bloody Mary’s made from scratch are a lot better than the ones from a mix. We found this recipe online that uses both red and green hot sauce. I’m going to try Crabenero and Uncle Brothers All Sauce No. 9 in mine.

Bloody Mary Recipe
Serves 1, but you can scale it up or down as needed. Let us know how you like it, and what kinds of sauce you used!

1 oz Vodka
3 oz tomato juice
2 red hot sauce
2 green hot sauce
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
0.5 oz lemon juice
1 pinch salt
1 pinch peppers
1 stalk celery

Add all ingredients except celery to a glass or cocktail shaker. Pour back and forth between two mixing glasses.
Strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with celery. Enjoy!

Saucy Contessa’s Ideas 2

Saucy — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:19:30 +0000

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Saucy Contessa’s Ideas 1

Saucy — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:18:40 +0000

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What’s New 1

Saucy — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:17:48 +0000

Great BBQ Chicken

Saucy Mama — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:26:31 +0000

I just found this great BBQ Chicken recipe online from Demopolis Times, a little newspaper from Alabama. What I really liked about it is that it calls for hot sauce of your choice, and you can adjust the amount you add (as long as it’s between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup). It would also be fun to add a couple of your favorite sauces! I also think it would be good on other cuts of chicken as well. I’m definitely going to try this one out over the holiday weekend. Let me know if you do too!

Buffalo Chicken Breast

1 stick unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 tsp plus 2 tbsp ancho chili powder

one fourth cup hot sauce (you can make it one half cup if you like it hot)

2 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

4 chicken breast

2 tbsp plus 2 tsp ground cumin

canola oil

Preheat the grill to medium; make sure the grill is ready for cooking over indirect heat.

In the kitchen while the grill is getting hot, melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the 2 tablespoons ancho powder and heat for 10 seconds. Stir in hot sauce and honey and season with salt and pepper. Remove about 1/4 cup for garnish, and keep both portions warm.

Season each side of the chicken breasts with 1 teaspoon each ancho powder, and cumin, and the salt and pepper. Drizzle canola oil over the both sides. Grill over indirect medium heat, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Flip the chicken, keeping it on indirect heat, and brush with a good amount of the hot sauce glaze. Cover and cook, brushing occasionally with sauce, until cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Top with blue cheese dressing or ranch for that truly buffalo style taste.

NPR 2010 BBQ Books

Saucy Mama — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:30:40 +0000

NPR picks a list of summer books each year. This year’s cookbook list featured two great BBQ books – Planet BBQ and BBQ 25. The whole article can be found here: NPR 2010 Cookbooks.