Category: Food & Wine

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take a break… Seafood Gumbo is Best!

Aaaah Seafood Gumbo is Best!
Years ago, I started making my own Seafood Gumbo based on my intense love for this wonderful dish. I improvised quite a bit, departing from the inexpensive dish that it was originally intended to be and modified it into something a bit more healthy.

Now, I never leave a recipe alone, even my own, so I tried out a few modifications today that… well… were just wonderful. I substituted chopped King Crab meat for the canned variety I usually use ( but this was disappointing to me, so I will go back to canned as I think it makes the sauce a bit meatier… and I like that) and I added a pound of diced bacon into the blend, first using the left over fat as part of the roux! Oh, I made a few other changes… which were fun too.
On the crisp days we’ve been having in America… there is nothing that warms y’all better than a lunch full of Seafood Gumbo!  Here’s my original recipe!

Profitez de notre famille plats préférés! Cela me rappelle avec affection de mon temps en Louisiane. Laissez-vous prendre cette recette maison!

Roger Freberg

Laura teases me a bit about my use of the word ‘seafood’ as that implies fish… well, no, just chopped lobster, crab, diced clams and shrimp in this recipe… just the good stuff… oh yeah, this one has bacon!

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Building a Better Tuna Casserole!

dad relaxing after 3 hours of cooking

My wife always throws me a challenge … she actually enjoys that! Anyway, Laura loves tuna casserole and I don’t like tuna… so she asked me to make something I would like!

Well… I knew that I would have to :1) reduce the ‘fishiness’ of the dish and 2) disguise the meal… I think I succeeded in both areas.

Check it out!

Roger Freberg

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Building a better Tuna Casserole!

the Casserole Cookbook 1954Back in the 1950’s, new booming American families were struggling to meet their families dietary expectations, in a shorter amount of time and economically. Thus came the grandest invention in the kitchen , the birth of the casserole!

In many cultures, the name for the a popular dish is derived from the pot in which it is made. The name for the Spanish dish “Paella” descends from the type of pan used in creating it! The Romans and many European cultures had foods named after their ‘pots.’

The name was often the only thing that the many dishes had in common, so too, are an entire group of foods called ‘casseroles.’ The casserole is traditionally a ceramic pot with a lid that is now-a-days glass.

My wife threw down a challenge! Why not try to make something better from the dish that virtually every American has tried at one time or another… the Tuna Casserole. I had a few ideas, but I wanted to survey the field as to what ingredients were being used and there seemed to be some themes.

building a better tuna casserole
Basically, each had some commonalities: cheese, peas, mushrooms in some form or another, and a variety of fillers ( versions of mirepoix, potato chips and bread crumbs made many interesting). The more ‘upscale recipes substituted albacore for tuna, added wine, better and more spices, and butter and olive oil.

Stay tuned… recipe to follow.

Roger Freberg

ps. by the way, the above cookbook is the classic cookbook on the American Casserole phenomenon

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thinking about desserts

Neiman Marcus and the Grand Marinier Truffle Cake
Even if you offer a simple main course a knock out dessert will always save the day!

I found this in a December era catalog at Neiman Marcus (where else?)… it contained all the basic food groups: chocolate, chocolate sweet wine, Grand Marnier and did I say chocolate?

There are a few knock off recipes on-line should you wish to try your hand at it… we did with an ‘extra base layer’… much like you would assemble a Black Forest Cake… but instead of cherries… we had berries soaked in the appropriate liquor.

Yum.

Roger Freberg