Uncomfortable food....

Rice intimidates me.  Try as I may, I just cannot properly cook it.  My rice is either hard or half cooked.  Growing up, I watched my sweet momma cook rice in a Pyrex dish in the microwave. It was perfect every time.  I'm fairly positive that the reason I stay away from rice is my inability to achieve fluffy perfection.  When I make a gumbo or etouffee, I've resorted to the steam rice I buy in the freezer section of the grocery.  It never lets me down, & it even comes in brown rice!  So, when the quarterly newsletter/recipe/coupon circular came out at Whole Foods, I surprised even myself when I clipped the $1.00 off coupon for arborio rice.  This is the rice used to make risotto.  You know, the creamy dish that requires constant stirring & special attention & even gets contestants kicked off 'Top Chef'?  Yes, THAT type of rice. I marched straight to the counter with it & walked out the door proud for facing my fear of rice, yet still scared to make risotto. Well, my friends, I had my first go of risotto today with a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) of the Food Network.  I'm thrilled to say my rice came out perfectly!  The dish is actually a risotto cake, so the mixture must sit overnight.  I can't wait to post pictures & tell you all about it.  I tried another Barefoot Contessa dish this past week with yet another ingredient I had never prepared:  lamb.  It was absolutely fantastic!  My dinner guests went back for third servings.  I roasted it for four hours & served it southern French style with white beans.  Here's a picture of the deliciousness before it was devoured. 

What foods make you uncomfortable?  Are you intimidated by a single ingredient or a whole dish?  Let me know, & we can overcome our fears together, one dish at a time.

Blissful bites of the sea

It's Friday during Lent, y'all.  That means that seafood dishes in South Louisiana restaurants are as plentiful as bands in a Jazz Fest lineup.  Of course, there are the all-time favorite boiled crawfish.  These delightful delicacies are in demand at any establishment that offers them.  Next weekend, of course, will be their time to shine as Good Friday seems to be synonymous with crawfish boils.  Fried seafood is a popular choice during Lent, and you really can't go wrong with a good ol' seafood platter.  Shrimp, catfish, oysters, crawfish, you name it, we fry it.  Oysters don't get as much love as our crustacean friends, but I'm here to tell you that they are finding their way into the hearts of foodies everywhere.  I love them on the half shell:  ice cold with homemade-lots-of-horseradish cocktail sauce.  I adore them fried.  They must be cornmeal battered & super crispy.  Apprehensive of oysters, you say?  Well, my good buddy, Nathan Gresham, can turn you into a bi-valve believer in a heartbeat.  He is the chef at Beausoleil, a restaurant right here in Baton Rouge.  Chef Nathan has two oyster dishes on the menu.  They are both outstanding AND on the happy hour menu.  The first is truffled fried oysters.  This, my friend, is a plate of delicious goodness.  The oysters are lightly fried & drizzled in a creamy truffle dressing that will transport you to culinary heaven. Truffled fried oysters are available at happy hour for $5 & on the dinner menu for a slight increase.  Chef Nathan's other oyster dish, however, has stolen my heart this spring:  charbroiled oysters on the half shell.  W.O.W.  That's all I have to say.  These babies are lightly dusted with parmesan, garlic, butter, & a delightful mixture of secret spice.  You can order them at happy hour for only fifty cents each!!!  Beausoleil has happy hour every Tuesday-Friday from 3:00-6:00. It is located at 7731 Jefferson Highway in the Bocage Shopping Center.  Do yourself a favor & check out Chef Nathan & the crew at Beausoleil.  You will find yourself making many return trips to this wonderful local eatery.  Be sure you tell them Meredeth sent you over.

That's a crock....

I love Thursdays.  No, it's not just because the weekend is a few winks of sleep away.  I love Thursdays because it's the day my local newspaper(The Advocate) publishes the 'Food' section.   In the virtual world we live in, newspapers have become an endangered species.  They are something we use to cover the table at crawfish boils or to wrap breakables to prevent them from shattering in transit or storage.  No one really reads the actual paper anymore...except this girl.  On Thursdays.  I love to check out the food section advertisements for specials at the local grocery & plan my menu for the week.  Perhaps my favorite feature of the food section is the recipe made for the Crock Pot.  I find that I skip straight to that article to see what's cooking.  The slow cooker has come a long way, my friends.  Did you know you can make a cake in a Crock Pot?!?!  That certainly helps me as I am NOT Betty Crocker. Any of your favorite dishes can be made in a slow cooker, so if you're an on-the-go-person like me, you are more than thrilled to come home from a long day with all the dinner work done for you. Even the most novice of cooks who use their oven for storage can work with a slow cooker.  I wanted to leave you with a Crock Pot recipe that will be a hit for family dinner or just perfect to freeze in portions for a later day.  Let me know what you think.  Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken,White Bean, & Cauliflower Soup

- one pound of boneless/skinless chicken (I use thighs, but you can use breasts or a mix of white/dark meat if you like)
- one head of cauliflower, broken into flourets
- one bag of dry white beans
- one white onion, chopped
- two cloves garlic, grated or minced
- one jalapeno seeded & chopped (use one can green chilis for a milder flavor or a can of rotel will work just as well)
- 3 Tablespoons salt
- 3 Tablespoons fresh ground pepper
- 2 Tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1 quart chicken stock (or enough to cover)
- 1 Tablespoon sour cream

Place chicken on bottom of slow cooker. (You can season the chicken if you like, but all the flavors will season the whole pot). Top with cauliflower, then beans.  Add all other ingredients except sour cream.  Cook on low for 10 hours.  Before serving, stir the sour cream into the the whole pot of soup.  This will make it super creamy.  Ladle into bowls & top with extra sour cream if wanted. 

Welcome to Mere Musings!

Hello there, friends!  Welcome to Mere Musings, a blog dedicated to the life & times of Meredeth Johnson:  foodie, football fanatic, & all around fabulous person. :-)  I'm learning my way around the virtual blogging world, so I hope that you'll be patient with me as we go along.  The majority of my posts will be dedicated to food, as I'm committed to supporting the local restaurant, chef, farmer, vendor, & store.  These posts, after all, are just mere musings & important to my heart. I hope you enjoy what you read.  Be blessed.

Meredeth