It's my mom's birthday so I told her I would bake her anything she wanted. She chose an Italian Cream Cake from Cooking Light. While I've been wanting to try this for a long time, I've never actually made a layer cake by myself before. Please don't hold my shoddy frosting work against me or this cake for that matter because it is incredibly moist and lightly flavored with vanilla and touch of coconut. And those little specks you see in the cake, those are finely chopped toasted pecans. Oh this cake is so worth the extra work that went into making it.
When I say extra work, I really just mean the process of whipping egg whites then gently folding them into the batter. It's really not a big deal but this cake will take you longer to mix than to bake.
Cooking Light as their name explicitly implies, lightens the traditional Italian Cream Cake by a number of methods, one of which was to use Neufchatel (1/3 less fat cream cheese) to make the frosting. If I'm going to make Italian cream anything, I'm going to use mascarpone. That was my only change to the recipes since its my first time making it.
First time stacking and frosting a cake too. And man did it suck! I was so angry at the cake and the frosting that I was cursing up a storm while inexpertly spreading the frosting that was quickly becoming unspreadable! (Not a word). The F bomb was dropped a few times.
I only felt worse about my lack of cake decorating skills when I saw the cake dad ordered from his Italian baker friend...jerk. Look how perfect that damn cake is next to mine. I just want to smash the perfection out of it.
There's nothing particularly special about these brownies. I had hoped to have time to do something but it just wasn't in the cards. A box of brownie mix and a bag of Cherry M&Ms later...
Some words of wisdom from the brokenhearted: When you're in love, every single day should be Valentine's Day for you and the one you love. Don't wait until February 14th to do something special for him/her. While today will probably always be an excuse to do something you might not make time to do any other day, remember to love wholeheartedly and show that love every chance you get.
Mardi Gras! Fat Tuesday! Whatever you want to call it! For me, it's a great excuse to make creole and cajun food. It's also a great excuse to post something for you. I've started grad school meaning the amount of time I have for cooking and posting has greatly diminished. :( Very sad. Let's hope that after I get my degree, I'll have more time!
Back to Mardi Gras and gumbo. (Gumbo is such a fun word to say.) I did some research because the gumbo recipe we've made in the past is from Cooking Light and calls for okra. While I really enjoy okra in gumbo, it's not my sister's thing. She doesn't like jambalaya (another fun word) because our jambalaya has shrimp in it. (Which she promised to try this year, along with lobster, and sushi.)
I also wanted to do this in the Crockpot so I could be free to do other things (like study and work out and watch Game of Thrones while I work out). After looking around and reading recipes, I decided that I had to start with a classic gumbo roux. (Yeah, I named my blog The Taming of the Roux and this is the first recipe I share with you where a real roux is called for.)
What is a roux? It's a mixture of fat and flour that is used as a thickening agent in sauces and gravy. In this case, I read about making traditional gumbo roux on GumboCooking.com (an excellent website, I highly suggest checking it out). While I prefer to make Crockpot recipes that don't require any extra steps beyond throwing everything in the slowcooker, turning it on, and forgetting about it for a few hours, I couldn't do that with this recipe if I wanted to make it with a real roux.
To make this recipe, you'll have to give yourself at least an hour and a half of prep as it takes the roux about 45 minutes to an hour to darken. According to GumboCooking.com, your roux needs to darken until it is the color of melted milk chocolate. It's a long process and requires constant attention and stirring. Use a spatula to make sure you don't miss areas of the pan bottom where it could burn.
Mardi Gras Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
The Taming of the Roux
Ingredients
2lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
cooking spray
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 lb andouille (or other smoked sausage) sliced
1 1/2 c. onions, chopped
1 c. bell pepper medley (I used half a red pepper and half a green pepper), chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 c. celery, chopped
1/2 tbsp. cajun seasoning
1/2 tbsp. Emeril's Bayou Blast seasoning or other creole seasoning blend
sprinkling of cayenne
2 bay leaves
1 tsp minced garlic
2 1/2 c. chicken stock
hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Garnishes: green onions (scallions), parsley
Instructions
In a large cast iron pot coated with cooking spray and heated on medium high, brown the chicken thighs then transfer to crockpot.
Pour vegetable oil and flour into the cast iron pot and stir constantly for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, stirring constantly until the color of the roux darkens to a peanut butter shade as described by GumboCooking.com. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook and stir until roux darkens and looks like melted chocolate. This will take at least 45 minutes. Be patient and stir constantly. Don't forget to scrap the bottom of your pan or you'll risk burning the roux and having a giant useless waste in your pot.
Once the roux has reached the desired color, stop cooking and pour into the crockpot. Combine all your other ingredients in the crockpot except the hot sauce and garnishes.
If by some miracle you finish your roux by 9am, put the Crockpot on low for 8 hours. I wasn't so fortunate! High for 5 hours if you don't finish prep work before 11am.
Serve with white rice and the suggested garnished! Add hot sauce until you reach your heat threshold :)
Now, gumbo is really smoky. It's similar to having BBQ but it lacks a brightness of flavor that I think every recipe needs. I was really tempted to use a fresh acid like lemon or lime juice to cut the dark and dense flavors of the dish BUT I wanted to be traditional for Mardi Gras.
I go meatless for Lent so I won't be able to have any of the leftovers. However, I would definitely use lemon or lime juice on any day other than Mardi Gras. BTW: gumbo is NOT pretty!
Suggested movie for the night? Disney's The Princess and the Frog.
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