What I imagine "mom comfort food" is in Louisiana

Throughout this experience of creating a blog that chronicles my weekly cooking adventures, I have referred to the process as an experiment. And why not? There are many elements here that are common to all experiments; there are successes and failures (nothing yet, but I can't cook EVERYTHING correctly), knowns and unknowns (recipes I've had before vs food I've never heard of) and many other variables that will need to be monitored, controlled, and accounted for. Some weeks will take hours of prep time and will test my cooking aptitude. Other weeks will take no time at all and will practically cook themselves. Some recipes will be made from scratch. Others will be made from a box. More often then not though, there will be some combination of all of these elements. And that's why it's an experiment; I know what I'm hoping to  accomplish, but whether I succeed or not is a complete unknown at this point.  

To the food.

In contrast to last week's prep intensive recipe, the only prep time I needed this week was breading the boudin balls to refrigerate them before frying. But first, for the jambalaya, I started by adding the mix to water, boiling it, then turning the heat to low for about 20 minutes. This gave me ample time to cook the chicken in a skillet and broil the sausage in the oven while watching about 6 different pregame shows at once.

Andouille sausage, pre-cooking. Please ignore the photobombing knife

Ground chicken wishing it wasn't committed this time...

About 5 minutes before the jambalaya was to be done, I dumped the chicken and sausage in and carefully mixed it all up (there wasn't much room for stirring after adding 2 lbs of meat to 2 boxes of jambalaya rice). I then left the lid off the pot and let it cook on low for the remaining 5 minutes.

Cajun jambalaya w/ chicken and andouille sausage

It never had a chance.....

I added a little Louisiana hot sauce and some saltines on the side and chowed down during the Texans' fairly dominant first half.

As I mentioned before, the only thing that really needed prep time was the boudin balls, but even they were surprisingly easy to make. I sliced the casing on the boudin, squeezed it all out into the mixing bowl, made slightly smaller than golf ball sized balls, and rolled those in the cracker mixture until they were fully and evenly coated. Then they went into the fridge for ~2 hours. 

Soon boudin balls...soon...

Not wanting to be too distracted during the game, I waited until halftime to fry these little balls up. I heated vegetable oil in a saucepan until it reached the right temperature, dropped the balls in, and rescued them from drowning once their outsides were a delicious golden brown. Unfortunately, the photographic evidence of their beauty has gone missing. It was on my camera, never made the transfer to my computer, and is now gone from my camera. Trust me though, they looked like they were out of a textbook (cookbook), and tasted even better.

As I mentioned earlier, this week's dish had a very familiar feel to it, as well as an ease that lends itself to being made again. Both the jambalaya and boudin balls tasted great, but anyone who's eaten in New Orleans knew that they would. Will definitely be making both of these again and for those keeping score at home, the experiment is a perfect 2/2 so far.

-MB

Cajun jambalaya and fried boudin balls recipe

• Kitchen items
• Saucepan (jambalaya)
• Oven or grill (sausage)
• Skillet (chicken)
• Saucepan or deep fryer (boudin balls)
• Mixing bowl
• Cajun jambalaya
• 2 boxes Zatarain's New Orlean's Style Jambalaya Mix
• 1 link andouille sausage
• 1 lb ground chicken
• Fried boudin balls
• 2 links boudin
• Crushed crackers of your choice (I went with saltines)
• 2 eggs (optional)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cayenne
• Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning
• Frying oil (I used vegetable)
• Jambalaya
• Make jambalaya according to directions on package. Cook ground chicken in skillet, breaking into pieces of desired size. Cook sausage on grill or in oven. About 5 minutes before jambalaya is done, add chicken and sausage. Stir and let jambalaya finish cooking.
• Boudin balls
• Remove boudin from casing and place into mixing bowl. (I didn't, but you could add seasonings to the boudin at this time). Crush enough crackers to fill about half a sandwich sized plastic bag with crumbs the consistency of fine bread crumbs. Add salt, pepper, cayenne, and Tony Chachere's to season the crumbs as much as you want to. Using your hands, form boudin into whatever sized ball (or other shape) that you want. If using eggs, dip the boudin in egg, then roll in cracker mixture until fully covered. If not using eggs, simply roll the ball in the cracker mixture until covered. Place boudin balls in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
• When ready to cook, heat oil in saucepan or deep fryer until a drop of flour fizzles on the surface of the oil. Drop balls in oil until fried to a golden brown. Eat. 

Boudin ball recipe source (link)

New Orleans primer

EDIT: I know this is being posted after the game against New Orleans, but I was moving this weekend and don't have internet at my new place yet. Just pretend I posted it on Friday and we don't already know the outcome of the game.

First off, this game against New Orleans is one I have been looking forward to for a while. I believe that this is the first measuring stick that will tell us just how far the Texans have come since last year. On the surface, the first couple of weeks are very similar to last year; beat Indy at home (I know, slight difference between the QBs), beat a middle of the pack team on the road, go 2-0. But if they can go into the hornet's nest that is the Superdome and knock off the Saints and look competent on both sides of the ball, then even the biggest haters will have to admit that this team just might be different. I know it's one week, but that's why I said a measuring stick, not a potential Super Bowl parade. 

But first, let's look back at the win against Miami. That wasn't exactly the rousing victory I had initially predicted, but if never trailing an average to above average team on the road and ultimately winning by 10 is the Texans playing "alright", then I think everything's going to be fine. One concern I had watching the game was definitely the interior run defense. The Texans have NEVER had a big fat guy in the middle of their defensive line and when Wade "Son of Bum" Phillips (SoB) took over the defense, he swore up and down that Shaun Cody and Earl Mitchell could get the job done in his defense. However, after watching Daniel "First Game of My NFL Career" Thomas gash the interior anchored by SC and EM, even I, the eternal optimist, am starting to have a little concern. Granted, SoB did say postgame that they were only playing with 6 in the box in an effort to take away Miami's passing attack. With this, and the fact that DeMeco still looks just a little off, I think that the run defense can be improved. It is still something to monitor, especially against large in the middle offensive lines like New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. (For a really good, in depth look at the difference between SC and EM click here. **WARNING** This is only for those with some knowledge of football jargon and strategy. Everyone else just move along and take note that typically, EM>SC)

Other than the rush D, the only part of the game that concerned me was some of the redzone play calling in the first half (Kubiak later admitted to being a little passive down there) and the shaky 3rd quarter. You can expect a team full of grown men being paid millions of dollars to play football to make a push to get back in the game at home and that's exactly what the 3rd quarter was for Miami. Good teams weather those storms, and that's what the Texans did. They got everything back in sync in the 4th, got the ball back w/ about 8 minutes left and shoved the ball down the Dolphin's throats, essentially ending the game when they pinned them on their own 10 with ~3 minutes left. Good road win. 1-0 for another week. Time to focus on New Orleans.

Alright. Enough about Miami. Time for the game that I personally have been looking forward to since the preseason. Week 1 against Indy HAD to be a win. Week 2 against Miami SHOULD have been a win. Week 3 against NOLA? First real test for the new defense (which is ranked #1 in points allowed and pass defense right now BTW. Seriously. Look it up). Hostile environment, on the road, against a legitimate Super Bowl contender. High powered offense v. high powered offense. This is what the NFL is about today. This should be a shootout and I can not wait.

I've watched both of the Saints games this year and have come away with a few observations, some good, some bad, for the Texans:

• Marques Colston being out is a good thing. No I'm not rooting for injuries, but when the top guy goes down, that bumps everyone else down one level on the "who our secondary has to cover" depth chart. Instead of Jonathon Joseph on Colston and Kareem Jackson on Devery Henderson, the Texans can play Joseph on Henderson and KJ on Robert Meachem or Lance Moore. Both of these guys have speed which is an issue for KJ, but I think there are ways SoB can protect him.
• Gotta protect Schaub when the Saints blitz. They like to do this, a lot, so perhaps we'll see more plays that leave an RB or James Casey in the backfield to help. Blitzes leave the secondary on an island so Schaub will be looking for Andre in 1-on-1s's and everyone in the league know's that that's bad for the Saints. Of course, the best way to keep the Saints from blitzing is to stay out of 3rd and long and the best way to do that is to not screw around on 1st and 2nd down. This means running the ball and taking smart chances on passing plays.
• Look for more bootlegs than we saw against Miami. 4-3 defenses are much more susceptible to play action bootleg plays because the outside linebacker in a 4-3 is not out as wide as an OLB in a 3-4. This means if Schaub fakes the handoff and rolls out, when the defensive line crashes down to try and stop the RB, the further inside OLB in a 4-3 has more ground to cover to get to the QB. Miami runs a 3-4. New Orleans runs a 4-3 (so does Indy and we saw how many times they ran bootlegs against them). Since the Saints will prolly look to take away the big plays in these situations, look for Schaub to look for my boy OD on some underneath stuff. If Jermichael Finley's first half against New Orleans (before they started double teaming him) is any indication, then this should be pretty favorable for the Texans. 

OK, now for the food for this week. When I came up for this idea to cook something each week, there were a few cities/opponents that I knew what I was going to make without even having to think. New Orleans was one of those cities. As history has shown us, cities along major trade routes tend to become major cultural melting pots where religions, music, dialects and food come together and create a unique blend that somehow still manages to display elements of the unique styles that came together in the first place. New Orleans is no exception. During the European land grab of the 17th century (history calls it "exploration"), the French got to Louisiana/New Orleans first, something plain to see in the majority of New Orleans' culture. Those of French descent that were born in America became known as Creoles, the term used to describe elements of Louisiana culture today. Meanwhile, during the French and Indian War, the southern and western parts of Louisiana were being settled by French-speaking exiles of what is today Eastern Canada. Throw this group into the pot with all of the other groups of European immigrants in the area, mix in a little bit of rural swampland, and we get the group we know today as the Cajuns.

Interestingly enough, the main dish I'm making this week, jambalaya, actually has two distinct variations to it. The first, more popular in New Orleans and its surrounding areas, is "creole jambalaya". This was an attempt by Spanish immigrants to make paella, substituting tomatoes for the scarcely available saffron. As you head outside of NOLA, the more popular type of jambalaya becomes known as "cajun jambalaya". The major difference between the two types is cajun jambalaya does not include tomatoes, as the tomato is not typically used in cajun cooking. This leads me to this weeks menu:

• Cajun jambalaya
• Jambalaya with andouille sausage and chicken
• Fried boudin balls
• First had these in college, been in love ever since

This weekend should be a lot of fun. I'm moving this weekend, which for me is always somehow simultaneously fun and annoying (this could cause a slight delay in getting the post out this weekend, but hopefully not). Huge game for the Texans in terms of getting a better idea of just how far this team can go. And my Rice Owls take on Baylor in Waco on Saturday. Wouldn't that be a fun little upset?

Happy Football Viewing

-MB

Floribbean mojo roasted pork recipe

• Kitchen items
• Chopping board
• Mixing bowl
• Hefty oven bag (used for marinating)
• Saucepan
• Food processor or blender
• Roast rack or grill
• 1 pork tenderloin (3-5 lb)
• Cuban mojo marinade
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 5 oz yellow onion, 1/4" diced
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp chopped oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 cup olive oil
• Floribbean mojo sauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup yellow onion, 1/4" diced
• 1 cup tomato, 1/4" diced
• 1/2 cup red pepper,. 1/4" diced
• 1/4 cup scallions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp chopped oregano
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• White rice w/ black beans
• 4 cups cooked white rice
• 15 oz black beans

• Marinade
• Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Pour marinade over pork loin in marinade bag. Refrigerate overnight.
• Sauce
• Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender. Mix until smooth. In saucepan, bring sauce to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently. 
• Pork loin
• Roast: Heat oven to 375F. Place pork on roast rack. Cook for 35-45 minutes, or until internal temperature of 155F is achieved. Slice roast, pour sauce over, and serve hot.
• Grill: Heat grill to 350F. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes on each side until internal temperature of 155F is achieved. Slice roast, pour sauce over, and serve hot.
• White rice w/ black beans
• Cook rice according to packaging. Drain black beans. Pour them in saucepan on low heat with rice, stirring until ready to serve.

 Recipe source (link)

My first experience with Cuban flavor

I posted the recipe in a separate post that way it can act as a stand alone document that can be printed or shared if this dish seems appetizing, which it certainly was. I will say this had a seemingly large prep time to cook time ratio, starting Saturday night when I had to make the marinade and get the pork in the fridge before heading out to the bars. I went ahead and chopped up the veggies that were needed before adding the assortment of herbs and spices, ending with the orange and lime juices.

Chopped veggies, garlic, and seasonings such as cumin, oregano, pepper, etc. 

Marinade after mixing all ingredients

Next, it was time to prepare the pork loin. I removed it from its plastic prison (its packaging), washed off all the germs, and then put it in the Hefty oven bag that I bought to use for marinating.

Pork loin. Appetizing right?

Next, I very, VERY carefully poured the marinade over the pork, then flipped it to make sure the entire loin was covered in marinade citrus-y, oily goodness. After that, I tied up the bag, placed it in a pan, and popped it in the fridge for its overnight stay.

Pork loin in oven bag, covered in marinade, ready to be refrigerated

The next day, to prepare the sauce, I started by chopping up some more veggies. There's no need to be super specific about the size of the diced onion, tomato, etc. because they're going to get blended anyways. The one deviation I made from the recipe was I had closer to a full cup of red pepper, but that was because I cut the pepper I had in half and that half was about 3/4 of a cup.

Blender full of chopped veggies

Next I added the spices, seasonings, and juices, and left them at this stage to prepare the pork for roasting and to start cooking the rice and beans. I decided to go with roasting in an oven over grilling because I could stay inside and still keep an eye on the games that were currently going on (Bonus advantage: it was raining at this time..in Houston, yes I know). I put the pork on a roast rack that fit nicely in a glass pan that would serve as a drip tray (easier to clean a pan than the bottom of the oven).

Sauce, ready to be blended

Pork on the roast rack

The pork went in the oven and I turned back to the sauce. It took less than a minute to blend, and as the pork was nearing completion, the sauce went into a saucepan to boil and get heated up. I ended up cooking the pork for about 45 minutes in order to get the internal temperature all the way up to ~160F, but I know that this time can and will vary from oven to oven, altitude to altitude. At this time, the rice and beans were ready to go and it was time to start serving.

Blended sauce, ready to boil and simmer

Rice and beans...so easy, a single guy can cook it!

Roasted pork, ready to be served

I sliced the pork into what seemed like reasonable pieces, poured a sufficient amount of mojo sauce on top, and added a side of rice and black beans. In retrospect, I think I might have chosen to put the rice and beans in their own bowl, but its not like the sauce made them taste bad...

Lunch is served

Now, I by no means am a food critic, nor am I going to pretend to be one. Those who know me know that I have very simple tastes and sometimes don't appreciate the flavor subtleties that exist in more "exotic" foods. You might call me a meat and potatoes and white bread kinda guy. In this case however, I have to say that the sauce/marinade was fantastic. Each bite was simultaneously filled with a creamy, tomato-y, peppery taste that mixed very well and easily with the citrus, lime flavor. The amount of sauce the recipe makes is actually enough to have some left over after eating all of the pork, and I must say I am looking for other entrees that I can use this flavor in. Don't get me wrong, the pork was tender and juicy and tasted great too, but the sauce really stole the show. I personally have never had anything before with this Cuban, mojo flavor to it, but I can definitely see myself going back to the well for this excellent Miami taste and if this first recipe is any indication, this experiment is going to be quite a success. 

-MB

Miami primer

Alright, let the experiment begin. I'm sure you're thinking that I'm a fool because this is technically week two of the season, yet the first post I've made chronicling a recipe. And to that I would say you are correct. Somewhat.

I had plans for a meal to be made featuring the culinary tastes of the great city of Indianapolis, but was given an opportunity to watch that Colt beatdown in person. Alas, no cooking food while watching the game at home. It's alright; we play Indy twice so I'll push the menu back until then.

As far as this week is concerned, the Texans take on the Miami Dolphins. Losing last Monday night to the Patriots, the Dolphins put on much more of an offensive display than I personally thought they were capable of. Granted, the porosity of New England's D is generally overlooked because of #12, but I still came away feeling a little less confident about the outcome for the Texans. I said a little bit. I still think the Texans walk away from this one victorious, just not by the two touchdowns I initially thought.

When looking into the culinary tastes of a diverse city like Miami, I had several directions that I could go with this dish. Miami being located on the Atlantic coast, I could have gone with a seafood dish; but, as I mentioned in the first post, I'm trying to keep the seafood items to a minimum. No offense to seafood, I just think nothing kills the football mood worse that that "fish" smell.

I digress. Miami also has a well renowned Caribbean element to its culture and cuisine. In fact, the islands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and other countries in the Caribbean have had such an influence on Miami and Florida's food, that the term "Floribbean" was created to describe these types of dishes. Floribbean dishes tend to consist of seafood, poultry, or pork and feature fresh citrus juices and several different types of peppers. So without further ado, I present this weeks, Miami inspired menu:

• Floribbean mojo roasted pork
• Pork loin marinated in a 'mojo' marinade, served with mojo sauce
• White rice w/ black beans
• Self explanatory
• (I hope you weren't expecting five courses)

Anyways...that wraps up this post. Depending on feedback, look for an entry like this towards the end of each week with a little bit of football, little bit of culinary history, and whatever else I feel like rambling about before Sunday. Grocery shopping in a little bit, cooking/watching victory on Sunday, and I hope to post the entry that will be the primary focus of this blog up by Sunday night.

Happy Football Viewing

-MB

So this is the beginning, hopefully, of something great.

The idea behind this blog is for me to document my experiment. A journey, if you will, through different cities across the country, one week at a time. I am a man of few, simple pleasures; two of which are food, and likely more importantly, the Houston Texans. Before this season began, I came up with an idea to combine these two favorite pastimes of mine. Each week, I will cook something that represents the city of that week's Texans opponent. My original idea is to stick to typical "tailgating" type food; this means appetizery, greasy, finger type foods. Nothing that requires a full set of silverware (except maybe steak) and not much seafood (except Week 6 against Baltimore<spoiler alert>).

Initially I plan for this blog to be space to document the processes, successes and failures of this experiment. Where the blog goes from there is anyone's guess, I just hope we have some fun along the way.