Romancing The Chocolate: Celebrate Valentines Day With Fiery Chocolate Fondue

Romancing The Chocolate: Celebrate Valentines Day With Fiery Chocolate Fondue: From Denny: Chocolate fondue is the favorite of Valentine's Day menus. This recipe is extra special with the addition of some Tabasco hot sauce to kick it up a notch - the romance, that is. :)

It's also a ridiculously easy recipe, with only a few ingredients, sure to be a crowd pleaser at a party - or just for two.

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Recipe: Eula Mae's Cajun Seafood Gumbo

Image by Southern Foodways Alliance via Flickr

From Denny: Just loading this recipe into the online editor is making my mouth water! This version of famous Cajun gumbo has shrimp and lump crabmeat in it. We love Honey-Baked Ham brand in our house as the smoky and sweet flavors go so well as a flavoring for seafood dishes. Cajun tasso is wonderful too - just use a lot less of that as it is salty like Virginia cured ham or country ham as some people know it.

Make sure you have some file powder on hand to sprinkle on your gumbo after you ladle it over the hot cooked rice in the bowl as you serve it. File powder is ground sassafras root which acts as a digestive. File came to us from the Choctaw Indians when the Cajuns settled south Louisiana. In fact, if it weren't for the Choctaw the early settlers would never have been able to navigate the natural winding and twisting bayous to discover Baton Rouge, the capital city! The Choctaw did a lot to help develop this area and food culture.

From: THE TABASCO® COOKBOOK 1993 by Paul McIlhenny with Barbara Hunter. The McIlhenny family are the original founders and creators of Tabasco sauce from Avery Island where there is the salt mine and bird sanctuary.

Serves: 12 to 16

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable oil, divided

2 pounds fresh okra, or 2 (16-ounce) packages frozen okra, thawed
and thinly sliced (about 8 cups)

1 tablespoon white vinegar

4 quarts water

2 pounds cubed cooked ham (about 6 cups)

3 large onions, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 head garlic, cloves peeled but left whole

1 green pepper, diced

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

4 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 pounds lump crab meat, picked over

1 1/2 tablespoons Original TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce

6 cups cooked rice

Directions:

Heat 1/2 cup of the oil in a large skillet (not cast iron) over medium heat. Add okra and cook, stirring frequently, until no longer ropy, about 30 minutes. Add vinegar; cook and stir another 10 minutes, until okra takes on a brownish color and is reduced to about a quarter of its original volume. Spoon okra into a bowl and set aside.

Bring water to a boil in a large stockpot over high heat. Meanwhile, add remaining 1/4 cup oil to skillet over medium-high heat; add ham and sauté 10 minutes or until lightly browned. With slotted spoon, remove ham to stockpot. In same skillet, combine onions, celery, garlic, and green pepper and cook, 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring constantly; add to stockpot along with okra and tomatoes. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to very low, add shrimp, and simmer 10 minutes. Add crab meat and TABASCO® Sauce; simmer 5 to 10 minutes longer. Serve gumbo in soup bowls with mounds of rice.

Note: This recipe is HIGH in sodium so if you have a health issue take time to look at the recipe to cut the salt level. Remember, Louisiana in the summer time is a hot and humid climate where a high salt diet can be tolerated if there is no air conditioning.

Nutritional information per serving: 597 Calories (and worth every calorie!), 58g protein, 42g carbohydrate, 21g fat, 244mg cholesterol, 1799mg sodium


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Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

From Denny: Use a larger slow cooker for this recipe, a 5 to 6 quart size is better as anything smaller is filled to the brim and may bubble over! Before you know the cats may be jumping up on the counter to lick up all the gumbo goodness... :)

From: Delicious Tabasco Recipes for your Crock-Pot Slow Cooker

Serves: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

1 cup onion, coarsely chopped

1 cup celery, coarsely chopped

1 cup green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 Tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

2 1/2 to 3 pounds chicken parts

1/2 pound andouille sausage or kielbasa sausage, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons Tabasco brand pepper sauce, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/2 quarts water

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

Hot cooked rice


Directions:

Image via Wikipedia

1. Add onion, celery, green bell pepper and garlic to bottom of stoneware. In skillet, over medium-high heat, brown chicken pieces in 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil until almost golden. Add sausage to skillet and continue cooking meat until chicken is golden brown.

2. Add all browned meat and poultry to stoneware on top of the vegetables. Add parsley, bay leaves, thyme, Tabasco pepper sauce, salt and pepper to stoneware. Pour water over all. Cover and cook on Low 5 to 7 hours or on High 2 to 4 hours.

3. In skillet, over medium heat, mex flour with the remaining 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil and cook, stirring constantly until the roux is dark brown. Add 1 cup of hot liquid from the slow-cooker mixture to the roux, a little at a time, stirring until smooth.

4. Stir roux mixture into stoneware, cover and finish cooking, 1 1/2 hours on Low or 1 hour on High. Add green onions at end of cooking time and let stand at least 10 minutes before serving. Remove chicken bones and skin before serving, if desired.

5. Remove from heat and stir in green onion and parsley; adjust seasoning if needed. Let gumbo stand 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, mound about 1/3 cup rice in each soup bowl, then ladle about 1 cup gumbo around rice.

Note: Leave yourself a little time for deboning and removing the skin from the chicken meat, adding to the overall time to prepare this slow cooking dish.



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