Recipes: Hot Drinks in Cold Winter

Even in Louisiana come January the temperature drops down cold enough to drink hot, spiked cider or mulled wine. December 11th, in 2008, just 3 weeks ago it actually SNOWED in south Louisiana! AND the snow stayed on the ground for two days before it all melted off. Pretty amazing as we made snowmen on our front lawns just like I did as a kid when our family lived in Maine for a few years. Will wonders never cease?

However, what was joyful for us silly Southerners was not a lot of fun for our Northern and Western and even Midwest cousins in the country. Even now so early in the New Year the majority of the country has been experiencing record snowfall and cold. This is when those hot winter drinks come in handy to warm our insides.

Hot, Spiked Apple Cider

Per serving: Take a cup of cider or apple juice and heat it in the microwave. Now drop a shot of rum into it. You could also add other variations: orange juice, cranberry juice, cinnamon, cloves and orange slices. Just make sure you add the liquor AFTER heating the juice.

Wassail

This is really popular all over America in cold weather: Wassail. Often it's used to toast good things to others like wishing them good health. You get to look like the great guy giving good cheer to others while sipping a yummy drink. Now aren't you clever?!

Bring a pint of water to a boil on the stove. Add a cup of your favorite honey, 5 whole cloves and 3 sticks of cinnamon. Heat for 5 minutes. Add a sliced lemon and now an entire bottle of good red wine. Heat to a simmer and serve with a lemon slice.

Mulled Wine

Now here's a cold weather drink that's as old as the hills! It's been around for at least 500 years since the Middle Ages. There is no hard and true recipe just the basic ingredients you can experiment with at will to your personal taste.

The basic recipe starts with a bottle of inexpensive hearty red wine. Add a couple of cinnamon sticks, some cloves and 1 cup of sugar. Add the mixture to a saucepan and warm it until the sugar dissolves - without boiling - and then serve it in a cup with either a cinnamon stick as a garnish or for Christmas try a peppermint candy cane.

Alhambra

This one is often served to revive folks at ski resorts.

To your cup of hot cocoa just add to spike it: a shot of rum, brandy OR peppermint schnapps. Garnish with an orange peel or even marshmallows.

The variations used are: peppercorns, bay leaves, cardamom, nutmeg, brown sugar, anise, rosemary, brandy, herbal tea, citrus slices as garnish too.

Hot Buttered Rum

Into your mug place 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon butter and 4 whole cloves. Now add a shot of rum. Stir well and fill with boiling hot water.

Variation: Some people replace the butter with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Add brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg.

Hot Toddy

Lots of variations on this theme with hot tea.

Fill a mug 3/4 full with hot black tea like Luzianne (not a bitter tea like other national brands. These guys specialize in taking the bitterness out of black tea and now have moved on to developing their own coffee line!).

Add a shot of scotch, 1 Tablespoon of honey and a slice of lemon.

Variations: Can use rum, brandy or bourbon.
Add cloves, a cinnamon stick or a grind of nutmeg - even a dash of Angostura bitters (which has an orange flavor).

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Recipe: Crawfish & Artichoke Bisque

Crawfish & Artichoke Bisque

From: "Recipes From a Chef" by Patrick Mould

Serves 6

Ingredients:


1 stick butter

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1 (14 oz.) cans quartered artichoke hearts, drained

1/2 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

3 cups half-and-half

1 lb. Louisiana crawfish tails

1 teaspoon hot sauce

salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley


Directions:

Heat butter in a large saucepot over medium heat. Add onion, celery, bell peppers, garlic, thyme and bay leaves, cook for 5 minuts.

Check artichoke hearts and remove any tough outer leaves. Add artichoke hearts to vegetable mixture and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add flour and stir until incorporated.

Stir in chicken broth and cook for 2 minutes until chicken broth starts to thicken. Stir in half-and-half and simmer for 2 minutes until bisque is smooth and creamy.

Add crawfish tails and hot sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.

Taste for seasoning and add salt, black pepper and cayenne to taste.

Stir in green onions and parsley. Serve and enjoy!

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Recipe: Seafood Stuffed Bell Peppers

Here's another typical Louisiana favorite comfort food dish. This recipe comes from the famous restaurant of Mike Anderson's in Baton Rouge.

Seafood-Stuffed Bell Peppers

Serves 6 - 8.


Ingredients:

3 - 4 green bell peppers, whole

3/4 cup chopped yellow onions

1/4 cup chopped celery

2 Tablespoons minced fresh garlic

2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon butter/margarine

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/2 pound crawfish tails, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup cooked white rice

2 1/2 Tablespoons chopped green onions

Paprika

Grated Parmesan cheese



Directions:


Cut bell peppers in half, removing seeds.

Boil until slightly tender. Drain and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, slowly saute yellow onions, celery and garlic in butter.

Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes over low heat. Stir frequently.

Add salt and pepper. Stir.

Add mushroom soup and crawfish tails.

Cook 8 minutes or until creamy.

Add rice and green onions. Stir well.

Fill each pepper half with stuffing.

Sprinkle paprika and Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake 20 minutes at 450 degree F., serving hot! Enjoy!

Note: If you are in a part of America or another country where crawfish tails cannot be easily found, maybe too expensive, just substitute small shrimp - equally tasty!


Photo by turtlemom4bacon @ flickr of a stuffed bell pepper with ground meat

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Recipe: Turnip Greens Casserole

Southerners have a love affair with greens! It's no wonder since greens contain a lot of minerals and are HIGH in calcium. Turnip greens are quite good if they are cooked with a smokey meat as flavoring. That leftover Christmas ham or ham bone is a good candidate for cooking greens, especially fresh greens when you can find them.

This recipe uses canned turnip greens. A wonderful brand - if it is in your area - is the Glory brand. Around our house we jokingly call it the Hallelujah! brand. These people know what they are doing as anything by them is awesome straight out of the can; you don't have to doctor a thing as there is plenty of good seasoning. Try looking on the internet for a source if you can't find this brand. It really is awesome and they do many kinds of vegetables besides greens.

Eating greens are done for good luck in the New Year. Why not add another version in the form of an easy casserole to your recipe box?

Turnip Greens Casserole

Serves 4 to 6.

From - Shall We Gather: Recipes & Remembrances of a River Town

Ingredients:

2 large (14 oz.) cans turnip greens or kale

1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons white vinegar

2 Tablespoons prepared horseradish

2 eggs beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 to 1 cup saltine cracker crumbs

1 cup (4 ozs.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese


Directions:

Combine the turnip greens, soup, mayonnaise, vinegar, horseradish, eggs, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well.

Spoon the turnip greens mixture into a 9x13-inch baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 to 35 minutes. Sprinkle with the cracker crumbs and cheese and bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer or until the cheese melts.

Note: You may substitute 4 cups drained cooked FRESH turnip greens for the canned ones.

For your copy of this cookbook, Shall We Gather: Recipes & Remembrances of a River Town, go to http://www.trinitywetumpka.org/cookbook.

Or you can call (334) 567 - 7534.

Cost is $26.95, which includes postage and handling.

Published by Trinity Episcopal Church
5375 U. S. 231
Wetumpka, Alabama 36092-3168

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Recipe: Country Captain - chicken

This dish has remained popular in Louisiana since the 1940's when then President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced it was his most favorite dish after having tasted it while traveling in the South, notably Columbus, Georgia. It was developed by the cook, Arie Mullins, for the physician who hosted the President.

FDR often went to The Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia for treatments for his polio and as a general retreat. When we lived in Georgia my husband and I visited this Warm Springs site; the small scale of the place as well as the humble cabins is quite surprising considering the dignataries who joined him.

For those who don't know this dish is basically a very glorified chicken stew with curry seasoning. “Country-captain” is an expression in Bengal, the name of a particular dry kind of curry, often served as a breakfast dish. We might imagine it was a favorite dish at the table of the skippers of ‘country ships,’ and they in turn were called ‘country captains.’ Legend has it that the dish was brought to Georgia by a British sea captain who had once served in the Bengal area of India.

Country Captain

Serves 8 - 10

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons, salt, divided

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 (3-1/2 lbs.) chickens, cut into serving pieces

3 Tablespoons oil (I prefer canola oil)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

2 cups chopped red Bermuda or Vidalia sweet onions

2 cups chopped green/red/yellow bell pepper (all are good!)

1 cup chopped celery

1 bay leaf

1 Tablespoon curry powder (I like Sharwood's brand, the mild curry version)

1/2 teaspoon ground dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes/cayenne pepper powder (we like the cayenne pepper)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic (I usually triple the garlic amount)

6 cups canned, whole, peeled tomatoes, crushed with their juice
(Plunge into a huge bowl of these tomatoes and squeeze and crush with your hands. Keep your hands under the juice level and it won't squirt all over you! Definitely a messy process!)

1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth

1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 cup dried currants

Steamed brown or white rice for serving (we like brown rice)

6 ounces toasted slivered almonds for garnish


Combine the flour, paprika, 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper in large, shallow dish and stir to blend. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture, coating evenly. Shake off any excess. Set aside.

Heat the oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in batches until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to paper towels to drain. Set aside.

Add the remaining tablespoon butter to the saucepan and add the onions, bell peppers, celery, bay leaf, curry powder, thyme and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the tomatoes, chickenn stock, brown sugar and the remaining teaspoon salt. Stir to blend, then reduce heat to medium. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender, but not falling off the bones, about 50 minutes. Add the currants and cook 10 minutes longer. Serve over steamed rice. Garnish with toasted almonds. Yum!

Note: For other recipes visit my other fun blog –
Romancing The Chocolate

Photo by Bill Feig