In New Orleans I ordered shrimp creole at almost every restaurant. I wanted to try it everywhere we went. One thing was clear - it’s amazing. I didn’t just order it because I wanted to test it, but also because it was my favorite thing on almost every menu.

Bringing it home, it didn’t make sense to make it with shrimp. We don’t really have that here. Crab would be epic, but it’s out of season, and then I saw a gorgeous piece of wild caught salmon and BOOM. This is perfect. It’s northwest - and it’s creole - all together. It’s the perfect marriage of two places.

The best thing I learned about making this sauce is that it’s virtually the exact same recipe no matter where you look. The secret to making it the best version is to keep cooking it. Can you make it this morning? That will be your best sauce. Can you make it yesterday? Even better. You will not regret spending a few extra minutes on this sauce.

I doubled the sauce when I made it. And then froze it. Then when I need a quick-ish dinner, this is ready to go. If you bring the sauce to a boil and pop in frozen shrimp, you’ll have a fab dinner on the table in no time.

Salmon Creole

serves 4

1 cup chopped celery

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cup chicken or seafood stock

2 bay leaves

1 - 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1/2 tablespoon worchestershire

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 pounds salmon

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt & pepper

long grain rice

fresh parsley

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large stock pot, melt together onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook for a while over low heat until everything is translucent. Season with salt & pepper.

Add herbs and stir to coat.

STEP 2

Pour in stock and add bay leaves. Bring to a low simmer for 10 minutes until things start to smell good.

STEP 3

Add tomatoes, Worcestershire and lemon. Stir and let simmer. Let this cook as long as possible. The longer, the better. Season with salt & pepper. But at a minimum, cook for 20 minutes.

STEP 4

Pat the salmon dry. Drizzle the top with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the filet on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake 10 minutes or until flaky.

STEP 5

Serve fish hot over rice smothered with the creole sauce. Top with fresh parsley.

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Pour the perfect cocktail

A Hurricane cocktail on the side transports you to New Orleans!

Does anything scream “New Orleans” more than a hurricane cocktail? They are a classic - invented in the 1940’s. There are several stories. My favorite is that the cocktail began at a speakeasy in New Orleans. The year was 1941. The code to get into the speakeasy was “Storm’s a brewin’” - which clearly led to the thematically appropriately named drink. Whether the glass that’s shaped like a hurricane lamp actually inspired the name of the drink OR was chosen to compliment the name, I prefer to think that someone with impeccable thematic skills made it all happen.

Mr Hedin and I had a classic hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s when we were in New Orleans last year. It was good. It wasn’t “the best thing ever” but it was good. Part of what turns me off is when a cocktail is preprepared and poured out of a jug. Not a fan. I like a drink made to order. I always think it tastes better.

I started researching how to make this drink. There are literally one zillion recipes. Every one of them had a different combination of ingredients, totally different rums, and none could agree on lemon vs. lime.

So I started mixing. And it was hard work. I landed on a recipe that feels like what we had at Pat O’Brien’s but made with real ingredients at home. I also simplified the rum situation. My favorite tiki bar, Smuggler’s Cove, did all the work on finding the perfect rum options for this cocktail - you can use one! Hooray! It’s annoying to have a pantry full of booze that only works for one recipe.

Classic Hurricane Cocktail

makes two drinks

2 ounces passion fruit syrup (see below)

4 ounces black blended rum (I use Blackwell Black Gold)

the juice of one lime

STEP 1

In a sauce pan, pour one cup passion fruit juice and reduce to 1/4 cup. Simmer it on low and just let it cook down. Remove from heat and let cool.

STEP 2

Pour the passion fruit syrup, rum and lime juice over ice in a cocktail shaker and shake it up well.

STEP 3

Pour all contents into a cocktail glass and garnish with a wedge of lime and a cherry! Sip slow.

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When I was a kid I hated butter pecan ice cream. It was my dad’s favorite but I found it unsettling that there were crunchy nuts hidden in the smooth ice cream. It was disorienting. But, because it was my dad’s favorite, it was always in the freezer - and it was often the only thing left. So I ate a lot of butter pecan ice cream.

Eventually, I started to really like it. I love pecans, the butter flavoring is unbeatable, and when I had one with some caramel crumbles with it - I was convinced, it was a worthwhile flavor after all.

As with most flavors I love, I decided to turn it into a cookie. A rich cookie full of butter flavor and crispy pecans, and - the best part - a praline crumble.

The secret is the make the praline first with finely chopped pecans. Then stir it in to the cookie at the last minute when you add the chopped pecans. The two different kinds of pecans is how you take these cookies from good to epic.

You can substitute walnuts for pecans if needed. My aunt had a bakery for a million years and the secret to her pecan rolls were walnuts. Pecan pie = walnuts. Walnuts have a very similar flavor but in the Pacific Northwest, they are loads cheaper than pecans. Since pecans are my favorite nut, I always have a bag in the freezer - but it’s great to know you can make the swap if you need to!

Butter Pecan Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped

1/2 cup praline crumbles (recipe below)

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine together the butter and sugar. Blend until creamy.

STEP 2

Add in the egg yolks and vanilla. Blend until combined, scraping down the sides. Stir in the flour until combined.

STEP 3

Stir in the pecans and praline crumbles but don’t over mix the batter.

STEP 4

Scoop the batter and bake 12-15 minutes until browned on the edges. Remove and let cool before moving to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for one week.

Pecan Praline Crumble

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon brandy

1/2 cup chopped pecans

STEP 1

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Set aside.

To make the pralines, heat the sugars, evaporated milk and butter to a boil over medium heat. Using a candy thermometer - get everything up to 235 degrees or the soft ball stage. The best trick is to stir until it starts to boil, then stop stirring and let it go.

STEP 2

As soon as it comes to temperature, stir in the brandy and the pecans. Keep stirring. Stir for one minute until the mixture begins to thicken.

STEP 3

Pour out the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and let cool. Once completely cooled, chop into tiny pieces.

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