Warm Blue Cheese Dip Recipe

Warm Blue Cheese Dip Recipe
Bacon and garlic give this crowd-pleaser an extra kick.
By Klaus Fritsch
From Morton's The Cookbook


Serves 8 to 10

You Will Need
Ingredients
8 slices hickory-smoked bacon, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 oz. crumbled blue cheese
2 tbs. chopped fresh chives
2 tbs. chopped almonds
Crackers, trimmed fresh vegetables, or sliced baguette, for serving

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In nonstick skillet, cook bacon over medium-high heat about 8 minutes or until nearly crisp. Drain bacon and wipe skillet dry.

3. Return bacon to pan, add garlic, and cook over medium heat until bacon is crisp, about 3 minutes. Make sure garlic doesn’t burn. Drain on paper towels.

4. Using paddle attachment of electric mixer, beat cream cheese in bowl until smooth. Add cream; beat well to mix. Fold in bacon, garlic, blue cheese, and chives.

5. Transfer to 2-cup baking dish; top evenly with almonds. Bake about 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with crackers, baguette slices, or vegetables.

Aunt Frances’ Louisiana Gumbo

Aunt Frances’ Louisiana Gumbo
Ingredients
• 1 whole chicken, boiled and deboned (save stock from boiled chicken)

• 2 pounds smoked sausage, thinly sliced

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 1 bell pepper chopped

• 1 onion, chopped

• 3 stalks of celery, chopped

• 2 handfuls parsley

• 2 handfuls Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning mix

• cayenne pepper to taste

Directions

Over low heat, add oil to a large stock pot and heat for a minute or so. Add flour and stir until clumps are gone. Increase heat to medium-low.

Stir mixture constantly over medium-low heat for one hour, or until the roux is the color of a penny.

In a separate pan, saute celery, onion and parsley until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetables to roux mixture. Increase heat to medium and pour in chicken stock. Then add chicken, sausage and seasoning.

Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, or until gumbo has reached desired consistency. Serve with white rice.

Jambalya New Orleans Saints

Jambalaya
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 pounds smoked sausage, sliced

• 1 pound smoked pork chops, cubed

• 2 tbs.. oil

• 4 onions, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, chopped

• 2 green peppers, chopped

• 1 1/2 pounds roma tomatoes

• 1 1/2 pounds bay leaves

• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme

• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

• 1/2 tsp. each black, white and red pepper

• 3 1/2 cups chicken stop

• 1 pound boned chicken

• salt

• 2 pounds peeled shrimp

Directions

Brown sausage and pork. Add onions, garlic, green peppers, and saute five minutes. Add rest of ingredients except shrimp and salt and cook 25 minutes covered. Add salt and shrimp. Do not overcook shrimp. You can turn heat off and add shrimp and cover and they will cook.

Serve with three cups white rice.

Crawfish Etouffee for New Orleans Saints fans

Crawfish Etouffee
Ingredients
•1 lb crawfish tails with fat (if you can find it, with fat, substitute 1 tbs.. butter for fat)

• 1/4 lb butter

• 1 cups celery (chopped)

• 1/4 cup bell pepper (chopped)

• 1 cup green onions (chopped-tops and bottoms separated)

• 3 tbs. flour

• 1 tbs. dry parsley or 2 tbs. fresh parsley (dry parsley probably easier)

• 1 tbs. paprika

• 1 can Chicken broth

• salt and pepper to taste (as much or little as you like)

• white rice

Directions

Melt butter in large stock pot. Add celery, bell pepper, green onion bottoms and sautee until clear.

Add crawfish fat and flour and simmer, stirring constantly for a few minutes. Add chicken broth, parsley, and paprika and cook over low covered for 15-20 minutes.

Add crawfish and salt and pepper to taste. Then simmer for 12-15 minutes. Then add green onion tops and more parsley (2 tbs.). Serve over hot white rice.

Muffuletta SAndwiches for Super Bowl Party Saints vs Colts

Muffuletta
Ingredients
Garlic Aioli:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 1 teaspoon original Tabasco sauce

• 1 garlic clove, crushed



Spicy Olive Filling:
Ingredients
• 1 cup pimento-stuffed olives, finely chopped

• 1/4 cup pitted black olives, finely chopped

• 1/4 cup roasted red peppers, finely chopped

• 1 1/2 teaspoons original Tabasco sauce

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 teaspoon sugar



Sandwich:
Ingredients
• 1 large loaf French or Italian bread, about 22 inches long

• 8 ounces sliced hard salami

• 8 ounces sliced deli ham

• 8 ounces sliced Provolone cheese


Directions
Preheat oven to 400° F.

Combine mayonnaise, Tabasco sauce and garlic in small bowl; stir until well blended.

Combine green olives, black olives, roasted red peppers, Tabasco sauce, olive oil and sugar in medium-size bowl until well mixed.

Cut bread in half, horizontally, with serrated knife, but not all the way through; open flat. Spread both cut sides with garlic aioli mixture. Arrange salami, ham and cheese on bread evenly. Spoon spicy olive filling lengthwise down center of loaf.

Place sandwich on large piece of foil; close tightly to seal. Place on large baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.

Cut into serving-size pieces. Serves 12.

Honey Garlic Americas Cut

Honey-Garlic America’s Cut



I always have a slight sweet tooth,

but this combination of lightly

frequency and taste of honey with

dash of garlic in this marinade

sauce. I found that this is perfect on

the grill and a perfect sizzle in your

frying pan. This sauce could be use

in chicken or pork chops. Try it out

when you want quick easy dinner.



Ingredients:

· 4 America’s Cut boneless center pork loin chops, about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inches thick

· ¼ Cup of lemon juice ( I prefer using fresh lemon)

· ¼ Cup honey

· 2 Tablespoons soy sauce

· 1 Tablespoon dry sherry

· 2 Cloves garlic, minced

Directions

Place chops in a heavy plastic bag. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over chops, turning bag to coat. Close bag; sealed and take out the air. Refrigerate 4 hours to 24 hours.

For the grilled:

Prepare covered grill with drip pan in center banked by medium-hot colas. Remove chops from marinade; reserve marinade. Grill chops 12-15 minutes, turning once and vesting occasionally with reserved marinade.

For the stove:

Place out a non stick frying pan and cooked in high heat or mid-high heat and place chops in the frying pan and pour some marinade sauce over chops. Cook till its no-longer pink before flipping over and place marinade sauce on again. Keep on cooking till chops are fully cooked. This should take about 12-15 minutes total so about seven minutes on each side.

Italian Wedding Soup

From Tracey Koch and Therese Rosso

Serves 6.
Ingredients
For Therese’s meatballs:
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2-4 tbls. water

Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground meat with the egg, onion and garlic powders, salt and pepper.

2. Add the bread crumbs and cheese and mix until all is incorporated.

3. Using one tablespoon at a time, add in the water so that the meat mixture is soft but still holds its shape.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

5. Use a tablespoon to scoop out the minimeatballs and place them on the lined baking sheet.

6. Bake the meatballs for 13-15 minutes or until they are cooked all the way through. Remove from the oven and set aside. This will make roughly 24 minimeatballs
Ingredients
For the soup:
1 tbl. olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
2 qts. (8 cups) low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups chopped zucchini
1/2 cup frozen petite green peas
24 minimeatballs (pre-baked)
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups fresh chopped spinach
3 cups cooked acini di pepe pasta
Directions-
In a 6 quart pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions, garlic, carrots and celery for 3-4 minutes.

2. Add in the chicken broth and bring it up to a simmer.

3. Simmer the broth for 5-10 minutes then add in the chopped zucchini and peas.

4. Simmer soup for an additional 3-4 minutes and drop in the prebaked meatballs.

5. Allow meatballs to heat all the way through and adjust seasoning of the soup.

6. Before serving, stir in the fresh chopped spinach. Divide the cooked pasta among six bowls, and place four meatballs in each bowl, as well. Ladle vegetables and broth over pasta and serve.

Kitchen helpers: Set up an assembly line and have kids roll out the meatballs with you.