Louisiana Hand Pies (Meat, Fruit, or Crawfish)

 

Pastry:

3 cups White Lilly Self-Rising Flour

1/2 Cup shortening or butter

1 Cup milk

Filling:

1 lb ground meat

1 lb breakfast sausage

1small onion diced fine

3 cloves  garlic 

Salt and pepper to taste

Make meat mixture first so that it can cool  Brown ground meat and sausage together   Add onion and garlic   Cook until softened    Season with salt and pepper.  Let cool.

Mix pastry as you would when making biscuits   Cut shortening into flour   Add milk and stir   Pour out onto floured surface.    Knead and add flour until you have a stiff dough that is not sticky. Divide into golf-ball sized pieces and roll each into a round circle about five inches in diameter. 

To make meat pies put one tablespoon of meat mixture in the middle of the pastry round, brush water on edge of round,  close round into a half moon, and use the tynes of a fork to seal pie.  Trim with a knife if needed    Bake or fry pies at 350 degrees until golden.

Note:  You can fill pies with anything you like including crawfish pie mixture or fruit filling.  

Mary Martha Washington Cake (Pound Cake)

I know there is no Mary Martha Washington.  But, my stepdaughter, Kallee Hinton, thought this was what her grandmother was calling the cake.  Actually, it was called Mary Marshall's Cake recipe after a friend of my mother-in-law, Janey Trussell Foote.  But we all call it Mary Martha Washington Cake.  This takes time to mix -- you need to make it while you are doing some other chore in the kitchen.

3 sticks of real butter, softened

2 cups of white sugar

6 eggs

1 cup of sour cream

2 cups of  White Lilly All Purpose Flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream in a mixer (with whisk attachment) the butter and  sugar together until a light colored yellow.  Add one egg at a time and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes for each egg added.  Do this for all six eggs - 30 minutes total.  Add vanilla and sour cream and mix well.  Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.  Then add dry ingredients with mixer on slow one spoonful at a time until all is incorporated..  Be sure to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.  Finally, prep a large tube or Bundt pan with crisco and flour (or use cake release spray with flour).  Put in batter and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Check with a skewer for doneness.  Do not overcook as it will be dry.

This cake is actually better the second day   Topping it with strawberries and whipped cream is my favorite way to enjoy this cake.  

Crawfish Etouffee

This is one of my favorite Louisiana foods and it is so easy to make.  

1 lb. crawfish peeled and deveined (get them pre-prepared at your seafood market)

1 onion (medium)

1 bell pepper (medium)

2 stalks of celery

1 stick real butter

4 tbs. of flour

two cans or one box of chicken stock

water as needed to thin

creole seasoning

pepper and salt to taste

Melt butter in a heavy bottomed 6 quart sauce pan.  Add chopped vegetables and sautee until soft - about 8 - 10 minutes on medium heat.

Add crawfish tails with all the fat and juice.  Cook until the tails feel a little firmer.  Add flour and stir.  Let flour mixture cook for a few minutes to get the raw flour flavor out

Add chicken stock. Stir vigorously to get the roux to break up.  Bring to a boil and then simmer.  Add seasonings as desired.  For additional flavor you can use a tablespoon of chicken base or chicken bullion  cubes (3 - 4) instead of salt.  

Serve over rice or put it in a pie shell with rice to make a crawfish pie!

Ron’s Perfect Biscuits

My mother’s biscuit recipe is on this blog, Doris’ Biscuits, but this is my modified version   I have trouble getting consistent biscuits her way   These are no fail   

2 1/2 cup White Lilly self rising flour 

1 stick butter frozen then grated

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup cold milk or buttermilk

Put flour and baking powder in bowl and mix together. Grate frozen butter over flour

Stir grated butter into flour. Add milk and stir very little.   Flour a board heavily and put mixture out on flour. With Floured hands pat dough into a small rectangle.  Fold over itself three times for flaky layers.  Pat out to height of biscuit cutter.  Cut all biscuits.  Reform dough scraps and cut rest of biscuits.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 450 degrees in a skillet or on a heavy baking sheet pan. 

Tomato Gravy

My mom made this many Sunday nights to put over her homemade biscuits   Nothing better This gravy is one reason to can you own tomatoes   

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 to 3/4 cup plain flour

One quart home canned tomatoes or one large can of quality diced tomatoes

Make roux with oil and flour.  Stir constantly on medium fire till the color is  brown like the color of a brown paper sack. Do not let it burn. 

Add tomatoes and stir.  Add water to your desired consistency.  Cook until tomatoes are mostly broken up.  Season with pepper and salt as needed.

King Cake

This is a really easy and delicious King cake recipe compliments of my favorite lawyer was and Renaissance man Michael Wyatt. King cake is a Lousiana tradition eaten from Twelfth Night on January 6 through Mardi Gras. After making it, a small plastic baby is inserted in the cake.  The person who finds the baby throws the next King cake party

Mix:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. dry milk
1 package rapid rise yeast

Add: 1 cup hot water & stir


Add: 1 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 c. oil

Add: 1 to 1 1/4 cup flour. Knead until spongy. Let rise 25 minutes.

Separate the dough into two and roll them out until they're long and about 4 inches wide
Mix: ½ stick melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 T flour
Roll up – pinch – seal well
Braid the two rolls together
Let rise 15 minutes.


Bake at 350º, 17 min.

To decorate the cake, mix up a simple frosting with a lot of powdered sugar and a little milk (I also add vanilla extract). Add the frosting while the cake is still hot and sprinkle purple, gold, and green sugar on top. You can find the sugar at most craft stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby.

As for king cake babies, you can buy them online, or if you're lucky, you can find them in some party stores with the stuff for baby showers.

Maggie's Cornbread

 My grandmother Maggie Mae Blalock Morgan made this nearly every day.  Easy to make and delicious.

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients. Then add milk and oil.  Bake in as greased skillet at 425 degrees until golden   About 20 minutes.

Best when cold and crumbled in a glass of cold milk.