Rice Is Nice

A couple of weeks ago, I had dinner with some new friends that had moved from Chicago. As we looked over the menu, I realized that not everyone is as taken with rice, as people from Louisiana are. In fact, my friends thought the stuff was awful, since where they come from; it is served as a hot cereal. Naturally, you can't expect them to think of rice with gravy, or beans and rice, as edible. All they can think, is breakfast cereal should not have gravy on it. In fact, they weren't' too thrilled with gravy either.

This brings me to the blog subject this week, you guessed RICE. I am going to give a little background for those not raised eating rice. Louisiana grows 370,000 acres a year in rice. They are the number 3 producers of rice in the United States, behind Arkansas, California (can you believe that) Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Missouri (again who would have thought).

Louisiana grows 3 grain sizes, long, medium, and short. Medium grain is the preference for Southern Louisiana cooks. Northern Louisiana cooks, like the long grain to go with their smothered steak and gravy. In fact 90% of the rice grown in Louisiana is long grain. Louisiana exports rice, so apparently long grain is the favorite in other states, and other parts of the world. Speaking of the World, the USA exports 13% of the world's rice. Also rice is the predominate food source for over 40% of the world. I include a link for those of you interested in reading more about rice. Some interesting facts, ya'll worth a look.

My friends from Chicago are not the only people not sure what to do with rice, other than put sugar and milk on it for breakfast. I had the same feedback on my trips to the North East. Let me assure you, Bostonians don't do rice.

Having said that….let's move on to this. I will be posting recipes using, or staring rice. I grew up with rice, never ate it for breakfast, but did have it sweet when made into my Grandmothers rice pudding.

I love my rice; I love it with beans, with gravy, in dirty rice, and Jambalaya. I don't cook many meals that I don't have rice. I want to share some great rice dishes with you. Mamie Eisenhower's Green Rice is the first recipe. I chose this one, as you can tell, it is from the 50's, because it makes a pretty casserole, and is great for company, easy to fix, and it taste real good.

Hope you like this: Check tomorrow for another rice recipe.

Mamie Eisenhower's Green Rice

1 cup raw rice

½ package of frozen spinach (chopped)

1 cup finely chopped onion

2 Tablespoons butter

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt

Pepper

Cook rice in boiling, salted water. Cook spinach according to package directions and drain well. Sauté onions in butter. Reserve 3 tablespoons of cheese for the topping. Layer in oven proof casserole, rice, spinach, onions, cheese, and liberal amounts of salt and pepper. Repeat about three times or until all is used. Sprinkle the top of the casserole with the reserved cheese. Bake 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves 6-8

Shrimp Creole

Creole cooking is different from Cajun cooking. It has influences from Haiti, Spain, and France., and was actually developed in New Orleans from 1st generation of European descent. Creole cooking [KREE-ohl] In the 18Th century, the Spaniards governing New Orleans named all residents of European heritage Criollo. The name, which later became Creole , soon began to imply one of refined cultural background with an appreciation for an elegant lifestyle. Today, Creole cookery reflects the full-flavored combination of the best of French, Spanish and African cuisines. Its style, with an emphasis on butter and cream, is more sophisticated than CAJUN COOKING (which uses prodigious amounts of pork fat). Another difference between the two cuisines is that Creole uses more tomatoes and the Cajuns more spices. Both cuisines rely on the culinary "holy trinity" of chopped green peppers, onions and celery, and make generous use of FILÉ POWDER. Probably the most famous dish of Creole heritage is GUMBO.
Today we will be making a Shrimp Creole, which will demonstrate the abundant use of tomatoes in Creole Cooking.

SHRIMP CREOLE

1/4 cup of flour	5 tsp. of salt
1/4 cup bacon drippings	1 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups chopped onions	1/2 tsp red pepper
1 cup chopped onions	Cayenne pepper sauce (Tabasco)
1 cup chopped celery with leaves	2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped bell pepper	1 tsp. sugar
2 cloves of garlic minced	1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 can (6 0z) tomato paste	1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 can (16 oz)chopped tomatoes, undrained	4 lbs. peeled raw shrimp
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce	cooked rice
1 cup of water

Make a dark brown roux of flour and bacon grease a large heavy pot, by cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture turns dark brown. (This could take 20- 30 minutes, roux is the basis of many Creole and Cajun dishes such as Gumbo. The roux needs to be cooked in a heavy cast iron skillet or dutch oven, which allows the roux to brown without burning so easily. A lighter pan will probably burn the roux before the color, which directly affects the flavor, is achieved.)
Add onions, green onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic; saute until tender. Add tomato paste and mix well with the vegetable. Add the remaining ingredients except the last three. Simmer for 1 hour. Add shrimp and cook about 5-10 minutes.(shrimp will turn pink when done)
This is best if made the day before and reheated, but not boiled. Add parsley before serving, and serve over cooked long grain white rice. ENJOY

Buttermilk Pie

Before you gag, I will tell you it doesn't taste a thing like buttermilk. You know years ago buttermilk was a staple in most kitchens. Of course country people made the milk themselves. It was the liquid left over after the cream was churned into butter. I am including a link for more detail description of Buttermilk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttermilk

My mother grew up in the country in Louisiana. Buttermilk was a constant in her house. Most of the folks in the 1930's and before drank buttermilk. To distinguish between the milks, regular milk was called "sweet milk." My father would send me to get him a glass of milk and would either ask for"buttermilk"sweet milk"There was never just milk in my house. I can still remember the carton that buttermilk came in...it was Borden's brand and in a green carton.

Besides being a popular drink in the South, Buttermilk is used in Southern Cooking quite a bit, from a buttermilk chocolate cake( which I will be adding later) to a milk wash for breading chicken, onion rings, etc.

This is an old recipe that is written on stained paper, you can see the drops of vanilla on the paper. Keep in mind that whether you like buttermilk or not...this is a great pie, that taste like a very rich custard.

I am also including the recipe for the pie crust which is excellent. What makes this crust different is it is made from oil, instead of shortening such as Crisco. Years ago most pie crust were made with shortening, or Lard.
If you don't have time to make your own crust, you can cheat and buy a good commercial pie crust. I prefer Marie Callendars brand of pie crust when I cheat. Mrs. Smith is also good.

Pie Crust Made with Oil.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cups of corn oil
1 tsp of salt
3 tbsp of cold milk

Mix flour salt pour oil and milk in to flour mixture all at once.
Stir until mixed(use hands if needed) Pat into a smooth ball, flatten slightly and place between 2 12" squares of wax paper.
Dampen table top to keep paper from slipping roll out gently to edges of paper. Peel off top paper and ease crust into pie tin. The paper side will be up, remove and flute edges. Prick the bottom of the crust thoroughly with a fork, Bake 8 to10 minutes , cool and add filling.

Butter Milk filling

3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup of butter (real butter) or 1 1/2 of oleo melted
6 TBSP of flour
5 eggs
2 tsp of vanilla

Mix and Assemble

Mix flour sugar, 1/2 of milk to beaten eggs. Add rest of milk and fold in melted butter. Add vanilla. Pour into crust. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then turn oven to 350 and bake until knife comes out clean.
Make 2 pies.

Let cool and enjoy. I look forward to any feedback.