Still Mourning From the Bayou

Ok, this post is probably more for me as I need some lunch and am not bothering to reread/edit, so read at your own peril.

From the Bayou was this AMAZINGLY EXCELLENT cajun food restaurant just one little ol' block from my college campus. I can't handle spice heat very well, but their food was SOOO GOOD it was worth suffering some of the burn and they had a salad that was so awesome that I would crave it! It had the best smoked almonds ever found (and if you know me, you know I'm not actually a big fan of smokey flavor so these HAD to be that good for me to crave them!) Yes, it's been closed several years now and the restaurant that took it's place (ostensibly with same chef and several of the same recipes) is now closed as well. On a lark, I hunted through the tangled webs of the inter as I knew the restaurant had shared some of it's recipes at one point. I managed to find some, and I'm copying them here below. On my search, apparently I ate there during it's early hey-day as Yelp reviews are bad, but all from several years after I left. Sadly, I never took pictures of their decor, I loved it. I wish I could have bought one of their artistic chairs! Wish I had found their red beans & rice recipe...and what those darn almonds were.

MINI JALAPENO MUFFINS
FROM THE BAYOU, PARKLAND (RIP)

8 whole pickled jalapeno chilies
1 tablespoon jalapeno pickling liquid, plus more to taste
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter 2 (24-cup) mini-muffin pans.

Cut the stems from the jalapenos and pulse them in a food processor to finely chop. Add the pickling liquid, and process to make a smooth puree, scraping down the sides as needed. You need 1/3 cup of the puree; save any extra for another use or discard.

In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and stir to blend.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, 1/3 cup jalapeno puree and honey until well-blended. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just to blend. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pans, not quite to the top (about 1 tablespoon per muffin).

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving warm. Or cool completely and seal in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Makes 4 dozen mini-muffins or 2 dozen regular muffins
Source: The Northwest Best Places Cookbook Volume 2 by Cynthia C. Nims, web source here

---
From the Bayou Crawfish Etouffee recipe

1/4 pound butter
4 cups chopped
2 cups chopped green peppers
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh chopped garlic
4 cups sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 teaspoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
4 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon garlicpowder
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup half-and-half
1 3/4 cups tomato sauce

Melt butter in large heavy-duty pot. Add onions, peppers, garlic and all seasonings. Saute, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent (15 minutes).

Add mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Add flour and mix thoroughly for 1 minute, stirring often. Add whipping cream and half-and-half. Cook until cream thickens but does not boil, stirring often.

Add tomato sauce and cook for 15 minutes. Add desired meat, seafood or crawfish. Stirring often, cook until meat or vegetables are done. The longer you let the sauce cook, the more flavorful it becomes.

Source: tribnet.com, via recipegoldmine.com