“There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better.” - Bob Dylan
There’s just no place quite like New Orleans. And I’m pretty sure I’m the first and only person to ever say that. (Please don’t copy me.) Last weekend was a much-needed recharge, full of good friends, great food and the occasional stumble on a sidewalk. Overall, it was a pretty tame weekend by New Orleans standards. I guess #thisis30!!!!
I made a TikTok (sad) of everything I ate over the weekend! You can watch it here. The highlight for me was probably Kyle’s birthday dinner at Seafood Sally’s, specifically the caesar salad with lump crab meat. One of the bests I’ve ever had! Our last brunch at Alma Cafe was also fantastic. I got a piece of toast topped with soft scrambled eggs, mushrooms, chive cream cheese and, again, lump crab meat. 10/10 would eat again.
August Cookbook: Dinner in French by Melissa Clark
I was still dreaming of New Orleans on Tuesday, and since I ate so much crab meat last weekend, I made the buttery crab pasta with golden tomatoes (pg. 146). This pasta was a quick, weeknight dish that really lived up to its name. The sauce was buttery and full of parmesan, then it all gets tossed together with the golden tomatoes, herbs and lump crab meat.
Next, I made the comté cocktail crackers (pg. 40). Comté is a type of French cheese, but I ended up substituting Gruyere since they are very similar. The dough holds together very well and I used a small biscuit cutter to make equal-sized little disks. It was so satisfying to see all these little orange crackers aligned on my baking sheet. Think of these as gourmet Cheez-Its. So addicting!
If you have leftover cheese in your fridge, I highly recommend making the classic fromage fort with chives (pg. 50). Toss all of your mismatched cheese bits into a food processor or blender with butter, white wine, herbs and garlic. Boom. A delicious, funky dip. For mine, I used goat cheese, feta, blue cheese and some cheddar shreds and spread it on some toasted ciabatta.
Red meat is not something that I like to eat often, but I felt like trying something different this week. I made the seared steaks with basil béarnaise (pg. 197). I felt like I was at a fancy French restaurant. (But only if I ignored the fact that I was eating it on the couch while watching a show called “FBoy Island.")
And for dessert, I made the black sesame palmiers (pg. 273)! These required store-bought puff pastry (thank god), so the assembly was very simple. I mixed the black sesame seeds with sugar and rolled the dough into little elephant ears. They were so cute! I brought them to a backyard birthday party over the weekend and they were a total hit.
In other news…
Smoothies have become my go-to treat lately. My favorite has been frozen cherries, a scoop of almond butter, cacao powder, a dash of salt and oat milk.
If you want a simple, on-the-go treat, I recommend making these Choc Bar Puffs and keeping them in your freezer for your next lazy Sunday.
I woke up early Saturday morning to hit up a yard sale down the street and scored $540 worth of All-Clad pans for only $120!
Thanks for reading, sweeties! 🍎