re: TD.com Recipes and Recipe Book Thread

This really is a great idea. I'm looking forward to reading and trying some recipes. I love to cook and bake, so I will contribute some recipes. I thought of this one since I just made it. I found it last year when I had too many tomatoes in my garden. It is the best tomato soup recipe - just amazing.

4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 onion, sliced
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste
1 cup milk or heavy cream, depending on your preference

DIRECTIONS
1.In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and blend in blender on high speed.

2.In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux (thickening agent, like you are making gravy), cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with sugar and salt, and add the cream.


ETA: I just made another batch yesterday and left out the milk. I think it was even better.

If anyone was curious, we've had 1,593 downloads of the book!

I just downloaded it a while ago and started looking thru the recipes. Can't wait to make some.

Heavy D's Chili

Otis' Creole Blue Cheese Vinaigrette

8 oz, more or less, good Bleu cheese, crunbled
1 cup Canola oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 T Tony's
1 T sugar(maybe more, to taste)
1/2 t fresh black pepper
1 T paprika

Mix all together and adjust seasonings to taste. Ideally, it's a spicy/sweet combo. Let it stand for 30 minutes or more if possible. The above measurements are gueeses since I make this by taste, not written down instructions.


I stole this from the old Houlihan's on Bourban Street from many years ago...actually just played with the flavors until I got it to taste like their spinach salad dressing.

Use them bait shrimp from market basket and you're SET.

I hate grocery store salad dressings and I am always looking for good dressing recipes. Here is one that I really like and modified from Food & Wine Magazine:

Bacon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

3 strips thickly sliced lean bacon, cut into 1/4-inch strips
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon creole mustard
1 teaspoon chopped thyme

1.In a large skillet, cook the bacon in the olive oil over moderately high heat until browned and crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the shallot, vinegar, mustard and thyme.

2.Scrape the dressing into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper if desired. I prefer baby spinach leaves but add whatever lettuce you like to the dressing and toss well. I like to add mild shredded chedder cheese, diced tomatoes, and bacon bits to this salad.

Crawfish Lasagna

1 large onion sliced into thin rings and separated (1 cup minimum)
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup Butter
1 Tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
1 - 2 lb frozen (AMERICAN) crawfish tails, from frozen fish section at market
1 cup Shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 eggs
1 large container cottage cheese,
1 container Romano Cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 pint heavy cream
1 Tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 Tablespoon parsley, chopped medium
1/8 tsp or less of red cayenne pepper

1/4 cup melted butter for top

1 box lasagna noodles, cooked in salted water with a tablespoon of olive oil
Pam spray or olive oil spray

Thaw frozen crawfish tails (in sealed freezer bag) under cold running water. One (1) pound will do this recipe, but two (2) pounds will make it better.

Cook Lasagna noodles, cool under running tap water and set aside until needed.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, and lightly oil lasagna pan or large casserole dish with olive oil or butter or Pam spray.

In a large sauté pan over medium to medium high heat, sauté onion rings and celery in 1/2 cup butter, add garlic as onions begin going toward clear and continue until everything is tender. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix cottage and Romano cheese with 2 eggs and set aside.

In sauté pan, lightly cook flour in butter on medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes, then add heavy cream. Salt and pepper to taste, then add cayenne pepper – only a dash of cayenne is needed, as the tails are most likely already spicy. If the sauce is too thick, add a little milk. If you like, you can omit the cream and make this sauce with milk. Add the fully thawed crawfish tails to the sauce when it is finished along with chopped green onions and parsley and remove the sauce immediately from heat.

Assemble lasagna:

In the lasagna pan or casserole dish, place a layer of lasagna noodles. Cut or trim as needed to make a complete layer. The next layer will be the crawfish and sauce, next layer cottage cheese egg mixture and a sprinkle of parmesan and mozzarella, followed by noodles, followed by crawfish, followed by cheeses, continuing until you have multiple layers. I like my lasagna with at least three layers of crawfish, and a forth layer of noodles on top.

Drizzle or brush 1/4 cup +- of butter on top of top layer of noodles.

Cook in 325 degree oven for 45-60 minutes, until nice and bubbly. Remove from oven and allow the dish to rest for 15 minutes before serving. Cut lasagna into squares and serve.