Moveable Feast: New Orleans

Another Moveable Feast has come and gone leaving only good memories and food comas. The theme of this feast was the foods of New Orleans.

We started with Sazaracs, raw oysters, and Oysters Rockefeller. We then moved on to the three main dishes – jambalaya, gumbo, and a gorgeous savory bread pudding with pulled pork and goat cheese. We ended with bourbon balls and two types of pecan pies. As always, everything was delicious and more than satisfying.

I was the last to sign up for a dish so I made dessert. When researching recipes there was, of course, beignets. I would have loved making them but there didn’t seem a good way to transport them and keep them fresh and I didn’t want to spend the evening frying them up in the kitchen. Other options were bananas foster – didn’t feel like doing a flambé in my friend’s home – or bread pudding – but we already had a savory bread pudding.

I decided to look up John Besh to see what recipes he’d posted for dessert and that’s when I found his recipe for Bourbon Pecan Pie. I decided to pair it with a Bourbon (and Vanilla) Whipped Cream.

For a little variety I decided to make my Mom’s Kahlúa Pecan Pie. A long time ago she sent me her recipe. As you can see it was clipped from a magazine, probably from a Kahlúa ad. I know she got it from a family friend at church who made it. This would be the first time I made the pie since my Mom sent me the recipe. (I’m not a terribly sentimental person except when it comes to family. It made me a little misty-eyed when I found my Mom’s note with her recipes. Just seeing her handwriting reminded me of how much I miss her.)

Generally speaking I’m not one for making pies. I don’t think I have the patience to learn to make a good pie crust and form a really beautiful edge. I usually say that I make “rustic” pies. The recipe I use for my crust is butter based and comes from the Macoun Apple Pie recipe found in Apples: A Cookbook. I found the cookbook on sale in a discount bookshop a long time ago. The dough is pretty soft, even when refrigerated, but it turns out a light, flaky crust.

So taking all these different recipes, I think I produced a pretty good ending to our New Orleans feast.

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