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Welcome to Thyme Flies, a place to find southern, and Cajun and Creole recipes as well as plain old home cooking.
It's also a place to spend a little thyme.
Lily, my former mother-in-law, had eight children. All her kids
and their families usually came to her house for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Lily was a Cajun, but like families across
the country, she would usually cook the traditional turkey. Unlike most of the country, she would stuff her
bird with Cajun rice dressing. Lily cooked by feel and taste rather than recipe, but this is a close approximation. Try it
sometime and enjoy. Lily’s Rice DressingIngredients: §4
cups chicken or turkey stock §2 cups rice §1 pound chicken gizzards §½ pound chicken livers §½ pound ground beef §½
pound pork §½ cup oil or meat drippings §1 large onion, chopped §2 stalks celery, chopped §1 bell pepper, chopped §2 cloves garlic, minced §3
tablespoons parsley, chopped §1 bunch green
onions, chopped §Salt, pepper, to taste Directions: Bring chicken stock to a boil in a large saucepan.
Add rice, reduce heat, cover and simmer until done, about 20 minutes. Set aside. Simmer chicken gizzards in water to cover
until fork tender, about 30 minutes, add livers and cook about 10 more minutes until livers are done. Drain and remove the
tender meat from the gizzards, discarding the tough gristle.
Grind or process gizzard meat and livers together
until coarse. Set aside. In a large pot, brown the ground beef and pork, drain and set aside. In the same pot,
heat the oil and sauté onions, celery and bell pepper until soft. Add garlic and sauté briefly. Away from the
heat, add rice, meat, green onions, parsley and seasonings, and toss lightly.
It’s mid-December, much of the month
already cold and dreary. Glancing out my window this morning I realized today would bring much the same.
With
the temperature in the thirties, a chill wind whistling threw the shrubs and a darkly overcast sky it is a perfect day for
weekend comfort food.Here is a simple
recipe that is sure to provide comfort for your gloomy weekend. Green Pepper Stew Ingredients ·1 cup grated cheddar cheese ·2 lbs. pork ·2 tsp. salt ·2 tbsp. oil ·3 medium potatoes, peeled
and cubed ·½ cup onion, diced ·1 large garlic clove,
minced ·6-8 fresh roasted green peppers, skinned and de-seeded Directions Cube meat, sprinkle with salt and fry until brown in oil. Add potatoes
to browned meat together with onion, garlic, salt, peppers and enough water to cover. Simmer for 1 ½ hours or until
potatoes are tender. Serve with cheddar cheese and warm tortillas on the side. Makes 6 servings
There is always a festival of some sort in progress in New Orleans.Years ago, wife Anne and friends Gary and Carroll flew to the Big Easy in late May for a few days of R & R.Thomas, a friendly cab driver, picked us up at the airport.He was so engaging that we hired him
to drive us everywhere we went.
There was no Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest that weekend, only the New Orleans Tomato Festival –
a party highlighted by fresh Louisiana tomatoes prepared in a multitude of ways.One such way to prepare
fresh tomatoes is Tomatoes Florentine, a simple and wonderful dish.
Ingredients
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach 2
large tomatoes, cut into ¾-inch-thick slices ½ cup dry Italian-seasoned bread crumbs ½ cup
chopped green onions (white and green parts) 3 eggs, beaten ¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted ¼
cup grated Parmesan ¼ teaspoon minced garlic ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
leaves 2 to 3 dashes hot pepper sauce
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch glass-baking dish.
Cook
spinach according to package directions. Drain well in a colander, pressing with paper towels to remove most of the liquid.
Arrange tomato slices in a single layer in prepared pan. Combine breadcrumbs, green onions, eggs, butter, Parmesan,
garlic, salt, thyme and hot sauce in a medium bowl. Add spinach; mix well.
Spoon equal amounts of the spinach
mixture on top of each tomato slice.
Cornbread is a Southern staple and there are as many different recipes as
there are cooks. Here is just one, with a few twists that truly makes it Southern comfort food. Ingredients:
1 cup white corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon
baking powder
½teaspoon garlic salt
1 ½cups whole
milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded
Monterey Jack cheese
1 can
(11 oz.) cream style corn
3 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeños
Directions: Preheat oven to 375º F. Lightly grease 8-inch-square baking pan. Combine corn meal, flour, baking powder and
garlic salt in large bowl. Combine milk, eggs and oil in medium bowl.Add to corn meal mixture; stir just until combined.
Stir in cheese, corn and jalapeños. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick
comes out clean when inserted in center. Cool in pan on wire rack. Serve warm.
I love south Louisiana cooking and as I have chronicled before, my former mother-in-law Lily was one of the best Cajun-Creole
cooks ever.She and Harvey had eight children of their own, and Lily had several sisters and a younger
brother. Except for the three youngest daughter's, all of her children and all of her siblings lived within a ten mile
radius.It goes without saying that there is nothing more important to a person from south Louisiana than is their family, and anytime Gail and
I made it back to Chalmette it was cause
for celebration.
I grew up in north Louisiana.The people there are
just as friendly but they are more likely to serve coffee to their guests than whiskey.In addition, you
were more likely to get hash browns for breakfast instead of grits. Harvey and Lily were teetotalers
and drank no alcoholic beverages at all.They also frowned on those that did.Still,
they were the only members of the family that felt that way.
Whenever Gail and I knocked on the door
of an aunt, uncle or cousin, there was always a drink (as in alcoholic) waiting for us on the other side.Everyone
in the family was a great cook and everyone enjoyed drinking and eating.
It didn't seem to
matter because there wasn't a single fat person in the entire family and, except for a particularly obnoxious ex-brother-in-law,
I don't recall anyone ever drinking more alcohol than which they could cope with.
Unfortunately, I've never possessed
either seemingly inbreed talent.I've had to fight my waistline all my life.Harvey must have noticed because one evening we were alone and he called
me over to the kitchen table.
He was drinking Lily’s strong Cajun coffee and I joined
him in a cup, waiting anxiously to hear the reason he wanted to talk to me.
"When I was a young man, I had a problem with my weight," he said.I
had to listen carefully because Harvey
always spoke in a voice just low enough that you had to hang on his every word.Perhaps that was his design."My
doctor gave me a bit of advice.”He said, “Harvey, no matter how good the food tastes, only
eat one helping and when you are finished always have desert, a little something sweet to tell your brain that the meal is
over.You might try it sometime.It works." That was Harvey's diet tip.Enjoy your food but do not have seconds, and always have desert.His advice for eating works.I only wish he were still alive to tell me how to fool my brain into thinking that I don't need just one more beer.
I grew up eating my Mother's home cooking. I didn't know that we were poor, but we were - moneywise, that is.
We never missed a meal, and, as I look back, I now see that everyone was a culinary masterpiece. That's what we're after
here - the realization that simpler is sometimes (if not always) best.
Please check out Eric Wilder's book Murder Etouffee for the best Cajun and Creole recipes, and so much more!
