Cookbook: Taste of Tremé

A couple of months ago, author Todd-Michael St. Pierre sent me a copy of his brand new cookbook, Taste of Tremé. What with the holidays and work, I have been so busy, but I finally got a chance to check out the cookbook and try several of the recipes. This is the first cookbook by St. Pierre that is offered with a ton of gorgeous food images and lots of local art. I really enjoyed the little descriptions before each recipe, but you know what I enjoyed more? The food!

The first recipe I tried is called "Ernestine's Easy-Peasy Black-Eyed Peas & Rice." I'm always looking out for simple recipes to whip up on a busy evening and this one sounded perfect. It consists basically of ground beef, the Holy Trinity (chopped onion, bell pepper and celery), long-grained rice, Cajun seasoning (can you say Tony Chachere's?) and canned, black-eyed peas - Trappey's brand if you can find them. The dish turned out pretty tasty, but since I am not a huge fan of plain ol' ground beef, the next time I make this I might add 1/2 pound of ground pork or sausage just to jazz it up a bit.

Although I've played around with my own version of stuffed mirlitons since I discovered this amazingly delicious vegetable upon moving down here, but I have always been on the lookout for different recipes. In Taste of Tremé, St. Pierre has his version called "Pretty Boy Zane's Stuffed Mirlitons." The dish turned out perfectly. I invited my friend Dani over to try it and between the three of us, we almost demolished the whole pan. The mirliton were sweet and juicy, but I think the key to this dish is fresh Louisiana shrimp. My mouth is watering while I write this...time to make it again!

Now you just know I had to try one of the dessert recipes and I picked the "Devil's Halo Pie," which St. Pierre describes as "the epitome of the devil and angel on each shoulder." Basically, a graham cracker pie shell is filled with a mixture of brown sugar, cane syrup (I used Steen's, of course!), corn syrup, butter, eggs, pecans, semi-sweet chocolate chips and a healthy shot of Southern Comfort. Although the filling was a bit too much for the pie shell, the pie turned out perfectly! It serves up very gooey and sloppy, but what it lacks in presentation, it makes up for in flavor...absolutely fantastic!

I can't wait to try more recipes from the cookbook, I already have quite a few marked for future indulgence. Kudos to you Todd-Michael! You've done it again...