A Little Christmas Morning Gumbo Love

Whether you’re hosting a houseful of family and friends or it’s just you and a special someone, Christmas morning is better when there’s something warm and delicious to start the day. This recipe is one of my favorites, and you can even make it ahead and then put it in the oven Christmas morning. In that case, it may take a little longer to cook since it will be cold from the fridge. You can also substitute a different kind of sausage if you’d like.

Do your family a favor and start the morning with this dish from Gumbo Love…make them even happier and put a copy of Gumbo Love for them under the tree!

Andouille Baked Grits

Serves 8 to 10

Olive oil cooking spray
1 pound andouille sausage, quartered then chopped crosswise into rounds (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup hot coffee
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
3/4 cup very thinly sliced mushrooms
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
3 fresh tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon LuLu’s Crazy Creola Seasoning or other Creole seasoning
2 cups heavy cream
4 cups water
1 cup grits
2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 2-quart baking dish with olive oil spray.
2. Lightly coat a large heavy skillet with the olive oil spray. Add the sausage and cook over medium-high heat until very browned. You want pieces of it to stick to the pan.
3. Add the coffee to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits stuck to the pan and stirring them into the coffee. Cook until the liquid has reduced by half.
4. Add the garlic, onion, mushrooms, and jalapeno. Cover and cook for 1 minute. Uncover and simmer for a few minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and cook, covered, for 1 to 2 minutes. Uncover and simmer for a few minutes more to reduce the liquid.
6. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, the white pepper, sugar, and Creole seasoning. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more, then turn off the heat.
7. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
8. Whisk the grits into the boiling liquid, then reduce the heat to low. Cook, whisking often, until the grits thicken.
9. Once the grits are thickened, add the sausage and vegetable mixture and mix well.
10. Pour the grits mixture into the prepared baking dish.
11. Top with the Gruyere and bake for 30 minutes.
12. Switch the oven to broil and broil for 3 minutes so the cheesy top turns golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving—when you first remove it from the oven, it’ll be as hot as a heat tile on the space shuttle, and unless you really want to injure your guests, it’s best to wait a few minutes.

Grateful Ingredients Part 2

Here we are in the midst of that joyful holiday time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. You all know I sometimes get mixed feelings about this time of year because it’s so easy to get stressed out by the things that are supposed to be fun—cooking, parties, presents, and spending time with family, just to name a few. One of my very favorite ways to stay calm and enjoy these activities is to take a break from worrying about my to-do list and take a gratitude breather instead!

Gratitude is an immediate stress-buster for me, in and out of the kitchen. So I’d like to share with you a few more “Grateful Ingredients for a Bright Life and a Happy Kitchen” from Gumbo Love. If you missed ingredients 1–4, pop over to the blog from November 3.

5. Life happens and life goes on. The sun will rise again—in fact, it will rise every single morning—even when it’s hiding behind a cloud or lost in the fog, it’s there. The cake may fall, the roast might dry out, the oven may even go up in flames but that’s no reason to stay out of the kitchen forever. I’ve noticed the day after a hurricane is almost always (even cruelly so) glorious and sunny, so I try to remember that when things go horribly wrong, it’s better to try again than give in.

6. When you don’t know what to do, do nothing. If I’m out of options or running in circles trying to find a solution or make something happen, I’ve found that I’m trying too hard. I need to breathe. I need a moment to get still so I can hear what life wants me to do. When you feel the heat building and the countertop starting to spin, stop what you’re doing and take a deep breath to get your bearings. Just be in the moment and you’ll be surprised—the knife you were looking for is right there in front of you.

7. Run toward what you fear; close your eyes, hold your nose, and jump into it. I know, this sounds crazy, huh? But it works to get past what you think you might be afraid of. I’ve done this more times than I can count! Whether you fear frying, cooking seafood, or making roux for gumbo, just go for it. It might take a few tries and tweaks to get it right, but you can do it! There’s nothing more satisfying than doing something you’ve never done before and, with a little practice, actually succeeding.

8. Say “thank you” every day for your blessings and bless your challenges with gratitude. Even be grateful for those folks and experiences that are sometimes hard. Nothing can change negativity faster and more sweepingly than gratitude. Maybe the cashier at the grocery store was a grouch, maybe your children turned up their noses at what you put on the table—sometimes it’s hard to be gracious. But it’s amazing what how powerful “thank you” can be for the recipient and the person saying it. Sometimes I even thank the kitchen fairies (oh yes, I believe in fairies!), especially when I feel they have abandoned me. Thank you for making sure I had plenty of flour and oil for my roux—since I scorched it and had to start all over!

I have two more on my list we’ll visit later, but in the meantime let me say thank you to you, my readers, my eaters, my Parrotheads, Crazy Sistas, and Gumbo Lovers! Thanks for reading and staying in touch. If you’d like to share some delicious recipes, good stories, and photographs that will make you hungry, Gumbo Love makes a fun Christmas gift. It’s got plenty of cold-weather recipes, but it’s also got a lot of summer vacation vibes so you can do some warm-weather dreaming.

All my Gumbo Love,

LuLu

Happy 99th Birthday To My Daddy

In the midst of the flurry of the kickoff of holiday season, today marks the 99th birthday of my daddy, James D. Buffett, Jr.
Wow- 99 years! Almost a century!
J.D. was a tough cookie, with a work ethic as fierce as his love for the Auburn Tigers (we won’t talk about how mad he would be today).
He loved checking his crab traps a few times a day, tinkering with tools and projects in his shop, and mowing the lawn with his John Deere riding mower- truly one of the most cherished possessions in his life. lol!!
Most of all he enjoyed nothing more than spending time with his grandchildren. Now that I’m a grandmother – I can absolutely relate!
In honor of the healthy sweet tooth he maintained (even through nearly a decade of Alzheimer’s) I’m gonna have a little cake and ice cream, Face Time with my grand babies, and celebrate my J.D. Buffett-ness.
Wishing you all a blessed and beautiful day filled with love and family and cherished memories! Love, LuLu

Cousin Mark’s Day After Thanksgiving Turkey Gumbo

The holidays are a wonderful time to remember our elders. I reminisce often about my grandmothers and their influence on my culinary endeavors. But it is my cousin Mark who really nailed it when he wrote an essay about our grandmother Mom Buffett for my first cookbook, “Crazy Sista Cooking”. In it he tells of lessons of the Trinity, the secret ingredient of a perfect roux, and the origins of ‘After-Thanksgiving Turkey and Oyster Gumbo’. He says “to this day, I make sure to save the carcass of our Thanksgiving smoked turkey to use for stock the next day to honor this special tradition.”

I have included Mark’s recipe for ‘Day After Thanksgiving Gumbo’ here. But if you want to know the secret ingredient to the roux, you just might have to buy the cookbook! 😉

What are your favorite family Thanksgiving Traditions? Please share in the comments!

Wishing you all a peaceful and wonderful Thanksgiving week.
All my Gumbo Love, LuLu

COUSIN MARK’S DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING TURKEY GUMBO

Makes 25 cups

1 turkey carcass and any leftover turkey meat

Vegetable trimmings

3 quarts of water

1 pound of andouille sausage or any good quality smoked sausage

2 large onions, coarsely chopped

2 green peppers, coarsely chopped

1 medium head celery, coarsely chopped including leaves

¾ cup vegetable oil or bacon grease

1 cup all purpose flour

8 cups turkey broth

1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped

3 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

2 tablespoons dried thyme

4 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 tablespoon LuLu’s Creola Seasoning Mix or any Creole seasoning

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 pounds frozen okra

2 cups, finely chopped green onions

½ cup fresh parsley, washed well and finely chopped

¼ cup LuLu’s Perfect Pepper Sauce or any “medium hot” hot sauce (optional)

1. Place turkey carcass and leftover turkey into a large stock pot. Cover with 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium to maintain a vigorous simmer.

2. As you prep your vegetables for the gumbo, add trimmings to simmering stock. Skim foam as needed while stock reduces.

3. In the meantime, cut sausage into thin round slices about 1/8 inch thick. In a cast iron or heavy skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate covered with paper towels. Set sausage aside to drain. Pat well with paper towels to soak up extra grease.

4. Chop onions and place in a bowl. Set aside.

5. Chop green peppers and celery; place in another bowl. Set aside.

6. To make the roux: heat the vegetable oil or bacon grease in a large heavy stockpot (10 quart) over medium high heat. When oil is hot, gradually add flour whisking continuously. Continue to stir roux adjusting heat as necessary to keep from burning. This may take 25 to 35 minutes or until your arm feels like it is about to fall off and the roux is a dark mahogany color. Be careful, if the roux burns, you will have to start all over again!

7. Carefully add chopped onions to roux and continue stirring with a large wooden spoon for 2 – 3 minutes. Onions will sizzle and steam when they hit the hot roux so caution is advised. All seasoned gumbo cooks have roux battle scars on one or both arms.

8. Add green peppers and celery, continuing to stir constantly for another 2 – 3 minutes. The mixture should resemble a pot of black beans.

9. Pour stock through a large strainer. Discard any skin, bones, and trimmings.

10. Add turkey meat and sausage to roux mixture and stir well.

11. Add strained stock and tomatoes.

12. Add salt, black pepper, thyme, bay leaves, oregano, basil, and Creole seasoning. Stir well. Bring gumbo to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Then reduce heat to maintain a slow simmer uncovered for approximately hour or an entire day.

13. Add okra and bring back to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat again to maintain a slow simmer uncovered for a minimum of 30 minutes. The longer it simmers the better it gets. If gumbo gets too thick, add a little water. If it is too thin, continue to let it simmer uncovered. Because there is pork sausage in this gumbo, if any oil rises to the top, skim off as necessary.

14. Thirty minutes before serving, add green onions and parsley to gumbo. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

15. For a spicy flavor, add hot sauce now. Turn off gumbo and cover. Let sit for 10 minutes. It will stay hot for a long time. Correct seasonings and serve over cooked white rice with French bread and butter.

Grateful for Our Veterans

Last week I shared the first four of my Ten Grateful Ingredients for a Bright Life and a Happy Kitchen. I call them “grateful” ingredients because the older and wiser I get, the more I understand the blessings and power of gratitude. When you come from a place of thankfulness and appreciation for what you’ve got going for you, it’s hard to be mad, it’s hard to hold a grudge, it’s hard not to smile. When I pause to remember the big things and the small things, one of the big things that comes to mind this time of year is the sacrifice and stalwartness of our veterans, past and present.

My daddy was a veteran of the United States Air Force, and I am still so proud of his service. When I think of what our veterans have endured throughout the generations, I think how there must have been a lot of times when truly a very “little thing” was keeping them just within gratitude’s reach—a letter from home, a picture of a loved one, a warm meal, a cup of hot coffee, a shower. All those things we take for granted must be like Godsends at times for those serving in the armed forces. They can teach us a lot about appreciation for the little things and sacrifice for the freedom the rest of us have to enjoy them.

So, veterans, please know how thankful we are for you. You make our country a place we have so much to be grateful for.

I’ll get back to some more grateful ingredients soon. In the meantime, if you get a chance, thank the veterans among us who know all too well what it means to appreciate the little things in life.

Love, LuLu

Ten Grateful Ingredients

I don’t even need to tell y’all the best thing about Thanksgiving is the food…that goes without saying!!! But as the weeks get closer to the day itself and we start planning our menus and assigning who’s bringing what (or if we’re control freaks telling people not to bring anything because we want to fix it all ourselves), right up there with the food is the giving of thanks itself.

One of my favorite parts of Gumbo Love is the section up front called “Ten Grateful Ingredients for a Bright Life and a Happy Kitchen.” This little list is a reminder to myself in those harried pre-festivity moments to slow down, enjoy every moment, every ingredient, every task, every taste in the kitchen. To remember why we’re cooking and to be thankful for the gift of being able to do it.

Here are the first four Grateful Ingredients. I’ll be posting more soon. In the meantime, I’ll be thinking about these while I start hatching all of my Thanksgiving plans in the kitchen.

1. Believe that life is always working for you, not against you. Years ago, I was catering a meal for over a hundred people. Everyone was waiting for their dessert but my key lime pies simply would not set up. I went into disaster mode, complete with feelings of dismay and failure. Then a member of the waitstaff had an idea: key lime mousse topped with whipped cream and graham cracker morsels served in bowls. It was an absolute hit!

2. You are what you think…and eat. The most powerful thing you can do to create a happy life is to keep your thoughts and intentions positive, especially when you are cooking because your state of mind does affect the food you make. If listening to some good music helps lift your mind while you’re cooking, turn it on, sister!

3. Life is; just live it! Instead of getting tripped up when you find out you’re missing an ingredient, improvise. Be open to the “whatevers” and move forward with what you do have. You might even create something with a different slant or flavor that’s better than the original. I’d bet most every chef discovered at least one of their favorite recipes simply because they were out of some ingredient and were forced to get creative.

4. Trying to be perfect is a setup for failure. I went through a long period of trying to replicate complicated recipes from Gourmet magazine and any cookbooks I could get my hands on. After so much work and worry as I completed every step of every complicated technique, no matter how good the final product, it simply never was good enough to feel worth all the trouble. It was an impossible proposition to create something with taste that matched the intensity of my angst and effort. Don’t be afraid to be adventurous in the kitchen, but don’t hold yourself to outrageous standards either. Just be you. Cook what you love! Then others will love what you cook.

Wishing you all happiness and peace in this coming Season of Thanks! Love, LuLu

Halloween Happiness

A Happy Halloween to all! When the actual holiday falls on a Wednesday, it feels like a costume party, cake walk, trunk or treat, fall festival marathon! My grandchildren are still in full costume mode!
I have admittedly escaped the mayhem and am hiding out in my abode in Key West (where everybody is laying low from just coming off of another wild Fantasy Fest).
This morning, though when I woke up to make my coffee, I just HAD to celebrate in some way. The pull of the pumpkin – or any cause for celebration for that matter- is just too strong! The most natural thing to do was dig around the cupboard to see if I had any Halloween ingredients. Voila! Behind the flour and the sugar and the Herbs de Provence I found a tiny little canister of Pumpkin Spice. Probably bought at Faustos last year when I was craving my favorite treat to make at home … the Famous Fall Pumpkin Spice Latte! Just pulling it out and opening it up, I can already savor the flavors and aromas of the Harvest Season… cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice have filled my senses!
I am known to ‘wing it’ in the kitchen making most anything. Today’s home made Pumpkin Spice Latte was no exception. I am already a heavy handed half-n-half girl when it comes to coffee. So, to today’s cream I added a dash of the spice and a spoonful of sugar and then added that mixture to the coffee. If you’re really fancy you can froth the cream first to make it extra hot.
Oh my goodness … YUM! If you like easy and pumpkin- this is a good one.
Please share with me some of your super easy Fall season kitchen tricks. I’d love to try them!
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday and special Hallows Eve.
All of my GumboLove & Afternoon Coffee,
LuLu

HOW TO SHUCK AN OYSTER

Jay Poggi grew up with my daughters, the quintessential Southern coastal kid who spent lazy summer days on the end of a weathered pier. An artist in all areas of his life, he and I have shared the same challenge of how to fit into the rather provincial culture of our birthplace, yet at the same time love, embrace, and celebrate its beauty and special brand of crazy by expressing our own unique take on a life. I think we have both been considered weird or different at some point in our lives. Yet within this Gulf Coastal culture in the infamous South with it’s very complicated history, the appreciation and love of our cuisine has been the great equalizer and a place where we all come together.

It is with great pleasure that I step aside and let Jay, a consummate foodie, give his expert version of how to shuck a Gulf oyster:

1. Choose the oyster. Select it well. Rinse it down on the outside.

2. Stabilize the oyster in an oyster lead if you have one, or you can fashion blocks of wood to stabilize the oyster and keep it flat.

3. I like to go in through the hinge. Some people like to go in through the neck, which is the frilly end. You insert the knife into the hinge, the ambo and then you twist the blade which causes it to pop.

4. Then you insert the knife and cut the abductor muscle to free the oyster. Once you’ve cut the adductor, the top shell will be free for you to discard, leaving the mantle to eat… Deliciously.

The “Butterfly Wings Effect” and Hurricane Recovery

In the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, it is difficult to process the loss of life and widespread destruction and suffering. Although most of us who live on the coast have been through bad storms before, the recovery process is always daunting and seems insurmountable – especially in these first few days after the storm.
An op-ed piece entitled “Changing the trajectory of tragedy after Hurricane Michael” was published in The Tallahassee Democrat on the 13th. One of the main take-aways and what I do believe we as coastal people innately have is empathy. What happened in Mexico Beach could easily have happened in Gulf Shores or in any of our neighboring communities.
The article mostly resonated with me about what we do have control over in the face of and in the wake of these monster storms that seemingly keep coming.

“But that’s not to say we have no control. Maybe not over the weather, but we control the aftermath.
What if we countered a cyclone of damage with a hurricane of heroism and restoration?
Which brings us to the “butterfly wings effect.”
This is the scientific theory that the movement of a butterfly’s wings over Africa can lead to the tiny breeze that eventually spawns a hurricane.
But it also works with human nature.
How can you bring the “butterfly effect” to this storm’s aftermath?
Maybe it’s letting someone in who is trying to make a tough left-hand turn at a powerless traffic signal.
Maybe it’s giving a little extra time, effort or money to a neighbor in need. And maybe it’s defining “neighbor” not just as someone on your street, but in your neighborhood, city or state.
Maybe it’s taking a moment to give a kind word to someone who came into work to serve you a meal, or stock your favorite store’s shelves.
Maybe it’s parlaying the silence of our electronics into a new way of life, not driven by the rancor of social media and cable TV news.”

The pain from this storm is still raw. The recovery feels overwhelming. But what each of us can do today is be a little more sensitive, a little more helpful, a little more patient, and a little more kind in our words and deeds – to everyone we encounter. And by doing so, we are helping the recovery process of neighbors who have been hit hard.

We will at LuLu’s continue to track the recovery efforts in the panhandle. It will be an enduring process that goes on long after the prime-time news has left the area. We will continue to use social media as a platform to raise awareness and get word out about how we can all help the panhandle recover. #WeAreInThisTogether

Click here to read the full piece in the Tallahassee Democrat.

Sending you all much peace and Gumbo Love, today and always. Love, LuLu

The Real True Gumbo Love

This week on Friday, October 12 we will celebrate National Gumbo Day. I could go on and on about the symbolism or the process or the seasons that live in a pot of gumbo -actually I did do that in my cookbook Gumbo Love- lol.

But today I want to talk about the power of a pot of gumbo to heal broken hearts. I have witnessed this in my own family and in others’, after a sad occasion when afterwards, everyone gathered together around a table, with broken hearts, and simply savored … each other, the precious time we have together on this earth, and last but not least, the warmth, the flavors, and the riches in what we nourish ourselves with.

It’s been rough on the hearts of many these past few weeks. So today, for anyone who’s heart needs a little pick-me-up, I encourage you … make a gumbo and celebrate this powerful pot of loving goodness and let it help you lift your spirits. This is the real an the true Gumbo Love.

What’s your family’s go – to comfort food?