Spring Salmon Recipe with Tomato Sauce

With spring in full bloom and summer right around the corner, there’s never been a better time of year for a decadent salmon-based meal. Thankfully with this easy-to-make recipe from the Gimme Some Oven food blog for Salmon Set in Burst Tomato Sauce, you’ll be enjoying a wonderful garlic-infused tomato basil cream sauce with your fresh salmon in no time at all!

Ingredients:

  • 4 fresh salmon fillets
  • 2 pounds of either cherry or grape tomatoes
  • ½ cup of roughly-torn fresh basil leaves, packed
  • 4 cloves of garlic, either pressed or finely minced
  • 1 ounce of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese, reserving an additional amount for sprinkling
  • ⅓ to ½ cup of heavy cream
  • ⅓ cup of olive oil, divided
  • ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3 tablespoons of fine sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons of freshly-cracked black pepper

Directions:

  1. You’ll start this recipe by seasoning your four salmon fillets generously with fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper. Nearby, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Once you spread the oil around the inner surface of the skillet, you’ll place the salmon onto the skillet face-down. Sear the salmon, undisturbed for about 2-3 minutes or until the salmon is golden. Then, flip the salmon over and cook the reverse side for 2 additional minutes until it’s nearly cooked through. Once it is, transfer the salmon to a clean plate and set it aside.
  2. With the skillet emptied, you’ll go ahead and add in your remaining olive oil and reduce the burner’s heat from medium-high to simply medium. Add the tomatoes, minced garlic cloves, and crushed red pepper flakes to the pan and toss all the ingredients gently until everything’s gently coated in olive oil. Cook the contents of the pan for about 10-15 minutes while stirring occasionally just until all of the tomatoes have burst and their juices have reduced to a fairly thick sauce.
  3. At this point, you can use a spoon to gently smash some of the tomatoes to release more of their juices after a few minutes of cooking, but you can retain the texture and chunkiness of the cause by leaving several of the tomatoes still intact if you’d like.
  4. With the tomatoes properly burst and the salmon already seared, you’re well on your way to the finished sauce. The next step is for you to gently stir in your heavy cream, basil leaves, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt, and a few twists of the freshly-cracked black pepper into the sauce until it’s all combined.
  5. Nestle your salmon fillets into the sauce and continue cooking it all for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the salmon is cooked through to your particular liking. Taste and season the sauce with extra salt, pepper, and/or crushed red pepper flakes as needed.
  6. When serving and plating your fillets and sauce, garnish your fillets with extra basil and Parmesan cheese.Consider serving this dish with crusty bread, pasta, or rice. Additionally, the texture of the salmon pairs really nicely with a citrus-based vegetable medley or light side salad, so consider also tossing some arugula leaveswith lemon juice, olive oil, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!

Note:

If you’re looking for a little extra flavor or texture with this dish, you’re in luck. The above recipe is highly customizable and flexible, so feel free to add some spinach in the final minutes of cooking for a richer, more colorful presentation. Additionally, substituting your favorite Italian herbs in place of the basil or even putting in burrata in place of the heavy cream are both excellent ways to make this recipe your very own. Let your taste buds and flavor-seeking instincts guide your hand, and enjoy what you discover.

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Chefs on Boats Program Brings together Fisherman and New Orleans Restaurateurs

For the past year, Louisiana seafood experts have had engaging conversations about the Louisiana coastline aboard fishing boats. These individuals who have an active stake in the sustainability of the Louisiana coast weren’t coastal scientists or researchers, but Instead, according to this article from Nola.com, they were chefs from famed New Orleans seafood restaurants meeting with the fishermen who stock their very kitchens. The program that regularly brings together Louisiana restaurant professionals with the fishermen who harvest their seafood is a New Orleans-based program called Chefs on Boats.

The planned meeting between fishermen and restaurateurs isn’t simply for the novelty of it, but it’s an opportunity and an actively growing effort to connect the two coast-concerned parties with the aim of building a collectively better understanding and making stronger allies as the Louisiana coast grapples with historical change.

Centered around a well-intentioned and simple goal to quite literally “get people on boats to see firsthand the work of fishermen and the challenges facing Louisiana’s coastal environment from land loss and climate change,” the Chefs on Boats project is aimed at bringing restaurant people of all types, such as line cooks, managers, bartenders, chefs, and owners straight to the source so that they can bring that experience and knowledge back with them to their French Quarter kitchens.

The Chefs on Boats project is representative of an evolution of a nonprofit effort that formed quickly in 2020 calledChef’s Brigade. The Chef’s Brigade nonprofit is a “united coalition of independent restaurants, purveyors, and chefs working together under a culinary brigade system to feed healthy and amazing food to the citizens, front line responders and healthcare workers of New Orleans on a daily basis.” Initially forming when the pandemic closed restaurants and imperiled hospitality businesses, the grassroots Chef’s Brigade group began to pay otherwise idled restaurants to cook for the pandemic’s essential workers such as first responders and health care workers.

By its conclusion, the program had supplied approximately 3.7 million meals to those in need, and Troy Gilbert, the co-founder of Chef’s Brigade had built a reliable network across the restaurant industry, causing him to think about bringing many seafood professionals together. Gilbert characterized this transition by saying, “we had 90 restaurants in the program that I was talking to once a week, and it blew my mind to discover the disconnect they had from the seafood industry. In New Orleans, we consider ourselves a maritime people, but we built all these barriers to the water around us and there’s a disconnect, including with chefs; it just made sense for us to do this.”

Dana Honn, the founder of the New Orleans-based tropical restaurant and bar Carmo, recently participated in an oyster harvesting outline along with Lindsay Allday and Jeff Spoo, both oyster sommeliers over at Sidecar Patio and Oyster Bar. Honn reflected on the experience by stating that the restaurant people who make their living through the seafood heritage of Louisiana essentially have a nonexistent relationship with the “people who make it tick.” Honn said, “it’s shocking how little information is provided to people in the culinary field and how much they want to learn. There’s a gap, and this (program) is a step in the right direction.”

Since beginning the project only last year, over a dozen trips have taken place, meaning approximately 60 restaurant professionals have been taken out to the source of their livelihood. Although the general design of Chefs on Boats is small in scale with each outing limited to only a half dozen occupants of partnered captain Richie Blink’s skiffs, the close quarters allow more one-on-one time between the restaurant workers and fishermen. Blink appropriately emphasized the importance of these outings by saying, “these waters, the seafood industry, the fishing families, it’s part of Louisiana culture that makes us who we are. It looks like it’s going away but there’s still that can-do spirit, and I think that will get us through these challenges.”

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Dinner of the Century is Back at Chef John Folse Culinary Institute

For the first time in over two years, the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University is inviting members of the community to be a part of their annual “Dinner of the Century” fundraiser, according to this news release from the school.

Director of the Culinary Institute, Chef John Kozar, commented on the return of the traditional fundraiser by saying, “this is the first Dinner of the Century since the pandemic began over two years ago. We are excited to be able to bring this unique culinary experience back to our community.” The theme for this year’s dinner is named “A Joyful Magnificence Celebrating Catherine de Medici.”

This year’s menu is inspired by the Queen of France from 1547-1559, Catherine de Medici, who has influenced much of the way we eat and even think about food today. Having been born in Italy, Catherine de Medici introduced many ingredients, recipes, and culinary culture that she had grown up with to the French, making the rest history. Chef John Kozar commented on the cuisine set to be served by saying, “this historic menu is a mix of modern and antique dishes that include some of Catherine de Medici’s favorite treats, as well as some iconic items from Pascal’s Manale, all of which is created by our student chefs and the Chef John Folse team.”

The last planned “Dinner of the Century” fundraiser event was to be held in April 2020, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; luckily, this 2022 event aims to pick up the torch and carry the tradition onward. In addition to the culinary celebration of various dishes, the evening will be used as an opportunity to induct the DeFelice Family of Pascal’s Manale Restaurant into the Lafcadio Hearn Hall of honor, an honorary event that was originally slated for the since-canceled 2020 fundraising dinner.

The Lafcadio Hearn Award is one that is bestowed upon culinary professionals who have had a positive, long-term influence on the cuisine and greater culture of Louisiana and throughout the nation. The honor is named after Lafcadio Hearn, an influential figure who penned a series of books and articles introducing New Orleans to the world while helping to document Creole cuisine for future generations. Having passed away in 1904, Hearn’s legacy lives on in how the public interprets Creole cuisine today as well as in the inducting members into the Lafcadio Hearn Hall of Honor. The Defelice Family will join other influential chefs and restaurants in the Hall of honor. This includes Ella Brennan, Frank Brigtsen, Leah Chase, Drago Cvitanovich, Ruth Fertel, and T.J. Moran, among many others.

It’s appropriate that the DeFelice Family of Pascal’s Manale Restaurant fame be inducted into the Hall of Honor, because not only has Pascal’s Manale Restaurant been an influential part of New Orleans cuisine, but since the very beginning, the restaurant has been a family affair. First opened by Frank Manale in 1913, the restaurant was taken over by Manale’s nephew Pascal Radosta in 1937, who took full ownership of the establishment and later added his name to create the infamous culinary institute that we now know today.

The restaurant eventually gained international attention after Pascal’s youngest brother, Jake, created one of the most iconic New Orleans dishes in the 1950s: barbecue shrimp. Later,  Pascal’s youngest daughter, Virginia DeFelice, and her family purchased the restaurant in 1988. The family continued to operate the restaurant until November 2019.

The Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University’s “A Joyful Magnificence Celebrating Catherine De Medici” also honoring The DeFelice Family of Pascal’s Manale Restaurant will be held on Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at Nicholl’s Cotillion Ballroom in the Bollinger Student Union. A cocktail reception will be held at six o’clock with dinner service starting at seven o’clock. Information to reserve seats and sponsorships can be found here, with all proceeds going toward the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute.

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International Delegates Visit UL Lafayette for Research and Development Opportunities

When the Acadiana area presented itself to international business representatives as a part of the Americas Competitiveness Exchange, research and development from various disciplines at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette was front and center, according to this news release from the school.

Senior officials across the Western Hemisphere and other nations toured Louisiana between March 26- April 1 as the state hosted the 14th Americas Competitiveness Exchange (ACE), an event that brings together over 60 global leaders who represent 21 countries and multiple international organizations in order to share best practices for economic development and to explore partnership opportunities.

According to Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, UL Lafayette’s vice president for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development, this visit of over 75 economic development, industry, and political leaders to the ULL campus was a vital part of the Americas Competitiveness Exchange. The visit served as an opportunity for the ACE Program to forge business relationships and explore trade investment opportunities in Louisiana.

Dr. Kolluru said of the visit, “delegates will see firsthand and hear from our faculty about the high-quality public impact research that is conducted at our Carnegie Research 1 University. Being able to engage with this group is a wonderful opportunity to grow research partnerships within the Western Hemisphere. The University prides itself in conducting research that is both locally relevant and globally prominent.” Dr. Koluru noted that this historic visit would ideally signify the start of “conversations between potential partners, including partners who might invest in Louisiana or who might partner with UL in their native countries. At least one deal involving informatics seemed possible.”

At the ACE delegates’ visit to the UL Lafayette’s Student Union Ballroom, university faculty presented research from various disciplines campus-wide, with each related to the topics of climate change; computing and security; energy and sustainability; human, community, and economic development; and life sciences.

When Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced the historic visit to the school in his March press release, he called the opportunity of hosting the Americas Competitiveness Exchange both “an extraordinary honor and a unique opportunity for Louisiana business owners, entrepreneurs, innovators, and policymakers.”

Governor Edwards attributed the ACE Coordinating Committee’s decision to tour Louisiana for its 14th visit to “Louisiana’s diverse culture and economy command the attention of decision-makers from around the world seeking to learn from our example. And it raises awareness about the natural resources, infrastructure advantages, and business climate that have made Louisiana a national leader in per capita foreign direct investment for the past 10 years.”

Standing as one of the core initiatives of the Inter-American Competitiveness Network (RIAC), the ACE program is organized in partnership with the United States Economic Development Administration (EDA), a bureau within the U.S. Department of Commerce, the International Trade Administration, and the U.S. Department of State.

Across their tour of Louisiana, the ACE delegation explored over 30 sites in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the greater Acadiana region, focusing on areas of bioscience, entrepreneurship, film production, healthcare, manufacturing, and tourism. The delegation visited with EDA grantees, which included the Claiborne Corridor Cultural Innovation District, GNO, Inc, New Orleans BioInnovation Center, The Water Institute, and the World War II Museum, as well as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

The visit to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette offered delegates an opportunity to take an inside look at research and various higher education workforce partnerships that support economic development. Additionally, when ACE delegates visited the area, they toured LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge in order to see the school’s labs in which innovative research into chronic disease triggers and treatment are actively creating hope for those suffering from obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia.

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Delicious Crawfish Cream Sauce to Heighten Any Dish

Especially in the south, it’s always a great idea to have one tangy, creamy, and seafood-based dip recipe in your back pocket, and with this outstanding recipe from Cristy Irene for Crawfish Cream Sauce, you’re always supplied with a delicious addition to any dish.

The culinary beauty of this classically cajun crawfish cream sauce is that it’s made with authentically fresh or thawed crawfish tails, delicious cream, melted butter, and the cajun combination of sautéed onion, garlic, and bell pepper. The key to knocking this recipe out of the park is to have all of your cooking utensils and ingredients on hard, in place, or“mise-en-place,” throughout the process. This is true of many cajun, creole, or seafood recipes, but it’s especially important for this crawfish cream sauce, which comes to fruition in only a matter of minutes. Be diligent and proactive in your cooking processes, as you will not want to add butter to the pan if you haven’t chopped all of your ingredients yet. For the best results, have everything chopped ahead of time and “at the ready” near the stovetop you’ll be cooking on.

This sauce is perfect for many different seafood-based dishes, such as blackened or fried catfish, especially in the Lenten season. Consider making this crawfish cream sauce alongside your next Friday afternoon fish dinner. For instance, if you blackened catfish filets in a skillet ahead of time, the remnants that are left in the pan afterward will add outrageously decadent flavor to the sautéing of the vegetables. Speaking of the vegetables, when you’re busy chopping them ahead of time, you’ll want to chop or mince the onion and bell peppers in a comparatively smaller size than the crawfish. The recipe’s author suggests that they were in big chunks that, while still distinguishable, don’t detract from the crawfish themselves.

Ingredients for Crawfish Cream Sauce:

Directions for Crawfish Cream Sauce:

  1. You’ll begin this recipe by heating your pan over medium heat and melting your butter in it.
  2. After the butter melts, add in your crushed garlic cloves, chopped onion pieces, and chopped trinity of bell peppers. Sauté these ingredients until your onions are translucent and fragrant. This will take approximately four to five minutes.
  3. Next, pour your two cups of half & half into the pan, and stir the sautéed ingredients into the creme until the creme mixture has thickened.
  4. After the half and half thickens, add in your freshly squeezed lemon juice, crawfish tails, and stir everything together until it’s well combined. You’ll want to gently porn your lemon juice over the crawfish tails in order to coat the tails in the tangy flavor. By adding the lemon juice to the cream sauce, you’re adding a nice and light balance to the heaviness of the cream. This adds a flavor and perks up the overall taste of the cream.
  5. Cook the skillet’s contents for an additional 2 minutes, and then remove this skillet from the heat.
  6. Serve & enjoy your meal!

Notes:

This crawfish cream sauce recipe pairs extremely nicely with either fried or blackened fish, especially catfish, but it’s also a good addition to any meal consisting of a seafood entree and vegetable side dish, such as asparagus. If you find yourself preparing this dip on a whim, consider serving it alongside a rice, pasta, or other grain-reliant dish. Alternatively, it’s great with grits or biscuits, as the creamy flavor is complementary to many types of food.

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Nicholls Hosts Awards For Excellence

Recently, the many achievements of Nicholls State University alumni and other members of the Nicholls community were honored by the Nicholls Alumni Federation at the annual Awards for Excellence ceremony, as per the school.

Held on March 23, 2022, in the Bollinger Memorial Student Union’s Cotillion Ballroom, this year’s ceremony served as an opportunity for the Nicholls State University Alumni Federation to bestow its four Awards for Excellence to high-achieving supporters of Nicholls State University, be they graduates or not. In addition to the four winners of this year’s Awards for Excellence, the Federation honored the 2022 Hall of Fame recipients, which were made up of outstanding graduates from each of Nicholls’ colleges.

Preceded by a cocktail reception, the evening’s awards program saw the bestowing of the James Lynn Powell Award, the Harvey Peltier Award, the Corporate Mark of Honor, the Honorary Alumni Award, and several Outstanding Alumni awards to a member of each of Nicholls’ colleges.

Katherine Mabile, the director of Alumni Affairs for the Nicholls Alumni Federation, said of the evening, “we are so blessed as a university to have men and women such as these who have contributed so much to this institution and our community over the years. his university would not be here today without the passion and commitment of our remarkable alumni. It is an honor to recognize them through our awards ceremony.”

The James Lynn Powell Alumni Award is the single highest recognition given to a graduate of Nicholls State University. This year Michael J. Hebert, Jr, a native of Houma, was the recipient of this honor. Hebert is the chief of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as well as the National Jones Act Division of Enforcement (JADE). Hebert has spent over three decades in federal service, including nine years in the military, and in 2016, CBP charged the 2-time Nicholls Graduate with defining, establishing, and leading the newly-formed JADE division.

Today Hebert is responsible for the CBP’s coastwide trade enforcement strategy,, but he’s never forgotten his collegiate roots. Hebert returned to Nicholls from 2015 to 2018 to serve as an adjunct instructor of Petroleum Engineering and Safety Technology Management and criminal justice. Hebert had also contributed to the development of the criminal justice program’s curriculum.

The Harvey Peltier Award is the highest award given to a non-graduate of Nicholls. Similar to the criteria for receiving the James Lynn Powell Award, the recipient of this honor must be considered to be outstanding in their chosen field, contribute to the university and the community, and cannot be a Nicholls Graduate. This year’s Harvey Peltier Award was given to Mr. and Mrs. Salvador M. Brocato, III, two Nicholls supporters whose support began in 2017 when their son, Dominic Brocato, joined the Nicholls Football team.

Members of both the Nicholls Foundation and the Huddle Up Club, the Brocatos’ support for the university is felt across the campus. Not only were they the first to donate to 2020’s Boucvalt Family Athletic Complex Naming Campaign but they have also made remarkable contributions to the Nicholls Police, the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, and the maritime management program, among many others.

The Corporate Mark of Honor is an award that’s typically awarded to an organization that has proven to be a strong supporter of Nicholls and its mission. This year, Nicholls State University President Dr. Jay Clune awarded the Corporate Mark of Honor to the Giardina Family Foundation, which has given to the Dyslexia Center, Nicholls Foundation, and other organizations across their years of service.

The Honorary Alumni Award is an honor bestowed to a non-graduate of the university who has shown a special interest in the school and who has given their time to Nicholls over the years. This year, Maria B. Cruse, MD., received the Honorary Alumni Award, as she has been highly involved with the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. Dr. Cruse was named an honorary culinary faculty member in 2011 and had a key role in the creation of the Culinary Guild.

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