Author: Emily Gautreaux

Seared Steak with Tomato Pesto and Baked Potatoes Recipe

A smoky, texture-rich, and flavorful restaurant-grade seared steak is closer than you think thanks to this outstanding recipe for Seared Steak with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto and Baked Potatoes from Food52.

Ingredients for Seared Steak Recipe

  • 2 1-1 ¼ inch-thick steaks (bone-in ribeye, T-bone, or porterhouse)
  • 2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed
  • 8 (or more) sun-dried tomatoes, oil-packed
  • 6 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed, divided
  • 8 ounces mushrooms (baby bella, oyster, or shiitake with stems removed)
  • ¼ cup of walnuts, toasted
  • 3 ½ cups of basil leaves, loosely-packed
  • 4 to 6 sprigs of rosemary
  • 4 to 6 sprigs of sage
  • 4 to 6 sprigs of thyme, tied with twine
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
  • 6tablespoons of avocado oil, divided
  • ½ to ¾ cups of olive oil
  • Chopped chives, for serving
  • Crème fraîche, for serving
  • Pink peppercorns, freshly ground
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more
  • Kosher salt

Directions for Seared Steak Recipe

  1. You’ll begin this recipe by preparing the steaks ahead of time, roughly 8 to 48 hours in advance. Arrange your 2 steaks atop a rimmed baking sheet. Pat the steaks dry with a couple paper towels to remove any excess oil. Season both sides with a few pinches of salt and freshly ground pink peppercorns. Place in the refrigerator uncovered for 8-48 hours.
  2. When you’re ready to cook, remove the steaks from the fridge and set them on the counter, letting them come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Arrange your potatoes onto a baking sheet, coat them with 2 tablespoons of the avocado oil, and season them with salt. Bake the potatoes for about 55 minutes, flipping them after 30 minutes. Continue cooking them until they are fork tender.
  3. While the potatoes bake, pulse your 3 cloves of garlic, basil, walnuts, tomatoes, 1 teaspoon of your salt, and ½ teaspoon of your black pepper in a food processor. While the motor is still running, drizzle in ½ cup of the olive oil and continue to pulse for another 30 seconds. Scrape the sides and continue to pulse until it’s blended and the mixture is coarse. Taste, and add more tomatoes, if desired. If you’d prefer the mixture to be smoother, drizzle in an additional ¼ cup of oil and continue to pulse. Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl and taste for salt.
  4. Once you flip the potatoes after 30 minutes, you’ll warm the remaining ¼ cup of avocado oil in a 12-inch nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the steaks, and weigh them down with another cast-iron skillet or cast-iron skillet weight. Cook while continuing to weigh the steaks down after you flip them, for about 4 minutes on each side, until both sides are browned. If your steaks have a fat cap, turn each steak and sear the fat side down for 1 to 2 minutes, just until the fat has rendered and is golden brown.
  5. Now it’s time to add your herb bundle, 2 tablespoons of the butter, and your remaining garlic to the steak bybasting the top. Continue to cook the steaks until your desired degree of “doneness.” Transfer the steaks to a wire rack or plate and let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.
  6. While the steaks rest, reduce the heat to medium heat, cook the mushrooms, and toss them with the herbs and garlic, for about 5 to 7 minutes, just until the mushrooms are tender and golden. Season them with salt and black pepper.
  7. Cut open the potatoes, season them with salt and black pepper, and top each with 1 tablespoon of the butter, the crème fraîche, and chives. Spoon the pesto onto the steaks and serve with the cooked mushrooms and a baked potato on the side.
  8. Enjoy!

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New Krewe Parades through Golden Meadow for Mardi Gras

After a harrowing year along the Louisiana Gulf Coast, one community banded together to raise the spirits of Golden Meadow, Louisiana, and they are accomplishing this by forming an impromptu Mardi Gras Krewe, according to HoumaToday.

The Krewe des Couyons, which is made up of residents from Golden Meadow, aimed to make up for both the 30 canceled Mardi Gras parades in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and those canceled thanks to damage sustained by Hurricane Ida.

They set out to “make things right” with a call to arms so to speak. Krewe leader Kyle Williams organized a convoy of roughly a couple dozen homemade parade floats with about 150 operating them and participating in the festivities. To say that The Krewe des Couyons floats are clearly crafted by a community that had gone a year without Mardi Gras would be an understatement.

As per the Golden Meadow Krewe des Couyons Facebook page, which invited the public to join in the festivities this year, the “newly-founded” Mardi Gras club set out early on with self-awareness. They posted that their krewe will be riding in “homemade floats, golf carts, side-by-sides, and just about anything else you can imagine.” That succinct, yet poignant description emits the exact type of positive spirit needed in South Louisiana after the past few years.

After Hurricane Ida, the Category 4 storm that swept across the Gulf Coast but first came ashore at Port Fourchon on August 29, 2021, many traditional Mardi Gras Krewes found that their floats were damaged or destroyed along with countless homes and businesses. Not only did this cause mountains of dismay for the residents and their families, but citizens of Lafourche Parish knew that they wouldn’t be able to relieve some stress with a traditional Mardi Gras celebration some six months following the storm. That’s just when Krewe Organizer Kyle Williams went to work.

Williams said, “with COVID last year and now Ida this year, canceling again is not an option. Our community needs a pick-me-up to get their minds off of Ida damage. We need to take steps toward getting back to normal. We’re making our own floats. We’re riding in the backs of trucks, and we’re just making do with what we got.”

On Fat Tuesday, the day of Mardi Gras, The Krewe des Couyons floats will make their way down La. 1 at noon in float types ranging from golf carts to tractors. They will pass through Golden Meadow on a route that would traditionally be traveled by the Krewes of Neptune and Nereid in a normal year.

This year, however, several parades were canceled across Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes due to sustained damages from Hurricane Ida. Parades that would traditionally run in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes but had to cancel were Athena, Des Petite Lions, Nereids, and Neptune in Golden Meadow; Des T. Cajuns and  Bon Temps in Larose; and Tee Caillou in Chauvin.

A Spokeswoman for La Krewe du Bon Temps in Larose, Corine Berthelot, remarked on both the sadness at having to cancel parade-going this Festival season and the hope for parades to return in 2023. She told HoumaToday, “this year, there’s so much devastation here that there’s no way that anybody’s going to be able to ride. We’re just going to pray and keep our fingers crossed that the following year we can ride.”

What came as a result of the new Golden Meadow Krewe’s immaculate planning and a bruised community banding together will be a parade maybe not quite as grand and large-scale as it has been in previous years, but one that will perhaps be more meaningful and symbolic than those that came before it.

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Uncrowded Southern Mountain Destinations

As winter’s coldest days begin to be behind us, more and more travelers are looking towards the solitary peace that can be found in nature’s most majestic environment, the mountains. Though, if you’re looking for a mountainside retreat or escape wherein you’re not likely to run into swarths of tourists or buzzing crowds, then this list of the mountain destinations from Southern Living is sure to set you up for success.

Time to yourself is a commodity that cannot be taken for granted in our fast-paced, technology-driven world. That’s why surrounding yourself in the Southern United States’ mountain towns that have an immense amount of small-town charm, southern hospitality, and ample supply of fresh mountain air is the perfect way to spend your time away from home this year.

As a reminder, no matter where you’re traveling to in these uncertain times, it’s always a responsible move and a good idea to check local travel advisories, city ordinances, and state mandates that may have been implemented due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Travel safely and rest assured that you’ve done your due diligence by referring to CDC travel guidelines.

Galax, Virginia

Located at the foothills of the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains is the small town of Galax, Virginia, this mountain destination is a location that’s incredibly rich in history, tradition, opportunities for recreation, and unforgettable natural beauty. Once you find yourself in this town that has its southern roots so deeply buried in country music history, you’ll find yourself wanting to spend more and more time outdoors. After a day of shopping in Galax’s quiet downtown district, consider embarking on a tubing expedition down New River, a hike along the New River Trail, or a visit to the must-see waterfalls like Foster Falls and Chestnut Creek Falls. Other outdoor pit stops that you simply shouldn’t miss out on are found along the Blue Ridge Parkway, since (after all) the town of Galax is known as the scenic gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Along the Parkway is Mabry Mill, a water mill run by the National Park Service and complete with its own crafting center, a handful of self-guided trails, and restaurant, as well as Grayson Highlands State Park, the state park located adjacent to Virginia’s two highest mountains, Mount Rogers and Whitetop Mountain.

Jasper, Arkansas

Located along the Little Buffalo River in Northwestern Arkansas is the celebrated city of Jasper, Arkansas.  Consistently associated with words like “quaint” and “scenic,” the town of Jasper is surrounded by the beauty generated by America’s first national river, the Buffalo National River, and where it begins to flow. Offering ample outdoor activities such as canoeing, fishing, hiking, caving, rock climbing, hunting, horseback riding, and mountain biking, Jasper’s setting of the Ozark Mountains makes it the ideal outdoor adventurer’s paradise. Located only about 60 miles southeast of Eureka Springs, Jasper offers its visitors the most bountiful expanse imaginable in the 1.2 million-acre Ozark National Forest and the Buffalo River Corridor, making Jasper the Elk Capital of Arkansas. Because these majestic animals have a proclivity of roaming Erbie, Ozark, Pruitt, Newton County, Boxley Valley, and Steel Creek in herds of 450 elk, you would benefit from stopping into the ​​Hilary Jones Wildlife Museum & Elk Information Center or Ponca Nature Center to learn more about these creatures.

Other key mountain destinations locations, indicated by the full article as being the best mountain towns that are “under the radar” are Morganton, North Carolina; Mentone, Alabama; Frostburg, Maryland;  Dillard, Georgia; Alpine, Texas; Arcadia, Missouri; and Mountain Home, Arkansas.

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2022 Crawfish Season Gears Up

Despite the annual challenges that Louisianians face, you can always expect them to remain loyal to the best season of all, crawfish season; and according to this business article from The Advocate, 2022 is looking to be no different in terms of excitement.

It might be accurate to say that Louisiana’s pride has been bruised over the past two years given the unexpectedly exhausting challenges that the pandemic and numerous devastating hurricanes have brought with them. But despite these challenges, Advocate staff writers report that restaurateurs, retailers, farmers, and consumers are as enthusiastic as ever to dive head-first into the 2022 crawfish season as a means to embrace tradition.

Citizens of the gulf coast can attest that a crawfish boil is a singular event that has the ability to bring many different people together towards a common goal, to enjoy a communal meal that is more of an activity than a solitary experience. All throughout the winter, as Louisianians begin to look forward to temperatures rising and venturing outside once again without the threat of wind chill, they begin to anticipate that late winter and early spring emergence of crawfish season more and more.

The enthusiasm this year is palpable, as November and December 2021 saw temperatures that were warmer than expected, which kept local crawfish active. Because the water temperatures in some ponds had reached 75 degrees, the crawfish were able to stay active longer than they had in previous years. This led to the crawfish spending the extra time feeding, gathering, and growing, which has only resulted in heightened catches in early January.

Mark Shirley, an aquaculture agent for the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and Louisiana Sea Grantsaid of that optimal, extended period for crawfish activity, “when the water temperature is jumping between 60 and 70 degrees, that’s optimum for crawfish growth.”

Agricultural experts and industry professionals envision a bountiful crawfish harvest this year despite the prolonged January cold snap that has placed a dent in crawfish production. Laney King, a co-founder of The Crawfish App, software that tracks the prices of the southern delicacy statewide, said that the farmers and vendors she’s spoken to remain optimistic about crawfish production in 2022 despite the frigid January temperatures.

King said, “they can already see the growth that the crawfish have had, even if they’re kind of hiding out a little bit in this cold weather right now.” This statewide resilience is sure to be mirrored by the Louisiana consumer come the peak months of the season in March, April, and May.

As a crawfish specialist, Mark Shirley reported to The Advocate that crawfish supply should remain strong this season, and he’s already seen the production season begin to take shape as well. The sheer amount of land that has been devoted to crawfish production across the state has been measured at about 250,000 acres, and that number is still rising. It’s expected that nearly 150 million pounds of crawfish will be produced in these acres of crawfish ponds across Louisiana this season.

Shirley noted that there are market concerns to be aware of going into the season such as the possibility of a labor shortage when it comes to local crawfish processing plants struggling to find enough workers to assist with the peeling and packaging of crawfish for tail distribution.

However, Shirley advised that Louisiana consumers should plan to start their crawfish boils sooner rather than later in the season so that local farmers can reap the economic benefits and provide for a healthier season throughout the spring. He said, “don’t wait to eat crawfish until April or May. Don’t wait until Easter. Don’t wait until Mardi Gras. Start eating crawfish now. They’re available,” and as anyone who’s attended an early-season crawfish boil can tell you, many Louisianians don’t need to be told to jump on crawfish season early.

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Louisiana in Position to Provide Free Community College

Starting on July 1, 2022, Louisiana adults enrolling in high-demand career programs at community colleges may have their tuition paid for, according to this article from the Daily Advertiser.  Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ budget proposal for the 2023 fiscal year that begins July 1st was presented to the Joint Legislative Branch Committee in late January. While Louisiana lawmakers have been discussing and debating how exactly they should spend over $2 billion in surpluses and increased future revenue, one of Edwards’ proposed budget increases is poised to survive the debating: The M.J. Foster Promise Program.

Named after the late former Gov. Mike Foster, who is colloquially known as the father of Louisiana’s community college system, the M.J. Foster Promise Program aims to serve as a unique, valuable resource to Louisiana citizens 21 and older who are enrolled in community college programs that support one of five growing industry sectors in the state. Applicants could receive their community college paid for via a grant if their enrolled program supports a career in construction, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing, and transportation and logistics.

Monty Sullivan, President of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, described the M.J. Foster Promise Program as “TOPS for grown folks,” but unlike the immensely popular university tuition scholarship programthat’s funded by the state with more than $300,000 annually, there are no academic requirements for applicants wanting to secure their community college grants.

Sullivan went on to explain that the maximum $6,400 award will cover all of the eligible training and degree programsfor those high-demand career sectors “without having to come out of their pocket.” He went on to refer to the program as a transformational opportunity poised to benefit 1.1 million Louisiana adults who don’t have training beyond high school.

Under the grant, the types of eligible training that can be covered for approved applicants can range from a two-year associate nursing degree to a 10-week commercial driving course. Sullivan, who plans to begin marketing the program and how to access it this spring, said: “This will not only transform the lives of these adults and their families but the communities in which they live. Imagine having more nurses during a pandemic and having a workforce to attract new business and industry.”

The idea for the M.J. Foster Promise Program, now Act 457, started as Republican Senate President Page Cortez’s Senate Bill 148, and while the bill was passed last year, it still must be funded in order to officially start on July 1. Republican Senate President Page Cortez said of the program, “the Legislature has been very supportive of this new program for those who have been caught in an education and career gap, and I’m confident my colleagues will continue to support it when it comes to funding the program,” Cortez told the USA Today Network, “The MJ Foster Promise Program is the first of its kind in our state’s history and will provide opportunity and access to jobs for thousands of Louisianans. Employers across the state are seeking skilled workers who often lack the resources they need for training.”

In addition to the proposal for $10.5 million in free community college tuition, Governor Edwards’ budget proposal also announced: a $1,500 pay increase for K-12 teachers and $750 raises for school support staff at a cost of $148.4 million; a $31.7 million pay raise for higher education faculty, $97.2 million in other higher education funding increases such as Go Grants and Title IX, and $43 million to expand early childhood education in the state.

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Best Game-Day Chicken Wing Recipes

As more and more sports fans find themselves in the throws of Super Bowl season, the conversation continually turns to what recipes should be “on the table” for the big game. So, since a platter of chicken wings seems to always be welcome around the television, this list of “Chicken Wing Recipes for Game Day (or Any Day)” from the editors of Epicurious, is just what you need to prepare the ultimate game-day snack.

It should be noted that the following is just an excerpt of the full list of 31 recipes for wings of all types, but the recipes highlighted below promise to underline the essential flavors of well-prepared chicken wings, ranging from smoky and sweet to spicy and tangy.

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings

If you love the taste of crispy wings but hate the production, dirty dishes, and splashing oils that come along with frying them, then this recipe for baked wings is perfect for you. These delicious wings that can be dressed with buffalo sauce or a ginger-soy glaze stand to prove that wings can yield a crispy skin by being baked in the oven. This recipe proves that you can forget the mess and constant maintenance that comes with frying by baking your wings in a 400°F oven atop wire racks placed on baking sheets for 45-50 minutes.

Sesame Chicken Drumettes

While these baked, glossy drumettes are the perfect dish for game day, this recipe is too good to keep locked away until playoff season each year. These drumettes, which get their immense flavor profile from marinating overnight in the refrigerator, make for a great year-round appetizer or dinner entree if they’re served alongside steamed rice and broccoli. This is also because of the flavor-rich glaze that’s made with minced, peeled fresh ginger, soy sauce, cooking sherry, honey, and toasted sesame oil. Try out this delicious one-pot recipe and enjoy the other-worldly flavors.

3-Ingredient Garlic-Herb Grilled Chicken Wing Recipe

Sometimes you have days and weeks to prepare the pre-game appetizer, but for those times in which you’re behind and in need of a marinade that is easy to whip up in a hurry, then these herb-filled grilled chicken wings are the perfect solution to any time-sensitive problem. Though suspiciously simple when it comes to ingredients, this herb-rich recipe is anything but simplistic when it comes to a delicious texture and flavor of garlic that just can’t be beaten. Grilled over medium heat, these wings that can be marinated overnight for maximum flavor are benefited by garlic partnering with the herbal trinity of oregano, rosemary, and thyme to provide a blackened exterior that’s sure to make your mouth water.

3-Ingredient Gochujang Grilled Chicken Wings with Scallion

While this specific chicken wing recipe isn’t quite as crispy as traditional Korean fried chicken, it’s benefited by the inclusion of the uniquely sweet and savory flavor of gochujang, the red chili paste condiment that is consistently popular in Korean cooking. This dish makes great use of a simple recipe that has you toss your wings in the sweet and softly spicy flavor of gochujang along with sliced scallion for a flavorful final product that’s as pleasant to look at as it is to taste.

Boneless Buffalo Chicken “Wings”

Sometimes the best dishes are in disguise, and that’s certainly the case for these delicious boneless buffalo chicken “wings” that are really dressed up chicken breast strips. These strips are fried and sauced pieces of chicken breast with all of the spicy flavor associated with traditional buffalo wings, but they’re without the hassle that comes along with bones. Pair these delicious strips with some tangy blue cheese dip, celery sticks, and baby carrots, and you might find yourself opting for this meal again instead of bone-in wings.

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