Recipes inspired by The Princess and the Frog #FoodnFlix

This month I invited the Food 'n Flix club bloggers to join me in the kitchen with the animated Disney flick, The Princess and the Frog. Since it's October, I thought choose something with a little bit of dark magic and a whole lot of good food, in hopes that it would inspire some creative fun in the kitchen!

Our gathering was small but sweet this month with just six offerings...each pulled and influenced by different parts of this classic tale, retold. I hope you'll browse the photos below, and click through to the individual blogs to check out the recipes and the reasoning behind them!

Crawfish Calas w/ Green Garlic Mayonnaise | Interview with the Vampire

Welcome to another edition of the All Vampire Book and a Movie Challenge! Our pick for June was Interview with the Vampire the book by Anne Rice and movie adaption, its screenplay also written by Anne Rice. Before this month, I only remember watching the movie in its entirety once, probably 20-ish years ago, around when it was released. Over the years I've caught bits and pieces on tv every once in a while, but I knew it would be like seeing it for the first time when I sat down to watch it again. This was my first time reading the book (or any of Anne Rice's books, actually).

The Book (1976):

Divided into 4 parts, this story begins in modern day. Louis, a 200-year old vampire is about to tell his story to a reporter (referred to as "the boy" throughout the book). His vampire life began in 1791 in his hometown of New Orleans. A plantation owner who cares for his mother, sister, and younger brother, he becomes distraught after the death of that brother who he "believed to be a living saint". Feeling guilty over his death, he's lost the will to thrive, and his choices began to show that. He "lived like a man who wanted to die but had no courage to do it himself", passing out in cabarets, walking dark streets and alleys alone and wishing to be murdered until one night he was attacked by a vampire named Lestat.

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo inspired by That Would Be Me

I participated in the That Would Be Me album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided an album to review but all opinions are my own.

It's been a while since I've brought you some music-inspired eats, so I'm pretty excited to share this Harry Connick Jr. inspired gumbo with you today! Recently I was offered the chance to preview Harry's new album That Would Be Me (which is officially released tomorrow!). I'm a longtime fan of HCJ...I mean—come on! He's a singer, musician, actor, performer, composer, arranger, songwriter, bandleader, judge...and he's just as easy on the eyes as he is the ears.

The overall vibe of this album is mellow and easy to listen to, but I love that there are bits of jazz, soul, funk, and gospel interwoven throughout. I probably listened to the entire album 10 to 15 times over the last 5 or 6 days. At first it was with focus on the lyrics and song titles, but after a while it became the perfect backdrop to cooking, cleaning, writing, and doing the dishes. Like I said, it's mellow, but I also found myself shakin' my bum and bopping my head as I worked.

The top three songs for me on this album are listed below, with the reasons I like them.

     1. (I Do) Like We Do - classic head-bopping, body-moving "you + me" song (aka a love song in a perfectly wonderful sappy-yet-not-sappy fashion). Loving that's it's jazzy with some horns.

     2. (I Like It When You) Smile - upbeat, happy, jazzy, hand clapping, and a little HCJ scat-rap! It just makes you want to move.

     3. Right Where It Hurts - a little more N'awlins jazz feel than anything else on the album, again with horns and some gospel-style vocals and hand clapping.

If I had to pick a number 4, it would be Where Prisoners Drown - it feels a bit like "revival" music.

And while it didn't make my top 4, I totally found myself singing Songwriter as I brushed my teeth last night. And as I ran some errands in the car earlier today. It's got an extremely catchy rhyming chorus (I wanna be a song writer, I wanna be a wrong righter, I wanna take an all-nighter...), so it was basically inevitable.

Tracks:

1. (I Like It When You) Smile

2. (I Do) Like We Do

3. Tryin’ To Matter

4. Songwriter

5. Do You Really Need Her

6. You Don’t Need A Man

7. You Have No Idea

8. Where Prisoners Drown

9. (I Think I) Love You A Little Bit

10. Every Time I Fall In Love

11. Right Where It Hurts

Can't get enough Harry? 

Visit the official Harry Connick Jr website or find him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay up to date.

Order That Would Be Me now from iTunes or Amazon!

Food and Drink to enhance your listening experience - since Harry Connick Jr. exudes N'awlins flair, I knew my recommendations would have to be classic:

• New Orleans Gin Fizz
• Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo (recipe below)
• Red Beans and Rice (or try these Slow Cooker Louisiana-Style Red Beans and Rice)
• Beignets

There wasn't much talk of food or drink in the songs, but he does mention beer once and wine twice, so in honor of the wine mentions, I added a little wino twist to an otherwise classic gumbo...and it worked nicely. Lingering over a bowl of this with a New Orleans Gin Fizz in your hand and this album coming from the speakers is a delicious way to spend an hour or so.

Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp Gumbo

This rich Louisiana-style stew is loaded with chicken, sausage, and shrimp served over rice.

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 90 - 120 minutes

Keywords: simmer entree soup/stew chicken sausage shrimp American

Ingredients (3 quarts)

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalks, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups white wine (or more chicken stock)
• 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red chile flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 pounds chicken breast, chopped into 1" chunks
• 1 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4 inch-thick slices
• 1 pound shrimp, shelled, tailed, and deveined
• hot sauce, to taste
• cooked white rice, to serve

Instructions

Melt butter in a 6-quart pot over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour, one-third at a time, until each third is incorporated into the butter. Continue to cook the roux, stirring often, until it has turned a deep, rich brown, 45 to 60 minutes.

Add bell peppers, onions, celery, and garlic and stir constantly for 1 minutes. Slowly pour in the stock and wine, stirring as you go to prevent lumps. Add everything else to the pot except the shrimp hot sauce, and rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and allow to cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the shrimp and simmer until it just turns pink, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, taste and adjust seasoning with hot sauce or more salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over hot rice.

-inspired by and adapted from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Gumbo Ya-Ya (as served in Mr. B's Bistro in the French Quarter) via New Orleans Official Guide 

Buttermilk Cardamom Beignets inspired by Chef

Sometimes our Food 'n Flix picks aren't what most people would think of as a typical "foodie movie". They take us out of our comfort zone and make us put on our kitchen thinking cap. That is not the case this month. If you've seen Chef, you know it's a flick that keeps you hungry and induces different cravings from start to finish! It's about as much foodie flick as they get. You'd think this would make heading into the kitchen and cooking up something from it easier. I actually think it makes it harder. I could not decide what I wanted to make. But you know, I figured something out.

From the opening scene, Chef is a sensual experience. The sound of a knife slicing through vegetables, the sizzle of meat hitting a hot pan, the sheer focus on getting prep done for tonight's meal, the excitement of a whole pig being brought into the kitchen—it's scenes like these that make me miss working in a restaurant kitchen. But that's only the first few minutes.

The story of a successful restaurant chef who finds himself going in a direction he never imagined, both professionally and personally, Chef is a feast for the the senses. This isn't a review (though I obviously enjoyed the movie), so I don't really want to go into the story. You can find synopses of the movie all over the web if you look, I'm just here to talk about the food today.