Evelyn's Blog - Taste of Gourmet

B.B. King in Indianola August 22nd......

 

The Annual BB King Homecoming Festival, traditionally the first weekend in June, has been rescheduled for Wednesday, August 22^nd. Lots more about that later....you can go to www.bbkingmuseum.org for quick easy updates on what is happening the week B.B. will be in Indianola. 

I've just gotten an email from Trish Berry who owns the Blue Biscuit in Indianola.  There will be Blues in Indianola that weekend though!  The BLUE BISCUIT, located across the street from the Museum, is hosting a first....Blue Biscuit Festival on the Saturday, June 2^nd. It is free & open to all....outside the Blue Biscuit!

Join Trish Berry to hear some of our best local Musicians, enjoy Jimbo’s Crawfish, notoriously good BLUE BISCUIT BBQ, Burgers, Beer outside from 11 til Dark. Then move inside the Biscuit for more good food & music in the cool, cool air of the Biscuit. Wear your drinking hats & dancing shoes.

Musicians, bring your instruments and join the jam.  It'll be a fun day of music and I hope you'll plan to visit The Crown as well when you are in town!  You COULD have lunch at The Crown, shop downtown, take off on the "Walking Tour" of Indianola and end up at the Museum for a tour and spend the rest of the day at the Biscuit!  You don't want to miss anything in Indianola!

Our Black Butter Green Beans...

We've had so many people ask about our Green Beans.....I think it is time to actually write down the recipe for the butter we use on the beans.  Any time I am asked at The Crown...I always take time to explain the process!  But writing it is even better!  So here it is!  Oh, we use canned Blue Lake Green Beans at The Crown.

The Black Butter

1 stick of real butter - NO substitute
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 to 4 tablespoons sesame seeds (can use pecans or almonds too)

Put the butter in a heavy pan/skillet (stainless steel so you can watch the butter brown)

Melt the butter and continue to cook it over medium heat and watch it turn brown, browner, then nearly black.

When it is as dark as you want it.....put in the sesame seeds and stir for a minute or two...do NOT let the seeds burn.  Turn the stove off and immediately

THEN step back from the stove and add the vinegar at arms length....it will foam and splatter on you if you are too close.  BE SURE to take care with the splattering!

The butter is finished at that point....let it cool and keep refrigerated until you need it! 
When you are ready to serve the beans (or broccoli or poached catfish fillet or chicken breast or asparagus) warm the butter so you can stir it well.

Drain the hot beans (so the butter isn't watered down) and toss them in 1 tablespoon of the butter (for 4 servings of beans.)   The butter will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator to be used on a variety of meats and vegetables.

That's it!!!  We got this recipe from a lady running a Hotel in Dinard, France....years ago when we were still living in England.  She served the Black Butter on Skate...a flat fish that is TRULY ugly.  People talk about Catfish being ugly...they just haven't see a Skate!  She kindly shared the process with me......she called it Beurre Noir - Black Butter.  You'll find some recipes in French cookbooks for Brown Butter...usually served with almonds on fish.  The deep flavor from the deeper color of the butter just gives a great flavor! 

TRY IT ON A CATFISH FILET that you've poached or lightly baked.  For a fish fillet, drain the poached fish, place into an augratin dish and spoon the butter over the fish....it doesn't take a lot to give flavor....then just bake until fish is heated through!   Yummy!  Or just come to Indianola, Mississippi, visit the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center and enjoy the beans when you have lunch at The Crown!  Even better1

Roast some vegetables for supper....

Roasted fresh vegetables are one of the healthiest, most delicious ways to enjoy fresh vegetables.  Quick to cook....all the vitamins and goodness stays IN the vegetable....and the flavor of the carrot or potato is enhanced.  Try roasting vegetables with our Chimmi Sauce to add great garlic flavor too!

Roast one vegetable at a time....or mix them like I do at home!  My favorite combo is:
Fresh carrots - cut in 1/2 inch slices or strips
Sweet and Red Potatoes cut in slices or dice
Onions - in quarters
Zucchini or yellow squash in large chunks
Bell Peppers in quarters

Turn your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the vegetables and place in a shallow baking pan, drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil mixed with a tablespoon of Chimmi over the vegetables, toss them around to "coat".....it only takes a little oil for a lot of vegetables.  Put the pan in the hot oven.  After 10 minutes, stir the vegetables and check for doneness.  20 minutes is usually just right! 

Thinking of Mother's Day.....

"Sweets for the Sweet" - yes, I know that is an OLD, OLD saying.  But what is more true or logical for a Mother's Day Present?   Desserts from Taste of Gourmet for your Mom to make for herself....or for YOU to prepare and take to her on Mother's Day! 

Speaking as a Mother (and Grandmother) I LOVE the idea of one of my precious family walking through the door with a Mississippi Mud Cake ready to slice....or an Apple Cake topped with Toffee Crunch!  Or a bowl of homemade Chili!  So YUMMY!  No matter how good a cook you are or how long you've been cooking or how much you enjoy cooking (now THAT I really do enjoy).......there is still a tremendous joy in receiving a Gift of Food....it's a GIFT of LOVE!

We can sure take care of all the Mothers with our Taste of Gourmet Food Gifts!  Look and order on line at www.tasteofgourmet.com or call us for suggestions and to put together a box of LOVE!

 

New Orleans Beef is a WINNER....

This message was on the Comments section of our website!  I loved the praise for The Crown and our products AND that young grandchildren ALSO loved our products!  What I particularly loved was the reference to the "old pot roast with cream of mushroom soup!"  My mother made that exact same roast EVERY Sunday for years!  It was always ready when we got home from church and it was good!  She could put it on before Sunday School and forget about it! 

Tony ate Sunday lunch with us when he was in college for about a year and a half....he did request that we should NOT have that particular meal really often after we got married!  And we didn't!  But I may have to make it the Sunday after Easter..... just for old times sake!  Thanks for a great Comment and your very kind words!!

"My husband and I drove down recently to have lunch and buy Catfish and Capers. Did both..great lunch...also bought New Orleans Beef and Vidalia Onion Dressing among other things. My family loved both items. My 11 year old grandson ate three helpings of the beef for dinner Sunday. My son told me I should give up the old pot roast with cream of mushroom soup and just make this. From one mother/grandmother to another..thank-you for all of your wonderful products."

Love the kids from Tupelo....

Friday, a group of Tupelo Middle School 8th graders came to Indianola to the B.B. King Museum and ate lunch with us at The Crown!  What a wonderful group of young people!  Polite, interested, talkative....just a great bunch of kids!  It was a pleasure to have them in town and in The Crown.!

They have been studying Mississippi History and many had never been to the Delta....our flat landscape was a surprise!  They started at the Museum - it tells the entire story of the Delta from the 1927 Mississippi River Flood, the agriculture and cotton, how people lived, Civil Rights and of course the Music!!  They really liked the Bus.....it is a "bus" with a dozen or so seats with a screen in the front "windshield"  telling the story of what it was really like on the road traveling from town to town making music as B.B. was making a name for himself.  They also liked the "radio studio".....if YOU have not made the trip to Indianola to the Museum....you just have to come see it all for yourself!  www.bbkingmuseum.org
And of course we want you to come for lunch at The Crown....or just stop by to drink a cup of coffee with us!

This week in the Delta...

Enjoy all these great FREE musical events in the Mississippi Delta - This Weekend!
This doesn't even touch the live music in clubs like The Blue Biscuit, 308 Blues Club in Indianola and those in Clarksdale and Greenville......Enjoy the Delta's music, culture and the wonderful scenery and sunsets!  Stop by The Crown for pamphlets on where to go and what to see....off the beaten path!

Thursday March 29 – Leland
Blues Trail Marker Dedication AND 10^th Anniversary of Hwy. 61 Blues Museum
4:00 – Music and Refreshments 662-686-7646

Saturday March 31  - Indianola
B.B. King Museum has live music every Saturday in Lucille, the Gift Shop
12:00 to 3:00       662-887-9539

Saturday March 31 – Cleveland
Thacker Mountain Radio Show live in the Delta at Delta State’s Delta Music Institute!  This iconic show based in Oxford is Free and so much fun to watch being broadcast.  Live music and fun
3:00 at the Delta Music Institute on campus  662-846-4615

Sunday April 1 – Indianola
B.B. King Museum celebrates Mary Shepherd Day, the Queen of the Jookwho owned Club Ebony in Indianola for years!  Program includes music by Alfonso Sanders, Bill Perry and more great musicians!
3:00 at the Museum – Free 662-887-9539

The Crown Restaurant in Indianola serves lunch Tuesday - Saturday - but on Sunday....you'll have eat somewhere else!  Ya'll come see us when you are in the Delta! 

Food for Thought....Helping Others

"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." Golda Meir

We all have SOMETHING that we KNOW we are good at....or love doing....or just feel comfortable doing!  Look inside yourself today and see what the "something" is that you KNOW you could do for someone else TODAY!  It doesn't have to be an Olympic feat or take 24 hours to accomplish or cost a single penny!  It could be a smile or thoughtul words that someone needs desperately to see or hear today!

TODAY  - follow the Golden Rule........"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!"

Food for Thought....Helping Others

"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." Golda Meir

We all have SOMETHING that we KNOW we are good at....or love doing....or just feel comfortable doing!  Look inside yourself today and see what the "something" is that you KNOW you could do for someone else TODAY!  It doesn't have to be an Olympic feat or take 24 hours to accomplish or cost a single penny!  It could be a smile or thoughtul words that someone needs desperately to see or hear today!

TODAY  - follow the Golden Rule........"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!"

Sauces to create yourself....

I love reading menus (and eating of course)....the sauces for the meat and fish dishes sound so exotic and exciting....some with French names and some just unusual combinations of ingredients!  (I can actually gain weight just READING and VISUALIZING wonderful food.) 

So I thought I'd give you some of MY creative sauce ideas - using my Taste of Gourmet products of course!  Then you give me YOURS!  We use these ideas at The Crown!

Chipotle Mayonnaise - for sandwiches or drizzled over grilled fish, chicken or beef.  2 Tablespoons Chipotle Sauce mixed with 3 Tbsp. mayonnaise (use low-fat if you choose...the flavor is in the Chipotle)

Chimmi Mayonnaise - wonderful on sandwiches, burgers, or on top of a steak! 3 Tbsp. mayo to 1 teaspoon (or more to taste) of Chimmi!

Garlic Herb Dip - made with butter and cream cheese - it becomes a French Boursin cheese and is fabulous on top of a steak or grilled chicken breast - and just to eat with crackers!!!!

Cranberry-Chipotle - mix 1 teapoon Chipotle with 2 Tablespoons Cranberry Chutney for a great dipping sauce or to dollop on top of a grilled pork chop!  It's enough for two chops!

Chimmi Butter - mix 1 stick softened butter with 1 Tablespoon Chimmi Sauce (or to taste) and use as a finishing sauce for a chicken breast, pork chop or as a spread for a roast beef sandwich!

Suddenly Fruit Salsa - equal parts of our prepared Suddenly Salsa mixed with Peach or Apricot Jam...wonderful on top of a burger or to eat with chips!