Shrimp, Duck, Turkey and Quail Egg Gumbo

I feel like I might as well list all the ingredients in that title but I wanted to make sure everything was included.

I received in the mail a sample of some fresh caught Louisiana shrimp from the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board (specifically Anna Marie Seafood Company) and wanted to make something special with it. I thought it would be best to use a recipe that showed off not only the local seafood we have, but also the local meats I'm growing on HighTail Farms. Shrimp, eggs, turkey, and duck, all caught or raised close to home.

Most of you know I'm not from the south. I feel like I came into my culinary adulthood (translates as "figured out which end of the pot to cook in") while here, but I'm always hesitant when it comes to sharing my "southern" recipes. However, since there are as many different recipes for gumbo out there as there are stoves in Louisiana I'm less afraid to share my own version with you. Gumbo is something that makes sense to me: it's a great way to extend your leftovers and feed yourself and perhaps a small army. It scales easy and it reheats well to make for good leftovers. 

Udderly Delicious: Lemon Ice Cream with Blackberry Sauce

(pardon my chipped bowl)

I'm torn on how to label this. It's part Udderly Delicious, part Quick Eats, and part Homegrown. Regardless of the label, it's really freaking tasty.

Sadly I didn't take any photos of the process, so this will be a relatively wordy post. My family was in town for their first visit to the farm and, after K and my father went on an epic berry picking expedition which ended with about three pounds of blackberries being collected, I figured we should put them to use.

The next night I was going to cook up a turkey that we had raised. My sister from over at Fancypants Tris suggested making a blackberry and chipotle sauce for the turkey, but I decided to do a straight up brined and roasted turkey.  While the turkey was roasting, I figured I might as well put some more of our goat milk to use and thought some ice cream might be worth trying.

Udderly Delicious: Mac and Goat Cheese

Mac and cheese is probably the ultimate in comfort food. Warm, rich, satisfying. Nothing says "home" quite like a hot bowl of mac and cheese and, since we're still discovering the joys of our new home, it was perfect.

This is a fun recipe, full of room for experimenting and very forgiving. I use homemade pasta made with duck eggs from our flock, and three kinds of homemade goat cheese  and milk from our wonderful little goats that we're celebrating in this series.

Udderly Delicious: Marinated Feta Cheese

According to European Union law, I can't technically call what I made feta cheese. But you know what? It's feta cheese. So I'm calling it feta cheese. (Go ahead, bring it on EU.)

Feta is one of my favorite cheeses. I like the strong flavor and I love the texture of it a lot. It's like a blue cheese without the blue. More importantly, I like how flexible it is. It's good in salads, with eggs, on burgers ... the list goes on. However, for this post and for the cheese that we made, I wanted it to stand out on its own.

Udderly Delicious: Coming soon!

This is Josie, one of our dairy goats. From her and Jenni, another goat we purchased so she wouldn't be lonely, we get about half a gallon of milk each day.  That's way more than we drink, so we decided to try our hand at some cheesemaking.

A new neighborhood?

Hello, neighbors!

Well, it's been awhile since my last post (and I still have yet to do one more To Russia, With Love post write-up) but a lot has happened since November.  Yes, November. I've left you all hanging for nearly three months. Three months with no food! No recipes! No pages upon pages of my rambling!

My dear readers, I apologize to you. You see, Mr. Onion's Neighborhood has changed neighborhoods.x