Halcyon at Home

NOLA Cajun

This was a fun one. I ended up making a crawfish stock and used it to boil the corn, potatoes, and seared andouille. For the crawfish and shrimp, I poached them in butter with some of the reduced cooking stock and other aromatics. Decided to get bougie and made brown butter and a smoked paprika oil too!

Angola 🇦🇴 : Muamba Chicken (Muamba De Galinha) and Fufu

I think this was the most fun I’ve had with the countries so far. I found a number of recipes that a lot of Angolan’s said was wrong. After some time, I FINALLY found a number of good things. As I do, I made my own recipe with the guidance of many. Basically the chicken was seasoned then seared in a nice amount of palm oil. Then I sautéed some onions, garlic, and tomatoes, added a few things here and there, then all together cooked it in some chicken stock. Near the end I added okra. I thought the sauce was a bit thin so I removed the chicken and added a smidge of peanut butter (there seems to be a lot of contention with or not adding this ingredient) and reduced it and added some more spices. Finger lickin good!

The side dish was pretty interesting in its own right. Fufu, there’s many different spellings for it, is made with yuca and a plantain. I had no clue what I was doing but from everything I’ve read, I THINK I did it right 😅

I think I would’ve made an Angolan grammy proud!

Franch Toast • Raspberry Compote • Vanilla Yogurt

turned up breakfast today. Was super yums 🥰 Give a shoutout to her!

Vegan Tofu Bowl w/ Garden Veggies

Been playing around with ingredients and plating for quite a while and finally am starting to zero in on this recipe. It's comin along quite nice! If you're planning to be in the High Desert area, make sure to get a room at 29 Palms Inn so you can taste all the goodness I'm creating!

I had the privilege of doing a 3-course w/ drink pairing pop-up at the historic this past Monday for the owners and several employees who work there (10 people total). To say I was nervous was an understatement. But, with some careful, precise planning and prepping, it turned out pretty wonderful and everyone loved it!

On the menu I had:
1. Corn velouté with chive cream cheese, rendered cherry smoked bacon fat, and house made toasted sourdough, served with an oaked chardonnay
2. Sous vide prime beef tenderloin with roasted garlic mash, butter braised carrots, arugula, and an herbed wine sauce, served with Josh cabernet sauvignon
3. Lavender brownies with mint and strawberry compote, served with iced coffee and white chocolate liquor

I'll post some details of the recipes at a later date. But, whoa nelly, was it amazing!

Also, special shout-out to for coming out to help me make this possible, as well as taking photos. And also to for showing up and surprising me and gifting me a rosemary plant we have lovingly named Rossmario. ❤️