Feasting on Agriculture -- TWILA Team Christmas Feast
Occasionally, I have some brilliant (well, at least in my mind) ideas for future stories and videos. Usually, they come to me while I’m driving, and I have to quickly jot them down on my phone before the thought slips away, never to be heard from again.
One particular idea seemed like an “easy” final Feasting on Agriculture segment: a TWILA team holiday feast, where each team member prepares a dish for a Christmas dinner. When I shared the idea with our producer, Josh Meeks, he thought we could expand it into an entire episode. I even offered to use my home kitchen as the set for the show. It seemed like a great idea at the time…
Then I remembered that I’d need to have the house fully decorated for Christmas and spotless for the shoot, all while raising a feral toddler. Suddenly, my “brilliant” idea felt like climbing Mount Everest with a broken leg.
Thankfully, with a little help from my other half, we got to work and had the house holiday-ready just in time for the shoot last week.
Each member of our team was tasked with preparing a dish for a Christmas dinner—ideally, something they traditionally eat during the holidays that features a Louisiana commodity. Luckily, everyone came up with a dish that created a perfectly balanced holiday menu! We had a main course, bread, several side dishes, and a dessert—all highlighting the bounty of Louisiana agriculture.
Now, it was time to get busy in the kitchen!
Avery’s Rice Dressing
First on deck, Avery Davidson shares his mom’s recipe for rice dressing.
Viewer beware: this video contains raw chicken liver and gizzards blended to a pulp inside my food processor. I may or may not have tossed the processor after this…
Avery Davidson’s Rice Dressing Recipe:
3 Cups Louisiana Rice
2 tsp. Cooking Oil
1 lb. Ground Louisiana Beef
1 lb. Ground Pork
1 pt. Chicken Livers
1/2 pt. Chicken Gizzards
1 Bell Pepper
1 Onion
3 Stalks Celery
1 Clove Minced Garlic
2 tsp. Cajun Seasoning
Salt & Pepper to Taste
Instructions:
Cook 3 cups rice. Put aside.
Put chicken livers and chicken gizzards through a meat grinder or into a food processor to cut into very small pieces.
Heat oil in a large pot.
Sauté bell pepper, onion and celery until translucent. Add garlic, salt and pepper.
Add ground beef and pork. Season with Cajun seasoning. Brown thoroughly.
Add chicken livers and chicken gizzards. Cook for about 5-8 minutes stirring constantly.
Add rice and mix until fully combined.
Serve and enjoy!
Allie’s Crawfish Cornbread
Our social media coordinator, Allie Doise Shipley, brings us one of her family’s holiday traditions: crawfish cornbread. Allie grew up on a rice and crawfish farm, so this dish holds a special place in her heart and on the Doise family dinner table!
Allie also introduced us to her family’s newest addition, Miss Collins Elizabeth Shipley! I have to add that Allie hit the jackpot with this angel: more than seven hours of shooting video, and not a peep from Collins was heard all day!
Allie Doise Shipley’s Crawfish Cornbread
1 lb. Louisiana crawfish tails
1 stick butter, melted
1 box jiffy corn bread
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Tony’s Chachere's
3 large eggs
1 cup green onions, chopped
1 cup white onion, chopped
1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained of juice
4 oz. (about 1 ½ cups) shredded cheese pepper jack
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Melt butter in the microwave and let come to room temperature.
Use a small pan on medium heat to warm crawfish through.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, eggs, garlic powder, Tony’s, and box of cornbread mix.
Drain the can of Rotel tomatoes and add them to the bowl. Add in the chopped green onion and chopped white onion. Add in the shredded cheese and cooked crawfish tails. Fold the mixture together until well combined.
Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan or casserole dish.
Place in oven for 40-50 minutes or until the cornbread is lightly golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Karl’s Beef Tenderloin
Our resident “grill master,” Karl Wiggers, arrived with five pounds of beef from Iverstine Farms Butcher to show off his grilling skills and prepare our main dish: grilled beef tenderloin.
If you know Karl, you know he is a Traeger grill fanatic. He’s also a podcast enthusiast, so it’s a safe bet that he’s probably listened to more than a few grilling-themed podcast episodes. If he hasn’t, I’m sure he’ll start his own grill master podcast very soon.
Spoiler alert: This may have been my favorite dish of the day.
Karl Wiggers’ Smoked Beef Tenderloin
4-5 lb whole beef tenderloin (trimmed fat and excess silverskin)
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder
Olive Oil
Kitchen Twine
Instructions:
Preheat Traeger (pellet grill) to 425º with cherry wood pellets
Mix equal parts salt, pepper, and garlic powder (1 tbsp each)
Pat dry the beef tenderloin then lightly coat with olive oil
Add seasoning mixture to cover the tenderloin evenly
Check for coverage inside all parts of the tenderloin
Let sit for 5 minutes
Truss the tenderloin
Tuck the thin end of the tenderloin back towards the larger end and tie the roast every couple inches with the kitchen twine. This will help the tenderloin keep its shape
Place tenderloin directly on the grill grates. Insert probe into the thickest part of the tenderloin. Close the lid and cook until the internal 125ºF. This should take around 40-60 minutes. Cook to the right temperature, not to a timer.
Remove from the grill and let rest under foil for 15 minutes. The internal temperature should climb a few more degrees while resting.
Remove the twine, slice the tenderloin crosswise and serve with your favorite sides.
Kristen’s Corn Maque Choux
Next up: One of my favorite recipes, corn maque choux.
When we were preparing the menu for this shoot, everyone submitted their chosen recipes, and we had all our bases covered—from bread and the main course to dessert. So, I decided on a side dish that would complement the items we already had, and corn maque choux is always my go-to recipe to pair with steak.
Karl was gracious enough to bring some of his dad’s sweet corn, which was a delightful addition!
Kristen’s Corn Maque Choux
3 slices thick cut bacon
4 ears of corn
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 medium sweet onion (or yellow onion), diced
1 large jalapeno, diced
2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons all purpose Creole seasoning, (or your favorite brand of Cajun seasonings)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste
green onion, as garnish if desired
Instructions:
Cook the bacon. After draining on a paper towel, rough chop bacon and set aside. Pour half of the bacon grease out of the skillet and keep the rest (or about 2 tablespoons) of the grease in the skillet to cook the corn.
Using a sharp knife, cut the sweet corn from the cob. After the kernels have been removed, use a vegetable peeler to scrape back and forth down the cob, pressing gently to remove bits of leftover kernels and the milk from the cob.
In a large bowl, toss together corn, red bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, flour sugar and Creole seasoning, making sure the flour coats all of the corn.
Add corn mixture to hot bacon grease over medium heat. Sautee 3-5 minutes to caramelize the vegetables and cook the flour.
Turn stove top down to low. Stir in cream and continue to stir until corn mixture becomes creamy. Put on lid and allow to cook and thicken for 25-30 minutes, removing lid occasionally to stir.
When corn is thick and creamy, remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with chopped bacon, green onion and serve!
Neil’s Potato Latkes
Now it’s time for Neil Melançon. Before the shoot, we had a running joke in our office that Neil wouldn’t be able to cook anything for this segment, which is why he brought a frozen pizza for his dish. As a result, Neil was “volunteered” to wear a lovely ruffled, polka dot apron for the day—and he was thrilled about it!
But Neil surprised us all with a recipe steeped in family tradition that was downright delicious!
Potato latkes are a Jewish Hanukkah tradition that symbolize the miracle of oil that kept the menorah lit in the Second Temple of Jerusalem for eight days. More than 2,000 years ago, the Maccabees only had enough oil to last one day for the Hanukkah ritual. The oil miraculously lasted eight days. Centuries later, Jews began eating foods cooked in oil to celebrate the miracle.
Neil Melancon’s Potato Latkes
2 large Russet potatoes (~ 1 pound), scrubbed and cut lengthwise into quarters
1 large onion, peeled and cut into quarters
2large eggs
½-cup flour
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon fine sea salt), plus some for sprinkling
1teaspoon baking powder
1teaspoon ( to taste) freshly ground black pepper
Frying oil
Instructions:
Using a food processor with a coarse grating disc, grate the potatoes and onion. Put the mixture to cheesecloth or a dishtowel. Squeeze and wring out as much of the liquid as possible without being crazy about it.
Put the mixture to a large bowl. Add the eggs, flour, salt, baking powder and pepper, and mix until the flour is absorbed.
In a medium heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat, pour in about ¼ inch of the oil. Once the oil is hot (a drop of batter placed in the pan should sizzle), use a heaping tablespoon* to drop the batter into the hot pan, cooking in batches. Use a spatula to flatten and shape the drops into discs. When the edges of the latkes are brown and crispy, flip. Cook until the second side is deeply browned, about another 5 minutes. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and sprinkle with salt while still warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.
Traditionally they're served with either applesauce or sour cream and lox (smoked salmon). I prefer the latter, as I like my savory dishes savory!
*If you prefer your latkes more like hashbrowns, reduce this amount and mash them flat. The cooking time will take less time. For more traditional latkes with a gooey, pancake-like center, make them more rounded and full.
Josh’s Christmas Tree Cheesecake
Finally, it’s time for dessert!
Neil surprised us with his culinary skills, but Josh Meeks arrived with a spatula in hand, ready to battle on this episode of The Great TWILA Baking Show!
Josh shared his mother’s famous Christmas Tree Cheesecake recipe, showcasing all the baking trade secrets he learned from her as well.
To say I was impressed is an understatement. And when it was time to taste his creation? Oh. My. Goodness. Me.
After everyone left, I may or may not have finished everyone’s half-eaten cheesecake leftovers from their plates, like a rat. And I’m not even ashamed about it!
Needless to say, the leftover cheesecake did not last 24 hours in my house…
Josh Meeks’ Christmas Tree Cheesecake
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tbs melted butter
32oz cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbs flour
1 tbs vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 or 2 packs of Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes
1 cup white chocolate morsels
Instructions:
Add wax paper to bottom of springform pan and coat with cooking spray
Spread 1.5 cups Graham cracker crumbs mixed with 6 tbs melted butter to for crust
Bake at 350 for 10 min
Mix on high 4 8oz packs of cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tbs flour until consistency of cake batter
Add 1tbs vanilla and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream. Mix throughout
Lower mix speed to low, and add 4 eggs, one at a time, until each is mixed throughout
Reduce oven heat to 325 after crust is ready
Add 1/2 of cream cheese mix to pan
Add 5-7 little Debbie tree cakes to pan, lightly pressing into batter
Add remainder of cream cheese mix
Bake at 325 for one hour in Bain Marie pan
Turn off oven and let cake cool for an hour in oven
Remove and let cake cool for another hour. Run knife around circumference of cake and refrigerate
Melt 1 cup white chocolate morsels in microwave. Add 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream and mix. Pour over top of cake and refrigerate
Every dish was amazing, and everyone brought their “A” game to this very special episode of Feasting on Agriculture.
After a long day, we finally sat down to feast on a bountiful meal courtesy of Louisiana’s agriculture and toasted the end of a great year and an even better team.
Between the food, the laughs, and the company, it was truly a wonderful day.
I think we created a new tradition, and hopefully, this will be the first of many future episodes of the TWILA team’s Feasting on Agriculture Christmas Special.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone from the TWILA Team!
