I made a video of how I sometimes select my random winners in giveaways, but the file size was too big to email to myself. Harumph. So, I took a picture with my cell phone, since this is indeed Official Business.

I appreciate all the great comments I got on my initial post announcing the giveaway [...]]]>

I made a video of how I sometimes select my random winners in giveaways, but the file size was too big to email to myself. Harumph. So, I took a picture with my cell phone, since this is indeed Official Business.

I appreciate all the great comments I got on my initial post announcing the giveaway and I invite you to visit often for future posts on New Orleans food and restaurants.

And now, without further ado, the winner of Chef Emeril’s latest cookbook, “Farm To Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh”, is…

…@bugeyedlindsay! Congratulations, Lindsay! I will be in touch so we can get that cookbook to you.

Thanks again to everyone that participated and helped to spread news of the giveaway. Coming soon is the announcement for our next NOLA Eats Event!

Here’s what Chef Emeril’s new book is all about:

“In this extraordinary new [...]]]> It’s giveaway time on NOLA-Eats.com! Our friends over at Emeril’s Homebase have kindly given me a copy of Chef Emeril Lagasse‘s latest cookbook, Farm To Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh, and I want to give it to one of my awesome readers.

Here’s what Chef Emeril’s new book is all about:

“In this extraordinary new book, Emeril Lagasse continues his lifelong commitment to using fresh, local ingredients in his restaurants and home kitchen. He has spent the past thirty years building close relationships with farmers, fishermen, and ranchers. Farm to Fork is his guide to help you explore the great local bounty through fifteen flavorful chapters—sweet summer in “The Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, and Squash,” juicy “Berries, Figs, and Melons,” sublime naturally raised meats in “Out on the Range,” fresh catch in “Fresh Off the Dock,” and home canning tips from “Home Economics: Preserving the Harvest.”

Fill your basket with the ripest ingredients from every season at the markets (or your backyard garden) and dig into delicious recipes such as Sweet Potato Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter, Cheesy Creole Tomato Pie, Honey-Brined Pork Chops with Nectarine Chutney, Watermelon Rind Crisp Sweet Pickles, and Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp. Even learn how to make your own cheese and pasta at home. Emeril shares his love for fresh from-the-fields foods—and the heritage of the artisans who bring them to the table.”

If you would like to win a copy of  Farm To Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh, leave me a comment below and tell me what your favorite local ingredients are to cook with. These ingredients can be items you might purchase at one of our farmers markets or something you grow yourself. If you enjoy fishing, share your favorite catches you enjoy frying or grilling up. Farm To Fork won’t be available in stores until June 1st, but I will choose one random winner on Tuesday, June 1st. When you comment, please be certain to enter your email correctly so that I can contact you if you win. The contest is open to my readers residing in the United States.

If you don’t win, there are still a few ways you can commemorate  the book release with Chef Emeril’s family of restaurants, including special dinner menus, participation at the Crescent City Farmers Market and a four-course Farm To Fork dinner. Keep reading for all the fantastic details on dining and eating local, a true celebration of Louisiana!

Three Fresh Market Menus Inspired by Emeril Lagasse’s Newest Cookbook Farm to Fork

Emeril Lagasse’s New Orleans restaurants – Emeril’s, NOLA and Emeril’s Delmonico – will craft a month-long showcase of the season’s bounty featuring fresh, local ingredients from Louisiana’s and Mississippi’s boutique farmers, growers and purveyors, to commemorate the release of Lagasse’s new cookbook Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh on June 1.  From June 1–30, in addition to the main menu offerings, Lagasse’s chefs de cuisine have each created a special Farm to Fork dinner menu that highlights the essence of the season using all local and organic ingredients including farmstead produce, naturally-raised chicken, pork and game, fresh seafood and artisanal dairy products.  Lagasse has spent the past thirty years building close relationships with farmers, fishermen, and ranchers, and his restaurants serve fresh, sustainable and organic products from farms in their area when seasonally available.

On Emeril’s Farm to Fork menu, Chef David Slater incorporates fresh, summer produce from Nguyen Farms in a salad of Crispy Northshore Pig Trotter with Pickled Vegetables, Coddled Farm Egg, Cilantro and Sweet Soy. At NOLA, Chef Josh Laskay features Rabbitman Farms in an entrée of Grilled Rabbit Tenderloin with Crowder Pea-Rabbit Ragoût and Belle Ecorce Goat Cheese Polenta. Delmonico’s Chef Spencer Minch prepares pastured chickens from Southeast Louisiana grower James Shoop for Fried Chicken with Purple Hull Peas, Local Mustard Greens and Smith Creamery Milk Gravy, plus heritage pork from Henry Fudge’s Family Farms for Slow Roasted Pulled Pork with Silver Queen Corn, Farmhouse Cheddar Mac and Creole Tomato Barbecue Sauce.   For dessert, Emeril’s uses grass-fed dairy from Smith Creamery in Vanilla Panna Cotta and Three Melon Soup. Amy Lemon, pastry chef at NOLA and Emeril’s Delmonico, creates sweet confections with ripe fruits and market preserves, such as Warm Blueberry Tart with Almond Streusel, Brown Butter Sauce and Old New Orleans Rum Ice Cream, and Smith Creamery Shortbread Napoleon with Chilton County Preserved Peaches, Basil Ice Cream and Lightly Sweetened Goat Cheese.   The season will be toasted with infused cocktails and summer-inspired wines by the glass paired by Emeril’s sommeliers to compliment the fruits of the soil.

Throughout the month, Emeril’s chefs will also serve a weekly Green Plate Special at the Crescent City Farmers Market on Tuesdays from 9:00am until 1:00pm at 200 Broadway Street in the northeast corner of Tulane University Square.

On Wednesday, June 30, Chef Spencer Minch concludes the summer harvest celebration with a four-course Farm to Fork Market Dinner at Emeril’s Delmonico featuring local growers from Crescent City Farmer’s Market. Dinner is $60 per person inclusive and begins at 6:00pm in the “Cornstalk Room”; reservations are required.   Reservations may be made by calling Emeril’s at 504-528-9393, NOLA at 504-522-6652, or Emeril’s Delmonico at 504-525-4937, 1-888-EMERIL-8, or online at emerils.com.  

Green Plate Special Menu: June 1 — Emeril’s Homebase Test Kitchen

• Sweet Pea Soup
• Emeril’s Roasted Beet Salad with Pecan Vinaigrette
• Farm Egg Herbed Quiche with Blue Cheese
• Zucchini Bread with a Ginger Marmalade-Cream Cheese Spread
• Soup & Salad or Quiche & Salad Combo

June 8 — Emeril’s Delmonico

• Opal-Basil Macerated Peaches with Crème Fraiche
• Chilled Local Melon Soup with Louisiana Crab Meat
• Creole Tomato Gazpacho with Mint Oil
• Roasted Tomato Tapenade with Housemade Capocollo Crustino

June 15 — Emeril’s

• Local Mushroom & Goat Cheese Pizzetti
• Pork Pot Pies with Local Pork and Vegetables
• Louisiana Rice Pudding, Local Fruit Chutney

June 22 — NOLA

• Belle Ecorce Goat Cheese Cake with Fresh Herbs and Roasted Red Pepper Coulis
• Johnsdale Farms Tomato Gazpacho
• House Made Wild Boar Sausage with Okra Stew
• Grilled Green Tomato with Gulf Shrimp Remoulade

June 29 — Emeril’s Delmonico

• Opal-Basil Macerated Peaches with Crème Fraiche
• Chilled Local Melon Soup with Louisiana Crab Meat
• Creole Tomato Gazpacho with Mint Oil
• Roasted Tomato Tapenade with Housemade Capocollo Crustino

…a friend was so drunk during the Endymion parade that she took pictures of all the floats with her camera phone…that doesn’t actually have a camera on it.

I guess her Voodoo powers worked, after all. Congrats and enjoy your Maurice French Pastries king cake!

As promised, I’m going to now [...]]]> …Twitter user @elpajaronegro, with this hilarious story:

…a friend was so drunk during the Endymion parade that she took pictures of all the floats with her camera phone…that doesn’t actually have a camera on it.

I guess her Voodoo powers worked, after all. Congrats and enjoy your Maurice French Pastries king cake!

As promised, I’m going to now share my most embarrassing Mardi Gras moment. I would greatly appreciate it if this story were to never be brought up in my presence, thankyouverymuch.

Let’s go back to high school, those all important teen years. I slept over at my girlfriend’s house, as we had plans to go to the parades the next morning. I had forgotten a shirt, so I borrowed one of hers. Now, this is the ’90s, so this wasn’t just any shirt. It was a black, short-sleeved babydoll mohair sweater tee, probably purchased at Contempo Casuals. Yeah. So, you know how Mardi Gras day usually starts out chilly, then warms up as the day goes by? This Mardi Gras day wasn’t any different, so I eventually had to take my jacket off. As the day got warmer and warmer, I noticed that people on floats stopped throwing me stuff and began to look at me strangely. I had no idea what was going on, until I saw what they were looking at. My oh-so-fashionable mohair shirt had begun to shed and it looked like I had not shaved my underarms for two years. I had black “hair” coming out from the cap sleeves sticking to my underarms, wild, furry and untamed. Man, I’m glad the ’90s are over.

Happy Mardi Gras!

The Twelfth Night at Maximo’s bears [...]]]> It looks like we’re not the only ones with king cake on the brain. Maximo’s Italian Grill, one of my favorite restaurants, is holding a fantastic Carnival season-long giveaway starting today, Wednesday, January 6. Here are the details, straight from their Facebook Fan Page:

The Twelfth Night at Maximo’s bears gifts of wine, cocktails, and KING CAKES! That’s right, king cake every Wednesday night ’til Fat Tuesday… whoever gets the baby receives a $100 Gift Certificate! And as always, Wednesday nights are our “Bar Night” with half off drinks from 6PM to 9PM.

Half-off drinks, socializing with friends, complimentary king cake and a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to a great restaurant…I think that’s a pretty awesome Wednesday night in New Orleans.

How do you get [...]]]> Whether you were born and raised here or a recent arrival, you’ve got to have at least one king cake to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I want to help you kick off your Carnival season properly with a FREE king cake from my favorite bakery, Maurice French Pastries.

How do you get a shot at winning? Comment on this blog entry, give us a mention on Twitter (we’re @NOLA_Eats) or drop us a comment on the NOLA Eats Facebook Page with your funniest or most embarrassing Mardi Gras moment. It’s that easy and, man, it will be worth the price of this king cake just to get a chuckle from all of your crazy stories. Just be certain that I can contact you somehow should you win.

Now, there is one catch; You must be a local to win this prize as you must be able to pick up the cake from the CBD. (Sorry to my out-of-town readers! I promise to have something for you guys in the near future.) You can even do a drive-by if you don’t want to park, but you’ve got to come pick it up. I will take the names of those participating and use a list randomizer to select the winner. Stories will be collected until 11:59pm tonight, NOLA time. The winner will be announced tomorrow afternoon, right around lunch time, which is when you can come and claim your delicious Maurice French Pastry king cake. Good luck!

Okay, hold up! It has occurred to me that not all my readers know what this Mardi Gras business is all about. There are a slew of people that are more knowledgeable in the history and traditions than I am, so here are a few great links to graze upon:

• Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide (a necessity!)
• Nola.com’s Mardi Gras In New Orleans
• NewOrleansOnline.com – Mardi Gras News and Stories
• New Orleans Mardi Gras wiki on Wikipedia.com