Spicy Seafood and Sausage Gumbo

pull this recipe on line;
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/spicy-seafood-and-sausage-gumbo.html

this is what I used, embellished a little. Read the entire set of directions before you start. Then your meson place before you begin roux.

I used canola/olive oil blend to saute the okra. same blend for the roux as well.  The directions say "4 minutes" for the roux to turn dark brown. NO, more like 20 min. on medium heat.  Add the onions and bell peppers and let it darken even more.

follow the directions to add the ingredients.  one note on the stock. You can buy seafood stock, however if you eat lobster at home, make the stock. 
couple of lobsters
2 Tbsp oil
3 shallots
2 garlic cloves sliced
1 carrot
1 small celery
1/4 cup brandy or madeira
5 cups of water
salt and pepper
bay leaf
saute in oil the chopped carrot and celery for about 7 min.  add the lobster shells, body and all stir for about a minute or two. 
add Shallots, garlic stir and scrape the pan...
 and the brandy, cook for about 3 min
add the water, toss in the bay leaf.
sometimes i add tarragon, parsley and thyme.
cook and reduce to about 4 cups. takes two hours or so.  strain.  freeze if you are not using right away.

and Creole seasoning?  forgot to buy some, so again, made my own... 
since I already started cooking, I did not have time to play around, so I just grabbed it from Allrecipes.com.

2Tbsp Onion powder
2Tbsp garlic powder
2Tbsp dried oregano
2Tbsp dried basil
1Tbsp dried thyme
1Tbsp black pepper
1Tbsp white pepper
1Tbsp cayenne pepper
5Tbsp paprika
3Tbsp salt
thank goodness I had all the ingr on hand~  recipe asks for 2.5 Tbsp of creole seasoning, I used 4!

simmer, stirring occasionaly. taste it, does it have the taste you are looking for?  embellish;
with any combo or all of the following (which is what I had to do to make it to my liking)
2 tsp sugar
1 cup chicken broth
1Tbsp worchesterchire
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp celery seeds
10 dashes of hot sauce

after 30-40 min. turn off heat if you are not eating right away.  About 15-20 minutes before eating,
-saute your sausage til browned.
-heat up the gumbo, add your seafood and sausage. Discard bay leaf. serve over white rice!  yummy!!

Crazy for coconuts

First you have to find a good coconut.  This is harder than you think. Choose one that is not wet, no green signs of mold on any of the eyes, and no cracks.  shake it, you should hear coconut water!

At home, find the third eye that will allow you to poke it with a cork screw.

work the cork screw intil you have nice hole wide as a pencil.

Drain the coconut water,

now, the fun part.  take the coconut outside, place it on a hard surface. Garage floor works wonders.  grab your hammer and hit the middle of the coconut, the widest part. turn, and repeat down the center until you have the fault line cracked.   and tap it a few more times til it breaks apart.

Smell it. look at it.  it should smell like wonderful fresh coconuts.  look between the hard shell and the meat, should be clean, no green mold.  no pink spots.  touch the inside, should be hard, not slimey. if thumbs up, you are lucky!  sometimes we go through 5 coconuts before a fresh one!
Bring it in, and score the meat into sections, like cutting a pizza. his is for easier release.

almost done....  now drive that cheese knife between the hard shell and meat to pop up your reward!

I love that cheese knife, its a hard worker!  so you should have a mound of odd pieces.  you can just eat it as they are with the brown covers on, or you can peel them off with a sharp knife.  If baking, peel them, its just looks prettier.  Clean them up.  I chose to peel, I have to bake something....
micro plane #one is larger, makes for great toasted coconuts, micro plane #2 is smaller, makes billowy, fluffy mounds of goodness for baking.

lets toast the large shavings for later. meanwhile, take a break and enjoy the coconut water, its so good and good for you. THEY SAY.

OH THEY CAME OUT PERFECT.  so I have enough coconut to make some almond joy, a cake and some muffins.  wow just gained 3 pounds thinking about this stuff.

that will go into the freezer, to be covered later with DARK chocolate (come on, is there any other kind?) The cake is from Blogger Technicolor Kitchen, recipe http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2011/05/coconut-orange-tea-cake-and-things-that.html

And the frosting is a simple cream cheese frosting with orange zest. piped on the cupcakes, with the coconut shavings, voila! finaly time to eat!