Third Thrifty Week of 2015 #4 ~ Emeril TV Dinners and Clay Pot Cooking

Emeril's TV Dinners, published in 1998. This is the fourth book from Emeril and contains 150+ recipes collected from his cooking shows, "Emeril Live" and "Essence of Emeril". The book starts with the basics ~ stocks, sauces, roasted garlic and chowder then delves into the recipes.

The first chapter is titled - Fall River Memories - and covers hometown favorites of Emeril. Recipes represented are cod fish cakes, Boston Creme Pie and a few Portuguese recipes including Malasadas. In Hawaii there is also a large Portuguese contingent and I enjoyed Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery while living in the islands. Next up is Louisiana Specialties which are mostly seafood dishes and a Baked Alaska. Southern Favorites include fried chicken with mashed potatoes, greens and a coconut cream cake. While starters feature a few fondues, salads comprise poke salad and a molasses duck recipe. There are confits, torts and stews filed under vegetables, while prawns, a fancy salmon and a lobster with crawfish mashed potatoes make up the Fish Market chapter.

In the Know Your Birds section, there are recipes for squab and LOTS of duck including a duck burrito. There is a recipe for Homemade Bacon in Pork Fat and Where's the Meat has dishes incorporating lamb, filet mignon, oxtail, venison and rabbit. The final chapters are Creole Jazz Brunch with drinks and a crab meat omelet, with the last chapter titled Swingin' Sweets featuring a yummy Praline Bread Pudding.

One Pot & Clay Pot Cooking, published in 2002. The introductory chapter highlights and explores the equipment and techniques used in the recipes. The kitchen equipment used in the dishes are pot ramekins, casserole dishes, Dutch ovens, woks, a garlic baker, chicken brick and clay tagines. I bought the book in my quest to find the perfect recipe for a Moroccan chicken with rice (or couscous).

There are numerous yummy recipes for soups, first course and light meals, sides, oven and stove entrées for various meats and seafoods, a few vegetarian options and of course desserts. Many of the oven recipes are for roasts with lamb being well represented as well as whole chickens. A few unusual dishes include toad in the hole and pigeon in red wine.

I did find a tasty and simple recipe for stuffed grape leaves and another for braised spinach with sweet potatoes. I also will try a chicken dish, but need to adapt it to the tagine as it was presented as a stove top recipe.