Cookbook Review: Gumbo Love By Lucy Buffett

GUMBO LOVE
Recipes for Gulf Coast Cooking, Entertaining, and Savoring the Good Life

By: Lucy Buffett

Published: May 9, 2017

Publisher: Grand Central Life & Style

Non-Fiction/Cookbook

If you need any reason to check out Lucy Buffett's new cookbook, then National Shrimp Day would be it! Fans of Gulf Coast specialties, fruity libations, and flavor-rich dishes won't want to miss out on the recipes featured in Lucy Buffett's newest cookbook, GUMBO LOVE. From starters and snacks to deep friend southern favorites to desserts and cocktails you'll be able to pretend you are on the Gulf Coast no matter where you live.

I shared recipes from Buffett's previous cookbook LULU'S KITCHEN last summer and am just as excited for this one. This cookbook is thicker than her previous one and the photos shared throughout the pages make me want to jump in the car and revisit our favorite Gulf Coast spots. Any photo that has Lucy Buffett in it shows the happiness oozing out of her. There is no doubt that life is good in the Gulf. What I love about Buffett's cookbooks is she shares her heart along with her recipes. In each chapter, she shares stories or traditions to give you a bit of background on the recipes she offers. I love that she begins the cookbook with dessert. Buffet states that she is a "lifetime rule breaker...and chooses her rebellions more wisely - like having dessert first." That is my kind of philosophy on life! There are so many recipes I can't wait to try, I'll be working my way through this cookbook all summer. Some of the recipes I can't wait to try include:

• Lazy V Chocolate Fudge Cake (her mother's recipe)
• Easy-Peasy Chocolate Sauce (Will it be as good as MY mom's recipe?)
• Bad Girl Buffalo wings
• Black Bean & Corn Salad Dip
• Trout Amandine
• Daddy's Fried Chicken
• Watermelon and Feta Cheese Salad
• Hurricane Cocktail
• Plus all of her favorite sauces, seasonings, dressings, and tips for cooking or frying seafood

This cookbook is making a permanent place on my cookbook shelf as it is just full of amazing dishes and stories that will make me laugh. I'm thrilled to share one of her recipes with you. Since it's National Shrimp Day, this shrimp recipe is perfect for celebrating shrimp day or really any special day in your house!

Image Credit: Angie Mosier

SPICY SHRIMP CEVICHE

SERVES 8

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds poached wild-caught Gulf shrimp (recipe follows)

1/3 cup finely chopped red onion

½ cup finely chopped celery

1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes

¾ cup peeled, seeded, and chopped cucumber

1 teaspoon finely chopped seeded jalapeño

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus ¼ cup for serving, if desired

Juice of 5 limes (about 1 cup)

Juice of 2 lemons (about ½ cup)

Juice of 1 orange (about ½ cup)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

½ teaspoon sugar

1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced (optional)

2 limes, quartered (optional)

METHOD

1. Chop the shrimp into thirds or bite-size pieces, or leave them whole if you prefer, and place in a large bowl.

2. Add the red onion, celery, tomatoes, cucumber, jalapeño, garlic, ginger, cilantro,

lime juice, lemon juice, orange juice, olive oil, salt, white pepper, and sugar and stir well.

3. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. While the mixture marinates, occasionally turn the container to evenly coat the shrimp in the liquid.

4. Transfer the shrimp and liquid to a glass bowl to serve or divide among eight martini glasses. If desired, garnish with avocado, cilantro, and lime.

POACHED SHRIMP

MAKES 2 POUNDS SHRIMP

I USE THIS method to cook shrimp that have been peeled. It takes only a few

minutes, so be careful not to overcook the shrimp. Poaching lets them absorb the

flavors from the poaching liquid, which is called court bouillon in fancy French

cooking and typically uses wine. Staying in step with my beloved Gulf Coastal

Caribbean and Mexican influences, I use tequila or rum!

INGREDIENTS

2¼ pounds large wild-caught headless Gulf shrimp in the shell

8 cups water

½ cup tequila or rum

1 lemon, sliced into rounds

½ white onion, coarsely chopped

6 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons sea salt

1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

4 fresh cilantro sprigs

METHOD

1. Peel and devein the shrimp. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

2. Place the water in a large heavy skillet or saucepan. Add the tequila, lemon, onion, garlic, salt, peppercorns, and cilantro. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Boil for 5 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat until the liquid is simmering. Add the shrimp, cover, and cook for

3 minutes only! Pour the shrimp into a strainer and immediately cover with ice.When the shrimp are cool, remove and discard the lemon rounds, garlic, and cilantro. Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use.

Excerpted from the book GUMBO LOVE by Lucy Buffett. Copyright © 2017 by Lucy Buffett. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Life & Style. All rights reserved.  

Lucy Buffett - Image Credit: Chandler Williams of Modus Photography

Lucy Buffett is a restaurateur of the award-winning, fun-loving LuLu’s which serves more than one million guests a year at two locations, one in Gulf Shores, Alabama and the other in Destin, Florida. Lucy has also been recognized for her tireless work on behalf of sustainability and the environment. However, the greatest passion of this self-proclaimed gypsy rebel and reluctant entrepreneur is cooking good food for the people she loves. You can find more information on Lucy at www.LucyBuffett.com.

To purchase a copy of GUMBO LOVE, click the photo below:

I will be linking up with other bloggers on Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking linkup. Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. Click HERE, to see all Weekend Cooking posts. 

Thanks to the publisher for sending an eBook for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase this book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com. 

More Recipes from LuLu's Kitchen by Lucy Buffett

Last month I shared my review of Lucy Buffet's new cookbook, LuLu's Kitchen. See it HERE.

I have the opportunity to share a couple more recipes from the cookbook with you. Buffett's recipes are full of flavor and look as good as they taste. I'm still working my way through the recipes and am anxious to try them this summer, imagining that I am listening to the ocean waves while savoring every bite.

Enjoy these recipes and be sure to let me know if you try them!

LuLu's Seafood Gumbo - submitted photo

LuLu's Summer Seafood Gumbo

Excerpted from LuLu’s Kitchen: A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life (Grand Central Life & Style; April 2016) by Lucy Buffett 

Makes: 25 Cups

Ingredients

3 pounds medium shrimp, heads on

2 pounds claw crabmeat, picked for shells

4 crab bodies, if available

4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped in their juice

2 large onions, coarsely chopped

2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped

1 medium head celery, coarsely chopped including leaves 

2 ½ pounds okra, fresh if available, cut in ¼-inch pieces, or frozen cut okra, thawed

¾ cup vegetable oil or bacon grease

1 cup all-purpose flour

8 cups shrimp or seafood stock, heated

2-3 teaspoons salt, or to taste 

1 tablespoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons dried thyme

4 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 tablespoons LuLu's Crazy Creola Seasoning™ (page 14)

2-3 tablespoons LuLu's Perfect Pepper Hot Sauce™

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 cups green onions, finely chopped

½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Dehead, peel, and devein shrimp. Reserve heads and shells for later use. Pick through crabmeat carefully for shells. Refrigerate shrimp and crab until ready for use. 
2. Fill a medium-sized saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Drop tomatoes carefully into boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and let cool. Skins will slip off easily. Remove cores and coarsely chop tomatoes over a bowl to retain as much juice as possible. Set aside. (If using canned tomatoes, I cut them up in eights.) 
3. Place chopped onions, bell peppers, celery, and okra in separate bowls. Set aside. 
4. To make the roux, heat vegetable oil or bacon grease in a 10-quart heavy stockpot over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, gradually add flour, whisking continuously. Continue to whisk roux , adjusting heat as necessary to keep from burning. This may take 25-35 minutes or until your arm feels like it is about to fall off and the roux is a dark mahogany color. Be careful; if the roux burns, you will have to start all over again! 
5. Carefully add chopped onions to roux and continue stirring with a large wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes. Onions will sizzle and steam when they hit the hot roux so caution is advised. Seasoned gumbo cooks have roux battle scars on one or both arms. 
6. Add bell peppers and continue stirring for another 2 to 3 minutes; add celery continue to stir constantly for another 2 to 3 minutes. The mixture should now resemble a pot of black beans. 
7. Add tomatoes and stir well. 
8. Slowly add the heated stock. 
9. Add salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, thyme, bay leaves, oregano, basil, Creole seasoning, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir well. Bring gumbo to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to maintain a slow simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour. 
10. Add okra and bring back to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat again to maintain a slow simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or a day (until okra has lost its bright green color and is cooked down like the other vegetables). If gumbo gets too thick, add a little water. If too thin, continue to simmer uncovered. 
11. At this point, you can cool the gumbo. It's always better the day after it has been cooked, although I've never had a complaint when I served gumbo the day I made it. Remove from heat and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then place pot, uncovered, in an empty sink. Fill the sink with water and ice around the stockpot. Stir gumbo every 15 minutes to move the liquid to facilitate cooling. Gumbo will spoil if cooled improperly. (At the restaurant, we have cooling cylinders that look like baseball bats that are frozen and placed in the middle of five-gallon stockpots.) When completely cool, refrigerate it, uncovered, for a couple of hours before placing it in an airtight container. 
12. Reheat gumbo slowly to simmering. Thirty minutes before serving, add green onions, parsley, and lemon juice. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Add shrimp and crabmeat. Mix well. Cover and turn off heat. Let sit for at least another 15 minutes while seafood cooks. It will stay hot for a long time. Adjust seasonings and serve over cooked white rice with French bread and butter. 

Excerpted from LuLu's Kitchen: A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life by Lucy Buffett (Grand Central Life & Style; April 26, 2016)

LuLu's Rum Punch - submitted photo

LuLu's Rum Punch

Excerpted from LuLu’s Kitchen: A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life (Grand Central Life & Style; April 2016) by Lucy Buffett 

Makes: 1 drink

Ingredients
1 ounce Captain Morgan ® Original spiced rum
½ ounce Myer's ® dark rum
½ ounce coconut rum
2 ounces sour mix
1-ounce pineapple juice
1-ounce cranberry juice
Splash of grenadine, optional
Cherry and fresh tropical fruit to garnish

1. Fill a tall glass with ice.
2. Add spiced rum, dark rum, coconut rum and sour mix to glass.
3. Add equal portions of pineapple and cranberry juice.
4. Add a splash of grenadine if you like it a little sweeter.
5. Stir well.
6. Garnish with a cherry and fresh tropical fruit, such as orange, lemon or lime slices, or pineapple wedge.

Excerpted from LuLu's Kitchen: A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life by Lucy Buffett (Grand Central Life & Style; April 26, 2016)

I've been wanting to try this beverage since I received the cookbook and finally this week I had my favorite bartender (my husband) make it for me. It was just the right amount of sweet and so refreshing on a 90° day! Be aware that with three types of rum, it packs a punch! 

To purchase a copy of LULU'S KITCHEN, click the photo below:

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Cookbook Review: LuLu's Kitchen By Lucy Buffett

LULU'S KITCHEN
A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life

By: Lucy Buffett

Published: April 26, 2016

Publisher: Grand Central Life & Style

Cookbook



Lucy Buffett is the sister of the famous Jimmy Buffett, but she has become quite famous in the Gulf Coast area in her own right. After returning home to care for ailing parents, Lucy Buffett surprised herself by becoming a restauranteur and owning  LuLu's Sunset Grill. It was a huge success in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and she eventually opened a second location in Destin, Florida. This book is more than a cookbook, but a peek into Lucy's life and her joy of food, friends, family, and most of all, laughter. I'm sad to admit that even though we have been to this same Gulf Coast area a few times, we have never visited her restaurants. But, I can promise we will be checking them out on our next visit.

LULU'S KITCHEN is full of Southern and Gulf Coast dishes you would expect including lots of seafood. But, there are just as many recipes that will remind you of those family dinners around the table full of delicious home cooking. For fans of the south, there is a whole section on grits recipes and for all the Buffett fans, there is a section on Specialty Drinks. In fact, I'm hoping to enjoy a tall glass of LuLu's Rum Punch this weekend!

LuLu's Rum Punch - submitted photo

Buffett offers stories and anecdotes throughout the book giving readers a peek into her journey of becoming a chef and business owner. She offers "Ten Things I Absolutely Know About Cooking" including a requirement to like cooking, to keep it all casual, to listen to music while cooking and most importantly, to never cook shrimp for more than three minutes. Even though I didn't try her shrimp recipe, it certainly looks delicious. But, I'm sharing the recipe with you so you can try it!

LuLu's Perfect Peel and Eat Shrimp - Photo by Sara Essex

LuLu's Perfect Peel and Eat Shrimp
Excerpted from LuLu’s Kitchen: A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life (Grand Central Life & Style; April 2016) by Lucy Buffett 

Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients
1 ½ - 2 gallons water
1 cup LuLu's Perfect Pepper Hot Sauce ™
¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ½ cups liquid Zatarain's ® crab and seafood boil
1 (3 oz) bag Zatarain's ® dry crab and seafood boil
5 bay leaves
½ cup LuLu's Crazy Creola Seasoning ™
¼ cup salt
2 – 3 pounds large headless shrimp with shells

1. Combine all ingredients except shrimp in a large stockpot. Bring to a full rolling boil. Be prepared to have the spices "tickle" the back of your throat. Gesundheit!
2. Add shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes.
3. Turn off heat and cover for 1 minute. Drain shrimp in a colander and place a layer of ice on top to stop cooking process.
4. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Drain and refrigerate. Serve with my Red Horseradish Sauce.

Excerpted from LuLu's Kitchen: A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life by Lucy Buffett (Grand Central Life & Style; April 26, 2016)

As you can see, the recipes are simple and easy to create right in your own home with ingredients easy to find in your local store. I found several I'm anxious to try from the Mahi Mahi Tacos to Barq's Root Beer Chocolate Cake. But the recipe I chose to make for my family was the Meatloaf Sandwich. This is a recipe you can make ahead and serve later that evening or even the next day to your family. It's filling and the leftovers are even better.

This cookbook is full of recipes to fit every taste pallet. Buffet even includes a section of her essentials. These essentials include recipes for seasonings, dressings, and stocks. There are party specific groupings to host your own theme dinner, birthday party, or summer picnic. The personal stories that Buffett shares will make you laugh and will encourage you to visit the beautiful Gulf Coast region.

LULU'S KITCHEN is full of amazing photographs that will make your mouth water and have you marking up the pages to try all the recipes. Looking at this cookbook will remind you to bring joy to your cooking and laughter to your table.

UPDATE: Lucy Buffett appeared on Fox and Friends this week and they are sharing these recipes on their blog from her appearance. I thought their segment focused a bit too much on her brother than on her, but it's still a great promotion for her. Click HERE to see the recipes and watch the video below.

Lucy Buffett - submitted photo

Lucy Buffett is a restaurateur of the award-winning, fun-loving LuLu’s which serves more than one million guests a year at two locations, one in Gulf Shores, Alabama and the other in Destin, Florida. Lucy has also been recognized for her tireless work on behalf of sustainability and the environment. However, the greatest passion of this self-proclaimed gypsy rebel and reluctant entrepreneur is cooking good food for the people she loves. LuLu's Kitchen: A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life (formerly Crazy Sista Cooking) is her first cookbook and is full of recipes and stories that made her restaurant the famous destination it is today. You can find more information on Lucy at www.LucyBuffett.com.

If you would like to purchase a copy of LULU'S KITCHEN, click the photo below:

I will be linking up with other bloggers on Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking linkup. Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. Click HERE, to see all Weekend Cooking posts. 

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Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any way for this review. If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com.