If you’re a fan of The Food Network like I am then you’ve probably seen the hit show Chopped. Chefs showdown in a battle of talents with boxes of ingredients that seemingly don’t go together. Somehow they take these items and create a five star cuisine. Chef Kenneth Temple appeared on Chopped and showed everyone that this chef from New Orleans knows his way around the kitchen. Surviving round by round until he made his way to victory becoming the Chopped Champion. When I saw that he had his own cookbook of course I had to snatch it up.
Southern Creole Recipes from my New Orleans Kitchen features desserts, main dishes, sauces, cocktails and spice blends with a creole flair. Lots of the recipes caught my eye, but I decided to go through my fridge and pantry to prepare something using ingredients I already had. That brought me to making the Spinach and Feta Turkey Bake and the Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. Interesting face: the Spinach and Feta Turkey Bake is the dish Chef Kenneth prepared for his friends and family during the debut of his episode of chopped and it received rave reviews.
Spinach & Feta Turkey Bake
This recipe was really easy to prepare and I only used 2 dishes. I used one large pot to prepare the pasta and then prepared the sauce in that same pot afterwards. Then I used a Pyrex dish to bake the final pasta. The feta gave it a nice salty tangy balance. I put half of the Monterey jack cheese in the sauce as I prepared it, then put the other half of it on top of the pasta. This dish is enough to feed a family, or if you’re a family of one like myself you’ll have your dinner prepped for the week.
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
Pecan pie isn’t one of my favorite dishes to make, but there is one exception to that rule. Chocolate bourbon pecan pie! When you add the spirits and the chocolate I just can’t resist. I was a little nervous about how it would turn out because I’ve made pecan pie before and burned it and I’ve also made it and had pecan pie soup. The only modification I made was using Hennessy instead of bourbon because I didn’t have enough bourbon left over (shout out to all the Corona Quarantine cocktails I’ve been making). The pecan pie came out perfectly. It wasn’t burnt and it wasn’t a soupy mess. I loved the chocolate in it and the flavor from the Hennessy.
Both of the dishes were very easy to make. This would be good for any level of cook. I will be adding these two dishes into my kitchen rotation. Following Chef Kenneth on Instagram and keeping up with his website I’ve seen other recipes and kitchen tips as well that I have used and enjoyed like making his Bailey’s and Hennessy drink called the Red Bone (actually that Red Bone is why I had Hennessy in my kitchen bar to begin with lol). I have another cookbook of his called the Budget Chef and I think that is a great cookbook for anyone on a budget or for college students. Check out Chef Kenneth to bring some NOLA flair into your homemade dishes.