Thursday, May 7, 2009

down and dirty with jamie


last october, m, s, and i had the opportunity to meet, greet, and taste jamie oliver's wonderful food. jamie and his crew were so friendly. he even signed our cookbooks. we felt like were in high school again, asking the popular guy to sign our yearbook!

oliver visited louisiana’s cajun country as part of an eight-part documentary series he is filming about cuisine in the united states. each part of the series will feature a different state and he chose louisiana as his first stop. oliver and his production crew planned a trip to the acadiana region to pay a visit to mcgee's landing in henderson. after hurricane gustav ravaged the area oliver and his crew helped the restaurant get back on its feet. oliver teamed up with restaurateur david allemond and hosted a benefit to help the restaurant reopen. mcgee's landing, a rustic restaurant nestled inside the boundary of the west atchafalaya protection levee, is also a bona fide cajun boat landing and was one of the first to offer guided swamp tours. allemond was forced to shut down his restaurant for more than a month after high winds from hurricane gustav which caused serious damage to the building.the roof was completely torn off. the canopy, deck and the east wing of the restaurant were completely destroyed. oliver decided to come and help out. oliver offered to help him reopen. more than 150 attended the gala event which was highlighted by the special menu prepared by oliver and allemond. the menu included a sumptuous lump crabmeat salad, followed by the main course of pork loin, sweet potatoes laced with rosemary sprigs, green beans (that's haricot verts enFrancais), rice dressing and for dessert, a sinfully delicious chocolate bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream and fresh berries.

louisiana department of agriculture and forestry - october 2008 volume 91 no. 22

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