World-Famous Natchitoches Meat Pies

Today I’m making world-famous Natchitoches meat pies. What? Louisiana cuisine extends beyond New Orleans and the Cajun country. Every now and then you can find a culinary gem tucked in the other regions of Louisiana. The tiny city of Natchitoches, with 15,000 residents, is found in the north-central part of the state. They like to brag about their meat pies — of course they are “world-famous.” These little empanadas are stuffed with a spicy meat and vegetable seasoning filling in a pie shell-type crust. Typically the pies are fried, however, they can also be baked, as shown in this photo. I decided to try my hand at making these meat pies, embellishing the recipe just a bit by adding a few additional ingredients. This makes these meat pies extra special in the flavor category, in my opinion.

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Aunt Gaye’s Fresh Blueberry Streusel Pie

Here is another absolutely delicious way to use fresh blueberries. I asked Aunt Gaye, who lives in Birmingham, Alabama, for recommendations on using blueberries since I had such a large summer crop. (Aunt Gaye is a great cook.) In a second she replied that she indeed had a favorite blueberry recipe: “Fresh Blueberry Streusel Pie.” She promised to mail me the recipe. Mail. Isn’t that great? Everybody likes to get mail. On the down side, now I had to wait several days for the recipe. Well, the recipe arrived as promised and I made the pie. Aunt Gaye showed off her cooking talents again, this is another winning recipe. The pie really highlights the fresh blueberry flavor. The crunchy streusel topping also sets the blueberries off, too.

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Heirloom Tomato and Caramelized Onion Tart

Do you remember “gas wars” where competing neighborhood filling stations lowered their prices by a penny at at time to competitively beat their neighbor? My favorite neighborhood grocery ran “loss leader” specials over the Fourth of July week. I’m not sure if was due to the opening of a competing neighborhood grocery store or just because of the holiday. Anyway, I was able to purchase beautiful heirloom tomatoes for $.99 per pound. Now, that’s a bargain.

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Classic Deep Dish Apple Pie

Warning — you may not be able to stop eating this apple pie. There is something irresistible about the combination of a flaky pie crust, an aromatic (but not too sweet) apple filling and a crunchy oatmeal crumb topping. Autumn is the time of year to find varieties of apples at farmer’s markets and produce stands that don’t appear at other times of the year.Classic Deep Dish Apple Pie - IMG_5627

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