-Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by...

I'm Kevin Belton, and I'm getting ready to fry up some bass we caught when we visited Rapides Parish on our "Cookin' Louisiana" road trip.

So, we'll start with pan-fried bass with lemon-garlic herb sauce.

How about biscuits and sausage gravy?

And for a sweet treat, kolaches.

I've got my pan, so let's go get that bass!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I'll tell you what, there's nothing like fresh fish coming out of the water.

Hi, guys.

Welcome to my "Cookin' Louisiana" kitchen.

I thank you so much for joining me on this tasty tour of the state's best flavors and dishes.

Now, this time, we're heading for the heart of Louisiana -- Rapides Parish, which is named for the local river Rapides.

Now, Alexandria, the parish seat, and the adjacent Pineville developed along the Red River, which is the focal point of both cities.

The river is actually one of Louisiana's hottest bass fishing resources.

So we're going to kick things off with a pan-fried bass with lemon-garlic herb sauce.

How you like that?

This is going to be good.

So, you can see I have our fish.

Next to me, I have our flour.

Of course, in our flour, let's get a little salt.

Let's get a little bit of Creole seasoning, and while we're here, let's put a little Creole seasoning on our fish.

Oh, yeah.

You know, this is a white, flaky meat.

Let's get a little pepper in there.

I'm going to stir this around.

A little more salt on our fish.

Now, we're going to do the other side as well, but I want to get my pan turned on right quick.

It's always important to get that pan heated up, Okay, while our pan is heating up, let's take... put this in the flour, and now let's put it seasoning on our backside.

Always season both sides.

See, I just want a light little coating on here.

Shake it off, make sure you shake off any excess.

Let's do the other one.

Lay it right there.

Little bit of seasoning.

A little bit of salt.

And remember, our flour has a touch of seasoning in it.

Here is the important part.

Let's make sure we shake off that excess.

Okay?

Now that we've got that done, in our pan, let's get a little butter in here to get started.

This is going to be one of those dishes where it's important, don't overcook your fish.

Alright, this pain is getting nice and hot.

Remember, we don't want this butter too hot.

So, let's get our fish.

Let's just lay it right in our pan.

The other one right in the pan.

Our fire is up high, and you notice once I put them down, don't move it.

Let it sit.

It'll create a natural crust.

Let it stay there just like it is.

Oh, let's get ready to turn it.

[ Sizzling ] Look at that.

Look at that.

I've turned our fire really low.

And you can also see the butter is starting to brown.

That little browning adds a nice flavor.

I tell you what, I think our fish is ready.

We're going to take our fish out.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

You sit right here.

Come here.

Come here.

I want to put you this way.

I want you to sit right here.

Alright.

Yeah.

Now, you guys stay there.

I have something wonderful to go with you.

Okay, gang, in our pan, let's go ahead... We're going to put in a touch -- a little bit more butter.

Yes.

We're going to go in with a little white wine.

[ Sizzling ] Now, what this wine is going to do, this wine is going to deglaze that pan.

If you have any little goodies stuck to the bottom of the pan, the wine is going to get that up.

And you see how hot this is?

So it's reducing.

When something is reducing, that means you're losing the moisture, but the flavor is intensifying.

And that's what we want to happen here.

Okay, so now let's turn our fire back up.

Let's get in some herbs.

We have a little oregano.

We have a little thyme.

We have a little parsley.

Now, just a touch of chicken stock.

Let's get in garlic.

Now to brighten this up, a little bit of lemon juice.

Now, of course, let's grab our salt, put a little bit of salt in here.

Here's the trick.

Fire off.

Now we're going to take this butter and put in off the fire.

Whenever you hear chefs talk about "creaming out," by putting the butter in off the fire, as this melts, it's going to thicken.

It's going to give it a nice, creamy texture.

Oh, yes.

So let's get this over our fish.

Here.

Oh, you look so good.

Oh, look at that.

Let's just take a spoon... and ladle it just right... on top of our fish.

Come on down, guys.

Come on, get in here.

Come on, get in here.

Alright.

Let's just lay this right on down.

Oh, yes.

A little bit right there in the middle.

Now, of course, you know, little extra lemon wedges.

Let's -- How about a little fresh green onion?

A little bit of fresh parsley.

That looks good.

Now, I'm not angling for a compliment, but that bass would make any fisherman proud.

Now, coming up, how about some fluffy, tender biscuits topped with scratch-made sausage gravy?

We're in Alexandria, Rapides Parish.

Tell me about the bass fishing.

-Oh, it's fun, exciting.

It's the only fishing I like to do is bass fishing.

There's nothing like it.

-And why do you think central Louisiana is so great for the bass fishing?

Is it because of the water?

-There's lots of freshwater.

Most of the lakes we have, including the rivers, we've got creeks and small streams and tributaries that feed these places.

That's what makes it so good.

Just being on the water is fun.

-That's it.

That's the reason to fish.

Now let's take care of some hearty, hearty goodness -- biscuits and gravy.

In our bowl, we have flour.

So we're going to do a teaspoon of salt.

Little sugar.

A little baking powder.

Just get this all mixed together.

Now we're going to cut in butter.

The butter, it looks kind of funny because I froze it, then I shredded it, put it on a saucer, and put it right back in the freezer to stay cold.

That's why it looks all crumbly like this.

Let's go ahead and get it cut in.

What we're looking for is this to look like little pebbles.

That's what we want.

We've got this cut in pretty good.

Alright.

That's good.

Get that little extra butter out of there.

Don't want to leave any behind.

Now let's get in our milk.

You hop on in, and let's just stir this right together.

Oh, yes.

Now, while this is sitting right here, and before I start getting this together, let's go ahead and put our pan on because we're going to make a sausage gravy.

So today we're going to use a pork breakfast sausage.

I'm just going to get this in the pan.

Get this to starting to break up.

So I'm going to spread this out a little bit and just let this get to going.

You be nice.

We'll come back and take care of this.

But let's go ahead and get those biscuits together.

I want to put a little flour down.

Now, I'm going to take our...dough.

And you see, we just have to get in there with our hands and pull this together.

Knead that all in.

Come on, come out.

Oh, yeah, come on.

You can get there, you can get there.

You notice I'm folding it, kind of kneading it as I go.

With that cold butter being cut in and the layers like we're folding here, that's just going to create layers of flakiness.

Depending on how big you want your biscuit, how thick do you want this?

I'm just taking a mason jar.

Dip it in a little flour, go right to the edge, and just cut.

There we go.

Little flour.

Get right here and cut.

Oh, yeah.

And right there.

All I have here is just a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Our biscuits are ready to go in the oven.

Now, the oven is set at 425 degrees and they're going to cook for 10 to 12 minutes.

Bake pretty.

So look at our breakfast sausage.

It's starting to get nice and crumbly, and it's not pink anymore.

This is what we want.

Now, even though I'm using a breakfast sausage, I am still going to put a little bit of our Creole seasoning on.

We're going to do a little bit of flour.

And you know what this flour's for?

This is what's going to make the gravy.

So let's get this stirred in.

Now let's get our milk in.

And you notice I didn't put it all in at once.

See how that's bubbling in that hot skillet?

Notice I'm working the bottom of the pan to get any of those little -- good little bits that browned off right up off the bottom.

You're going to see how this'll start to thicken for us.

Now, I know that breakfast sausage has its own flavor, okay?

But...little bit of Creole seasoning, and we're gonna also do just a little pinch of salt.

Now we're going to bring it up to a boil so that this can cook and thicken up for our gravy.

In here, I have a little bit of red pepper flakes.

Now, this is optional.

Do you want to put in red pepper flakes?

Yes or no?

Today, yes, we're going with red pepper flakes in.

Yes.

Alright.

Wait till this gets together, it's going to be so delicious.

Let's get cleaned up so you can see it.

Hark, the biscuits are calling.

Oh, you look so pretty.

So pretty.

Look at our biscuits, so pretty.

Now, they're kind of leaning, but that's okay.

Let's just cut them right open.

Oh, yeah.

Look, I'mma just lay this right like that.

You come here.

Look, it just popped right open.

You come right there.

See, they just laid right on open because of the fact that we knead it, we fold it, we knead it, we fold it, we knead it, we fold it.

And let's make sure, always before you serve something, just give a little taste, just to see if we need to adjust it with any salt or anything like that, but I tell you what, it's fine.

So...oh.

Right over the top.

Come on, come on, come here.

Right there.

Oh, you want some too, don't you?

And I didn't forget about you.

I didn't forget ab-- Last but not least, we'll just drop some right there.

Oh, yes.

Now, that's -- always like to add a little color.

A little bit of green onion to freshen things up, little bit of parsley to freshen things up.

Wow, that was our timeless breakfast dish, biscuits and sausage gravy.

Next, a traditional dessert from the Czechs of Rapides Parish, kolaches.

Settlers from Czechoslovakia, they came to Rapides Parish in the early 1900s and they were looking for good farmland.

The Libuse area has been the center of Czech life since the immigrants arrived, and local heritage groups have kept traditions alive through dance, song, and, of course, food.

Let's get these kolaches started.

Now, I am warming up some milk.

Now, the important thing is we don't want our milk too hot because we're going to use yeast and it will kill it.

So we're going to do a little sugar.

And then we're going with dry yeast.

The yeast is going to activate with the sugar and warm milk.

So what we're going to notice in just a few minutes, it's going to start to get bubbles around the edges, then it's going to be activated.

That's what we're looking to happen.

Kolaches have gotten so popular in Louisiana, you go into a bakery and you see boudin kolaches, which is that wonderful rice sausage.

Alright?

Oh, that boudin's so good inside that sweet kolache dough.

You're going to see sausage with jalapeños and cheese inside.

Oh, what a wonderful breakfast.

Just a boudin kolache in one hand, a sausage kolache in the other hand, and just kolache goodness.

But we're doing dessert today.

Get off the savory.

We're doing sweet.

See the top, it's gotten foamy.

The little tiny bubbles, that's that yeast.

It's growing.

So let's go in with a little bit of our flour.

Let's get this mixed in.

And this will start coming together.

I just want to stir this enough to where all of our flour gets worked in and starts to disappear.

Alright.

Now, into my flour also add a little bit of salt.

Let's get this salt in here.

Here, I have melted butter and I have a couple of egg yolks.

So I'm going to take my egg yolks, mix them into the butter.

Now, the butter is not hot, okay?

It's warm.

It was just melted, but it's not hot because we don't want this to scramble.

So let's get this in.

Now we're able to go with a little more flour.

And just start getting this mixed in really good.

Alright, let's get the rest of this flour in.

Oh, yes.

See how that's just folding right on in.

See, it's still kind of sticky, but it's getting better.

Well, here's what we're going to do, okay?

Getting this started.

Let's take a little flour on our board.

Let's just kind of get this spread out.

I'm going to take a little bit of flour... put on my fingers to get this out of the bowl.

Come on, let's turn you out.

We're going to turn you out right onto the board.

Now you see this bottom side that was there, it was just a little sticky.

Alright, come on.

I want you all.

I want you all.

I'mma take a little bit of this flour, put it on my fingers, and now we're going to knead this, okay?

I tell you what, this is like therapy.

This feels so good.

And at the end of the day, you know you can serve something to family and friends that you've made by hand.

And who wouldn't appreciate that, alright?

See how this is starting to get to a nice ball?

See, it's not sticky anymore.

Look at that.

Now, what I have here, this bowl I've sprayed with all-purpose vegetable spray.

We're going to put this in here, we're going to cover this, and now we're going to leave this.

We're going to get cleaned up because this has to double in size.

So this is going to proof right here while we get cleaned up.

Alright, look at our dough.

It is up.

Now, a little bit of flour -- not very much.

Put a little flour on here.

Let's get this out.

Going to put a little bit of flour on the top.

Just kind of pat it there.

Alright.

Here's what we're going to do, we're going to take our cutter, we're going to cut this.

We're gonna cut this again.

Now, from each one of these, we're going to make our balls.

So just take it, roll it up, plop it down.

This is where we can get the kids involved in something like this.

There's always ways to get our kids involved in the kitchen.

So now here's what we're going to do, these need to rest, so while these rest, let's go ahead and get to work on our filling.

Now, one of the fillings that we're going to do are prune.

What I have here, I have a little water.

We're going to get in some honey.

And we're going to put our prunes down in here.

Now, another way of doing this is to go ahead, heat up the water and the honey, put the prunes in a bowl, and pour them over it.

But because I'm doing other things, let's put our prunes in.

This is going to come up to a boil.

The water is going to start to evaporate.

And what we want to do, we want to take our spoon and mash up the prunes, okay?

So we're just going to let this sit, boil really good.

And you'll see how that'll work in there.

Here, I have softened cream cheese.

And let's just put in some powdered sugar.

Alright.

Look how simple this is -- just take your spoon, cream cheese at room temperature, just kind of work that around.

You just have to kind of be careful.

Alright?

That's it.

And, you know, if you want, you can brighten this up with a little lemon juice in here.

But, hey, we're not even going to put any lemon juice in here.

Look at our prunes.

This is starting to cook.

This moisture will evaporate.

This will get really thick and those prunes will start to cook apart, alright?

I have some filling already done, so let me grab that.

Here's our cream cheese with the sugar.

There are our prunes -- what they look like.

And I'm also going to do a little apricot.

Alright?

Now, these have proofed.

And here is what we need to do.

We need to do a couple of things here.

Now, you could take your finger and press it down in like this, or you can use a spoon and just make a little -- create a little spot with a spoon right down in it like that, and don't go too deep to where you punch a hole in it.

Here we go.

See how that sits?

So now all we have to do is start filling.

Now, I'mma use this cream cheese right here because it's really sweet.

So there you go.

So here, let's put a couple with our prunes right in there.

Oh, yeah, this looks so good.

And I have a little apricot preserve.

They're going to pop right there.

Look how pretty that looks.

There we go.

Now, before these go in the oven, let's do a little egg wash just around the outsides.

Just a little bit of egg wash just around the outside.

This egg wash is going to help them brown off.

Alright.

Alright, our egg wash is on.

Our oven is preheating 375 degrees, so let's get them in the oven.

375 degrees.

Now, they're going to be in there for about 18 to 21 minutes, then we're going to have kolache goodness.

So let's get cleaned up.

Look what our oven has created -- beautiful kolaches.

Now, we have one with cream cheese, one with apricot, and finally, the prune.

How's that for a sweet trio?

Kolaches -- a delicious bite of Louisiana's Czech heritage.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me on this culinary road trip.

Now, you have to keep that party rolling, bringing the big flavors of Louisiana to your home.

So I'll see you next time for more "Cooking Louisiana."

-The companion cookbook to "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" is available for $28 plus shipping and handling.

You can also order an hour-long DVD of favorite dishes from the series for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.

Both the book and favorites DVD are available for $43.95 plus shipping and handling.

To order these items, call 1-866-360-4928 or order online at wyes.org.

-And this cream cheese does not want to melt, because you know why?

The kitchen staff played a joke on me.

They gave me frozen cream cheese.

This is frozen.

That's why it's not melting.

Look at that.

Is it melting?

No, it's not, because it's frozen.

Your order is ready!

There's your pork -- lock -- ♪ Pork lock -- Brrp!

Brrrp, brrrp!

♪ [ Smacking lips ] ♪ Pew!

Pew!

Pew!

Tasty bits of fried pork cracklings of what we call gratin.

Why am I on my tiptoes?

Why am I -- I'm talking about crackling and I done got up on my toes.

You see me?

I mean, I was tippy-toeing.

Crackling will do that.

♪ ♪ -For more information about "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana," visit wyes.org.

Funding for "Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana" was provided by...