Firm white fish and shrimp, lightly seasoned and pan seared, and finished in a tomato based Creole sauce.

Fish Creole

We are very blessed here on the Gulf Coast to have access to a wide variety of fresh fish, that frankly most of us grew up practically weaned on - flounder, speckled trout, grouper, snapper, redfish, mullet, and of course, let's not forget Mississippi farmed catfish. Yep, we're pretty spoiled and fish makes a regular appearance on the menu for us here. I love it pretty much any way that you can fix it really - grilled, smoked, blackened, broiled - it's all good, though fried and baked are the two most common ways that many of us prepare it.

Lightly breaded and shallow pan fried is far less messy than deep frying, which is outstanding, but can leave that fried aroma in the atmosphere for what seems like forever. I tend to pan fry more often because of that, but when I do a fairly big fish fry, it's deep fry all the way. I just take the fryer outside!

A Tex-Mex casserole made from seasoned shredded pork, chicken or beef and beans, layered with corn tortillas, cheese and taco sauce and finished with chopped onion, tomato and shredded lettuce.

Tex-Mex Chalupa Casserole

I have struggled from day one over what to call this casserole.

The recipe I patterned this after was called Chalupa Casserole. Okay. Except "chalupas" apparently is the Spanish word for canoe or small boat, or something to that effect, so an authentic Mexican chalupa is so named because the tortilla dough is formed in the same manner, to make a corn canoe if you will, then stuffed with a variety of fillings.

On the other hand, I have gone to a Mexican restaurant before, ordered a chalupa plate expecting that, and received what really was a tostada to me - a flat, fried tortilla, topped with refried beans and meat and dressed like a taco, with lettuce, onion and tomatoes. Nothing concave or boat shaped about it!

Favorite Southwestern, Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes

A collection of my favorite Southwestern, Mexican and Tex-Mex recipes, from my website, DeepSouthDish.com.

If you make any of these recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!

Yum

I love Mexican food, or I guess more appropriately, what we in the United States know as Tex-Mex, a more Americanized version of anything remotely resembling authentic Mexican cuisine.

I confess though, I'm a pretty simple girl when it comes to it. Give me some chips and salsa or that fabulous cheese dip to start, or maybe even some nachos and a margarita and I'm pretty good with tacos, burritos, or the occasional tostada. Love those!

A stew made of chicken thighs, or a whole cut-up chicken, browned in butter and oil, and cooked in a tomato-based Creole sauce with the trinity of veggies and a mix of curry, herbs and spices and rice.

Country Captain Chicken

There are a lot of theories about the origins of this dish, none of which is set in stone, although both Georgia and South Carolina have definitely laid claims to it. Legend has it that it's a dish that a ship's captain carried to America as a result of the spice trade, perhaps through the ports of Charleston or Savannah.

It's a one-pot, butter-browned, curried chicken dish, appearing to be Indian in origin, typically made with bone-in, skin-on, whole cut-up chicken, or most often, only chicken thighs. If you want to cut back on fat, you could get away with boneless, skinless thighs, with the understanding that the loss of bone and fat is also loss of flavor, and you'll need to compensate with cooking time and seasonings.