Delightful Palate marinades make a holiday splash

Cooking instructor Lili Courtney had always kept an ample supply of homemade marinades around to demonstrate the value of a well-constructed condiment for adding flavor to meats and vegetables. But they were so beloved by friends and family that Courtney was inspired to explore packaging them. Her Delightful Palate line of marinade-dressings was released a few months ago and is slowly hitting shelves across the state. All three locations of Maxwell’s Market carry the products, and Courtney will be in two of the stores in December to demonstrate their uses. (Lunchtime: Dec. 7 at the Corporate Boulevard location, and Dec. 14 at the East Petroleum Drive location).

Courtney has taught leisure cooking classes in Alexandria, her hometown, for more than 20 years, most recently at the Kitchen Warehouse there. More than a year ago, she began the journey that so many passionate home chefs undertake in Louisiana: bringing a successful personal recipe to scale. She reached out to culinary incubator, Edible Enterprises in Norco, which connected her with food scientist and chef Ehab “Happy” Abdelbaki. She and Chef Happy worked for several months to convert Courtney’s homemade marinades into a shelf-stable, bottled formula. “We would taste and taste for hours on end to make sure everything stayed true to the original recipe,” she says.

Her Balsamic Honey Glaze, Stone Fruit Nectar and Wild Mayhaw Berry condiments are meant to be used as marinades or dressings, and she encourages patrons to try them on anything, but especially seasonal items. A committed patron of Alexandria’s Inglewood Farms, the state’s largest organic grower, Courtney likes experimenting with whatever is fresh and local. “Right now, I’m loving roasting butternut squash with the wild mayhaw berry and dousing winter salads with pears and bleu cheese with the stone fruit nectar. They’re terrific fall holiday dishes.” For recipes and more information, see delightfulpalate.net.