GOURMET COOKING ADDS SPICE TO LIFE

New Orleans is known for many things: the Blues, Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, Mardi Gras and the Saints. For Pat and Jim Allen of Cape Girardeau, their love of the mystic city is evident in gourmet dining and exotic spices at home.

"We've enjoyed going to New Orleans for the last 19 or 20 years," said Jim Allen. The couple has a time share in a condominium in New Orleans, which affords them a place to stay for about five weeks throughout the year.

Visiting several of the highly acclaimed restaurants in New Orleans fired the couple's interest in their shared hobby: gourmet cooking.

"We met some of the chefs and went to a couple of cooking schools there," Allen said. "(The chefs) shared some of their secrets with us."

Allen said they try to visit a different restaurant every time they visit New Orleans. "We subscribe to the New Orleans newspaper to keep up with them. Going to a new restaurant every time means we have to drop another one off the end, but that's okay."

The Allens say that oftentimes they prefer the newer, smaller eating establishments in New Orleans.

"In big places, they have to mass produce their food," Allen said. "Some of the smaller places have the best food."

Betty Noffel of Cape Girardeau takes a slightly different approach to her gourmet cooking hobby.

Noffel is a "detail" person who makes a great effort to present her culinary masterpieces in the most artful setting possible.

She recently catered a six-course dinner for the American Cancer Society Gala 1992, where she painstakingly coordinated each course with flowers, dinnerware, garnishes and other fancy decor.

"I love it when the meal looks pretty on the plate," Noffel said. "People often enjoy the dinner more when it is aesthetically pleasing."

For the Allens, one of the greatest attractions of New Orleans is the spices available to them in the deep South, which cannot be found in the Midwest.

"There is so much you can do with seasonings," Jim Allen said. "They bring out a lot of flavors and tastes in foods you don't normally experience."

The Allens cook a lot of fish and chicken dishes, but will also experiment with traditional tenderloin or pork cuts of meat. They try to get what they can fresh from the grocery stores. Allen said that from time to time, they will special order fish or tenderloin from local grocery stores.

Gourmet cooking does not have to be expensive, Jim Allen said.

"You can buy inexpensive cuts of meat and prepare them with seasonings that really bring out the flavor," Allen said. "You can further spice it up with fancy side dishes and desserts."

Side dishes the Allens enjoy include rice pilaf, various potato recipes, fresh-cut glazed carrots with an amaretto glaze, snow pea dishes and broccoli with cheese sauce.

"We also love salads," Allen said. "But not your typical run-of-the-mill salad. We will experiment with different types of greens, adding strawberries, raspberries, endives. We work to bring out different flavors in the salads."

The Allens grow some of their own herbs and spices, but rely primarily on the Farmer's Market when it is in season, or friends who give them fresh fruits and vegetables from their own gardens.

The Allens will depart from traditional recipes and create their own masterpieces from time to time.

"We usually start out with a recipe, then we add things until we like it," Allen said. "It's like customizing a recipe."

When preparing to cook a gourmet meal, the couple will sit down and plan and prioritize steps in the process to the end.

"There's the shopping, the chopping, the preparations and finally, the cooking," Allen said. "It usually takes more time to plan and chop everything up than it takes to actually cook the dish."

Allen and his wife will make sure everything is ready to go before they actually cook the meal. Allen said that the two share the work equally to reach their common goal.

To accompany their gourmet meals, the Allens have begun to experiment with wines.

"We enjoy wines, but there are several very good wines that you just can't find around here," Allen said. "We like several of the California wines and follow the vineyards out there.

"But we usually open the bottle while we are cooking, rather than when the meal is ready to be served."

Although Pat Allen now has a catering business, her husband said that they have toyed with the notion of opening a restaurant of their own some day.

"There would be a lot of work and a huge time commitment involved in something like that," Allen said. "We enjoy what we are doing now, just for the two of us or for family and friends."

Noffel has been experimenting with the art of gourmet cooking for 15 years, and says she loves to entertain family and friends. She particularly enjoys entertaining in January and February.

"I love making things into heart shapes and following the late winter motifs," Noffel said.

Noffel does most of her shopping locally or in St. Louis, and admits that gourmet cooking can be an expensive and time-consuming hobby.

"I put it all on paper before I do anything," Noffel said. "It will usually take me a week to get everything in order."

Noffel said she is content to take cooking courses and continue to experiment with cooking styles.

"I could never run a catering service or anything," she said. "I'd be too exhausted."