Rock you like a Hurricane!

How could we have a Mardi Gras feast and not have hurricanes?

We couldn't!! Actually... I've never been to Mardi Gras, so I really don't know. But I decided it was a MUST HAVE for our party!



Jon is the Bar Master at our house, so this duty falls to him!

We were out of a lot of staples and had to make a trip to the state store for some basic liquors... one of them being white rum. While perusing the rum section, Jon noticed Mount Gay Rum Barbados. That was the rum of choice of Robert, one of the characters in AC Weisbecker's Cosmic Banditos. So of course, that was the rum Jon picked. It turns out the rum is really good!! So is the book! You should read it!

Anyway... back to the hurricanes.

Hector's Hurricanes (Hector & Jon are one in the same, incase you were confused)
1 part amaretto
1 part gin
1 part light rum
1 part vodka
1 part triple sec
1/2 part 151 rum
1/4 part grenadine
1 2/3 part sweetened pink grapefruit juice
1 2/3 part sweetened pineapple juice

Pour all ingredients over ice by the glass or pitcher!

A little goes a LONG way with this potent fruity drink! It doesn't take long before you and your friends are standing around the kitchen singing Rock You Like a Hurricane!!

Crawfish Etouffee

So in the 'more things I've never made' category. I also made Crawfish Etouffee for our Mardi Gras feast.



I have to say... while this was cooking, the house smelled AMAZING! If you've never cooked crawfish... I highly recommend it! YUM!

This is compiled from a bunch of recipes I browsed through online.

Crawfish Etouffee
1 lb crawfish tail meat
1/4 C butter
1/4 C flour
1 1/3 C onion, diced
1 1/3 C celery, diced
1 1/3 C bell pepper, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 C diced tomatoes
1 heaping TBLS Cajun seasoning
2 - 4 cups shicken stock (chicken stock that has had shrimp shells simmered in it)
Tabasco, a few good shakes
salt & pepper
Hot cooked white rice

Saute onion, celery, and peppers in a little oil.
In a separate pot, melt butter on medium heat.
Make a roux by gradually stirring in flour.
Don't walk away.
Continue stirring and cooking until flour mixture is peanut butter colored.
Add sauteed veggies to roux and mix thoroughly.
Add tomatoes, Cajun seasoning, shicken stock, Tabasco and salt & pepper to taste.
Simmer 15 - 30 minutes.
Serve over hot cooked rice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First, if you don't have shricken stock, see yesterday's Jambalaya post for how to make it.

Saute the onions, celery, peppers and garlic in a little oil or butter.


Meanwhile, in a separate pot, it's time to make the roux. I'm pretty new at making roux and I get positively giddy as it gets darker and yummier!

Melt the butter over medium heat.


Slowly stir in the flour.


Keep stirring.


And stirring.


Until you get a caramel/peanut butter color.


Add the sauteed veggies to the roux and mix thoroughly.


Add tomatoes.


Add Cajun seasoning & Tabasco.


Now add the stock.


Add the crawfish.




I've never had etouffee. I think I would have liked mine to be thicker. So although I added 4 cups of shricken stock. I think next time, I'll start with 2 and see how it looks after I add the crawfish. 4 cups made this kind of stewy... maybe it's supposed to be like that. I have no idea. But I'd like it to be a little more chili-like in consistency.

Isn't that pretty? I wish you could smell it!! It smelled SO good!!


Cover that and cook for 15 - 30 minutes.


Serve over hot cooked rice!


I will definitely be seeking out more crawfish recipes. This was GREAT!!!

Jambalaya

So in my less than timely manner... here's the Jambalaya that I made for our early Mardi Gras feast.

Until Sunday, the only jambalaya that ever came out of my kitchen was Zatarain's. Which IS really good. But I wanted to try making it from scratch.

I looked at bunches & bunches of recipes to get an idea of what actually goes into it and came up with this:



Spryte's Jambalaya
1 1/4 lbs medium shrimp (reserve shells)
3/4 lb smoked sausage, cut into bite sized half circles
1 C onion, diced
1 C celery, diced
1 C bell pepper, diced
1 C tomatoes, diced (I used canned)
1 small can tomato paste
2 1/2 - 3 1/2 C chicken stock
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 - 2 TBLS Worcestershire sauce
1 TBLS cajun seasoning
1 1/2 C long grain white rice
1 TBLS butter
Tabasco, a few good shakes


Preheat oven to 350F
Shell and devein shrimp. Combine shrimp shells with chicken stock in a sauce pan and simmer until shells turn pink. Strain out shells and reserve stock. (I put the shells in 64 oz of chicken stock, then had extra shricken stock for other recipes)
In a cast iron dutch, melt butter and brown smoked sausage. Add half of the onion, celery and peppers and cook until tender. Add tomatoes & tomato paste. Cook for a minute or two. Add rice and cook for a few minutes while stirring. Add 2 1/2 cups of shricken stock, remaining onion, celery, and peppers, garlic, cajun seasoning, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco. Stir well and bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Add raw shrimp (and if needed a little more shricken stock) and bake for 10 more minutes.
Enjoy!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's most of what you need.


Peel & devein the shrimp (oops... sorry... they're a little fuzzy!)


Reserve the shells, rinse and simmer in chicken stock.




Prior to simmering... you can't really see the shells in the stock


You can see them after!


I save all of my shrimp and lobster shells, just to use like this. If I don't have an immediate use for them. I vacuum seal them and throw them into the freezer to become stock another day!

Strain out the shells and reserve the shricken stock.

Now onto the jambalaya.

My cast iron dutch oven looks like I'm cooking in a black hole!

Melt the butter and add the smoked sausage.




After it's browned, add about half of the onion, celery and peppers.




When the veggies are tender, add the tomatoes and tomato paste.




When that's all mixed in and has cooked a couple minutes, add the rice.




Stir that around and cook for a few minutes.


Add 2 1/2 cups of shricken stock, remaining onion, celery, and peppers, garlic, cajun seasoning, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco and bake for 25 minutes, uncovered.


After 25 minutes stir in shrimp and bake for 10 more minutes. If the rice is still looking a little crunchy, add more shricken stock.






I usually serve Jambalaya with Blackened Catfish.





But really it's a meal all on it's own.

I used prepared Cajun seasoning, because I had some and I was getting a little frazzled since I was behind schedule.

It had been my intent to make my own Cajun seasoning. Well... to make Shane's Cajun Seasoning. Check out his blog Culinary Alchemist. He's AMAZING in the kitchen!

I might still make Zatarain's, on a busy week night. But this homemade Jambalaya was GREAT! So I wouldn't be too surprised if Zatarain's has made it's final appearance in my kitchen!

Enjoy!!

King Cake

I've never celebrated Mardi Gras and decided that I wanted to try to make a New Orleans style feast at home.

Since I work full-time outside of my home, this had to be done on Sunday... so we really had Dimanche Gras!

One of the customers at work always sends us a King Cake in February. This year, I got the baby. I've heard that makes me Queen for the day... or that I host the next Mardi Gras party. So I decided that I'd have a little Dimanche Gras party and that King Cake would be on the menu. Hopefully that relieves my obligation... if it doesn't, then I'll go with I was Queen for the day!

I searched the internet for recipes. And was putting together a recipe based on many of them. Then I found Cajun Chef Ryan's recipe and decided to just make a few small changes to his recipe.



King Cake
Cake
1/2 C warm water (110F)
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 C sugar (plus 2 tsp)
4 1/2 C flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp salt
zest from one medium lemon
1/2 C warm milk (110F)
5 egg yolks
1/2 C butter, (plus 2 Tbsp) softened
1 egg and 1 Tbsp milk beaten (for egg wash)
1 dried bean or ceramic baby

Filling
1/2 C brown sugar
3/4 C walnuts
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Icing
3 C confectioners sugar
1/4 C fresh lemon juice, strained
3 to 6 Tbsp water

Purple, Green & Yellow Sanding Sugar

In a large glass measuring cup or bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water and sprinkle with yeast and 2 tsp of sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes and stir until well mixed. Move to warm place and let sit for 10 minutes or until bubbly yeast has doubled in size.

In a large mixing bowl combine 3 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt and whisk well. Stir in lemon zest.

Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and gently pour in yeast mixture, warm milk and egg yolks. Combine wet and dry ingredients until it forms a smooth dough. Add 1/2 cup softened butter, one tablespoon at a time and combine well until it can be formed into a soft ball.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in up to another cup of flour a tablespoon at a time, until dough is smooth, shiny and elastic.

Coat the inside of a large mixing bowl with butter. Place dough ball in bowl and turn to coat completely. Cover the bowl with a towel and place in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 hours; until dough has doubled in size.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch down. Form dough into a tube shape about 14 inches long. Flatten dough tube and brush with softened butter. Sprinkle with sugar & spice nut mixture, leaving at least a 1/2 inch of dough on the edges. Pinch dough closed. Tuck bean or ceramic baby into dough seam. If you are using a plastic baby, tuck it in AFTER baking. Place dough on a parchment paper lined cookie tray and form a circle with the dough. Pinch edges to close circle.

Cover dough circle with a towel and place in a warm draft-free place for 45 minutes or until dough circle has doubled in size.

Whisk together egg & 1 Tbls of milk for egg wash. Brush top and all sides of dough circle with egg wash. Bake 375F for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow cake to cool on wire rack until completely cooled.

To make the icing, whisk together confectioners sugar & lemon juice with enough water to make glaze.

When cake is completely cooled, drizzle glaze over the top of cake. While glaze is still wet, sprinkle colored sugars in 2 - 3 inches sections around the cake.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roule!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A half cup of warm water (110F)


Plus yeast and 2 tsp sugar. Let that sit for 5 minutes.


Then mix it and let it sit for 10 minutes.


While the yeasties were doing their thing... whisk up your dry ingredients.

mmmmm... freshly grated nutmeg!






And the lemon zest.




Wow! The yeast got really big & bubbly!


Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the yeast mixture


And warm milk and egg yolks.


Mix it all together.




Add the softened butter, one tablespoon at a time.






Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.


Knead in up to another cup of flour.








So after about 10 minutes, when it's shiny & smooth & elastic, put dough ball in a buttered bowl.






Turn to coat dough completely.


Cover the dough and place in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 hours; until dough has doubled in size.




Doubled in size!


Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and punch down.


Make a long slab of dough.


Brush with butter.


Sprinkle with filling.


Pinch dough closed.


I put a bean in this, but I think next time I'll skip that part. I'd hate to have someone bite into it and hurt a tooth or something. But I did tuck one in this time.




Form a circle with the dough on a parchment paper lined cookie tray.


Cover it with a towel and place in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes; until doubled in size.


Doubled in size again.


Whisk up the egg wash




Brush the cake with the egg wash.




Bake at 375F for 20 - 25 minutes until golden.


Cool on wire rack to room temperature


Move cake to a large platter.


Whisk up glaze.










Pour glaze over cooled cake.


Sprinkle with purple, green & yellow sugars.


This came out pretty good! My daughter really loved it!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roule!!!!