Mama's Green Gumbo - a weekend recipe

There are as many varieties of gumbo in New Orleans as there are streets with French names. One variety, Green Gumbo, or Gumbo Z’herbs, is little-known and generally found only in New Orleans. Catholic’s often serve this meatless gumbo (although meat may be added) on Good Friday. Superstition has it that a new friend will be made for every different green leafy vegetable used in the gumbo. Mama, a naturally suspicious person, always uses seven different types of greens. Here is her special recipe for Green Gumbo.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds leaves of (pick your own seven greens) collard, cabbage, radish, turnips, mustard, spinach, watercress, parsley and green onion, equal portions, chopped very fine
• 1 onion, white, large, chopped
• ½ red pepper pod
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• 1 bay leaf, finely chopped
• 1 sprig thyme, finely chopped
• 1 sprig parsley, finely chopped
• 1 sprig sweet marjoram, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• ¼ tsp. allspice, ground fine
• ½ tsp. cayenne
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup flour, all-purpose
• boiled rice

Directions

Wash the leaves thoroughly then remove coarse midribs. Pat dry. Put greens in a large pot with enough water to cover. Add black pepper. Boil for about 2 hours, strain and then chop very fine. Save the water in which they were boiled. Combine cooking oil and flour over medium heat in a heavy pot or Dutch oven.

When hot, add chopped onion and chopped sprig of parsley. Stir until roux reaches a rich peanut brown, and then add the chopped greens. When the leaves become brown, pour contents into the water in which the leaves were boiled. Throw in the bay leaf, thyme, sweet marjoram, red pepper pod, clove of garlic and allspice. Stir slowly. Place pot over low flame and simmer, partially covered for about 2 more hours, adding cayenne during the process. Serve with rice and French bread. Enjoy.

Eric'sWeb

Mama's Steamed Oysters - a weekend recipe

Mama has a PhD in English literature, but when it comes to sports, she isn’t a typical academic. A track star at the University of South Carolina, she participated in world-class sprints and relays. Her sleek body still attests to her former athletic prowess.

Another dirty little secret, Mama likes professional football and loves the New Orleans Saints. She attends every home game, at least when someone else is treating, that is. A recalcitrant cheapskate, she refuses to pay what she considers an exorbitant price for tickets. When she can’t see her beloved Saints playing in person, she often hosts a game party, serving steamed oysters, a New Orleans favorite.

Ingredients

• 4 dozen oysters, shucked
• Salt and pepper to taste
• A dash of cayenne

Directions

In a steamer, steam the oysters in a mixture of water and beer for about 5 minutes. Combine with salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne. Serve on crackers with drawn butter and, or Tabasco sauce.

Eric'sWeb

Mama Mulate's Chilled Mango-Melon Soup - a weekend recipe

Mama Mulate’s backyard is a tropical maze of garden pathways, stone masonry, fountains and birdbaths. Flowering vines grow up trellises and the back fence. Ferns, flower baskets and wind chimes hang from the eaves of her large covered deck where tropical ceiling fans provide a steady flow of air when you’re lounging in her porch swing, or comfortable rattan furniture.

Mama also has a garden where she grows peppers, okra, melons, and many other vegetables. What she doesn’t grow in her own backyard, she buys fresh at the French Market, a destination she likes to visit early in the morning.

Summers are always hot and humid in the Big Easy. The City’s residents—at least those that don’t have a mountain retreat—have found ways to stay cool and healthy. Mama loves making chilled soups and then serving them on her covered deck to the slow whirring of overhead fans, dripping of water in the fountains, and sounds of crickets and tree frogs. For a wonderful summer respite, try Mama’s chilled mango-melon soup.

Ingredients
• 1 large cantaloupe, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 2 large mangoes, peeled, pitted and chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• ½ Tbsp. cinnamon, ground

Directions
Puree melon and mango chunks in a blender, until smooth, with lime juice and cinnamon. Pour into a large bowl, stirring well. Chill for at least 3 hours. Pour into glass bowls, garnish with strawberry slices and sliced almonds. Serve and enjoy.

Eric'sWeb

Mama Mulate's Creole Catfish Bites - a weekend recipe

Mama Mulate has a natural connection with her Tulane English students, often hosting poetry readings and literary events at her home in urban New Orleans. When she does, she always provides home cooked delicacies such as her famous Creole catfish bites. Bite into one yourself and you’ll see (and taste) why they’re famous.

Ingredients
 • 1 pound catfish fillets, poached
• 6 Tbsp. butter
• ¾ cup flour
• 2 cups milk
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• ½ tsp. dry mustard
• ½ tsp. Jamaican allspice, ground
• 1 ½ cups bell pepper, finely chopped
• ½ cup green onions, finely chopped
• ½ tsp. Tabasco
• 1 ½ cups bread crumbs, fresh, plus more for coating Bites
• Vegetable oil for sautéing

Directions
 Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the flour, stirring constantly (2 to 3 minutes). Add the milk slowly, continuing to stir until the cream sauce is thick (10 to 12 minutes). Add salt, pepper, mustard, and allspice, mixing well. Flake the catfish fillets into a bowl. Add the cream sauce and the remaining ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Form bite-sized balls with the fish mixture, coating them with more bread crumbs. In about ½ inch of vegetable oil, gently sauté the bites in a heavy skillet, until they are browned.

Eric'sWeb

Mama Mulate’s Salade de Crevettes d'Orange - a weekend recipe

Mama Mulate is a character from my French Quarter murder mystery Big Easy. Being a voodoo mambo, she is deft at preparing magical potions and enchanted concoctions. She’s also a great cook and here’s her recipe for a wonderful summer salad.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 Tbsp. orange peel, dried and ground
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 oz. lime juice, fresh
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 4 plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. Triple Sec

Preparation

In a large bowl, combine orange peel, paprika and brown sugar. Toss the shrimp in the mixture, shaking until evenly coated. Sauté shrimp in olive oil. Toss plum tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, bell peppers, and cilantro in a large salad bowl. Whisk together red wine vinegar, remaining olive oil, lime juice and Triple Sec. Top individual salads with shrimp and serve.

Eric'sWeb

Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce - a recipe

Marilyn and I collect old New Orleans cookbooks and this week she found Creole Feast – 15 Master Chefs of New Orleans Reveal Their Secrets. This extraordinary cookbook, published in 1978 and written by Nathaniel Burton and Rudolph Lombard, features a recipe for one of my favorite desserts, one I always order whenever visiting the Crescent City.

This recipe is by Austin Leslie, master chef and one-time owner of Chez Helene, a wonderful New Orleans restaurant no longer in business. After being trapped in an attic for two days by Hurricane Katrina Leslie died in September 2005. He was the first person honored by a jazz funeral after Katrina in what was then a largely deserted Big Easy.

Austin Leslie, also known as the Godfather of Fried Chicken, was the inspiration for the short-lived television show Frank’s Place. If you are like me, an aficionado of fried chicken, you really should read the book, if only for his personal description of the absolute best way to cut up a chicken and fry it.

Chicken wasn’t the only thing Austin Leslie knew how to cook; he could also prepare wonderful deserts. I’ve published other bread pudding recipes and every one is slightly different. If you enjoy bread pudding as much as I, give this one a try because it is a good one.

Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

1 loaf stale French bread
¼ can evaporated milk
1 pound butter
1 ¼ cups sugar
¼ pound raisins
1 small can crush pineapple
3 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
¼ cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wet the bread and squeeze the water out of it. Melt the butter and mix with all other ingredients. Pour mixture into a well-greased 4 x 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 2 ½ hours. The pudding will rise in the first hour. After an hour, remove pan from oven and stir the mixture to tighten it. Return to the oven for the second hour of cooking.

Rum Sauce

¼ stick butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
½ cup rum

Place all ingredients in double boiler and cook for 10 minutes. Beat until fluffy. Serves 10

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Shrimp Ravioli - a weekend recipe

The restaurants of New Orleans are truly the gems of the City. Here is a recipe I found on the web from the Rib Room of New Orleans. Enjoy.

Shrimp Ravioli "Bay Eloi" in Shrimp Herb Essence

Ingredients:
6 Pieces Shrimp Ravioli
4 oz Shrimp Stock
4 oz Whole Softened Butter
½ tsp Shallots Chopped
½ tsp Garlic Chopped
2 oz White Wine
3 oz Diced Tomatoes
½ tsp Parsley Chopped
½ tsp Tarragon Chopped
½ tsp Chives Chopped
3 Pieces 10-15 Count Shrimp Grilled
4 oz French Spinach Sautéed in Butter

Method:
Sweat shallots and garlic in olive oil. Add white wine and reduce by half. Add shrimp stock and reduce by half. Incorporate the butter by whipping in with a wire whip. Finish with diced tomatoes and herbs. Blanch ravioli in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

For Plate:
In large bowl, add sautéed spinach. Arrange ravioli on top of spinach. Spoon sauce around ravioli. Garnish with grilled shrimp and herb sprigs.

Fiction South

Crab Meat Broussard - a weekend recipe

New Orleans is the home of many fine restaurants. Broussard’s, a French Quarter destination since 1920, is one of the best. Here is a recipe from Broussard’s website as interpreted by Chef Gunter Preuss. Try it and enjoy.

CRAB MEAT BROUSSARD

Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp. butter
- 6 jumbo shrimp, peeled, tail left on, deveined; butterfly
- 1 oz. (2 tbsp.) olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 fresh artichoke hearts, chopped
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- ¼ cup flour
- ¼ cup white wine
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 oz. brie cheese
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. whole fresh thyme leaves
- ¾ lb. jumbo lump crab meat
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet, melt the butter and sauté the shrimp until they are just cooked. Set aside to cool. In a heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil and sauté the yellow onion, artichoke hearts, and garlic over medium heat until the onions become limp. Sprinkle in the flour and mix well while cooking for a minute more.
Deglaze the pan with the white wine, and then add stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for three minutes.

Add the heavy cream and simmer for another five minutes. Take the brie and scrape off and discard the white skin; cut cheese into small pieces. Add brie to the ream sauce and stir until all of the cheese is melted and mixed well. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, olive oil, and thyme. Set aside.

After the cheese mixture is cool, gently fold in the crabmeat, being careful not break up the lumps. To assemble, place one shrimp in the center of an oven proof serving dish so that it stands. Spoon the crabmeat mixture around the shrimp and sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture. Repeat with the remaining shrimp. Arrange the dishes on a large baking pan and bake in the preheated oven for fifteen minutes, or until the crab mixture is hot and bubbly.

Serve immediately.

Serves 6

Fiction South

Oysters Louisiana - a weekend recipe

You can’t visit New Orleans without trying the oysters. An early-day chef from France began using them, trying to find a substitute for escargot, an almost impossible commodity to procure in the colony.

New Orleans chefs now prepare them a thousand different ways, from fried to raw. Here is a simple but wonderful recipe from the Acme Oyster House on Iberville. As their name implies, they know oysters. Try this recipe and enjoy.

OYSTERS LOUISIANA

Ingredients:
4 oz. butter - melted
1.5 pints oysters - drained
4 green onions - chopped finely
3 cloves garlic - minced
½ lb. fresh lump crabmeat
½ cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Melt butter in a skillet. Add oysters and cook until dry. Add onions and garlic and cook slowly for at least 10 minutes. Fold in crabmeat and crumbs. Simmer 5 minutes more. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Gondwana

Pascal's Manales Bread Pudding - a weekend recipe

I have used Pascal’s Manale as a setting for two stories, both featuring Mama Mulate, my fictional voodoo mambo/Tulane English professor. In the short story Conjure Man, Mama visits Pascal’s during a hurricane to visit her much younger boyfriend/bartender. In my novel Big Easy, Mama and Wyatt Thomas seal a partnership that sets the stage for the stage for the French Quarter murder mystery.

There is no better place on earth to eat a few dozen oysters and drink cold Dixie Beer while waiting on a table to dine on Pascal’s signature barbecue shrimp and finish up with what may be the best bread pudding in all of New Orleans.

Below is the recipe for their bread pudding from the Pascal’s Manale website.

Ingredients:
3 Loaves French Bread
15 ozs. Raisins
½ Gallon Whole Milk
½ lb. Sugar
10 Eggs
½ Pound of Melted Butter
3 ozs. Vanilla Extract

Directions
Cut French bread into cubes. Pour milk on French bread. Let milk soak into bread. Add the remaining ingredients to French bread mixture. Mix with hand until blended evenly. Pour mixture into ungreased pan.Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Makes 15 or more servings.

Topping
3 ozs. Brandy
1 lb. butter
8 ozs. sugar
2 ozs. vanilla extract

Let butter sit at room temperature until very soft. Add the remaining ingredients and blend with mixer until smooth. Pour over bread pudding.

Louisiana Mystery Writer