ludes parades, a bloody mary and of course, some Popeye’s Chicken.  To celebrate, I’m beginning my day with coffee and chicory (like I do every morning) out of my purple, green and gold French Market Coffee mug.

Tonight I’ll be cooking a Fat Tuesday dinner for some clients.  While it is not New Orleans, owning a Tampa catering company allows me the opportunity to spread the word about great Creole and Cajun cuisine and also get paid for it!

Here’s our menu for tonight:

To Begin
Crab Cake and Spring Green Salad
Jumbo lump pan sautéed crab cake with Creole remoulade sauce,
served atop a salad of mixed greens
tossed with house-made Creole Mustard Vinaigrette

Main Course  – “Mardi Gras Madness”
“New Orleans Style” Barbecue Shrimp and Grits
with onions and peppers in a spicy sauce (no BBQ sauce in this dish, despite the name), served over creamy cheddar cheese grits

Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
Authentic Cajun style jambalaya with blackened chicken and spicy smoked sausage, cooked in a cast iron pot

Sliced Grilled Chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken breast, Marinated in citrus and seasonings, grilled then sliced

Grilled Seasonal Vegetables
squash, zucchini, asparagus and red onion, grilled and tossed with olive oil, salt and black pepper

Dessert
Florida Strawberry Shortcake
Fresh Plant City (local) Strawberries, on an open faced buttermilk biscuit, with Homemade whipped cream

• 2 oz. Rye Whiskey (Old Overholt or Sazerac Rye is preferred)
• ½ oz. Simple Syrup
• 5 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• 2 dash Angostura Bitters
• ¼ oz. Herbsaint (Pernod can be used as a substitute)
• 1 Lemon twist

Method Chill a rocks glass by filling with ice and water. In a cocktail shaker filled ¾ with ice, add rye whiskey, simple syrup, Peychaud’s Bitters and Angostura bitters. Using a bar spoon, stir until the shaker is ice-cold and frost has formed on the outside (do not shake a Sazerac). Empty the ice and water from the rocks glass, and pour in a bit of Herbsaint and toss the glass (or roll it) to coat the entire inside.  Pour out any excess. Strain your cocktail from the shaker into the Herbsaint lined glass.  A real Sazerac is served up and chilled, no rocks should be in the drink. Twist a lemon peel over the glass, rim the glass and then drop it in.  Many purists insist that the lemon peel should be discarded, but I prefer to keep the flavor throughout the drink courtesy of Kevin Lacassin www.NolaFoodie.com

• 2 ounces Vodka
• 6 ounces V8 Juice (Spicy V8)
• 1 teaspoon Prepared Horseradish
• Celery Salt
• 2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 dashes Hot Sauce (Tabasco, Crystal or Louisiana Brand)
• Wedge of Fresh Lime
• Wedge of Fresh Lemon

Method

Fill a glass with ice.  Pour in about (I stress the word “about”) 2 oz. of vodka.  I use Taaka (or Smirnoff), because that’s what the locals drink (or so the advertisement says), it’s cheap, and when you cover it up with all of the seasonings, you couldn’t tell it from Grey Goose.

Next, start adding ingredients.  Toss in some celery salt, shake in some Worcestershire sauce, celery salt, hot sauce and using a fork, add some prepared horseradish.  Last, squeeze in a lemon and lime wedge and drop them in the drink and fill the rest of the glass with V8 juice.  Have an extra big cup ready to roll the drink (roll just means to pour from cup to cup a couple of times to mix the drink).

Finally, add your garnishes.  No New Orleans Bloody Mary is complete without spicy green beans.  You can use celery stalks, olives, cucumbers or even spicy boiled shrimp to garnish your drink.  Do whatever looks pretty.  Mine has a spicy green bean, a spear of pickled spicy okra and an onion-stuffed olive.

Note: If you insist on using a mix, my favorite is by Zing Zang.

courtesy of Kevin Lacassin
www.NolaFoodie.com