Culinary Adventures with Camilla

We clearly are in need of some updated Mardi Gras photos! These are about 7 years old. What have I been doing for the past seven years?!? Who knows. Until then, these pics will have to suffice. Even Hippo got in on the masked action! Mardi Gras : French for 'Fat Tuesday', referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. We had to do our Mardi Gras dinner one night early. Long story. One from which I will spare you. In any case, we celebrated last night with... [ click on the title to go to the recipe post ] Seafood Étouffée    Bananas Foster    Sauzerac And I could only locate one mask in my Monday evening scramble, so, I updated my photo! Next year, I'll aim to find four masks and actually do it on Tuesday.  What's on your Mardi Gras table?

I originally wanted to make a traditional Crawfish* Étouffée for Mardi Gras , but crawfish are hard to find in the store and I wasn't about to trek to a muddy creek to hunt for some this week. Another time...maybe I'll make this on a summer camping trip when we normally catch crawfish anyway...and because the dish was a hit! Étouffée means 'smothered' in French. Smothering meat, seafood or vegetables is a technique utilized in both Cajun and Creole cuisines. The technique involves cooking in a covered pan over low heat with a small amount of liquid; it's really just a form of braising. The dishes cooked like this are usually served over steamed white rice; I used some brown jasmine rice tonight. *Crawfish, crawdads, crayfish and mudbugs are all names for the same tasty critter. Click to read the Cajun legend of how crawfish came to be . Ingredients 2 pounds mixed seafood (I used shrimp, squid, scallops, and some chunks of white fish) 1/4 C butter ...