Slurping Raw Oysters

Slurping Raw Oysters: "No kid or grown up kid, in Cajun bayou country doesn't know how to slurp oysters. Just for the record, we didn't learn this from drinking in bars. We learned it in the backyard, sitting at a newspaper draped picnic table, daring and double daring each other to eat a raw oyster.

Grandpere Navarre would egg us on, with his home version of the Acme World Oyster Eating championships. This age-old art, one that admittedly some of the more refined will disgusting -- is both a right of passage, and a form of frugal family fun." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei

Recipe: Crawfish Fettuccine

In Louisiana the French and Italian cuisines are often married. This recipe for Crawfish Fettuccine is a typical example of local seafood substituted for the usual meat in a pasta dish.

Seafood dishes get quite creative during Lenten season since the majority of south Louisiana is Catholic even though Catholicism no longer requires this kind of fasting from meat. People still choose to fast from meat for health reasons these days with a nod to past religious tradition that has mellowed into a cultural tradition.

Louisiana men are known for their friendships developed from cooking or grilling what they often hunted and fished. Men tend to be the best cooks here. They also are the ones who tend to cook for large gatherings. This recipe comes from three friends who cook often for gatherings in their Catholic community.


Crawfish Fettuccine

From: James “B” Didier, Kenneth “Bobby” Barbier and Cliff McDaniel, All are close friends who enjoy cooking together for large gatherings - Holy Family Catholic Church, Port Allen, Louisiana

Yield: 50 servings - great for wedding rehearsal dinner!

Crawfish Fettuccine


Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds margarine

12 yellow onions, finely chopped

6 bunches green onions, finely chopped

6 bell peppers, finely chopped

10 garlic cloves, finely chopped

½ cup finely chopped parsley

4 pounds Velveeta jalapeño cheese
(Velveeta is basically a combination of Swiss and Cheddar cheese that melts easily with added hot Mexican hot peppers you can find in a jar.)

12 pounds crawfish tails

4 pounds fettuccine

Grated Parmesan cheese


Directions: Sauté in the margarine the onions, green onions, bell peppers, garlic and parsley until soft.

Add jalapeño cheese and cook until melted and combined well. Add crawfish.

Boil fettuccine until done, drain well. Add to crawfish mixture. Remove from heat. Pour into large casserole. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

To serve, bake at 350 degrees until thoroughly heated.

Serves 50.

Recipe: Nigella Lawson Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake

Nigella Lawson Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake Recipe #303266
From the chocolate cake chapter in her book 'Feast'. This is one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever made. I sometimes add the juice and zest of half a lemon to the batter.
by Flowerfairy
3¼ hours | 2½ hours prep

SERVES 12 , 1 cake

2 small thin-skinned oranges, approx. 375g total weight (or 1 large)

6 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

200 g ground almonds

250 g caster sugar

50 g cocoa

orange peel, for decoration

Put the whole orange or oranges in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours or until soft.

Drain, and when cool, cut the oranges in half and remove any big pips.

Then pulp everything - pith, peel and all - in a food processor.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C Butter and line a 20cm springform tin.

Add the eggs, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, almonds, sugar and cocoa to the orange in the food processor. Run the motor until you have a cohesive cake mixture, but slightly knobbly with the flecks of puréed orange.

Pour and scrape into the cake tin and bake for an hour, by which time a cake tester should come out pretty well clean. Check after 45minutes because you may have to cover with foil to prevent the cake burning before it is cooked through, or indeed it may need a little less than an hour; it all depends on your oven.

Leave the cake to get cool in the tin, on a cooling rack. When the cake is cold you can take it out of the tin. Decorate with strips of orange peel or coarsely grated zest if you so wish, but it is darkly beautiful in its plain, unadorned state.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

New Tasty Additions to Blog Roll

Just added 13 more wonderful chocolate blogs I've recently found for your enjoyment. It got so bad I had to briefly leave the computer, rummage around in the fridge, pull out the brownies I made yesterday (Dennys Tapas Style Brownies), heat them in the microwave a few seconds and chow down. Let me tell you, some of these blogs are virtual tastes! Good thing our monitors are not smell-a-vision...

Seriously, take a look, you won't be disappointed as all are really interesting. Back to the blog roll hunt!

Comparison of Oyster Shucking Knives

Comparison of Oyster Shucking Knives: "The first thing anyone wishing to shuck oysters should do, is obtain the best oyster knife that they can afford. This is a purchase that ensures that not only will you have the right tool for the job, but also will be helping to make the process of shucking a little less dangerous.

Far too often, oyster harvesters purchase cheap oyster knives and find themselves with a nasty cut or nick, when the flimsy knife breaks. As with anything, do your research before you buy a good quality oyster knife." 3 videos.

By Jerilee Wei