Gunternation

New Orleans royalty, the King Cake!

One day every year, if it’s a good year, my husband calls upon the power of yeast and cinnamon to create…King Cake! Who cares if Mardi Gras was technically a few weeks ago. In our apartment, Saturday was the day for King Cake, and all the Cajun goodness that goes along with. This year’s menu included the following starters:

• Boudin Rolls with Remoulade
• French Onion dip with Potato crisps

Preparing Cajun food in Ireland requires a bit of extra effort and invention, but when the result is homemade boudin served with homemade remoulade along with made-from-scratch French Onion dip, you really can’t complain. Bill was happy with his sophomore attempt at boudin; he felt it was better seasoned than last (but still using only half the cayenne than the recipe for Irish palate), but may reduce the liver component next year. Wrapped in wonton wrappers, deep fried and dipped in remoulade, the boudin rolls were delish.

The remoulade is a bit of food processor magic where whole grain mustard, yellow mustard, prepared horseradish, ketchup, oil, onion, celery, garlic and lemon juice turn into the loveliest of condiments. The prepared horseradish could have been tricky as we’ve yet to find it in Ireland, but we happened to have some as a souvenir of our January trip to London.

Kielbasa masquerading as Cajun

Without access to typical cajun meats like andouille and tasso, Bill had to look to our Eastern European friends and use all-pork kielbasa. For mains this year Bill prepared Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya and Red Beans and Rice. The kielbasa performed very well in the jambalaya. With a slightly different seasoning accent, the smoked sausage could have been andouille.

Pot of red beans

Bill brined the kidney beans for the red beans and rice, and they turned out perfect: wonderfully creamy and tender but not disintegrated.

Making pralines is fun!

I made some pralines for the party, and as you can see it is quite fun! They turned out really well. I posted on twitter that I was making pralines and got a response saying, “Oh, your kitchen must smell like New Orleans!” I hope so.

Pralines, a Southern sweetheart

Of course, a Mardi Gras party wouldn’t be a party without revelers. Thanks for coming!

Revelers

• 14/15th C–New World is discovered
• 1694–rice arrives in South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar *
• 17th C–Spanish and French colonists settle in pre-Louisiana, subsequent generations are known as Creole
• mid 19th C–rice is cultivated in Southern US *
• 1849–first occurrence of the term jambalaya in print in English *
• 1878–Jambalaya appears in The Gulf City Cook Book, by the Ladies of the St. Francis Street Methodist Episcopal Church (South Mobile, Alabama) *
• Circa 1988–Bill Gunter eats jambalaya in Bruff cafeteria at Tulane University
• 1992-1993–Armed with Paul Prudomme cookbook, Bill makes use of his bachelor pad kitchen to develop mad jambalaya skills
• 1994–Bill takes jambalaya to church picnic; Sharon Lamb eats large portion and takes more home
• 1995-1998–Sharon and Bill (now married) periodically have jambalaya dinner parties, as it’s as easy to make jambalaya for 12 as for 2. Okay, it’s impossible to make jambalaya for two.
• 2002-2007–Jambalaya dinners morph into Annual Mardi Gras Food Fest with the addition of more dishes (red beans and rice, crayfish étouffée, boudin rolls and king cake)
• March 7, 2009–Sharon and Bill host resurrected Mardi Gras party (albeit belated) in Dublin

As I mentioned on the menu, while the terms Cajun and Creole have distinctions for some, most folks use them interchangeably. You can find jambalaya in Dublin, but we haven’t tried it. After an unfortunate Cajun chicken wrap incident, I’m wary. Like “Tex-mex,” we’ve found the term Cajun applied to any vaguely spicy dish. Ah well.

The concept of Mardi Gras partying is not well known in Dublin either. Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day. Not a bad thing at all. Although I think we were among the few having American-style pancakes on Pancake Day. Pancakes here usually means crepes. Again, not a bad thing.

Since I knew I wouldn’t find Mardi Gras decorations in Dublin, I contacted Heather of Party Imports (really just my awesome friend Heather) and she shipped us a package of masks, beads and other purple, gold and green decorations. Thanks, Heather!

We had eleven people over for a tasty meal of Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya, Shrimp Creole, and Mini-Muffaletta. Bill made the boudin this year, and we made boudin balls rather than boudin rolls.

We couldn’t find wanton wrappers and spring roll wrappers just aren’t the same. The boudin balls were a hit, served with Zatarain’s Remoulade. The best remoulade! And of course, Bill made King Cake!

I forgot to take pictures before we ate everything; above is a shot that’s trying to pretend the King Cake is still whole, and a picture of our leftover boudin and shrimp creole the next day.

Thanks, Bill for making such a delicious meal for all of us!

Note: Not all our attendees are pictured. Not a good night for my photography skills!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez! Or as we say in Ireland, “Have a pancake.” Seems Mardi Gras is celebrated in Ireland as Pancake Day. The day preceding Ash Wednesday is also known as Shrove Tuesday. Shrove is the past tense of “to shrive” which means “to hear confession.” (Shrive is also the basis of the term “short shrift”–to disregard another person’s problems.)

Pancakes are a delicious and easy way to consume the dairy products the family will deny themselves during Lent. They also help the cook use any stores of cooking fat, hence Fat Tuesday. Also, did you know that carnivale means “Goodbye Meat!” derived from carne=meat and vale=fare you well (as in valediction).

Last night I learned from a Finnish gentleman that tradition in Finland includes pea soup as preparation for fasting. Most Finnish households eat pea soup every Thursday before the Friday fast, and the soup is also part of their Shrove Tuesday meal. They also eat pancakes, typically as dessert. Bill and I were happy to hear this, as we’ve got pea soup in our dinner plans for this week. We might be a little out of order on everything–pancakes last Saturday, soup during Lent, but we’ll try to fit it all in.

We definitely couldn’t let the season pass without jambalaya. Bill made a terrific batch of chicken and sausage jambalaya on Saturday. The basic ingredients were easy to find; he used polish sausage instead of andouille. It was really great, as good as the batch that made me fall in love with him back in ’94.

Bill prepares jamabalaya in our kitchen (note: the pita bread in his hand is not an ingredient)

Good ol' Cajun goodness

I’m sure there is a sadness (and hunger) in Austin today as the townspeople mourn the absence the Annual Gunter Mardi Gras Food Fest. There’s a little sadness in Raheny, Dublin too. I’m hoping Bill will still make a King Cake.