Mardi Gras

[Mama Mangia]

Fat Tuesday is Mardi Gras, the festival New Orleans, Louisiana, is famous for. "Gras" is French for fat and "Mardi" is French for Tuesday and Mardi Gras means fat Tuesday, the culmination of the season between Christmas and Lent. Fat Tuesday falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.

[Mama Mangia]

Crawfish Etouffee

1 pound fresh or frozen, peeled, cooked crawfish tails (or shrimp)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cooking oil, butter, or margarine
2 medium onions, finely chopped (1 cup)
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped green sweet pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Hot cooked rice
Fresh parsley (optional)


Thaw crawfish tails, if frozen. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan stir together flour and 1/4 cup oil, butter, or margarine until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir for 5 to 8 minutes more or until a reddish brown roux is formed. Add onion, celery, sweet pepper, and garlic to saucepan. Cook and stir for 5 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; stir until melted. Stir in water, green onion, parsley, salt, ground red pepper, and black pepper. Bring to boiling. Add crawfish. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until heated through. Serve with hot cooked rice. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings.

[Mama Mangia]

Crocialles (Beignets)


1 bottle (48 ounces) oil
2 cups self-rising flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1-1/4 cups milk
Confectioners' sugar, as desired


Heat oil in a deep pot to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, blend flour and granulated sugar. In another bowl, blend egg and milk. Add to dry mixture. Beat to a thick batter. Drop by tablespoon into oil. Deep-fry until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.


Yield: 4 to 5 dozen

[Mama Mangia]

Potluck Gumbo

1 large slice (1/4 pound) precooked ham, diced
1 pound raw shrimp, shelled to tail and deveined
1-1/2 cups chicken giblets, parboiled and diced
1 pound fresh okra, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup scallion tops, sliced thin
Pepper to taste
5 cups water
4 ounces frozen crab meat
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon gumbo file

In large pot or Dutch oven, saute ham in its own border of fat, adding oil if ham fat is scant. Trim off any unrendered fat and set ham aside. Saute shrimp in same pan until pink. Remove and set aside. Then saute chicken giblets.

Add okra, onion, green pepper, garlic, parsley, scallion tops, and pepper. Add the water. Simmer for 1 hour. Add ham cubes, shrimp, and crab meat. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes.

During the last 5 minutes of cooking, add salt to taste, then gumbo file. Serve over hot rice.

Yield: 6 servings

[Mama Mangia]

Cajun Casserole

1 lb. fresh (hot) sausage*, skinned and cut
2 cans whole tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 peeled eggplant, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
3 or 4 medium zucchini, sliced in rings.

Brown sausage in large frying pan. Add the following: eggplant, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini. Smother down, then transfer to a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle a lot of Parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

*You could also use shrimp or crawfish. It is great either way.

[Mama Mangia]

Cajun Cabbage Jambalaya

2 lb lean ground chuck
2 cups chopped
cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell pepper
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 quarts shredded cabbage
Two 10 oz cans diced tomatoes and green chili peppers
3 beef bouillon cubes
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/2 cup water

Put oil in a heavy 5 quart pot. Add ground meat and stir until brown. Add bouillon cubes, onions, celery, garlic and bell pepper. Stir and cook for about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes, undrained and water. Cook for a few minutes then stir in cabbage. Lower fire to medium and cook stirring often. Put lid on pot and cook until cabbage is crisp tender. If mixture is too dry add a little hot water and adjust seasonings. Add cooked rice until mixture is moist.

[Mama Mangia]

Beignets Au New Orleans

6 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups milk, scalded
2 packages yeast
2 eggs
Peanut oil for frying
Powdered sugar



Mix flour, salt, vanilla and set aside. Place margarine and sugar in large mixing bowl. Heat milk. Do not boil. Stir often and do not scorch. Mix heated milk over sugar and margarine and stir until melted. Cool to temperature needed to activate yeast. Add yeast and dissolve. Add milk mixture and flour mixture to form batter. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Cover with warm, damp towel and set in warm place. Dough should double in bulk in one hour. Punch and knead gently. Roll dough out on floured surface to quarter-inch thickness. Cut into 2 x 2 inch squares. Let rise once again (half-hour to one hour). Fry in oil at 380F. turning only once. Drain and dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm.

[Mama Mangia]

Cajun Ribs

2 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons onion
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons red pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
4 pounds pork back ribs (about 2 whole slabs)

Combine seasonings. Rub on all surfaces of ribs. Place ribs on covered grill over indirect beat. Grill for 1-1/2 hours. Cut ribs into serving size pieces.

Serves 4.

[Mama Mangia]

Chicken Maque Choux

1 chicken, cut into serving pieces
salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
1/2 cup oil
12 ears fresh corn, cut from cob
2 chopped onions
1/2 chopped bell pepper
1 tomato, peeled and chopped

Procedure: Salt, pepper and cayenne chicken, brown in heavy pot in oil; remove from pot as it browns. Add remaining ingredients, stir and cook on med-high heat about 2 minutes, return chicken to pot, stir, cover and cook over medium heat about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice.

Servings: 6

[Mama Mangia]

Dirty Rice

1 bunch of green onions
1/2 bellpepper chopped
2 ribs of celery chopped
1/2 lb of chicken livers and gizzards, mixed
1/2 lb of calf's liver
1/4 lb of ground beef
3 tbls of oil
3 c cooked rice
1 tbls of dry parsley
1 tbls of chives
salt and pepper to taste

-Grind vegetables and meats
-Put oil in a heavy pot with lid. Add ground vegetables and meats. Cover pot. Simmer on low heat one-hald hours. Season, to taste.
-Mix rice and vegetable-meat mixture. Stir thoroughly. Add dry parsley and chives.