Celebration in the Oaks

I’m in the music biz for decades now, but also dabble in the food arts. I represent some fine well known Louisiana sausage and andouille at some of the really big food and booze benefit shows in NOLA. Just finished up Friday with the  Celebration in the Oaks Preview Party in New Orleans in City Park. It’s a huge benefit for City Park.  Several thousand folks with good sense pay $100 each for a lot of liquor and super food sampling. We had some great live bands also.  We also do the Grand Tastings of NOWFE, the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, which is one day and one evening event. The quality and quantity of attendees,  food, liquor and music quality is just fantastic. The locales- Superdome floor, Morial Convention Center, City Park, etc, are just as wonderful.

Mr. Bingle at Celebration in the Oaks

The Celebration in the Oaks Preview Party takes place in the Christmas decorated portions of the park around the amusement area and the Conservatory. The light set ups are just so pretty and unique, and they add a few new special light set ups annually.

Celebration in Oaks Rocking Horse & more

Mardi Gras Favorite Recipes

These recipes are time tested from dozens of years of Mardi Gras usage.

I generally cook somewhat big for Fat Tuesday. That means hot food, BBQ, sushi, high quality deli meats and breads for sandwiches. I always do some combo of really delicious food.  I generally bake some Mandel Brot for the big day, and give a loaf or two away, since this dessert makes three loafs at a time.

Mandel Brot (Bread) Recipe – Makes 3 loafs ,  recipe from my late Mom, Frances Joseph Eidler. Been eating this and making it my whole life.

Definition: Mandelbrot, which literally means almond (mandel) bread (brot), was a popular dessert among Eastern European Jews.

Mandelbrot is similar to Italian biscotti.  Perhaps Jews first tasted biscotti in Italy, and then brought the recipe to Eastern Europe and renamed it mandelbrot.

It is likely that Eastern European Jews fell in love with mandelbrot because it made the perfect Sabbath dessert. Since mandelbrot is made with oil (not butter), it was easy to store. And since mandelbrot is pareve, it could be served after festive meat meals.

In a large bowl, add 1 cup sugar, then mix 3 eggs, one at a time, until all are mixed in. Add 1 cup of oil without much flavor of its own like Canola, etc and mix well. Then add a cup of flour (I use unbleached white) and mix well, then another cup of flour, then add 1 t vanilla (I use Mexican vanilla all the time), 1/2 t salt, and 1 t baking powder. Then add another cup of flour, mix well. Add 1 cup of raisins or currants. I use golden raisins a lot of the time. Add 1 cup of mini semi sweet chocolate bits. Get pure semi sweet chocolate bits only!  Then add 1/2 cup of flour until the dough is quite stiff and almost makes a ball but not quite.

On a ungreased cookie sheet, separate the dough into three equal sections, and form into loafs, about 1 inch tall and 9 inches long. The dough will settle upon heating a bit, so make the loafs slightly taller by pushing the sides in with both hands until the loafs are no more than 3 inches wide.

Cook at 350 for 35-45 minutes until the loafs start cracking and brown on top, then take out and slice into 1/2 inch slices while still very hot. You can only slice them easily immediately after taking them out of the oven.

Here’s someone else’s picture of someone else’s mandel brot.

Mandel Brot

Meg Pomeroy Eidler’s Potato Salad

Slice up and boil 3 lbs of potatoes until done, then either peel or not, depending on taste. We usually peel 1/2 and leave peel on the rest. We use Russets or Idahos or little red potatoes. The more uniform the cutting, the more uniform the potato cooking.

Saute 1/2 cup of well chopped onions, also food process or hand chop another 1/2 cup until the pieces are quite small, and chop well 1/2 bunch of fresh scallions well. Add to potatoes with mayo and mustard, salt and pepper to taste.  We use Hellman’s Mayo for sure, and the light version is OK.

Hellman's Mayo

I grew up on another type of potato salad with vinegar instead of mustard. I gave that up when I moved to NOLA in the mid 1970s. I may try that one sometime in the near future again.

More Mardi Gras favorite recipes to follow soon.