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Carnival Food Favorites
My Super Mardi Gras Recipes 2
013 years
Celebration in the Oaks Preview Party at City Park was a huge success for the event and us. We had a blast and accomplished all our pre show goals. Ate some amazing food, and tee totaled the giant booze giveaway no problem. I was much fresher when we ran out of andouille and smoked sausage after 2 hours. The 2011 version of Celebration in the Oaks looked fantastic, and the “it’s snowing!” oak tree was really the best new attraction I saw.
Snow Falling Oak Tree at Celebration in Oaks
This chocolate cake recipe is an extension of my mother’s one pan easy chocolate cake. I add more baking chocolate and more chocolate bit topping, and I call this version Decadent Chocolate Cake. I’ve been making it for25+ years this way.
DECADENT CHOCOLATE CAKE
I use a Corning Ware glass covered pan, 9 3/4″ x 9 3/4″.
Mix together 1/3 c oil, 1 egg, 1 1/4 c flour, 1 c sugar, 3 squares unsweetened baking chocolate (melted 1 minute at a time in the microwave), 1 t vanilla, 1 t baking soda, 1/2 t salt, and 3/4 c water. Mix with a fork until mostly smooth. Sprinkle 1 c semi sweet chocolate bits over the top, covering the entire surface. I use Mexican vanilla and mini chocolate bits all the time. The little bits provide better coverage since there is so many more of them in 1 cup.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until done (stick toothpick in pan center away from any chocolate bits and if it comes out clean, it’s done), cover with glass top immediately after removing from oven.
HUMMUS favorite recipe for a long time. Great for making in advance and serving during parades. Add seasoning to taste and enjoy!
Ingredients- 1 c cooked chick peas, 1 c tahini, 2 T oil, juice of 2 lemons, 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced, salt & pepper to taste, chopped parsley.
Mash chick peas in blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients except parsley. Blend until smooth. Garnish with parsley.
hummus with parsley garnish & pita chips, fresh veggies
My Super Mardi Gras Recipes
013 years
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.