Mardi Gras >Eating and Drinking

Click here to see a great selection of tableware for your buffet!

Shrimp Etouffee Recipe
Ingredients
1 stick butter or margarine 1 large onion chopped 2 cloves minced garlic (or garlic powder) 1 small chopped bell pepper 1/4 cup chopped parsley 1/2 cup chopped celery 1 hot pepper (or several drops of hot sauce) 2 Tablespoons of flour 1 pound peeled shrimp (or peeled crawfish tails, or chopped boneless chicken) Cooked rice One cup water or shrimp stock
Directions
Melt butter in heavy pan and saute vegetables until soft (onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery and pepper sauce) Add flour, stir constantly until golden brown. Add crawfish tails (salt and pepper to taste) Add one cup water or shrimp stock and bring to a boil Lower temperature and simmer for 10 minutes Add parsley and simmer 5 minutes Serve over rice

Bake a King Cake
A king cake is a traditional Mardi-Gras treat, brightly decorated in the colors of Rex: purple, green and gold. The cake, which is similar to a rich sweet bread or coffee cake contains a special surprise-- a tiny baby doll contained within one of the slices. Custom dictates that the "lucky" recipient who gets the piece with the baby throws the next Mardi-Gras party (or bakes the next King Cake).

Ingredients
1 can of cinnamon rolls, with icing 3/4 cup of sugar, separated into 3 parts of 1/4 each food coloring
Cooking Directions
Separate the cinnamon rolls and roll them out by hand so that they look like a hot dog. Shape the roll into an oval, pinch the ends together, and place on a cookie sheet. Cook as directed. While they are cooking, use food coloring to dye sugar. Make one part purple using blue and red, one part green, and one part gold using yellow. When they are finished cooking, ice the tops with the white icing. Sprinkle the different colors of sugars alternating as you go around the oval. Enjoy!

Planter's Punch
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup dark rum 1 1/2 cup orange juice 1 1/2 cup pineapple juice 1 1/2 cup guava nectar 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 1 teaspoon Angostura bitters 6 fresh pineapple rings 6 orange slices 6 cinnamon sticks 6 Maraschino cherries
Directions
In a one gallon pitcher, mix together rum, fruit juices, brown sugar and bitters. Pour into 6 tall glasses filled with ice. Garnish each drink with pineapple ring, orange slice, cinnamon stick and cherry

Tropical Storm (AKA Mock Hurricane)
Ingredients
Ginger ale Pineapple juice Cherry juice Cherry and orange slice for garnish
Directions
Fill tall glass with crushed ice. Mix 1/2 ginger ale and pineapple juice. Add some cherry juice and garnish with cherry and orange slice. Add rum to make the real deal!