Crawfish Etouffee - a weekend recipe

Perhaps the quintessential dish served in the Big Easy is Etouffee, made with either shrimp or crawfish. There are as many variations of this dish, but here is my favorite:

■ ½-cup cooking oil
■ 2 cups finely chopped white onion
■ 1 large bell pepper, medium diced
■ 1 stalk of celery, medium diced
■ 2 cups whole tomatoes, mashed
■ 2 cups tomato juice
■ 1/4 cup lemon juice
■ 6 tablespoons roux
■ 2 tablespoons Worcestershire
■ 1/4 cup minced parsley
■ ½ cup chopped leaf of garlic, or green onion tops
■ 2 cloves of minced garlic
■ 1/4 tablespoon of red pepper
■ 1/4 tablespoon of salt, or to taste
■ 1/4 tablespoon of pepper, or to taste
■ 1 pound of cleaned and de-veined crawfish

Pour oil into a heavy skillet and sauté onions, bell pepper, and celery until limp. Do not overcook. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, lemon juice, roux and Worcestershire.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium hat and add parsley, garlic leaf, garlic cloves, red pepper, and salt and pepper. Cook for about five minutes, then add crawfish and cook for fifteen more minutes. Simmer until ready to serve. Over rice, this dish serves four.

Hey, and read my book Murder Etouffee for more recipes, southern short stories and a taste of the French Quarter.

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Naked and Possessed

Many people believe voodoo is the practice of black magic, but this is only partially true. Voodoo is a contraction of the word Vodoun, a religion brought to the New World from Africa, primarily by slaves.

Vodoun is a complicated religion that has morphed many times since reaching the New World, adding elements of both Christianity and Native American beliefs. Priests and priestesses of the religion are houngans and mambos, respectively, and they often practice both magic - black and white - and the healing arts.

In my novel Big Easy, Mama Mulate is a conundrum within the religion. She is a practicing voodoo mambo, and has a doctorate in English literature, teaching at Tulane University. Unlike most practitioners of Vodoun Mama uses her talents only for good. In the novel, she comes up against a vicious serial killer that is the embodiment of voodoo deity Baron Samedi.

A turning point in the novel occurs during a ceremony on the banks of Bayou Rigolettes. An influential mambo assumes the persona of Lasyrenn, loa of fishes and Queen of the Sea, to instruct a naked initiate. Homicide detective accompanies Mama Mulate to observe the ceremony, and becomes a possessed and unwitting participant.

I personally think the ceremony scene is one of the hottest, most sexually charged chapters ever to appear in modern mystery fiction. I invite you to read Big Easy and decide for yourself.

Fiction South

Oyster Omelet - a recipe

When I first moved to Oklahoma City, there was only one seafood restaurant. Herman’s, the lone venue, served mostly fried catfish and shrimp because there were no shipments of fresh seafood from the coasts at that time. Thank goodness, things have changed!

It is now possible to enjoy fresh seafood at many restaurants in the area. Marilyn and I like Pearl’s for its Cajun and Creole fare. Every Saturday and Sunday, they have a brunch featuring several variations of New Orleans-style breakfasts. While they do not serve this dish at Pearl’s, here is one of my personal breakfast favorites.

Oyster Omelet

2 doz. Oysters
1 tbsp butter
4 shallots
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp minced bell pepper
2 tbsp minced celery
2 bay leaves
4 eggs
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in saucepan and add minced garlic, bay leaves, pepper and celery. Drain the liquid from the oysters and put them into the butter with the seasoning. Lower heat and cook about three minutes. Beat the eggs, add salt and pepper and turn them into saucepan with oyster mixture. Do not stir. When lightly browned, turn onto hot platter and garnish with chopped parsley.

Louisiana Mystery Writer

Dancing the Wild Bamboula

There is a park in New Orleans not far from Bourbon Street. Officially, it is Beauregard Square, also known at various times during New Orleans’ past as Place Du Cirque or Place des Negres. Most locals still call it Congo Square.

Before the Civil War, wealthy New Orleans slave owners would let their slaves congregate on Sundays at a place that became known as Congo Square. There, they would sing their songs, dance their dances and practice their religion. When the West African Vodoun religion reached Jamaica, it rapidly integrated with Catholicism and many of the prevailing pagan practices of the Caribs, the native population of the Caribbean. This amalgam of beliefs known as voodoo, had offshoots from often called hoodoo.

Not knowing the true meaning of the various ceremonies that took place at Congo Square, many benevolent white slave owners often participated in the drumming, and the dancing of the wild bamboula, a frenzied and sensual dance. The songs created at Congo Square were the musical seeds that sprouted, matured and grew into what we now know as jazz.

There is a cultural center located in a part of Beauregard Square, known as Louis Armstrong Memorial Park after the man that brought jazz to the world. Everyone has heard of Louis Armstrong, but few realize that his musical roots began with the rhythmic beat of West African drums and the dancing of the wild bamboula.

The Louis Armstrong Park is a must-visit. The entrance to the park, a large white arch that proclaims the name Armstrong, lies at the intersection of St. Ann and N. Rampart. The park is also close to Basin Street, made famous by both song and myth. It is also near the St. Louis Cemetery # 1 and the Iberville Project.

Dancing the Wild Bamboula

There is a park in New Orleans not far from Bourbon Street. Officially, it is Beauregard Square, also known at various times during New Orleans’ past as Place Du Cirque or Place des Negres. Most locals still call it Congo Square.

Before the Civil War, wealthy New Orleans slave owners would let their slaves congregate on Sundays at a place that became known as Congo Square. There, they would sing their songs, dance their dances and practice their religion. When the West African Vodoun religion reached Jamaica, it rapidly integrated with Catholicism and many of the prevailing pagan practices of the Caribs, the native population of the Caribbean. This amalgam of beliefs known as voodoo, had offshoots from often called hoodoo.

Not knowing the true meaning of the various ceremonies that took place at Congo Square, many benevolent white slave owners often participated in the drumming, and the dancing of the wild bamboula, a frenzied and sensual dance. The songs created at Congo Square were the musical seeds that sprouted, matured and grew into what we now know as jazz.

The cultural center located in a part of Beauregard Square isknown as Louis Armstrong Memorial Park after the man that brought jazz to the world. Everyone has heard of Louis Armstrong, but few realize that his musical roots began with the rhythmic beat of West African drums and the dancing of the wild bamboula.

The Louis Armstrong Park is a must-visit. The entrance to the park, a large white arch that proclaims the name Armstrong, lies at the intersection of St. Ann and N. Rampart. The park is also close to Basin Street, made famous by both song and myth. It is also near the St. Louis Cemetery # 1 and the Iberville Project.

Gondwana

Yellow Fever in New Orleans

The devastation of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 ranks as the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. New Orleans alone suffered more than 1,500 casualties. Bad as it was, the single biggest killer of citizens of New Orleans was not Katrina.

Some called New Orleans, founded in 1718 by John Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, a “damp grave.” Each spring brought flooding to the city, along with rats, mosquitoes and snakes. The mosquitoes and rats, in turn brought cholera and yellow fever. These two diseases, along with many other tropical fevers, killed far more than 1,500 citizens of New Orleans that died because of Hurricane Katrina.

How many you say? Perhaps as many as 41,000 people died of yellow fever from 1817 to 1905. Many more likely died before 1817, but accurate records only began that particular year.

During the spring rains, as many as one-third of the population of New Orleans would evacuate the city leaving those that remained to face the wrath of the killer known as “Bronze John,” the “Saffron Scourge,” and “Yellowjack.” From 1851 to 1855 along, 7,000 to 12,000 citizens succumbed to the disease, fully 10% of the population.

Families buried bodies in mass graves and the profession of corpse carriers formed to meet the daily need. They would pull their carts down the streets, collecting bodies and announcing, “Bring out your dead,” to the people in their houses.

Yes, the people of New Orleans are a hardy bunch. Hurricane Katrina was devastating, but the City survived – just as they have survived the hostile environment surrounding them for almost three-hundred years.

Fiction South

French Quarter Pics

Here are some New Orleans pics taken a few years ago.

Louisiana Mystery Writer