OLD FASHIONED CHOCOLATE PIE
1-1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/4 cup of cocoa
dash of salt
4 egg yolks
2 cups of milk
1/4 cup of butter
1 tsp of vanilla
1-9″ pastry shell baked

Bake pie crust until golden
Combine first 4 ingredients in a sauce pan; set aside.
Combine milk and egg yolks.
Stir milk and egg yolks into mixture; add butter.
Cook over medium heat, and stir constantly until mix thickens and boils.
Remove from heat; stir in vanilla; spoon into pastry shell.
Using the egg whites from eggs used for pie make a meringue on top
As a general rule, add a total of 1/4 cup of granulated or superfine sugar for each egg white. Beat until peaks form. Toast under broiler if desired.

4 large Vidalia onions, skins removed and finely chopped
2 cups green cabbage, approximately 1/4 head finely shredded
1/4 cup kosher salt
4 1/2 cups water, divided
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dried mustard powder
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon mustard seed
2 teaspoons celery seed
3 (1 pint) canning jars and lids, sterilized

“Beignets” French Market Doughnuts

The rectangular doughnuts served fresh and hot 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, are called Beignets. You can find them at any French Market Coffee Shop. They are easy to make at home, and make sweet wonderful breakfast bread, or a snack at any hour of the day.

A lot of people have made Beignets at home and they did not taste right. They were using regular milk, or diluting the evaporated milk in their recipes. That is not the traditional New Orleans way. You must use undiluted canned evaporated milk. The yeast dough must be prepared in advance and refrigerated overnight.

Even if you are making them at home it is best to make a large quantity, enough for about 5 dozen beignets. Do not worry; the dough keeps beautifully under refrigeration for up to 8 days. When you get ready to cook a wonderful sweet Beignet, just go to the refrigerator cut off some dough; roll it out, cut it up, and fry for about 3 minutes per batch, then sprinkle the beignets with confectioners’ sugar and serve piping hot. (They are better than those popular donuts than we cannot eat just one.)

Serve piping hot Beignets with a good cup of strong coffee, or other drinok of your choice.

1-1/2 – cups warm water
1/2 – cup of sugar
1 – package active dry yeast
2 – large eggs
1 – teaspoon salt
7 – cups of flour
1- cup undiluted canned evaporated milk
1/4 – cup of vegetable shortening
Confectioner’ sugar
Enough Oil for deep-frying

Put warm water into a large bowl, then sprinkle in the dry yeast and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Then add the sugar, salt, eggs, and evaporated milk. Gradually stir in 4 cups of flour and beat with a WOODEN SPOON until smooth and thoroughly blended. Beat in the shortening, then add the remaining flour, about 1/3 cup at a time, beating it in with the spoon until it becomes too stiff to stir, then working in the rest with your fingers. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day roll the dough out on a floured board or marble pastry surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch, and then cut it into rectangles 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/2 inches with a sharp knife. Preheat oil in a deep fryer to 360 degrees. Fry the beignets about 3 or 4 at a time until they are puffed out and golden brown on both sides (about 2 to 3 minutes per batch) Turn them over in the oil with tongs once or twice to get them evenly brown, since they rise to the surface of the oil as soon as they begin to puff out. Drain each batch, place on a platter lined with several layers of paper towels, and put the platter in a 200-degree oven to keep warm. After you have cooked the desired amount, sprinkle the beignets heavily with confectioner’s sugar and serve hot.

~Pat’s Shrimp Etoufee~

8 – servings
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 – green onions, finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 – cup minced celery
4 tbsp. flour
2 – tablespoons of butter
2 – cups of tomato sauce
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
10 drops of hot sauce
1-1/2 tsp salt
3/4 – tsp. thyme
1/2- tsp. cayenne pepper
2- 1/2 cups of water
1 – cup of red wine
2 lbs.- cleaned shrimp
3 hard-cooked eggs quartered

Sauté the onion, green onions, garlic and celery in butter in a large skillet until tender. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring, until lightly browned. Add 2-1/4 cups water, 1 cup of red wine, tomato sauce, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and seasonings. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Add the shrimp and continue cooking for 15 minutes. Turn into a serving dish and garnish with quartered eggs. Please remember that the alcohol cooks out of the wine. You just have that wonderful sweet grape wine taste.

~SEAFOOD GUMBO~

1 cup flour

1 cup oil

1 large onion

1 pint oysters (3-4 dozen)

2-3 garlic pods

1 lb. peeled shrimp

1/2 bell pepper

4- celery stems

1 lb. crab claw meat

1/2 cup parsley

3 tsp. salt

1/2 cup green onions-chop

2 tsb. black pepper

3 quarts water

1 tsp. red pepper

3 bay leaves

1/2 doz. whole cleaned crab

Make a roux with equal parts oil and flour. Cook slowly, stirring often, until brown. Add cut up onion, celery,  garlic, and bell pepper to the roux. Carefully stir roux until it has cooled down. Slowly add 3 quarts of water, stirring while you pour. Add salt, red pepper and black pepper. Add crab claw meat, and several cleaned whole crabs and cook an hour. Add shrimp and liquid from pint of oysters, simmer for 30 minutes. About 15-20 minutes before you serve the gumbo, add oysters, chopped parsley, bay leaves and green onion tops. Serve on rice. Have fresh file’ on hand to allow guests to add their own. A side dish of potato salad is always appreciated. Oh by the way….don’t eat the bay leaves. This freezes well. However, do not freeze the gumbo with oysters in it. Add fresh ones before serving. Gumbo always seems to taste better after it has set overnight. I usually try to prepare mine the day before I serve it.

~South Louisiana Crawfish Etoufee~

Crawfish as many as desired
½ cups of oil
4 Tablespoons flour
Tabasco to taste
¼ cups of shallots
2 chopped onions
3-tablespoon tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cups of parsley
Simmer oil and flour 5 minutes are  until darkish color and add pepper, and everything else except shallot, parsley and crawfish and cook 30 minutes. Add shallots and parsley and crawfish and cook 10 minutes more. Serve with rice.