Mardi Gras 2015 {King Cake Bread Pudding and Children's Mardi Gras}

This year’s King Cake was going to be a jelly roll style cake in purple, green, and gold.

Only I still haven't gotten past my fear of making a jelly roll cake.
So that doesn't really work out too well.

Alternate plan: King Cake Bread Pudding.

Bread pudding has long been a way to use leftover/stale bread.

Only there’s no such thing as leftover King Cake.

If there is, you're doing something wrong.
So that’s not really going to work out too well either.

No King Cake leftovers to turn into bread pudding.
But I wanted my bread pudding to taste like a King Cake.

So...King Cake Vodka.
Making my King Cake Bread Pudding a reality.

I had plenty of stale French bread, hamburger, and hot dog buns.  The custard was infused with King Cake Vodka, cinnamon, and hints of lemon to give that traditional King Cake taste.

A powdered sugar glaze went on top, along with the colored sugars found on a King Cake.

It tasted like a real King Cake, but was much easier and quicker to make.
(Recipe Below)

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I run Cajun Mardi Gras with the Basile Mardi Gras Association.  The Sunday before Mardi Gras, they host a Children's Run for kids up to 16 years old.

Here's my Mardi Gras

Performing  La Chanson de Mardi Gras (the Mardi Gras Song) before starting the run

All the boys ready to head out

Colorful costumes on a foggy day

Begging like a Mardi Gras should

And catching a chicken--every Mardi Gras' wish for the day

While the adults who run Mardi Gras are fueled by liquid courage, these kids are hopped up on doughnuts.



Print It!

King Cake Bread Pudding

For bread pudding:
8-9 cups cubed stale bread
3 cups milk
1/2 cup King Cake Vodka
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 heaping tsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Whisk together milk, vodka, sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and lemon zest in a large bowl.  Fold in the bread cubes.  Pour into an 8 x 8 oven safe dish.  Bake for about 45 minutes.  The bread pudding is ready when a butter knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow pudding to cool before decorating or the colored sugar will melt.

For glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp King Cake Vodka

Add the powdered sugar to a bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of King Cake Vodka.  Add more vodka, a little at a time, until the glaze is a thick but pourable consistency.

For colored sugar:
(can be made ahead)
¾ cup granulated sugar, divided in thirds
purple food coloring, or red and blue
green food coloring
yellow food coloring

Divide the sugar into three plastic bags.  Add 3-4 drops of yellow food coloring to one bag.  Knead the color into the sugar. Repeat with green food coloring. For purple, I like to use purple food paste to get a rich purple color. Red and blue food coloring can also be used.


Once the bread pudding has cooled, drizzle the powdered sugar glaze over the top.  Decorate with the purple, green, and gold sugars.

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My Kind of Festival Food {Creamy Shrimp & Grits w/ Andouille}

Spring is "Festival Season" in Louisiana.  The Holidays are done.  Mardi Gras is over.  The temperatures and humidity levels are still bearable.  People have the time and motivation to get out and enjoy festival music and food.

Like one of my favorite festival foods: Shrimp & Grits.

 Of course, Fall is also considered "Festival Season" and we have festivals year round.  When you have a festival for everything under the sun, it's hard to pack everything into just the Spring months.

We don't go to every festival out there, but we try to make a few every year.  Apparently, we've been doing it for a long time.

At the Kolache Festival in Caldwell, Texas, 2002.

That baby is now 12.

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Many festivals focus on a certain type of food.  If that's the case, I feel obligated to eat that food item while I'm there.

But I'm always drawn to Shrimp & Grits.  There are many variations--I like trying them all.

Next week, I'll have a Creole version for you.  Today, it's one of my biggest weaknesses: a creamy sauce.

And lots of green onions.
Because that's how I roll.
In piles of green onion.

I could eat grits every day.  The Boy not so much.  If you don't eat grits (and, really, what's wrong with you?), this is also good over pasta.

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Creamy Shrimp & Grits (w/ Andouille)

1/2 TBSP olive oil
8 oz button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 lb andouille sausage, cubed
1/2 medium onion, chopped or sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped or sliced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 TBSP flour
1/2 lb small-medium shrimp
salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, to taste
3/4 c half and half
1/2 cup sliced green onion, divided

Add olive oil to a large skillet set on medium high heat.  When the pan and oil are very hot, add the mushrooms and sear until well browned and the mushrooms no longer give off liquid.  Remove from the pan.

Lower the heat to medium and add the andouille.    Saute until the sausage begins to brown in spots, about 5-7 minutes. Then add the onion and bell pepper.  Saute until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes.  Add the mushrooms back to the pan along with the garlic.  Cook for about 1 minute.  Sprinkle in the flour and add the shrimp to the pan.  Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and cayenne.  Cook, stirring, for about 6-8 minutes until the shrimp are no longer pink.

Slowly pour in the half and half, stirring to incorporate.  Add half of the green onions.  Simmer for about 10 minutes to thicken.  (Make the grits while the sauce simmers).  Serve over grits and top with the remaining green onions.  Serves 4.

For the grits:

olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 c chicken broth
salt and pepper, to taste
1 c grits
1 c grated cheese

Add a splash of olive oil to a saucepan.  Briefly saute the garlic until fragrant.  Add the chicken broth and season to taste with salt and pepper (grits need a fair amount of salt).  Bring to a boil and whisk in the grits.  Simmer until grits are tender.  Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.



Some June Festivals in Louisiana:
The Buggy Festival of Church Point, LA
French Market Creole Tomato Festival, New Orleans, LA
Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco Festival, New Orleans, LA
Louisiana Catfish Festival, Des Allemands, LA
Le Festival de la Viande Boucanee (Smoked Meat Festival), Ville Platte, LA
Beauregard Watermelon Festival, DeRidder, LA
Louisiana Peach Festival, Ruston, LA

More Grits...

In the Past...

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Mardi Gras 2014 {Mardi Gras Croquembouche, Mardi Gras Waltz, more Cajun Mardi Gras}

It's King Cake time, don't cha think?

Each year, I try out a new version.
This year I combined my King Cake experiment with my cooking bucket list and made

Mardi Gras Croquembouche

The only thing really King Cake about this is the icing and colored sugars.  

The flavors are classic cream puff.

It was an...um...interesting undertaking.

One that involved a pan of cream puffs on the floor, a burnt hand, yelling, cream puffs that were much, much too big to stack like I wanted...

oh, and using the smudge tool to edit the photo because this King Cake baby looked like he was all boy.

Despite my mistakes and fussing, I think it turned out pretty.

And they even ate it.

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My son has been playing Cajun fiddle for 6 years.  This year, he decided to take the next step and compose a song...a Mardi Gras Waltz.
The lyrics were written by my husband.
Pictures are from several Courir de Mardi Gras in Basile, LA, Eunice, LA, and Vermilionville in Lafayette, LA.


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More from the Courir de Mardi Gras in Basile, LA.

Pictures courtesy of my parents.

These are two gals I met during the run.  We stay masked...or at least somewhat masked...the entire day.  The day after Mardi Gras, two women came into where I was working in another town.  I thought their voices sounded familiar.  I asked if they ran Basile the day before.

Yep.  It was them!

My favorite picture from last year.
It captures Cajun Mardi Gras so well.  

The flag was "stolen" from a local store.

The Mardi Gras have found an object to mess with.

I also like the two masks together--comedy and tragedy.

Mr. Potsy (our head Capitaine, Mr. Potic Rider) once commented that "The frown stands for the Mardi Gras while they're begging, when they don't have enough food to feed the town.  The smile is for the Mardi Gras at the end of the day, when they have all the food they need for the gumbo."

Every Mardi Gras run has a band to accompany them.  The Boy (purple, green, gold costume) is playing fiddle.  The husband is on guitar.   I was stomping, dancing, and chanting like a fool somewhere in all of this.

Dancing, general chaos, and mayhem at one of the stops along the run.

Allons au Mardi Gras!

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Print It!

Mardi Gras Croquembouche

for the pâte à choux:
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
6 large eggs

Preheat oven to 450. Boil the water in a heavy pot. Add the butter and stir until it has melted. Add the flour and salt. Cook and stir until the mixture forms a soft ball of dough. Remove from the heat and cool for about 10 minutes. Make the pudding while you wait. After 10 minutes, add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Spoon or pipe dough into small round shapes onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 for about 12 minutes. Lower oven to 325 and bake for about 13 minutes, until golden (will depend on size--check them!). Remove from oven and allow to cool.

for the filling:
2 small boxes (4 servings) instant vanilla pudding
4 c cold milk

Follow the package directions. Chill until ready to use.
When the cream puffs have cooled, poke a hole in the bottom of each one with the end of a wooden spoon.  Place the pudding in a zip top bag or piping bag.  Pipe into the each cream puff.

for the icing:
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together with a fork until smooth.

for the colored sugars:
2 Tbsp granulated sugar per color (6 Tbsp total)
purple, green, and yellow food coloring

Place 2 Tbsp sugar in each of 3 zip top bags.  Add green food coloring (a few drops) to one bag, yellow to another, and purple to the third.  Massage the food coloring into the sugar.  You can always add more food coloring if you want the colors more intense.

assembly:
filled cream puffs
icing
colored sugar
gold pearlized sugar or sanding sugar (optional)
1 king cake baby

Choose a platter or cake plate. Spread a circle of icing down on the edge of the cake plate.  Form a ring with the filled cream puffs, using the icing to "glue" them down.  Spread icing on the bottom of more cream puffs and "glue" them to the tops of your original ring.  Repeat until you have a tower of cream puffs.

Drizzle the tower with the remaining icing (you may not use all of it).  Sprinkle the purple, green, and gold colored sugars.  Sprinkle gold pearlized sugar over the top (optional).  Add the King Cake baby to the tower (or place it inside of one of the cream puffs).

Need more Mardi Gras?

Need more sweets?

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