Friday Night on the Patio

Grilling, sippin and good conversations is what our southern hospitality is all about at the Louisiana Cajun Mansion.  We had a full house tonight and three couples all ended up congregating on the patio after each had their dinners.  Some went out to dinner at local restaurants, but one couple, Eric & Ellen, chose to dine in.

Eric and Ellen are from California and have been traveling for two weeks and their vacation is soon coming to an end.  They appear to be very well rested and have enjoyed their vacation in Cajun country.  They’re heading to New Orleans tomorrow and then flying home.

Eric and Ellen were eager to try the Cajun Grilling Dinner on the Patio and boy did they fit right in.  They are great, fun loving people who adapted to our southern Cajun culture quiet well.

The Cajun Grilling Dinner on the Patio

They got to taste boiled crawfish which I prepared in a margarita glass; I call it a Crawfish BOWL instead of a crawfish BOIL.  Most people who are not from Louisiana have problems pealing the crawfish and ultimately get discouraged.  So I decided to peal at least a dozen large boiled crawfish, included smoked sausage and potatoes that were also boiled in the crawfish seasoning and created the perfect CRAWFISH BOWL appetizer.   I was a little worried about the amount of seasoning, but this couple were champs!  They ate it all; everything that was eatable in the margarita glass was eaten.  Now the first appetizer was down and they were ready for the second appetizer.

Eager for the next one, I asked if they had ever had gumbo.  They ate chicken and sausage gumbo someplace else; tonight they were getting shrimp gumbo.  Oh boy, was it good.  Because the gumbo was served as an appetizer, I didn’t serve home-made potato salad with it.  It was served in a small appetizer size bowl.

Next came the Cajun Sweet n Spicy Coleslaw.  The mansions coleslaw is not like any other coleslaw and one day I will include the recipe in the recipe section of this blog.   Have you ever heard of adding Cajun spices and seasonings, salt and sugar to coleslaw?  Well guess what, this recipe includes the coleslaw chopped very fine and cauliflower.

The entree was next and we continued enjoying good conversations; Joe and Eric both enjoy old cars and guess what they enjoyed talking about.  Ellen and I had to move over so we could at least speak to each other about something else besides CARS!

They soon asked “What was next”?  They’ve never tried pork fingers and this was part of the entree.  The pork fingers had been marinated with Sandra’s special marinade sauce for the last couple of days and they were ready for grilling!  Pork fingers are always so tender when grilled and is perfect when served with Jambalaya and green beans wrapped in bacon.    Home-made fresh jambalaya can be made several ways, but I prefer making mine with pork cushing meat and smoke sausage.

Jambalaya can be quirky, but the best jambalaya once mixed is one that is not dry after mixing.  You want your jambalaya to be moist even after the rice has soaked up the juices in the dish.  The mansions green beans wrapped in bacon is not any other green bean wrapped in bacon either.  These beans were prepared the day before and marinated, then baked the day of serving.

OK, by now you are asking, is there any room left for dessert.  Well….  actually there was!  I served them the best bread pudding you will ever put in your mouth with awesome rum sauce. It was grandma Nolia’s recipe and that recipe changed each time   Hah!

Thank you E & E (Eric and Ellen) for a great evening.  You are welcome back anytime at the mansion and we look forward to seeing you again one day in California.