Shoestring Gourmet – Cold Fusion

By Jim Morgan

(Alan’s still away, so I’m subbing again.)

So, there they were, forty-five of the most beautiful, cuddly little blue crabs you ever saw, frolicking in my back yard, oblivious to the fate that awaited them: providing dinner to 15 hungry gourmets at our Looziana Crab Boil. One little guy, I called him Buster, would try to reach up and take my finger (affectionately, I’m sure) each time I reached toward him. Truly a touching example of interspecies communication. We cooked him anyway. (Hey, I’m sure he’d’ve eaten me if he’d had the chance!)

Ray Pisar and Diana Toone did a wonderful job of tracking down a source for blue crabs, Lee-Lee Market in Mesa (priced at $1 apiece!), picking them up and delivering them alive and kicking to the party. They also prepared a wonderful potato salad.

Tremendous thanks to Ida Lee Duplechin, our SME (Shellfish Matter Expert), for advising us in the art of creating an authentic Cajun crab boil. She determined pretty much the entire menu for the evening. Ida also brought a couple of pounds of spicy crawfish as our appetizer.

In addition to the crab and crawfish, we devoured a gallon or so of my famous chicken-and-andouille (Cajun sausage) gumbo. Syd Golston brought a unique African-American cornbread, which disappeared very quickly. Kebba Buckley created a sensational pea salad, and Joice and Chuck Braden provided the de rigeur dirty rice (Cajun rice with giblets). Al Scozzari made a simple, perfect salad of very ripe tomatoes and crispy cucumbers.

The ever-inventive Ken Brown whipped up some oyster shooters with Peychaud’s (PAY-show) bitters, a New Orleans beverage ingredient.

For dessert, Jenny Ewing brought an incredible three-layer chocolate/lemon cake with a silken Julia-Child-inspired mocha frosting and blackberries; this was complemented by Marilyn McDonald’s velvety homemade praline ice cream. Joice and Chuck poured everyone a round of Frangelico as an accompaniment.

For September, we’ll be the wise who came into the cold. Join us for "Cold Fusion," a selection of chilled foods from various cuisines (e.g., French vichyssoise, Vietnamese goi cuon [salad rolls], English cold roast beef).

Dinner will be served Saturday, September 12. Contact Jim at 831-2170 or jlmorgan@amug.org to make your reservation and coordinate your contribution.