Mardi Gras Cornbread Fritters with a Sazerac Cocktail!!

Mardi Gras is the last day of rich eating, the day before Ash Wednesday when lent begins. Literally translated Mardi Gras means Fat Tuesday. This is the last day in which people celebrate and eat all of the rich things that they love, before repenting their sins and fasting for religious obligations. This has become a great time of religious celebrations throughout the world. Families join together, eat great food, drink great beverages, and in many cases attend grand festivals. Living in Venice I feel that every day is a Mardi Gras festival; the amount of colorful people that live in the area, all the fur covered bikes, random beads, and all around kookooness that occurs. This is one of the many reasons that we love living here.

When we think of Mardi Gras, Mikey and I think of New Orleans and all of the great Southern food that there is. We think delicious flavors, a little spice, some gooiness, and maybe something a little fried. To mix all this goodness together we created a jalapeno cheddar corn bread fritters! Not to mention the traditional southern drink of Sazerac to accompany it! Nothing says Mardi Gras like a fritter with some booze!

*We used an ice cream scooper to make perfect dollops of fritter.

* The best way to tell if oil is ready to fry things in is to put a little water on your fingers and flick it in the oil, (from far away as to not burn yourself), and if it sizzles you are ready.

Ingredients:
 Fritters: makes about a dozen

1 ½ cups plus 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 jalapeno
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups cornmeal
2 teaspoons sugar
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Sazerac: makes 1 drink

3 oz rye whiskey
¾ oz simple syrup
Splash of peychaud bitters
Lemon twist
½ a tangerine

Make this lovely cocktail by measuring out your whiskey, add your simple syrup and stir it in. Splash it off with the bitters, and take half of a tangerine and squeeze it in to add a new tangy twist to this classic. To make a lemon twist, using a peeler, peel a 3 inch long strip of rind, take a knife to cut as a straight line, and twist around your finger to curl it.

For the fritters start by shredding one cup of cheddar cheese, and seeding and dicing one jalapeno. In a large and deep sauce pan heat the 1 ½ cups oil on a medium high heat.

In a medium size bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. In a small bowl whisk the egg and 2 Tablespoons of oil together. Pour in to the dry ingredients, followed by the milk, mix until most clumps are gone. Mix in the jalapeno and cheddar cheese.

Take whatever you are using to scoop your mix out, and dollop about 2 Tablespoons out into the hot oil. Fit as many as you can in the oil at once. Take a large plate and lay paper towels out so that as you are making your fritters you can place on towel to soak as much extra oil out as possible.

Cook on one side until golden brown, then flip, until golden brown all over. Lay on paper towel, wait to cool, and serve with the delectable cocktail you created! Now go collect as many beads as you can! Hoorah!