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!

Rainy Day Chipotle Chorizo and Beef Chili!!

Today was a weird weather day in Los Angeles, it is actually pretty cold! This morning we had hail, the last time I remember that happening I was 6 years old, I was living in Pacific Palisades, and my dogs refused to go outside. Right after the downpour of the year I would say, the sun came out and reminded us that seasons don’t quite exist here, only to confuse me when I go outside to still smell rain and not be able to feel my ears and nose because I wasn’t prepared for cold weather. I will stop complaining right now, because this weather is a walk in the park compared to the crazy storm Nemo that is raging through the Northern East Coast.

So whether you are faring through cold weather in Los Angeles, or shoveling through snow on the East Coast this rainy day chili will warm your cold little souls out there! We created a superb slow cooker beef and chorizo chili, with some extra goodies; a little cinnamon sweetness, a little chipotle kick, and a nice crunch of corn. Enjoy!

*Whenever we use tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, peeled tomatoes etc…We only use the brand Pomi. It comes in a paper container, and is delicious. Tomatoes should never come out of a can; they retain a metal flavor which takes a long time to cook out!

* Keep garlic salt, oregano, and garlic salt on hand, because depending on how long you want to cook your chili you may want to add more of these three ingredients to achieve your perfect flavor.

Ingredients: serves 10 cook time 3-4 hours
2.5 lbs ground beef
2 lbs chorizo
1 yellow onion
½ small can of chipotle peppers
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
4 oz tomato paste
12 oz Pomi chopped tomato
1 large can kidney beans
1 large can pinto beans
1 large can white or cannellini beans
¼ cup chopped fresh oregano
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon paprika
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Sour cream
Grated cheddar cheese

 

To make your life easier measure out all of your spices ahead of time, take oregano off the stems and chop, dice the onion, and slice up your chipotle peppers.

In a large sauté pan heat your olive oil and then sweat your onions until they start to soften. Next add the ground beef, and the chorizo (remove casings), and break up using a wooden spoon. While the meat starts to sear add your oregano, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, salt, and cumin, by sprinkling it all over the meat. We do this because we want the meat to cook and absorb the entire flavor. When you feel that your meat has seared all the way, add the chopped chipotle with half of the sauce it sits in and the tomato paste, and stir.

Transfer the meat mix into a slow cooker (if you don’t have one use a crock pot). Add your beans, the Pomi, garlic salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the mix. Cook on low with the timer set at 3-4 hours, whatever your timeline is. Towards the end, you can even have it at warm until it is ready to eat.

30 minutes before you decide to serve the chili add the corn, this way it will retain a wonderful crunch. Once you are done serve with a dollop of sour cream and cheddar cheese! Boom! That is tasty!!!