Eight Crazy Nights!

Here we are again. The season of celebration.

This year we decided to shake things up a bit. Since we are a interfaith family, this year we decided that our holiday celebration would represent each of our cultures.  Then a Cajun Hanukkah was born.

What is on the menu? Gumbo, red beans and rice, corn bread (jalepeno-cheese), and latkes. Delicious! Our signature cocktail was Jeff's fabulous Bloody Ceasar.

To be completely honest, I have never made a gumbo (even though I am a Louisiana girl). My fabulous friend, Rose, has been feeding me her gumbo and red beans weekly for the last year in Dallas. So I turn to her for recipes and guidance. Rose swears by Savoie's  already prepared roux. If I could have gotten my hands on some, I would have used it. However, we didnt have enough time to order any, nowhere in Virginia sells it and even though Rose said she could, it seemed insane to have her over night it to me.

In Louisiana, you can pick up necessities like gumbo file' on every corner. Here in Virginia this is not the case so you will understand my joy when I found a seafood market around the corner that had file'! I took that as a sign that a Cajun Hanukkah would be super successful.

I decided that the only option was to be a big girl and make the roux the old fashion way. I was nervous but confident in my skills in the kitchen. I decided to start the feast on Thursday night so I could slow cook everything over night and make sure it was going to be fantastic.

You know how the story goes: On the second night of Hanukkah, she sauteed the holy trinity (onions, peppers and celery), boiled the beans and started the roux. And so it begins.

This is a time consuming process. To insure peace and quite you will need to send the man folk outside to play with their fancy grilling machines. This will buy you a little time to peacefully sip your cocktail and stir your roux.

 After about an hour,  we have ourselves a roux, not too dark and not too light, just right. I am very pleased with myself to pulling this off. First you make a roux, that is how you start off any special occasion, at least thats what they say. I was a little intimidated because from what I had heard, making a roux is not hard. It is time consuming and takes patience, not my strong point. Since the roux is the base for our main entree, there is alot of pressure to make sure it is perfect. I have to say I am pleased with my first attempt.

I put alot of love into it:)

Around 11pm, we have all the prep work done. Since I have 3 slow cookers ( I told that dude I needed all 3), this was the perfect time to put them all to use simultaneously. Then the magic happens. We slow cooked all night Thursday and half the day Friday. Just as I had planned, it was delicious. Now the next step was to let her rest overnight, because everything is better the next day.

Good thing we started early because Friday night we had plans to enjoy Comfort for Drew's birthday dinner. Saturday morning I woke up and started phase 2. Baking. Cupcakes and corn muffins.

On the 4th day she bakes and makes latkes.

 I have to confess that I planned to blog this and post it on Friday or Saturday. Then follow up with pics from the party and full report of good times had by all.  I will work on that now. Happy Hanukkah to all! More to come.