(Who You Calling) Fat Tuesday

My dear friend, Janice, has been out of town a lot lately (she's teaching online classes only this semester), but she made it back to Plattsburgh just in time for us to celebrate Mardis Gras together with this FABULOUS Cajun feast that she and her daughter, Domenica, prepared for us.


Shrimp cocktail, mixed nuts, and a cocktail called Blackberry Bourbon Street Brut.

Crawfish dip with French bread, Andouille sausage slices, mixed nuts. 

The Blackberry Bourbon Street Brut (recipe to follow)

Tom sporting the requisite colors: purple, gold, and green.

The festive Mardis Gras table.

LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER!

Crawfish!

Left to right: Southern Fried Chicken over Ham, Mushroom and Potato Hash, Boiled Crawfish, and Baked Shrimp Scampi.

I forgot to photograph the desserts, but we had a king cake (of course), some Mardi Gras-themed petit fours, and a wonderful bread pudding with a very boozy rum sauce that my friend, June, brought to the party. Everything was delicious, but I think my favorite thing of all was the special blackberry cocktail that Domenica whipped up for us. 

The Blackberry Bourbon Street Brut 

(Source: Cosmopolitan Magazine)

1 1/2 oz. Camarena Silver Tequila
2 oz. brut Champagne
7 large blackberries
1/2 oz. agave nectar
1/4 oz. lemon juice
Garnish: blackberries

Muddle blackberries, agave nectar and lemon juice in a glass. Pour ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Add tequila, shake, and strain into a large rocks glass filled with ice. Top with brut Champagne and garnish with a skewered blackberries.