okay
do you want to go first
you can go first or i will
well you go ahead
okay
well i'm going to tell you what i'd have
down in the South we have a lot of shrimp
oh yeah
okay and i have uh shrimp that is steamed in beer that i cook
oh yeah uh-huh
and then i have a cauliflower that i would cook garlic bread green salad tea and we'd have a lemon pie for dessert
oh it sounds fantastic
yes and what's really neat about it is the shrimp is cooked in your uh like your rice steamer your rice cooker
oh yeah uh-huh
and um you place the shrimp in the
in the rice steamer and you put a bay leaf and put some uh red pepper over it
uh-huh
now you can either use you know the kind that comes in the little can or you can just get some you know regular red peppers
is it cayenne pepper you mean
cayenne uh-huh
yes
uh-huh
and you put a little bit of that over it now if you use the dried kind
yes
then you would only use two of them and you put that in there and then you pour two bottles of beer over it
and how much shrimp would you use
two pounds
two pounds okay
that's the jumbo shrimp in the shells leave the shells on them so they won't just roll up
oh yeah
uh-huh
and you pour the beer over the top of it and you cover it and you only cook it until the mixture begins to boil
uh-huh
okay
and the shrimp turn pink then you remove it and you put it on a platter and then you serve it with melted butter and uh
uh-huh
i usually put garlic powder in mine
oh yeah
and they can just dip it and they shell it as they eat it
sure
but uh then the microwave uh the cauliflower you cook that in the microwave and what you do is you just uh wash it and you core it
uh-huh
uh-huh
and in a like a oh what do you call it like Pyrex or something like that kind of bowl that would go in the microwave
uh-huh
a glass dish uh-huh
uh-huh but it's got to have one that has a cover on it
okay uh-huh
and you uh put about two tablespoons of uh water into this bowl and about an eighth a teaspoon of salt
yeah
uh-huh
and then you just set your cauliflower in there and then you cook it for seven minutes on high and you rotate it one time
and it's are you cooking the whole head at one time okay
uh-huh you uh when you core it you be real careful so you won't knock your flowers off
i see
and uh you just set it in there and you microwave it on high for seven minutes and you turn it one time and while that's cooking i take mayonnaise about a cup of mayonnaise
uh-huh
and a teaspoon of mustard and some garlic powder and i mix it all together and i shred up some just regular white cheese
uh-huh
and after that's cooked you take it out and pour this on top of it and then you sprinkle the cheese on top of that and you cook it for another three minutes on high
uh-huh
you know just mainly to melt the cheese and everything and let all the seasoning melt into it and it's done
yeah
oh that sounds fantastic
it is good but it it looks i mean what you can do then see is like what i usually do is i'll like sit the cauliflower in the middle and then i put the uh shrimp around the outside of it you know on my platter
um um
uh-huh
and then i have a green salad that i put around the outside of that
and you know you have all the different seasonings and stuff and then i just fix little individual cups for them and they have the garlic bread and it makes it a real nice looking
sure
and it's not much work
you know
huh-uh huh-uh but it looks like it you know you look like you went to a whole bunch
that sounds
yeah really i bet it tastes good too
right and uh usually i cut those little cherry tomatoes up and put some color into it you know and i'll lay those on top of my salad you know to make it look nice and things like that
oh yeah
sure
now how many could you serve
okay uh it usually serves six
yeah okay okay i figured about that
yeah
oh that's good
see out here we have so many uh ethnic people we have Italians and we have Portuguese and we have Russians and Polish and
it depends out here like the type of people you're going to entertain
you know so it's hard uh you you just have to pick something for the the group that you're going to entertain for that particular time
uh-huh
yeah
and uh they're big on finger food here too you know chicken wings and uh ribs and that kind of stuff uh barbecue
yeah
and uh cooking out in the yard it yard you know when it's nice barbecue outside chicken and that kind of stuff
yeah have you ever had crawfish
uh no but i have had shrimp
oh you ought to try some crawfish they are good but see that's one good thing about living down here is usually anybody that comes over
you know even if it's like out of town guests and stuff they want our cooking
oh of course that's
you know they want it from down here
yeah
because just like now especially crawfish it is starting to move out you know and more and more people are beginning to find out how good it is
really is it like shrimp
but
uh it's similar uh-huh
it's similar
yeah it's not exactly i mean it's got a taste of its own you know but it is it is similar to because you only eat the tails of it
oh it does
does it look like a lobster
um it looks more like a crab
oh it looks more like a crab oh
uh-huh
but
are they thin long
no
or wide
um let me think of
i can't even think of what you i guess if it uh it looks like more like a cross between uh a crab and uh and a lobster because it's small like that and it's got the pinchers like a crab but
uh-huh
uh-huh
but you know it's it's similar to a lobster too because the tail has got the little pleats in it like a lobster would
oh yeah yep
and we call them mud bugs
oh
but i mean they're fantastic tasting they are so good everybody it's it's the season for them right now
and and where did you say you were from
Louisiana
Louisiana oh well do you do cajun cooking
uh-huh
oh yeah
oh i love uh blackened you know uh the the fish and the chicken and that kind of stuff oh we have a few places up here that do that
uh-huh
yeah
and if ever i see it on the menu i always get it
yes
it is so good
yeah you know
now how do they do the blackened
you buy it you buy it as a seasoning
but uh do you have to have a certain skillet or something
huh-uh huh-uh i cook mine well do you have a uh like a black iron skillet
no
i did have i don't have it now but i have mostly Teflon
oh okay well i guess you could cook it in in that too but i don't know you know i never have i use uh uh the black iron skillet to cook mine
you now but uh
does does it have to get extremely hot
uh-huh but it really it's not it it it doesn't burn or anything like that the blackening is really the seasoning
yeah
uh-huh oh oh i see
i mean there is it's it's a blackening seasoning
yeah
you know i mean that is a seasoning that's really it's not like you would have to cook it for an extreme amount of time or something like that to get it
oh i see
because it's called uh
what it's called is Blackening Magic and it it comes in a bottle and uh
oh
well i'm trying to see it's got a a picture of Dom De Luise on it
oh
oh really
uh-huh
oh now would you would cook it for the same amount of time as you would prepare it any other time is that what you're saying
right
uh-huh
oh uh-huh
but
because i could have the uh chicken on the skewers
with uh uh blackened seasoning
uh-huh
and oh that is so good delicious
yeah
but you do have to have it you know you do have to have it hot when you cook it i mean your pan it does have to be really hot you know when you put it in but it's not like it's burned and it what it what blackens it is the seasoning
uh-huh
oh
and it is so good oh
it is i i love it i i in fact i was in Texas for a little while and i liked uh the barbecues and the Mexican food
yeah
uh-huh
uh-huh
i have a passion for all that type of different tastes because i have been brought up mostly Italian American food because my uh parents are Italian and Portuguese
so we cook a lot of pasta and uh gravies and pizzas and you know roasts and that kind of thing that's why i enjoy going to restaurants and have you know trying different things
uh-huh
well have you ever thought about coming to Louisiana you know to visit
i would love to
yeah you ought to come down um you don't even have to go all the way to New Orleans you know if you want to really get some good food
i
really
i mean you don't have to go that far south
uh-huh
but uh
of course the further south you go the better the food is as far as i'm concerned and fact is we're going to take a vacation this year we're going to go to New Orleans again and uh
is that right
uh-huh
we're only going down there for the food though
now where where do you go when you go there uh right on Basin Street and those places
uh yeah we go to the the French Quarters and stuff like that and uh i have some friends that live down there
uh-huh
and so usually we go to we don't go to the tourist ones we go to the ones that they tell us to go to you know
oh
oh i see
and we went to this one it was called The Back Porch and uh
they were cooking the stuff you know while we were we went on this boat ride and then we came back and ate out on this it was like a back porch
oh that's nice
and uh usually if you can find somebody of course now when you go down there you know i mean they've got just there's no where you can miss
uh-huh
i have never gone to a restaurant and not just been so full it's unreal and uh i mean it's so good the seasoning they it's just unreal
really
and don't they make a lot of um i'm trying to think what they call their soup i don't know
gumbo
yeah jumbo gumbo right is is is that with seafood
no gumbo uh-huh right
uh-huh you can even make it with chicken or you can make it with seafood
oh you can
uh-huh
that looks good too i've seen them do the chefs on TV do that and oh it looks delicious
uh-huh
and i'll tell you what
see we do um uh a thing we call it a sea bake you uh you take clams
