| Mardi Gras Recipes From the Bayou |
| Written by Dante Dominick | |
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Louisiana-born (but now Austinite) musicians share their family recipes.  Austin is lucky to have a fair share of our neighboring Louisianans making a home here. Accordingly, a good bowl of gumbo and swamp rock are easy to find here—not the case in about 47 states. A couple notable Austin musicians with bayou blood—Papa Mali and Wendy Colonna—were kind enough to share some of their family recipes with austin.com. (Note: In each case, no photo of their recipes could be found. Apparently, the food never stuck around too long, and no one ever thought to grab a camera—opting instead for a fork and a bottle of Crystal hot sauce. Understandable.)WENDY COLONNA The singer-songwriter and Lake Charles native stirs heaping portions of soul and bayou blues into her pop-folk roux. Consider it her cayenne, spicing up the Americana genre with some South Louisiana sass. An Austinite for about ten years now, Colonna is happy to introduce her mother’s crawfish pie and crawfish étouffée to home kitchens (and backyard parties) here. Below are both recipes, but first, the origins, in her words: “My grandmother, who grew up between Rayne and Lake Arthur, Louisiana, was an amazing cook. Our family had a big farm—rice, soybeans, crawfish, sugarcane, and chickens—and she had a beautiful garden she tended to until she could no longer walk. My favorite memories of Granny always involved eating her rice and gravy until I could eat no more…and then going back for another serving. Man dat was sum good food, cher! My mother's sister is also a fabulous Cajun cook, and the running joke in our family around the holidays is that my mother cooks so poorly in comparison that she is always asked to bring the desserts. The reality is that my mother's gift in Cajun cooking isn't winter holiday dishes; her gift shines with springtime cuisine. Crawfish is perfect right around Good Friday, and boy can she perfectly execute my grandmother's crawfish pie and crawfish étouffée recipes. Like “the sweetest one” in Hank Williams’ song “Jambalaya,” my mother’s name is Yvonne. She shared these recipes with me to share with you. Bon Appetite, Cher!”  Yvonne’s Crawfish PieMakes enough for two pie crustsFilling 1 pound crawfish tails ½ cup onions, chopped ½ cup celery, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced ½ stick (4 Tbsp.) butter ½ can cream of mushroom soup ½ can evaporated milk 1 tsp cornstarch 1 Tbsp green onions 1 Tbsp parsley Sautée onions, celery, and garlic in butter until cooked. Dilute cornstarch in a little water (called a slurry). Add soup, evaporated milk, and cornstarch slurry. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring. Add crawfish tails (drain excess liquid from crawfish before adding), green onions, and parsley and cook for about 10 minutes. Pour into uncooked pie crust (I cook the pie crust for a few minutes before I put in crawfish mixture.) and cover with top crust. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Reduce to 300° and bake until golden brown (30-45 minutes). Another option is to make small pies in muffin tins. Yvonne’s Crawfish Étouffée½ cup celery, chopped1 cup onion, chopped ½ cup green pepper, chopped 1 garlic clove, minced cold water ¼ cup green onion tops ½ cup butter 2 pounds crawfish tails 2 Tbsp. crawfish fat * 2 Tbsp. cornstarch 1 Tbsp. parsley, chopped * If using frozen crawfish, some packages include the crawfish fat. Crawfish fat is available itself in many Louisiana stores, but a much harder find in Austin. If none available, substitute butter. (And perhaps a little shrimp stock if you have that lying around.) Sautée celery, onions, green peppers, and garlic in butter. Add crawfish tails, crawfish fat, and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat 30 minutes. Dissolve cornstarch in ½ cup of water and add to mixture. Add onion tops and parsley. Cook another 10 minutes. Serve over white rice. PAPA MALI  Malcom “Papa Mali” Welbourne epitomizes the swampy funk of bayou blues and rock. The multi-instrumentalist’s bottleneck slide is as much New Orleans as a marching band with a big bass drum. Raised in Shreveport and New Orleans, he has been a fixture in Austin for as long as most can remember. In addition to his own material, Papa Mali is a noted producer (Ruthie Foster, Omar & The Howlers, Miss Lavelle White) and in-demand side man playing with just about everyone. He has been reported to be a master at Louisiana cuisine. Try his recipe below, and you decide. “I learned to make jambalaya from my grandma, a fourth generation Louisianan. Her name was Maude Timon, but we all called her Mi-Mi. The word jambalaya means “the gift of rice.” Basically, it was a way to stretch leftovers—to make a good meal out of them. I have made jambalaya out of other things that were just in the refrigerator—I’ve even made it out of leftover Thanksgiving turkey—but the chicken and andouille is the way I like it best. A problem with a lot of jambalayas is people put too much tomato or tomato base in it, where it gets almost red looking. If it’s soupy, that’s wrong too. It should have almost a brownish-orange color about it, and it should be fluffy, not soupy.” Papa Mali’s Jambalaya 4 cups uncooked white rice
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