Foodbuzz 24X24: Gulf Coast Cuisine Dinner Party

As one of the Foodbuzz: 24 X 24 Gulf Coast Ambassadors, last night it was my privilege to participate and showcase the cuisine of the Gulf Coast region. This event was held in St Pete, Florida at my friend Jennie's house with the proceeds going to the Greater New Orleans Foundation thanks to Foodbuzz with the focus on helping fishermen and their families in the area who have been subjected to the fallout from the BP oil disaster since April 20, 2010.

The stakes have been devastating to every single state along the Gulf Of Mexico and nobody knows if there will be much of a future for inhabitants or residents of the area. There is a darkness that looms in our offshore waters and the oil invasion is currently taking a heavy toll on all of us living in the coastal regions.

Poker was a fitting theme to the dinner since the BP executives have been bluffing about the risks and fallout of offshore drilling for too long. Betting against all living creatures, their livelihood, culture, and the environment.

Each one of us created a dish featuring the cuisine of the region from New Orleans all the way to Key West, Florida. Each guest was greeted with a hurricane drink and the night began to unfold. Living in the tropics we know the drill of tropical storms but on this night TS Bonnie was swirling in the oil path on top of the already devastated area.

The People:

Meet the poker girls; Shanon and Jennie followed by Amber and Dawn in the next photo. We all like to spend an evening cutting loose and have a great time together, that's right women playing poker. No boys allowed.

We prefer it this way with foods we love to eat and drink. We do it up in style every time we meet.

The Menu

Crawfish, beignets, shrimp cocktail, broiled parmesan crusted grouper, cheesy grits casserole , Caribbean rice, and dessert choices later.

Parmesan Crusted Grouper is a popular fish is our area even if you don't like fish most people really enjoy this dish.

* 2 pounds fresh grouper fillets
* 2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
* 1 dash hot pepper sauce
* salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven's broiler. Place the grouper fillets on a greased baking tray. Brush them with lemon juice. In a small bowl, stir together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Broil the fillets for 4 to 6 minutes, until they can be flaked with a fork. Remove from the oven and spread the cheese mixture on top of fillets. Return to the broiler for an additional 30 seconds, or until the topping is browned and bubbly.

As you can see we are not afraid to cook a feast on poker nights.

The beignets were made in 3 batches through the night because we kept running out of them. Yes, even when midnight rolled around we entertained the idea of making another round and I see nothing wrong with this.

This makes about 3 dozen unless you cut the dough into large pieces.

recipe:
4 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder
1 egg ,2 cups milk, 1 tsp nutmeg (optional), 2 tbs melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Mix flour, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. Add sugar to beaten egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla and cream. Mix dry ingredients with wet until a soft dough forms. Turn onto well floured board and cut to desired sizes for beignets. Deep fry and drain. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Despite the weather and talk over the oil disaster, hilarity ensued much of the night as we ate great food, played great poker, and enjoyed fabulous drinks. This has reached all of us in one way or another. Fish prices have gone up but mostly it is available due to stocked supplies from earlier. I have seen bay scallops off the beach resting on seagrass but a few miles out it is very different and legally cannot be harvested below the Pasco county line.

Lets play poker:
Ante up! Round one.

As the cards are dealt the mood changes. Who says poker is for boys?

Round 2
By the end of this round I noticed my friends needed another refill just to keep things interesting. Jennie is one heck of a checkraiser.

Round 3

By this round I was seriously low on chips and feeling it was all or nothing to stay in the game so I played my best hand and went for it. Lucky me I won a few more rounds and recouped my losses in order to play long into the night.

Round 4 Dessert

The throwdown between the Beignets and Key Lime Angel Food Cake meant more tasting would follow. The tartness of the key limes really made the cake but I think we consumed more beignets than anything else.

This dinner was a success and everything tasted delicious. Personally, I had not eaten this much food in a while and it really brought back my appetite. I really appreciated the hard work everyone put in to their recipes and as always getting together with the poker girls is never a dull moment. We should do this more often.

In closing, I leave you with the voodoo wedding cake toppers that were not as visible in the first picture but I felt they really needed a closeup on their own. Also, please realize there were more than 4 rounds of poker played but I didn't want to bore you with every one of them.

Hope you are having a great weekend!