Bon Appetit!

A couple of days ago, I offered to post the recipes that I made for our Mardi Gras party. Since no one's discovered me here yet, hiding in this brand-new corner of the blogosphere, of course, there have been no requests.

Screw it. I'm posting them anyway.

Enjoy!

Hurricane(ish)
Ingredients
16 ounces each light and dark rum
(This is a little less rum than the recipe called for, but they were still plenty strong)

32 ounces strawberry daquiri mix
(The recipe called for grenadine or passion fruit juice, but this is what we found. The daquiri mix tasted fine, but is really the wrong consistency - very syrupy, made for frozen drinks. I would use something more clear and "juice-like" next time.)

32 ounces sweet & sour mix
(Recipe called for sour mix or lime juice)

32 ounces orange juice
(Hey - this one was actually in the recipe!)

1. Make ice ring a day or two before the party: Mix 8 oz each of OJ, daiquiri mix and sweet & sour mix with 8 oz water in a Bundt pan and freeze overnight. (Optional, of course, but keeps the punch cold without diluting. The alcohol will, of course, get a bit diluted over the course of the party, but that's probably a good thing.)
2. A few hours before the party, mix rums and juices in a large punch bowl and stir until well mixed. Redfrigerate
3. Just before the party, carefully add the ice ring.
4. Serve in hurricane glasses. Or, if you're cheap like us, serve in Solo cups.

Muffalettas
The defining characteristic of a muffaletta is the olive salad. They're usually made on huge round rolls (like giant hamburger buns) but for a party, I'd recommend doing a big loaf and slicing them, as below.

Ingredients
Olive Salad
1 cup Green olives w/pimentos (chopped)

1 cup Black olives (chopped)

1 cup Red Bell Pepper (chopped)
(The bell peppers at our grocery were very sad that day, so I bought a jar of roasted red peppers, probably about 6 oz, and chopped those up.)

1 cup Olive Oil

2 Tbs Red Wine or White Wine Vinegar

2 tsp Garlic

3 Tbs Fresh Parsley (chopped)

Sandwich
French Bread or something similar
(The one we used is wider and shorter than French, and probably worked better.)

Ham
(From the Deli - about 12 slices was right for 2 loaves of bread.)

Salami
(See ham note.)

Provolone Cheese
(Ditto.)

1. Make olive salad the day before the party: Mix all olive salad ingredients and refrigerate overnight.
2. Cut bread in half horizontally, as if you would for a sandwich. Scoop out some of the center of each side the loaf and broil briefly in the oven, cut side down, then cut side up. Do not brown; just get it “crispy.”
3. Remove bread from oven. On each half spread olive salad, then layer ham, salami, and provolone.
4. Toast both halves of bread until browned and cheese is melted.
5. Replace top half of bread, press down to seal.
6. Slice and serve. (Secure each slice with a toothpick.)

"Monkey Bread" King Cake
This is not a "traditional" King Cake, but it is easy and is certainly close enough for BlueState. I wouldn't try to pass it off anywhere that folks actually eat King Cake (which is more like a giant filled Danish, baked in a ring.) Of course, you could serve it for any occassion, without the purple/green/gold icing.

Ingredients
4 cans canned cinnamon rolls with icing
(Either the sugary or cream cheese icing is ok. We accidentally bought two cans of each. I mixed it all together and it worked fine.)

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1-1/4 stick butter

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Blue, Red, Yellow food coloring
(ie gnomes)

Plastic baby
(This represents Baby Jesus. The tradition is that the person who finds the baby in their slice of cake hosts the next party, provides the next King Cake, or is King or Queen of Mardi Gras. You could also offer a prize for that person. If you don't live where Mardi Gras happens, google "King Cake Baby" and order one! Don't drive all over town looking for it.)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Separate cinnamon rolls and cut into halves. Roll halves into balls.
3. Mix 2/3-cup sugar and 1-tsp cinnamon. Roll dough balls in sugar-cinnamon mixture until evenly coated.
4. Place dough balls in a greased (or Pammed) Bundt pan (can also just shape them into a ring on a cookie sheet). I was able to do two layers, with a few more to fill in the blank spots.
5. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture on top.
6. Mix brown sugar, butter, and 1-tsp cinnamon in saucepan. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over biscuits. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes.
7. While cake is baking, divide icing into 3 equal portions and color green, gold and purple. It's easier to color if you warm it in the microwave for a few seconds first.
8. When the cake is done, before icing, hide the plastic baby in the cake, from the bottom. (I popped out one dough ball, dug out a little cavity, stuck in the baby and replaced the dough ball, "gluing" it back in with a little icing.)
9. When cake is cool, invert onto a plate and decorate by drizzling icing on top, alternating the colors around the cake.

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