The Coffee Place's Joke Stack
Josephine's Meat and Oyster Pie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We decided to leave Cajun country and head to New Orleans, although Henry Charon was heartbroken that Sheryl Ann was leaving. There was much hugging and crying between him and Sheryl Ann and she saying, "Parting is such sweet sorrow" and promising to return for Mardi Gras and such drival.
Neither of us had even been to New Orleans before, which is called The Crescent City, probably because they are famous for their good food, including the crescent croissants that you can get at The Café Du Monde near The French Market. It
is also called The Big Easy, probably because it is easy to get to, being on the river and all. Once again we arrived without reservations, which is usually the case when you're traveling by car and going with the flow of things, but lucky for us Sheryl Ann had a cousin named Lu Lu who ran a hotel for women right there in the French Quarter off Rampart Street. She had said to look her up if we were ever in town, which we did. She was very gracious and said, "Come stay with me! I'll just put Bambi in my room!"
Lu Lu's place was down a side street and was easy to find, because there was always a red light bulb burning above the door, although all the cab drivers in town seemed to know her already. It was very elegant, too, with lots of sofas and
red wallpaper in the parlor. She explained that a lot of her girls had jobs in the house tutoring men to read and write, and men were arriving at all hours of the day and night and going with one or another or the girls to her room for an hour's worth of tutoring. The rest of the time the girls just sat in the parlor in their nighties and watched the soaps on television and did their nails. A woman named Josephine lived with them and cleaned up the rooms.
She was an excellent cook, too, and each night she would make us a delicious southern meal, which we would all eat in the dining room at a table under a beautiful crystal chandelier. Then the girls would go back to their tutoring. We had this dish one night.
Josephine's Meat and Oyster Pie
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup flour
1 pound ground round
1/2 pound ground pork -- lean
1 large onion -- minced
1 small bell pepper -- minced
4 cloves garlic -- minced
1/4 cup chopped green onion tops
1/4 cup parsley -- chopped
1 pint oyster -- chopped/drained
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
Pastry:
3 cups biscuit mix
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening
8 or 9 Tbs iced water
Heat oil in skillet. Add flour. Stir until roux becomes dark brown.
In another skillet brown beef and pork. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, onion tops and parsley. Saute until vegetables are wilted. Add chopped oysters, salt and pepper to taste. Add roux and simmer on low heat 20 minutes, stirring ccasionally. Set aside and cool.
Prepare pastry:
Stir biscuit mix, red pepper and salt together with fork. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or 2 knives. Sprinkle water until dough can be worked into ball. Divide in half. Roll out very thin, cut into 3-inch rounds. Place 1 tablespoon meat filling in center. Fold in half.
Crimp open edges together with fork. Bake on ungreased sheet in preheated 375F oven 20-25 minutes until golden brown. (Can also make 1 9"pie)
This page is maintained by: mark@thecoffeeplace.com
Changes were last made on 11-20-2001
Return to The Coffee Place's Joke Stack
