I’m a big Donna Brazile fan. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard she would be the guest speaker at a Washington Women Lawyers Awards Dinner that I was attending. Thanks to the swift shipping of Amazon.com, I had two copies of her book Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in America, a memoir of her life in politics, in my hands the next morning, ready for Tracy and I to have signed later that night.

As I introduced myself to Ms. Brazile, I said, “I’m actually not an attorney, I’m a food writer.” Clearly being a food lover herself (each chapter of her book is named after a New Orleans food), she flipped towards the back of the book and showed me her late mother Jean’s recipe for seafood gumbo.

“I’m talking gumbo with Donna Brazile!” I was screaming like a twelve-year-old inside my head.

There’s a lot of chopping and prepping involved in gumbo, so Jean would divvy up the tasks among her nine children. Who needs a Cuisinart when you have nine kids as your prep chefs! I bet they also made for some lickity split clean up too.

This last Saturday we hosted a dinner party and spent the afternoon making Jean’s gumbo. As Ms. Brazile recommends in Step 1 of her cooking instructions, “Pour yourself something cold…You’re about to cook with grease.” Out came the wine and the Dr. John.

Many shrimp, oysters, sausages, glasses of wine, and much stirring-and-browning-of-the-roux later, we dished up the gumbo sat down with our nine guests.

Then we raised our glasses and toasted the stirring up of America’s pot.

Damn, that gumbo was good.

Check The Politico for the complete recipe and instructions for Jean’s Seafood Gumbo.

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I love oysters on the half shell, but if they’re too big and briny they can kinda make me gag. But, the big ones are good for one thing: Oysters Rockefeller.

Oysters Rockefeller were created at the famous Antoine’s, owned by Antoine Alciatore, in New Orleans and were named after the richest man at the time, John D. Rockefeller. Antoine’s son, Jules, came up with the recipe when there was a shortage of escargot. While there are many versions of this dish the original recipe has never left the family vault, even former employees keep their lips sealed. They’ve been serving up their famous Oysters Rockefeller since 1899.

Oysters Rockefeller

The original recipe purportedly contains no spinach, but instead a bunch of fresh herbs and parsley. We also added a bit of Parmesan cheese to our version. I found this recipe after making our own spinach version:

• Two dozen fresh oysters on the half shell, oyster liquor reserved
• 4 springs flat-leaf Italian parsley
• 4 green onions
• A handful of fresh celery leaves
• 6 or more fresh tarragon leaves
• 6 or more fresh chervil leaves
• 1/2 cup dried fresh French bread crumbs, unseasoned
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (Rockefeller was rich and so are these!)
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• Tabasco, to taste
• 2 tablespoons Pernod
• Rock salt

Finely mince the parsley, green onions and the herbs. In a mortar, mix the herbs with the breadcrumbs, softened butter, and any remaining oyster liquor until you have a textured paste. Season to taste with salt, pepper, Tabasco and Pernod.

Spread about a 1/4 inch of rock salt in an oven-safe dish and set the oysters on top, making sure they’re level. The salt will help keep the oysters from sliding around and also make a pretty presentation. Spoon an equal amount of the herb butter paste on top of each oyster. Place on the middle rack under the broiler and broil until the edges of the oysters curl and the herb butter paste bubbles, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

I wonder what dish Warren Buffet would inspire?

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