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CP004 Community Podcast – Mardi Gras
CP004 Mardi Gras Community Podcast recorded live on February 16, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. This day before the beginning of Lent is also known as Shrove Tuesday or Carnival. Listen to Mardi Gras stories, customs, prayers, and recipes.
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During the Community Podcast we talked about what Mardi Gras actually is, listened to music selections relevant to the feast, took a peak at Bourbon Street, shared recipes, and even have a Mardi Gras quiz!
- Join us on air. Send us an email ahead of time so we can schedule a call to you during the show.
- Leave us a voice mail with your favorite Mardi Gras story, custom, prayer, or recipe by calling us at 888-703-4732 (toll free in the US and Canada).
- Record your voice using your computer or iPhone and email the audio file to us.
- Write out your story, custom, prayer, or recipe and email it to us and we’ll read it on the air and post it during the show.
Don’t be shy! We’d love to hear from you. And please invite your friends, fans, followers and any one else who would enjoy hanging out with the A Nun’s Life crowd!
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Chiard Recipe
First off, you need a cast iron frying pan. This is very important.
Next, you take some potatoes, peel them and wash them and then grate them like you would grate cheese.
Put a bit of oil in the frying pan and spread it with a pastry brush.
Squeeze out the starch from the grated potatoes and put them in the pan. Pat down gently as you would with a pastry bottom.
There should be about an inch deep of potatoes in the pan.
You will notice that I haven’t specified how many potatoes, because it really depends on the size of your pan. Small pan = less potatoes and vice versa.
Bake this in the oven at 400 degrees F for about an hour to an hour and a half. The top should be nice and dark brown. The bottom should also be crispy. You shouldn’t have much difficulty taking it out of the pan in one piece.
If you like you can bake it with pork chops placed on top of the potatoes, this is sooo yummy!
This is a traditional Acadian treat that we eat sometimes on Mardi Gras, but mostly whenever the electricity goes out during storms and we are all keeping warm by the wood stove and playing cards and board games. Have a great Mardi Gras everyone. I wish I could join you all, but alas, school is always interfering. Hugs and prayers to you all.
On today’s podcast, Erin describes what Fastnacht Day is. Here is her traditional recipe, though she notes she usually lets someone else make Fastnachts for her!
Fastnacht Recipe
2 cups milk
1 cup mashed potatoes (no salt, milk, or butter added)
1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 stick margarine
1 packet rapid rise yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
6-1/2 cups flour (divided, 2 cups + 4 1/2 cups)
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 can (3 pounds) Crisco® or similar vegetable shortening for frying
Preparation:
Scald the milk. In a large mixing bowl, combine the scalded milk with the mashed potatoes. Add 1/2 cup sugar plus the margarine. Mix with an electric mixer. If the mixture is still warm, cool to about room temperature before proceeding with next step. – Dissolve the yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in barely warm water. Add to the potato mixture and mix well. Add 2 cups flour and mix again. Cover with a towel and let rise for 25 minutes.
Add the salt and beaten egg to the mixture. Add 4-1/2 cups flour, stirring it into the mixture with a large spoon. Turn onto a well floured board and knead for about 3 to 5 minutes. Add a small amount of extra flour if necessary so the dough can be handled without sticking to your fingers. Grease a large bowl. Place the dough in the greased bowl. Cover with a thin towel, and let rise in a warm, draft free place for about 2 hours or until it is at least double in size.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough 3/4″ thick. You can use a doughnut cutter to cut the dough or cut as typical Fastnachts – Cut the dough into 3″ to 4″ wide strips, then cut the strips into 3″ to 4″ pieces. To allow the center of Fastnacht to fry completely, cut a small slit in the center of each piece, using a sharp paring knife. Arrange the pieces of dough, about 1-1/2″ to 2″ apart, on large wax paper lined trays. Cover each tray with a thin towel. Place the trays in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the dough pieces have raised to about double in size.
Heat the shortening to 365º. Deep fry until both sides are golden brown, turning one time. Drain on white paper towels. Cool completely before serving. Store in a covered, airtight container. Makes about 20 to 24 Fastnachts, depending on size. This recipe can be doubled with no change in preparation directions.
To use this raised doughnut recipe, for glazed doughnuts:
Beat together: 2-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, 4 tablespoons margarine and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add enough milk to make a thin glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the slightly warm doughnuts or dip the doughnuts in the glaze.
For powdered doughnuts:
Shake slightly warm doughnuts in a bag with confectioners’ sugar, or a combination of confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon.
I’m a New Zealander, but my family is English Catholic, and what we celebrated when I was a child, instead of Mardi Gras, was Shrove Tuesday. Do you know that in the United States? We always had pancakes for dinner on Shrove Tuesday – I loved it. The idea was something to do with pancakes using up fats before Lent. Shrove, I believe, comes from the word shrive, meaning to do penance.
By the way, Lent here in New Zealand falls in early autumn. It is a beautiful time of year, and Lent seems very appropriate for it.
From Another Sister Julie …
“My family made Scrippelle al Brodo for Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras every year. Mom used to have two small frying pans going at the same time. She would ladle the batter, swirl it in the pan, flip out the crepe, sprinkle it with cheese, roll it up, and repeat–times two! Later her sister gave her one of those heavy “dip pans” for crepes which saved a little time. Each crepe was paper thin and took only a few seconds to cook. Thank goodness for that because we would always start with 12 eggs and end up with about 180 Scrippelle for our big family. I can just taste their light, egg-y goodness!”
RECIPE: http://blog.pennlive.com/italian-kitchen/2008/11/crepes_scrippelle.html
From Julia … a recipe for Authentic Polish Pączki.