Thanksgiving is next week and I’m sure you’re still scrambling for the perfect recipes to please each and every family member. Have no fear… The Dakota Restaurant’s crab and brie soup will be a crowd pleaser for all ages! The crab and brie soup has been a signature item since we opened our doors over 19 years ago! Enjoy!
DAKOTA’S LUMP CRABMEAT AND BRIE SOUP
Ingredients:
2 lbs. Louisiana blue crabs
2 ounces olive oil
2 medium yellow onions (chopped)
1 medium carrot (chopped)
3 ribs celery (chopped)
1 pod fresh garlic (chopped)
2 each Bay leaves
1/4 cup Brandy
1 cup white wine
2 quarts water
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 quart heavy whipping cream
8 ounces Brie cheese
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. Louisiana jumbo lump crabmeat (picked from shell)
Using a meat mallet or hammer, crack open blue crab shells until meat is exposed. In a 1 gallon stock pot, heat olive oil, add cracked crabs and saute for 5 minutes. Add chopped vegetables and bay leaves, continue to saute for an additional 5 minutes. Add brandy, white wine and water, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 30 minutes. Using a skimmer, remove crabs and vegetables from stock. In a separate small saute skillet, melt butter, add flour and blend with a wire whisk until smooth and creamy, simmer over low heat for one minute. Add flour and butter mixture to stock using a wire whisk until all the roux is dissolved. Add heavy cream and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove outside rind from Brie and discard, cut Brie into 1 inch cubes, add to stock while constantly stirring until all the cheese is completely dissolved. Season soup with salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper. Strain soup through a fine strainer, add jumbo lump crabmeat and serve. Yields 3 quarts.
And of course, you can add additional flavor with a few shakes of TABASCO brand Pepper Sauce!
Best wishes to your family during this holiday season!
-Bridgette
Get your mouth water by taking a look at a few of the items guests snacked on:
-Bridgette
With headliners Beyonce, John Legend, Al Green and Ne-Yo how could the city not be packed? We played our first part by catering the Hennessey Black brunch. Hennessey requested a black themed menu along with all black décor, cocktails etc. There was a confessional set up in a private area for guests to “confess their Essence Festival sins” and local celebs throughout. Everyone wore the signature fedora and had a blast! 
Next on the list was private parties hosted by the likes of Marcus Spears and a closing party for Essence Magazine. The closing party didn’t start till the wee hours of the morning and didn’t conclude until the sun was creeping up. It’s a good thing there was food to keep everyone going in between the fabulous cocktails mixed by LePhare.
Restaurant Cuvee was the perfect setting to get away from meetings and enjoy a fantastic glass of wine! The evening was livened up as many X-Box 360’s and Kindle’s were given away throughout the night. Everyone left the evening with a tote filled with new software! It was quite the treat for all of us!
-Bridgette
There were many exhibits for guests to check out such as a tribute to the sno-ball, po-boy and okra on the food side of things and antique bottles, prohibition facts and cocktail lagniappe for the mixologist in all of us. Guests munched on delightful beet “truffles”, assorted charcuterie of pâté and rillettes along with wonderful imported and domestic cheeses. 
“I’m just looking for a happy ending. All I’m looking for is you.” Those Pat Green lyrics from his hit song “Wave on Wave” ring true for Elizabeth Reynaud Thibaut and Eric Lanning Laborde M.D., who met on a blind date at none other than a Pat Green concert at the House of Blues in New Orleans. Eric’s cousin, Scott Condon, who’s also a close friend of Betsy’s, set the two up. That night they instantly hit it off and have been together every day since. Almost two years later, Eric knew he had found “the one” and decided to create their happy ending. On the last day of a vacation to St. Martin, Eric asked Betsy to marry him. On the way back from dinner, Eric had their driver stop. When Betsy got out of the car, in front of her stood a walkway, lit with votives, leading to a veranda that overlooked the ocean. The veranda was covered with a rose petal walkway and in the middle of it sat a bucket of champagne with two glasses. Enraptured, Betsy turned back to find Eric on his knee. But oops, when he opened the ring box, he opened it upside down so that the ring fell out and Betsy’s instantly thought he was playing a joke on her as she stared down at an empty ring box. He shouted, “No, no, I have a ring!” Realizing he was serious, she instantly said, “Yes!” As soon as they returned from their vacation, Betsy’s mother began planning the elegant wedding. The ceremony was held at St. Peter Catholic Church in Covington on May 9, 2009. The bride walked down the aisle in a strapless, custom-made Priscilla of Boston gown of antique lace with appliqué flowers, intricate beading and satin ribbon wrapped around the gown’s tiers. She carried a bouquet created by Stephen Sonnier of Dunn & Sonnier made of acid green orchids, cream and fuchsia peonies and lavender roses. Her bridesmaids carried bouquets of blue and purple hydrangea and wore Vera Wang lavender floor-length gowns from Town and Country with tulle trimmed bodices and a satin ribbon at each waist. Following the ceremony, the bridal party and guests gathered at Betsy’s parents’ home in Covington for the reception. Kenny LaCour, along with Dunn & Sonnier, decorated the backyard in a French Provincial theme. A giant oak tree in the backyard was decorated with enormous antique chandeliers and floral arrangements of hydrangea, roses, delphiniums, peonies, orchids and tulips. “The ambiance of reception created by the lighting was absolutely amazing,” the bride says. The couple danced their first dance atop a bridge, over the pool lit with votives to James Brown’s “I’ve Got You.” The Drywater Band from Houston, Texas got guests dancing with a variety of songs. Guests also enjoyed a large buffet by Kenny LaCour, owner of Dakota, Rambla and Cuvée,. Guests were treated to grilled flatbreads, fabulous cheeses, a crêpe station with various fillings, as well as freshly made sushi by three on-site sushi chefs and a station that included brisket, crawfish cheese grit tamales and mini fried oyster poor boys. The wedding cake, created by Two Sweet Sisters, was a six-tier creation covered with hundreds of individual fondant leaves, topped with sugar replications of lavender peonies. The groom’s cake was a replica of Betsy’s wedding gift to Eric, a Browning Belgian-made over-under shotgun. Two Sweet Sisters duplicated the gun, made out of chocolate covered Rice Krispie Treats, and placed it on top of a gun case made of cake. A “sitting duck” sat on the side of the gun, also made of cake. The bride and groom had a photo booth set up for guests with crazy hats and props so everyone could take photos to remember the night. But one of the best features of the reception was the unbelievable fireworks display that lit up the sky signaling the end of the evening. The newlyweds left their reception down a walkway, lined with guests holding sparklers, and sped off to Hawaii for two weeks. The couple resides in Covington temporarily, where Betsy is Vice President of Sales for Factory Sales and Engineering and Eric is a Urologist, having completed his residency with the Ochsner/LSU program in June. The couple will be moving to Chicago this summer for Eric to do a one-year fellowship with Northwestern, but upon their return Eric will be working for Ochsner.
by admin
no comments
add a comment link to this post email a friend