Friday the 13th in October: Super Spooky! New Orleans goes all-out for halloween, and we're planning to get a group of friends together to take in the sights. We'll walk up to St. Charles, hop a streetcar, and ride uptown-- get a drink and a bite to eat somewhere, then make our way back home. It'll be entertaining, to say the least.

For this week's recipes, I started out with char-grilled oysters. If you don't have access to oysters on the half-shell, put oysters in mini muffin tins, season, and broil. You won't get the smokiness as you would from an open flame, but they'll still be good. Next, an old fashioned shrimp stew perfect for a cool fall night, and straight out of Cajun country. And finally, a recipe for catfish fillets fancy enough for a dinner party but easy enough for a weeknight dinner.

Enjoy the recipes, stay safe and healthy, and, as always, let me know what's on your mind. 

Best regards,

Susan Ford, Publisher and Editorial Director

Louisiana Kitchen & Culture

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Acme Char-Grilled Oysters

A neighbor who's in the oyster business dropped of a dozen freshly shucked oysters last weekend. We didn't have the grill going, so we loaded them up with Parmesan, garlic, panko breadcrumbs, and melted butter and broiled them; they were gone in five minutes. Grilled would have been better, but they were great broiled.

Old Fashioned Shrimp Stew

This is a simple recipe straight out of Cajun country. It'll take you about 20 minutes hands-on time for prep and cooking, then an occasional stir for 30 minutes while you make a pot of rice. Garnish with some sliced green onions. 

Cajun-Spiced Catfish Fillets

Catfish is one of my favorite fish, probably because I grew up eating it. My mom only prepared it salted, tossed with cornmeal, and fried-- this is a much more adventurous recipe, but still easy to prepare.