This image is circa 1985 and taken while working the evening sauté station when in the second Sous Chef position. This scanned image, originally taken with an Olympus OM10 35mm camera and printed as a 3×5 photograph, is a bit grainy at higher resolution in this digital format. The appetizer priced at $4.95 at the time seems like a real bargain price today for these delectable morsels. The garnish also consisted of a green onion flower and a tomato rose, adding both color and variety to the place presentation.

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For this recipe, I used a combination of broccoli florets, shredded Chinese cabbage, sliced button mushrooms, mung bean sprouts, diced tomatoes from the garden, and snow peas for the fresh vegetables and water chestnuts with baby corn for the canned vegetables

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I took it upon myself to brush up on my stir-fry techniques this weekend and read up some pages in The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook, by Gloria Bley Miller. While most readers here know me as Cajun Chef Ryan, I am only limited to the flavors and tastes of mother earth’s bounty, and that includes ethnic flavors and worldly cuisines far beyond the reaches of our American borders.

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This recipe is a slight modification from the one we prepared at the Columns Hotel, I’ve added the step of toasting the garlic and pine nuts before pulsing them in the food processor, this adds a deeper flavor profile to the pesto that brings out the nutty flavor of the garlic and nuts.

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A few mental notes for the next visit to Earp’s – they do sell frozen crawfish tail meat imported from China, so that will only do in an absolute pinch. But they also have frog legs, scallops and just about any fish. Grouper, salmon, catfish, haddock,Pollock, trout, red snapper, and flounder were also available on our visit.

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