Crawfish remoulade, kale quiche

A few weeks ago, my friend, Lili, a Louisiana native and cook, discovered a copy of her father's remoulade sauce recipe, handwritten in his familiar scrawl. Understandably, she was thrilled, and I, a major remoulade fan, was excited to try a new version. Quickly: what is remoulade sauce? In Louisiana, it's a mayo-based condiment spiked with kicky additions like Dijon mustard, horseradish, garlic and scallions in its white form, and colored with paprika and/or ketchup in its red form. I've never been a fan of red remoulade, but the white version is the cat's meow, especially when paired with seafood. Boiled shrimp and crawfish, seafood cakes...they LOVE remoulade. So does a good apple and fennel slaw. Hell, even Saltines love remoulade.

So tonight, recalling the pounds of Louisiana crawfish I'd brought back from New Orleans last month, I decided to make crawfish remoulade to top an avocado-ruby grapefruit salad. Divine. I used Lili's dad's recipe and was quite pleased. Texas toast sticks were the perfect accompaniment. And this was just our starter.

Our entree was a kale and quinoa crustless quiche that I wanted to sample. T and I agree that it's nice but bland, definitely in need of more cheese and a kick here and there. I'll work on that.