Patrick Crowley
“Don’t say you don’t like it until you’ve tried it!” says Patrick Crowley of Calhoun City, “Yes, Lord, I like anything. I am not above trying anything.”
He likes Cajun, Chinese and Japanese, and he loves Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper, something he has eaten it since he was young. He makes a Cajun turkey for the holidays, and says rice pilaf is “the best thing.”
Crowley graduated from CCHS in 1988 and joined the Navy. There he took a job cooking because he felt like that was something he could use later.
In the Navy he used the Armed Forces recipe service and then used the menus of the casinos on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where he later cooked–The Grand in Gulfport, and Treasure Bay and Gold Shore in Biloxi.
He had to learn to make gumbo, “I had to learn to make roux. The roux means the world to those people.”
“Vrazel’s was the best restaurant I ever worked at,” he said, “Good food. His stuff is based on New Orleans and Cajun. And he served bread pudding and cheesecake.” He learned a lot from owner, Bill Vrazel, “he was an inspiration,” he said. “He failed three times and each time he got back up.”
Crowley also managed a Waffle House in Tupelo for three years, and worked as a night cook at the Sawmill Restaurant in Bruce.
“I should have watched my mom (Linda James) more when she was cooking,” saying that she was a driving force.
He began his own business, Divine Catering, in 2005. “People want hamburger steak or baked chicken,” even though he has a Cajun menu consisting of bisque, poboy, gumbo and jambalaya.
He keeps it simple. “Whatever they want, I give it to them.” About catering, his wife, Venella, says, “He’s the mastermind and I am just behind the scenes.”
In September 2016 he had his second kidney transplant and there have been two separate times that he had to be on dialysis. Through it all, he has kept a very positive outlook.
Crowley would really like to have a food truck and serve poboys and soup. “I want my grandkids to see me doing something positive, so they will do something positive.”
“I am not going to do anything else. I don’t want to do anything else. Cooking is what I want to do,” said Crowley.
Rice Pilaf
2 lbs. long grain white rice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 lb. chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne
Brown onions in oil. Cook about 7-8 minutes. In 9×13 dish combine onions and rice. Mix well. In medium saucepan add chicken stock, salt and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let sit for five minutes. Pour over rice in casserole dish. Mix well. Cover with heavy duty foil. Bake in 350° for 35 minutes. Remove and let sit covered for 10 minutes. Remove foil and take fork and separate rice before serving.
Crawfish Bisque
6 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups half & half
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 lbs. peeled crawfish tails
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Cayenne pepper to taste
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions. Cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Stir in flour until smooth. Stir and cook until a pale golden color, about 5 minutes. Whisk in chicken broth. Stir constantly to avoid lumps. Mix in half & half, crawfish tails, salt, worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper. Reduce heat. Simmer 5 minutes until slightly thick, but don’t boil. Ready in 30 minutes.
Shrimp Po-Boy
8 oz. peeled and butterflied medium shrimp
French roll sub bread
Sliced tomato
Mayonnaise
Lettuce
Batter shrimp in seasoned fish fry and egg wash. Fry in oil at 350°. Slice open French bread. Put 2 tsp. mayo on each side of roll. Add lettuce, tomatoes and shrimp on one side. Close, slice in half and eat.
