Here come the Brood XIV Cicadas!

Soon, (or already) the 2008 cicada excitement will be upon us. (And by us, I mean mostly people in living in the affected areas of Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.) Last year when brood XIII was enhancing our lives in Illinois, I had some fun with cicada recipes, a cicada song and even a cicada cooking show on youtube.

Now you can enjoy them all again in 2008!

My Favorite recipe: from cicadayear.com.

Soft-Shelled Cicadas

1 cup Worcestershire sauce
30 freshly emerged 17-year cicadas
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour
Salt and pepper to season the flour
1/2 cup corn oil or slightly salted butter

Marinate cicadas in Worcestershire sauce for several hours. Dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the seasoned flour and then gently saute until they are golden brown.

The Cicada Chef video -- with the song in the soundtrack {You can download the song "I Like Cicadas" on Napster , Rhapsody, iTunes, Amazon mp3, Groupie Tunes (ringtones), EMusic and probably a few others.}



Happy Cicada time 2008!

I Like Cicadas -- you can buy it!

The first of the download stores to make "I Like Cicadas" available are Napster , Sony Connect, Rhapsody, iTunes and EMusic. Get your official copy now! (Please tell several thousand of your friends too, OK?) The track linked on on all the previous posts is now just a 30-second sample.

Cicada recipe 2 -- dessert

I picked up a few more cicadas in Glen Ellyn this morning. Later today I'm going to try this recipe. I think it will put the finishing touches on my 2007 cicada adventure. I found and then adapted this recipe from CICADA-LICIOUS: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas. It comes from Jenna Jadin and the University of Maryland cicadamaniacs.

Chocolate Covered Cicadas

Ingredients:
8 squares of good-quality dark, white, or milk chocolate
30 dry roasted cicadas

Directions:
1. Roast cicadas for 15 minutes at 225F.
2. Meanwhile, melt chocolate in a double-boiler over low heat. Dip insects in chocolate, place on wax paper and refrigerate until hardened.

Anyone want dessert?



UPDATE

This morning (6/2) I made them! The chocolate was white almond bark and I think I got it a little too hot so it was more of a creme color, but everything worked great! They tasted just like vanilla candy with something crunchy inside.



And now my cicada cooking adventure for 2007 is officially over.

Cicada news

Today my youngest and I are in a small picture on the front page of the Chicago Tribune! I didn't find the picture in the online edition though. (So I put together this little composite so you can see it) Then there's an article about eating cicadas on page 14. That one is in the online edition. It has a quote from me and it says that I'm the pastor of "a United Methodist Church near Sandwich." That was close -- I'm the Pastor of Union Congregational Church in Somonauk.

Here's the update of all the cicada fun I've been having:

• I posted a cicada recipe just for fun. (The recipe came from cicadayear.com)
• I was quoted in a Daily Herald article.
• cicadamania.com linked my blog -- sending lots of cicada recipe seekers.
• I wrote and recorded "I Like Cicadas" (garage version)
• I got some cicadas, cooked them and ate them. You can see "The Cicada Chef" on youtube.
• The Tribune put me on the front page!

I guess all that's left is dessert . . .

The Cicada Chef

I finished the video tonight -- It's on google video, aol uncut video, in my web hosting area and on youtube too! It features "I Like Cicadas" (garage version) in the soundtrack. (The song also known as "The Cicada Song.")

Cicada cuisine!

This morning I had a cicada snack -- I used the recipe I posted a few weeks back (mostly -- I always get a little creative when I cook.) Here are some pictures of the event. I'll have video soon too!

_________

Anyone for seconds?