Jambalaya

When In New Orleans most People think of Cajun as lots of spicy rich foods.  But, the history of the food is an interesting one.  Jambalaya comes from Paella, which comes from Spain.  Of course there weren’t the exact ingredients to make everything the same so much improvisation came into play.  Because Louisiana is on the Golf coast and at the end of the Mississippi river, seafood is bountiful with large amounts of shrimp, crawfish and other crustaceans along with fresh and salt-water fish.  Chef Folse (one of my favorite chefs of the area) calls the waters/land around New Orleans “the swamp floor pantry”, which I think explains it all.

And like paella, the meats are interchangeable.  What I mean by that is you could replace any of them with seafood or other types of sausage, pork, etc…  One of the common meats used in Jambalaya is tasso, which is a smoked pork or beef of poor quality that is heavily seasoned and spicy.  When it is smoked, it becomes very hard almost like a jerky.  I had a hard time finding it so I substituted a good quality ham.   

1 ea........... Onion (diced)

½ c............ Diced Pepper

4 ea........... Green Onions (diced)

¼ c............ Diced Celery

2 ea........... Garlic Cloves (chopped)

1 ea........... Bay Leaf

½ c............ Olive Oil

2 c............. Tomato Sauce

1 ea........... Chicken Breast

½ c............ Diced Ham

1 ea........... Andouille Sausage

½ lb........... Rice

1.   Make rice according to directions on the package.

2.   Sauté the first 6 ingredients in the oil until caramelized.

3.   Add in the chicken and sausage and sauté until done.

4.   Add in the tomato sauce and ham and simmer for about 15 minutes.

5.   Mix with cooked rice and place in a preheated oven (350°f).

6.   Bake for about 5 minutes.

Be creative, have fun and enjoy!!!

Mom’s Mac & Cheese w/ Ham

My Mom & Dad with my sisters & I

My Mom always made mac & cheese from scratch & we loved it. She would sometimes put ham in it which made it that much better. I never tasted a box mac & cheese until I was way into adulthood. Needless to say, I don't like the boxed kind and still make it form scratch like my Mom but will often add different cheeses.

Cavitopi pasta...................................... 1 lb 

Shredded Fontina cheese...................... ½ lb
Shredded Swiss cheese........................ ½ lb
Blue cheese crumbles........................... 2 oz
Diced ham........................................... ½ lb
Yellow onion........................................ ½ ea
Garlic powder....................................... 2 tsp
Onion powder....................................... 2 tsp
Kosher Salt.......................................... 2 tsp
Tabasco............................................... ¼ tsp
Heavy whipping cream........................... 1½ c 

1.    Boil pasta and strain.

2.    Add rest of ingredients and mix well.

3.    Place in a casserole dish.

4.    Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 30 minutes covered.

5.    Remove cover and bake another 10 minutes.

This is very decadent.  If you want to make it lower in fat you can replace the heavy whipping cream with skim or low fat milk which is what I do.  You can also replace the Swiss and Fontina cheeses with a low fat cheese.  The blue cheese gives a lot of flavor without a lot of fat so keep it. For you blue cheese haters, you don't really taste it. It just intensifies the flavor. Yes, you can leave it out if you just can't do it. And for those that love it, adding more can through off the balance so be careful. I also like to add a little extra cheese along with some Parmesan on top to give it a little extra crunch. Plus, I love cheese.

For those of you that are vegetarians try replacing the ham with roasted egg plant, artichokes, and roasted red peppers. 

Be creative.  If you want to replace the ham try some taco meat and use cheddar cheese in place of the blue or the Swiss cheese.

Have fun and enjoy!!!