Tonight I made supper for three starving guys. I’m not an Americana foodie by any stretch. I create dishes from around the world, like French, Mediterranean, Indian, Cuban, Italian etc., but tonight I went for my favorite which is Cajun low country. That’s about as Americana as I ever get. The guys liked it a lot too. Here goes:
Virgin olive oil
3 large cloves of garlic minced
The Trinity:
1 large green bell pepper chopped
4-5 large celery stalks chopped
1 large Vidalia onion chopped
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage
1 lb loin pork cut in chunks
1 lb jumbo shrimp
1 can Italian peeled plum tomatoes
1/2 fresh okra cleaned and cut up
1 tsbp fresh Italian flat leaf parsley finely minced
Creole seasoning:
Fresh black pepper, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp paprika or just get Zatarain’s creole seasoning mix. It’s wonderful!
Heat about 1/4 cup of virgin olive oil in a good sized Dutch oven on the lowest setting. Mince the garlic and saute on low, or “sweat” until soft. Do not brown!
Add chopped green pepper, celery and onion. Sweat with the lid on on medium heat until wilted.
Add spices. Saute until flavors combine and the room starts to smell good. About 20 to 30 minutes.
Add tomatoes and diced pork. Simmer with the lid on.
Slice sausage into pieces and simmer in boiling water until the fat rises to the top, about 5 minutes then add sausage to mixture.
Clean thorough and cut up okra into bits. Add to mixture.
Allow the mixture to simmer for about an hour. You may add more spice if you like. I heavily season all of my dishes.
Dirty Rice:
Boil 2 1/2 cups of water with a tsp of olive oil and once boiling, add one package of Zatarains dirty rice mixture. It usually calls for you to brown ground beef, but you won’t need to do that since your Jambalaya is already chock full of vegetables and meats.
After about an hour and a half, have your shrimp clean and ready. They go in at the very end and are done when they turn pink. Serve over dirty rice with some ice cold beers!
Bon Apetit!
One Brief Moment 