Luau!

(...a Cajun Luau, that is.)

Louisiana is famous for its seafood, and rightly so. The Cajun Luau is more than seafood though. Get you stockpot out from its hiding place. You're gonna need it for this.

This is not an inexpensive dish, unless you're feeding relatives. It can be messy, it's eaten with the fingers and just serving it is a challenge. It works best on a picnic table, but you'll figure out a way to make it work inside -- after all, you're a woman.

Here we go:

Fill the stockpot 3/4 full of water. Get it started toward a boil.

Throw in one quarter bottle of Zataran's liquid crab boil.

Add potatos. Don't skin 'em. Those jackets will keep them warm.

Add a pair of peeled onions.

If you like mushrooms, add 'em.

Open a bottle (or a jug, if you've been paying attention to this blog) of cheap white wine. Spill some into your glass, then just a tiny splash into the stew.

If you've added enough potatos, etc. to feed the relatives or the neighbors, you should have a few (5 or 6)  inches of water left at the top. So far, so good.

Keep boiling until the potatos are cooked.

Add fresh (or frozen) half-ears of corn on the cob. Add three tablespoons of Cajun seasoning. 

Boil for three more minutes, turn off the fire, move the stockpot off of the burner if its an electric stove. Let it rest for five minues, then pour off the water.

The Adventure Begins

Cover the table, wherever it may be, with newspaper. Lots of newspaper, two or five pages deep.

Issue a few rolls of paper towels to your guests.

Turn the stockpot out onto the news paper.

Step back and tell your guests to eat with their fingers.

Accept the applause (again).

Tomorrow, I'm taking a day off. Today's my birthday (big deal) and I'm going to party tonight and sleep tomorrow!

-Chrissie

A Man's Major Food Groups...

...include meat, red, beer and pizza. Forget the pizza and beer. Jambalaya is meat and red. It's spelled Jambalaya, but it's pronounced, "jumba-lie-uh." It's quick, filling and cheap.

Some folks call it "red rice." It is red. It is rice. The folks I know cook it on the stove top, then bake it. Of course, those folks would try to tell you how to improve on a beautiful sunset.

Jambalaya is rice, meat, fruit and vegetables. The meat can be anything, although most often, it's smoked sausage or, if you want to be party-fancy you could add shrimp or oysters to the mixture along with the smoked sausage.

It all starts with rice, of course, cooked in stock.

Now... it behooves me at this point to say that, if you want shrimp in this, boil the shrimp first. Here's how.

Use raw shrimp, still in the shell. Half a pound of "headed" shrimp (you just buy the tails) will feed four to six. Do not let the butcher/grocer steam them.

Get some 'shrimp boil.' Put the shrimp boil in a six quart pot of cold water and bring it to a boil. Don't add salt, no matter what the directions on the shrimp boil might say. Toss the shrimp (shells on) into the boiling water. Let them boil for three minutes, then take the pot off the burner. Then and only then, add two tablespoons of Cajun seasoning. Adding the Cajun seasoning (which is about 50% salt) at the last minute makes it easier to peel the shrimp.

You now have a pot full of shrimp stock. As you peel the shrimp, throw the shells back into the pot and keep it boiling until the shrimp are all peeled.

Peeling shrimp isn't an art, it's a science, and if you've successfully peeled shrimp, you know that. The easy way is to take a pair of kitchen shears, stick the point under the shell just a bit, and start cutting all the way to the tail, then peel the two half-shells off of Mr. Shrimp. If you use kitchen shears, the blade is wide enough to gouge into the back and remove what's called the sand vein - the shrimp's intestine, that black line. Otherwise, take a paring knife and split the back until you see the sand vein, the use the point of the knife to remove it.

Enough about peeling shrimp.

Strain the shrimp shells out of the stock, put the rice in - half a cup of dried rice per person per serving - and cook the rice like usual.

If you don't plan on adding shrimp, use chicken stock to cook the rice.

Along with the rice, add smoked sausage sliced into 1/4" thick round slices; a large onion, a stalk of celery and half a green pepper (or a mild jalapeno), diced, to the boiling stock. By the time the rice is done, the veggies will be, too.

Let the rice rest for a while after it's cooked. The longer, the better. This isn't absolutely necessary, but you can have another glass of that merlot.

Now, we make jambalaya.

Turn the heat back on under the pot of cooked rice, about medium low. Stir in half of a can (or a whole can, if want) of diced tomatos, and half a bottle of ketchup. Cook it covered, stirring occasionally, until most of the ketchup is absorbed by the rice. Add a shot or two of Worcestershire sauce, add a teaspoon of the Cajun seasoning, mix it well and slap it on the table with a nice Zinfandel or, if you're feeling adventurous, an Australian Shiraz.

Me-oh, My-oh, indeed.

Jambalaya is unique among Cajun foods, in that it will freeze well.

Gotta run; mine's boiling over. See ya' around the watercooler.

-Chrissie

Tomorrow: The Cajun Luau.

Dirty, Dirty, Dirty Rice

This one's easier than the one from the box.

Chicken stock. Rice (three quarters of a cup of uncooked rice per person). Onion, Green Pepper, Celery (Remember the Holy Trinity of Cajun Cooking?).

A quarter pound of hamburger for each person.

Bring the stock to boiling, add the hamburger and boil for 5 minutes. Add the veggies and the rice.  If you have any smoked sausage left, cut it up and throw it in. Bring it back to a boil.

Now make it dirty: add a teaspoon of black pepper, a half teaspoon of Cajun Seasoning and a tablespoon of parsley.

When it has boiled for 10 minutes, turn it down to low, cover it, let it think about the many ways it wants to be consumed by your love -- of good food.

When the stock is soaked up, when the beef is done, when the veggies are sighing as if they've discovered chocolate for the first time, it's ready. Serve it with French bread and a merlot.

Sorry it was so late in the day; Her Majesty the Cat was on for the vet today and it proved a struggle. I won, I think, but I'm certain she thinks she won. I won't argue; she'd win.

Tomorrow: Jambalaya and a history lesson 

See ya' round the watercooler.

-Chrissie