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Author: Sarah E. White
It’s always fun to bring a little festive flair to every day, and one easy way to do that is to celebrate holidays – even made up holidays, or ones that might not be a big deal where you live – with special food.
You might make green eggs and ham for Dr. Seuss’ birthday, kicked-up popcorn for National Popcorn Day or jambalaya for Fat Tuesday.
Lest you think cooking cajun is hard, requires a lot of ingredients or a trip to the grocery store I’m here to tell you it’s an easy meal to pull together on a weeknight, no trip to the store required (if you have a little produce on hand).
WEEKNIGHT JAMBALAYA
INGREDIENTS
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped
½ a large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons bay leaves
2 gloves garlic, minced
Petit Jean ham steak or Ez Carv ham, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup white rice
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large Dutch oven or pot with a lid, heat oil on medium high.
- Add celery, bell pepper and onion, and let cook, stirring regularly, about 5 minutes.
- Add salt, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, garlic and ham. Let cook a couple of minutes, just to warm the ham up.
- Add tomatoes and rice. Stir to combine, then add stock.
- Let come to a boil, then turn down to medium low and cover.
- Cook for 25 minutes, or until the rice is cooked and most of the water is absorbed.
- If you have green onions handy, a sprinkle at the end would be nice.
- I like to serve this with crusty French bread, but you can serve cornbread if you’d rather.
