It’s just a few days away from the Super Bowl and with the Saints headed to the big game my thoughts have once again turned towards my time in New Orleans and the foods of that town and region. I spent my first culinary internship at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, in the French Quarter. There I experienced a wide range of the foods New Orleans has to offer. At Begue’s, the hotel’s fine dining restaurant I was taught many of the more refined creole dishes from Oysters Bienville and Shrimp Etouffe to modern twists on things such as Shrimp and Grits, Tomato Tasso Bisque, and Souffles. Desire oyster bar, with frontage on Bourbon St., gave me a crash course in all things cajun, from oysters on the half shell to corn meal crusted fried oysters, to jambalaya, gumbo and po boys. It was here, in New Orleans, that my life long love of all foods Southern (from the BBQ and tamales of Texas to Red Eye Gravy to Frogmore Stew of the Low Country) got its start. While Southwestern cuisine may play a more important role in my style of cooking, it is the food of New Orleans though that captivates my heart.

There are so many great foods that come out of the cajun and creole tradition, but my two favorite are gumbo and jambalaya. Of course there are also Muffulettas, one of The Best sandwiches in the world. A true New Orleans tradition, but not cajun or creole, instead coming from the Italian part of New Orleans history.

While all of these deserve a blog post, and believe me, I will get to each one in due time, it is Jambalaya that I had a craving for this week. Jambalaya is New Orleans answer to Spanish Paella. It’s a wonderful rice dish studded with sausage, seafood, vegetables and, oftentimes, chicken. Unlike paella, it doesn’t rely on saffron for it’s flavor, instead relying on the Trinity of cajun and creole cuisine (onions, celery and peppers). A good jambalaya also has a nice amount of heat provided by cayenne, hot sauce or both, though the heat is usually more on the mild side. Jambalaya can either be cooked on the stove top or in the oven like a rice pilaf. I’ve seen many recipes for both, though people will fiercely defend (and oppose) one or the other.

Like so many of the recipes I offer, as is the case with many family style, peasant type foods, there are a million recipes out there, each family having their own, and each family claiming that theirs is the proper way to make the dish. The recipe I offer below is a great all round jambalya recipe. It contains sausage, chicken and shrimp and has a fair amount of heat to it. You can easily tone the heat down by omitting the cayenne and decreasing the amount of hot sauce used, but leave it with a little kick to it or the dish just seems to lack that something.

Jambalaya

2 medium onions, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
12oz. Andouille sausage, large dice
1 pound chicken breast, large dice
1 28oz can diced tomato, with juice
2 1/2 cups rice, long grain
3 cups water
2 Tbsp. hot sauce (New Orleans style such as Tabasco, Crystal, Louisiana, etc.)
1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves

In large pot over medium heat, heat 2 Tbsp. of oil. Add the vegetables and saute until starting to wilt. Add the sausage and garlic, cooking until the vegetables are tender, but not allow them to brown.

Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients.

Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the rice is done and all the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff the rice and serve.

Late Harvest (or Fall) raspberries are just starting to make their appearances here in Wisconsin. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I love raspberries and the fact that they are harvested twice a year thrills me. While the nights are getting cool, days can still be warm so I still, occasionally, enjoy an entree salad for dinner. This salad is bright, refreshing, and a great reminder that summer isn’t over just yet.

Spinach & Raspberry Salad

1 1 1/2 pounds Baby Spinach
6 slices Bacon, thick cut, diced
2 each Chicken breast, cut into strips
1 each Leek, white and light green parts only
3/4 cup Raspberries
1/3 cup Raspberry Vinegar
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/4 cup Pecans, toasted and chopped

If spinach is large, remove the stems. If it is tender baby spinach you can leave the stems intact. Place spinach in a large bowl. Place bacon in a saute pan and cook over medium high heat until rendered and crisp. Remove from pan, pour off all but 1 Tbsp. of bacon fat and and saute the leeks over medium heat until tender and just slightly browned around the edges. Remove leeks from pan and add the chicken. Again saute until until done then remove from pan. Add the raspberry vinegar to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Turn off heat and stir in the vegetable oil. Season with a few grinds of black pepper. Add the bacon, leeks, and chicken to the spinach and drizzle with the warmed raspberry vinaigrette (you may not need all of the vinaigrette). Toss to mix and divide among 2 plates. Garnish with the fresh raspberries and toasted pecans.

It’s a sad state of affairs, but, believe it or not, chef’s don’t often eat well.  Working around food all day, constantly tasting and sampling, we often find we miss meals and aren’t really all that hungry anyways.  Even when we are hungry we rarely have time to sit down and enjoy a meal.  Most of our meals are eaten “on the fly” which usually means throwing something between 2 pieces of bread and wolfing it down between tasks.  Despite that fact, I love sandwiches.  The variety is endless and a well crafted sandwich can be a work of art, in my opinion.  Of course most people go through life not giving much thought to the lowly sandwich.  We “slap” sandwiches together because they are easy, we’re in a hurry, or we don’t know what else to fix. It’s too bad because with just the smallest amount of work sandwiches can be so much more than just quick fuel. With this blog I hope to help combat that mindset. Sandwiches, in all forms, will make their way into posts here as I have lots of great, satisfying sandwich recipes to share. Don’t worry, this isn’t turning into a “sandwich” blog. I still plan tackling plenty of other foods and topics, but expect to see sandwiches appear here regularly. Today’s recipe is quite simple but makes a great luncheon entree when served with a small salad.

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich
2 stalks celery, small dice
1/2 medium onion, small dice
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, small dice
1/4 cup Raisins (preferably golden raisins, but regular works well also)
2 1/2 cups Chicken breast, cooked and diced
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup Pecan pieces
1 Tbls. Curry powder
salt
pepper
Red Leaf or Green Leaf Lettuce
12 slices Whole Wheat or 7 Grain Bread (any hearty, whole grained bread works best though any bread is fine)

Toss diced apples with lemon juice. Toast the pecans on a sheet pan until starting to brown. Allow the pecans to cool and mix all ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among six slices of bread. Top with lettuce then the other slices of bread