"Southern Living - The Creole Cookbook" - Ham Jambalaya for Mardis Gras!

Date I made this recipe:  March 9, 2014 (for Mardi Gras)

Southern Living – The Creole Cookbook

Published by:  Southern Living/Oxmoor House, Inc.

© 1972

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Store

Recipe:  Ham Jambalaya – p. 63 – Recipe submitted by Mrs. J.R. Hightower, Itta Bena, Mississippi

Fat Tuesday already?  The month of March is just stacked with holidays and I'm bracing for the onslaught!  Mardi Gras started on Tuesday, March 4^th but I was busy that day so I made a Mardi-Gras recipe as soon as I could.  The Jewish holiday, Purim, starts on March 15^th, St. Patrick's Day follows hot on its heels on March 17^th and the first day of spring, should I choose to recognize it, is March 20^th.  And these are just the holidays I know about!  And not that I consider this a "holiday" but daylight savings time – "Spring Forward!" - was March 9^th.  Whew.  I'm exhausted already.

For this year's Mardi Gras repast, I consulted my growing collection of Southern Living Cookbooks and is there one more perfectly suited to this event than The Creole Cookbook?  No, there is not.

Although I am not a follower of this magazine, I can surmise that these cookbooks are all collections (primarily) of favorite reader recipes.  This recipe for Ham Jambalaya was submitted by Mrs. J.R. Hightower who, like other wives at the time, went by her husband's name rather than her own.  Only rarely do I see the woman's given name listed and when I do, it's likely because the woman is/was a widow; for whatever reason, reverting to a given name was absolutely acceptable after the husband died but using it beforehand was frowned upon.  Okay then!

As to the recipes, I've always said that reading cookbooks is like reading history books as you get a sense of time, place and regional differences.  This book, for instance, contains a lot of Jell-O mold desserts, some of which look appetizing, some of which don't.  For "don't" winners see a photo of Dividend Dinner – page 35, containing chunks of...stuff, or worse, Vegetable Jubilee Salad – p. 37 consisting of cubes of Jell-O containing chunks of...more stuff. (We will not discuss the Flounder Salad on page 39.  We will not.)

The "Creole Meats" chapter was a little less intimidating although I hope you understand that I passed on the Chitterlings recipe – p. 60 and the Creole Tripe - p. 63. In the "Creole Seafood" chapter, Pickled Eel with a Taste of Crawfish – p. 95 also got a pass.  But fear not, readers, because the rest of the cookbook contains some awfully good and good-sounding recipes like our featured recipe today – Ham Jambalaya.  (PS—I don't think anyone can go wrong with a good southern dessert so have at it!  Recipes are at the end of the cookbook).

Now I've made plenty of jambalaya in my day and I like jambalaya because it is easy to make and pretty flavorful; this recipe is no exception to that rule.  A dash of hot sauce and a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce helped kick up the flavor profile just enough to make it interesting and delicious.

Enjoy and remember:  Laissez les bon temps roulet  - Let the good times roll!

Ham Jambalaya – 6 servings

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, mashed

1 green pepper, chopped

2 T salad oil

1 T flour

1 cup canned tomatoes

½ tsp thyme

½ bay leaf, crushed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

4 cups boiling water

2 cups diced cooked ham

½ lb cleaned cooked shrimp

1 cup rice

Dash of hot sauce

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Cook the onion, garlic and green pepper in oil in a large saucepan until tender but not browned.  Stir in the flour and cook until smooth.  Add the tomatoes, thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper and water and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the ham and shrimp.  Bring to a boil and stir in the rice, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

"LEAH CHASE: Listen, I Say Like This" - Chicken (and shrimp) Creole - Mardis Gras 2012

Date I made this recipe: February 21, 2012 – Mardi Gras

LEAH CHASE: Listen, I Say Like This by Carol Allen
Published by: Pelican Publishing Company
ISBN: 1-58980-048-6
Recipe: Chicken Creole – p. 62

Well, today is Fat Tuesday and that means it is Mardi Gras time again – time to let the good times roll! And it wouldn’t be Mardis Gras without a Creole recipe, right? And who better to advise on such matters than Leah Chase?

So who is Leah Chase, you ask? Well this fine New Orleans native, 89 years young, is now synonymous with New Orleans’ dining and Creole food. Leah’s husband’s family ran a small, family restaurant in New Orleans – Dooky Chase Restaurant – and after Leah married Edgar (Dooky) Chase II she started lending a hand (and her family recipes) to the business. Pretty soon, the restaurant earned a reputation as being one of the nation’s (and New Orleans’s) finest and most popular Creole restaurants. “Miss Chase” also had an affinity for African-American artists and their artwork now adorns the walls of her restaurant.

And then in 2005, Hurricane Katrina, roared through the Gulf Coast and life in the infamous 5th Ward where the restaurant is located would never be the same. Leah and her family spent over a year trying to get back into the restaurant and when she finally reopened, there was much rejoicing – seriously. There are sadly places in New Orleans that never recovered but happily Dooky Chase Restaurant is not one of them.

Leah’s book, which is more biography than cookbook, was published in 2002. I bought the book while in New York at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks (book store) in 2005 and I’m racking my brain to figure out if that was before or after Katrina. Either way, it’s a spooky coincidence. I do know that I keep a notebook filled with the names of older cookbooks that I want to find and purchase and Leah’s book was on my list a long time before Hurricane Katrina hit. It’s an interesting read so don’t be put off by the fact that there are very few recipes. I’d like to believe she culled the best ones just for us!

This Chicken Creole (and shrimp) recipe yields six servings and I’d say that was six generous servings. But it was mighty tasty so what do I care if I’m eating it for a month? Fat Tuesday is only the start of Mardi Gras and I intend to enjoy it and this recipe to the fullest!

Chicken Creole (with shrimp) – serves 6
6 5-oz boneless and skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp salt
½ tsp white pepper
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup onions, chopped
½ cup green peppers, chopped
2 cups whole tomatoes with liquid
2 cups water
2 cloves garlic, mashed and chopped
½ tsp ground thyme (or 2 sprigs fresh)
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
12 small whole okra
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp parsley, chopped

Season chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and the white pepper. In large skillet or chicken fryer, heat the vegetable oil. Place seasoned chicken in hot oil, turning as it cooks (about 6 minutes). Lower heat. Remove chicken and set aside.

Saute onions in skillet until they are clear. Add the green peppers; stir and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Add whole tomatoes, mashing them as you stir them into the onion mixture. Add water, garlic, thyme, cayenne pepper and remaining salt. Let sauce cook on high heat for 4 minutes.

Lower heat; return chicken to sauce. Add okra and cook for 10 minutes until okra are just tender. Add shrimp; let cook until shrimp turn pink (about 5 minutes). Add parsley. Serve over buttered rice.