Eat Mardi Gras Style Tuesday

Everyone is talking like Mardi Gras was over the weekend, that it's over.

It wasn't only the weekend, and it's not over.

The license to party and eat rich carries through to the last day before Lent, variously called Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras. (If we translate that word-for-word from the French, it's Tuesday Fat.) We can't be much more clear than that. Tuesday, March 8, is the last day of Mardi Gras.

So I like to eat something a little more meaty, in addition to my traditional Shrove Tuesday dinner stack of pancakes slathered in butter and maple syrup, with a side of sausage, and maybe a side of scrambled eggs and hash browns. 

I like a hearty share of Fat in my Fat Tuesday. Then in Lent I'll repent.

So here's an easy recipe for Cajun jambalaya. It's really a recipe from that I made a little easier by not sticking to any particular brand names on the ingredients.

I give full credit to here, because I like the Cook who feeds me a home-cooked sample every week at the store and I like the cookbook I bought from her a year ago. She gives me free pages of recipes with nice photos every week, to add to my book. (I've yet to cook the same thing twice because there are so many good choices.)

Basically, the jambalaya takes 10 minutes with the meat and vegetables, 20 minutes on the rice, add a bottle of hot sauce, and it's sup-sup-suppertime, to quote Snoopy.

Ingredients: Half a pound chicken breasts boneless, cut up; one pound spicy sausage, cut up; 1 onion, 1 celery stalk, 1 red bell pepper, 4 garlic cloves (dice the 4 previous items;) 3 cups chicken broth or stock; 1.5 cups rice (uncooked) and 2 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning, 1 teaspoon of hot sauce (plus the bottle, on the table.)

Directions: In a big pan on the stovetop, brown the meats for five minutes in 2 teaspoons of oil, add the vegetables for five more minutes. Then add rice to the pan. Stir rice in for 1 minute, then add broth or stock, bring to a swift boil, then turn down to simmer for about 20 minutes, cover pan with lid. Stir in hot sauce and 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce if you have it (after the rice is done.)

Voila! You are ready to eat Mardi Gras style. Thanks .