We’ve been festing in place since 2018! Join us, Cultures Capsules-style by cooking up some fab favs that will virtually transport you to New Orleans and the Jazz & Heritage Festival!
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Festing in Place
A few months into the global COVID 19 pandemic and looking for some senses of normalcy, we are psyched to join in on WWOZ’s Festing in Place, airing lots of fab sets from Jazz Fests of years past. Luckily we have some practice because we’ve been virtually festing for years! Unable to get back to the amazing city or New Orleans, we’ve created virtual adventures for ourselves to approximate the feeling of being there as best we could.
Scroll on down for our takes on jambalaya and red beans and rice, or hit up older portraits that capture Lobster Meghna (our take on Crawfish Monica), pralines, Dr John’s favorite Raccoon Stew (thanks to a recipe posted by WWOZ, we made it as a tribute when he passed). There are also instructions on how to make your own second line umbrellas!
So! Print out your cubes, and plan out your food and listening adventure for 2021 Festing in Place!
Try it yourself and laissez bon temps roulez!
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Jambalaya All Day
Can’t get enough Jambalaya in food and music form!
We love to binge on one song, listening to all the various takes. Here’s one playlist of lots of great versions of Jambalaya. I think our fav version is the first time we heard it, in Jackson Square! If you know the musicians in the photo above below, please tell me!
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Mama K’s Jambalaya
Mama K’s Jambalaya
Equipment
- A food processor makes quick work of cutting the vegetables of the holy trinity quickly, and also helps them to cook faster. But then you have to wash the darn food processor. Lesser of two evils?
Ingredients
- 12 oz package smoked Andouille sausage
- 1 1/2 cups celery stalks, finely diced
- 1 1/2 cups orange pepper, finely diced or carrots, if it's what you have
- 1 1/2 cups onions, finely diced
- 6 tbsp salted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced minced
- 2 cups tomatoes, finely diced chopped small
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1.5 cups Basmati rice, rinsed
- 3 cups chicken broth Better Than Bullion
- 1 1/2 tbsp Penzey’s Cajun Spice
- 1 lb chicken thigh
- 2 cups frozen okra
For Serving
- green onion, sliced into rounds
- cajun hot sauce
Instructions
- Chop sausage into 1/3 inch rounds and cook in a bit of butter to brown slightly. Cover and keep aside.
- Chop celery, pepper and onions, and mince garlic. Grating in a food processor makes quick work of the chopping of celery, pepper and onions, and speeds up the cooking itself!
- Melt 5 tbsp butter in a large heavy bottom pot that has a lid (you'll be steaming the rice later). Add celery, pepper and onions, almost browning, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, and continue cooking until everything is golden brown.
- Meanwhile, chop chicken and boil water for the stock.
- When veggies and garlic are rowned, add tomatoes and cook unitl it all becomes one, about 8 minutes.
- Add remaining butter and chicken, only until chicken begins to cook on all sides. NOT ALL THE WAY and not even almost done.
- Then add the rice, stock, sausage and Cajun spice and stir. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer 20-25 mins (or until rice is cooked), stirring occasionally to prevent rice from burning/sticking!!
- About 10 minutes in, add okra and stir to combine. Add hot water if it seems too dry, and rice is sticking, and allow the mixture continue to steam, until rice is done. You don't want it to be liquidy, but the rice should also not be dry.
- Remove from heat and serve, adding optional garnishes
Notes
- I prefer using Penzey’s Cajun/Creole spice mixture, but if I don’t have it, I make do with a blend of paprika, herb de Provence, and onion/garlic salt if I have it.
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Red Beans & Rice
Every time I say or type “Red Beans and Rice,” I hear it as they say it The Meters version of “They All Ask’d For You.” In between verses and choruses, they pepper the song with various classic New Orleans dishes. They say “red beans and rice a couple times, and the second time, when the put the emphasis on the “red” is how I hear the name of this dish, anytime I type it or say it.
It being quarantine times, I pressure cooked a whole one pound bag of dried red beans, and ended up making this, (and our old favorite soldado!)
Red Beans and Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup celery, finely chopped
- 1 cup bell pepper, finely chopped or carrots if that's what you have
- 1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
- 12 oz Andouille sausage
- 3 tbsp salted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 cups kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tsp Creole Spice*
- 1 -1.5 cups chicken stock we like better than bullion
Serve With
- 3 cups long-grain rice
- fried eggs see note below
Instructions
- Set the rice to cook, and a kettle or pot of water to boil (for stock)
- Chop the vegetables and keep aside. Smoked chicken sausage, 2 links, skin removed and chopped into 1/3 inch-thick half moons*
- In a large pot, over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp of butter and brown the sausage.
- Remove the sausage and keep aside, covered. Do not clean the pan or discard the remaining fat.
- In the same pan, adding the rest of the butter, cook the celery, onions and peppers. Depending on how much oil rendered from the sausages used, you may want to use less butter but less butter is not something I believe in, personally.
- Cook the veggies until they are soft and begin to brown, stirring often. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add beans, Creole seasoning, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil;reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes (and let it sit longer if possible).
Notes
- I prefer to use Penzey’s Creole seasoning, but if I don’t have it, then I just approximate with paprika or chipotle + herbs de Provence and it works really well.
- In a pinch I’ve also used smoked chicken sausage and added extra black pepper, which turned out great.
- I doubt there will be leftovers, but if you do, then do yourself a favor and transform it into a brunch dish by topping it it with a fried egg. When your creamy yolk melds with the beans and rice is absolutely sublime. We did it on a whim for brunch guests around the time of our virtual jazz fest 2017 and now it’s a tradition. YUMBOS.
recipe
Other NOLA Fun
There’s lots more recipes that can get you feeling all jazz-fest-like. You can make Dr. John’s favorite Raccoon Stew (or veal if it’s what you got/prefer).
Or try our take on the famed Crawfish Monica or some delicious pralines….
Bonus
DIY Second Line Umbrella
Or make yourself a nice little second line umbrella! They are airing a second line every day at 2:3oPM New Orleans time!
Second Line Umbrellas
Equipment
- glue gun & cartridges
Materials
craft supplies
- paper parasol per person (at least!)
- craft feathers (colorful & black both great)
- "mardi gras beads"
- pipe cleaners
- beads & string (optional)
- other glue-able items you may have around: felt pieces, googlie eyes, buttons, … get creative!)
tools
- glue (glue gun is best, but use what you have)
- scissors
- permanent markers work best for vivid color but crayola works
Instructions
- Prep: Clear a spot on a table or floor, and consider covering the area with newspaper or cut up trash bags, especially if you are using permanent markers.
- Decorate: First step is coloring the parasol w/ permanent markers to make a base, then glue lots of bits on as you see fit!
- Embelish: stringing beads to hang off the edges because the more they sway when you dance, the more fun your second line umbrella will be.
