Birthday Jambalaya

This jambalaya was Nathaniel's birthday request, thus the name. It's essentially a Cajun leftovers dish, but not in this case. Came out well. Spicy but not too. For more heat, Nathaniel and I sprinkled on more of the Cajun seasoning mix. Here's how it went:

INGREDIENTS

white rice, 2 c uncooked
shrimp, small uncooked 1 1/2 lb.
shrimp and crab boil
spicy sausage, 3/4 lb. (Got grass-fed local beef sausage from Reineer farms.)
olive oil
Cajun seasoning mix
tomato, 1 ripe
white onion, chopped, 2 c (I used 2 1/2 med. onions)
bell pepper, chopped, 1 c. (Used 2 peppers)
celery chopped, 1 c. (Used 4 stalks)
1/4 c. flour

DIRECTIONS

Make ahead:

Cook 2 cups raw white rice and let cool. Needs to be dry.

Boil shrimp for 3 minutes in large pot with 3T Shrimp and Crab Boil. Save at least a cup of the liquid after you cook the shrimp. Cool shrimp. Peel and devein if needed.

Making the Jambalaya

1. In a very large skillet or in a Dutch oven, put in about 1T oil and cook the sliced sausage and 1/2 onion sliced on high heat. Remove when cooked through.
2. Add 1/4 c. olive oil to the fat in the pan. Heat and add the flour slowly, scraping the bottom constantly with a spatula. Do this on low heat.
3. When you have a medium brown roux, add the chopped onion, pepper, and celery (Holy Trinity). Put heat to high and stir constantly until onions are soft. Lower heat and cook for a few minutes. Add 1T Cajun season mix and combine. Add salt to taste.
4. Add chopped tomato. Heat through.
5. Add sausage. Heat through.
6. Add shrimp. Heat through.
7. In handfuls, add rice a bit at a time and mix in. If it needs moisture, add a few tablespoons of the shrimp broth.
8. Adjust salt and pepper.

Summer Fresh Sword Fish and Beets

This dish started with some wonderful mixed small beets--red, golden, and striped--all about an inch in diameter. They came from Don and Briana at the Saturday Rittenhouse Square Market. The other "starter" was a few ounces of aromatic smoked alderwood salt--like the ocean and a cozy New England fall wood fire in a scent. This was brought to me from a store called Aprodesiac, a scent-nirvana in the Village area of New York.

More on this later.