By Guest Cooking Columnist Charles Fortson, Jr.
Busy people on tight budgets these days turn to box foods for convenient preparation of meals. With minimal effort, you can tweak your preparation of these meals to 5-star restaurant level, recalling those grandma used to make.
There’s a saying that grandma could cook old shoes and you would want seconds. That’s what I am talking about when I speak about making box food come alive.
Jambalaya, a favorite Southern meal that traces to the 18th Century when Spanish settlers around New Orleans in southern Louisiana tried to recreate Paella with Louisiana ingredients, is an example. This is how to turn a jambalaya box mix into a meal worthy of music festivals, Mardi Gras parties and quiet weeknight dinners.
Ingredients:
Family size box of Zatarains Jambalaya, which includes a rice mix with vegetables and spices.
4-5 chicken leg quarters.
1 lb. of your favorite smoked sausage cut.
2 cups of finally chopped onions.
2 tbsp. minced or chopped garlic.
1 cup of chopped bell peppers.
½ cup of uncooked rice (NEVER instant rice).
2 tbsp. of butter (a quarter cup for a moister meal)
Directions:
1. Cover chicken water seasoned with a 1 tbsp. of salt, 1 teasp. of your favorite pepper and a cap of crab boil. Boil for 45 minutes.
2. Remove chicken, cool and debone. Save the flavored broth resulting from boiling the chicken in the seasoned water.
3. In a 4-6 quart stock pot, sautee the onions, bell peppers and garlic in 2 tbsp. of butter, stirring as needed.
4. Add 4 ½ cups of the flavored chicken broth on top of the sauteed onions-bell peppers-garlic mix. Add the box food and extra uncooked rice and simmer on a low-fire for 20-minutes or until the rice is cooked. Add quarter cup of butter for greater moisture, if desired.
5. When rice is half done, stir in sausage cuts. Five minutes before rice is cooked, stir in the chicken.
6. Monitor rice. Add water in ½ cup measures as needed until it is fully cooked.
Serves at least eight persons.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Charles Fortson, Jr., is proprietor-chef at Uncle Ray’s across from Lake Lincoln State Park. He makes lunches and dinners to take out or for table service, while also operating a convenience store and bait shop at his Sunset Road location. Follow his cooking tips on Uncle Ray’s Facebook page or call 601-643-0174 to check on his daily specials.