NOLA, Zatarain’s Style

Sep 28, 2014 | 2 comments

Last Tuesday we celebrated our recent successes, NOLA style. If you missed that post, you can read it here. I had a blast shopping for Mardi Gras decor, mixing up Hurricane mocktails, and feeding my guests with the great food provided by Zatarain’s.

Zatarains' Care Package

Zatarains’ Care Package

How great was it of them to send me a box full of their rice mixes and seasonings? I chose to make the Brown Rice Jambalaya, Garden Vegetable Rice, and my salmon with the Blackened Seasonings mix.

What I love love love about Zatarain’s:

  • They make everything easy. You can prepare foods per package instructions, or embellish with add-ins of your own. Either way, it’s a complete dish.
  • Their dishes can be served on the side or as a main course. There’s no wrong way to Zat!
  • Let’s be real: It’s authentic New Orleans food. I mean, the shipping label said, New Orleans. Now that just makes This Girl far too food happy.
  • The flavors are more than your regular from-the-box fixings. They know how to package the seasonings, spices, and everything else that goes into a good Jambalaya.
  • Their products work well on a time schedule. I had four food preparations going at the same time, and didn’t sweat a drop.
Zatarain's Big Easy Garden Vegetable Brown Rice Mix

Zatarain’s Big Easy Garden Vegetable Brown Rice Mix

This pouch cooked start to finish in ninety seconds. Ninety seconds! I barely had time to grab the serving bowl before it was ready. Just knead the bag first, microwave for a minutes and a half, let stand one minute, then open and serve a hot, delicious mix of brown rice and vegetables. We ate this as a stand-alone side dish, but I’m already salivating for another pouch so I can toss in some andouille sausage and make it a meal.

Before I popped that in the microwave, however, I started the Brown Rice Jambalaya mix. I simply mixed water and the rice mix in my rice cooker. This one took 45 minutes according to package directions. I did not like smelling that goodness without being able to indulge, but it was worth the wait. Twenty minutes before it was ready, I sautéed a pound of garlic and herb shrimp on the stove-top, and when the rice mix was done I combined the two.

Next was the grilled blackened salmon. A light coating of melted butter on each side and a good sprinkling of seasonings was all it took to have a knock-your-socks-off main course. I love blackened anything, so I made sure to double-coat my filet.

With the abundance of food on the table, we had ourselves a small feast, Zatarain’s style.

NOLA Party, Zatarain's Style

NOLA Party, Zatarain’s Style

I served mayonnaise biscuits, another NOLA-based recipe from my friend, Lindsay Reine’s cookbook. A mixture of fruit juices gave my guests a Hurricane Mocktail, and dessert was this Easy King Cake recipe I found online.

Celebrate with King Cake

Celebrate with King Cake

Are you salivating yet? Then check out the Zatarain’s website. It’s more than just rice product. I can’t wait to get my hands on their root beer concentrate, a frozen pasta dinner, breading mix, some Creole mustard, and even their olives.

There’s a great section to teach you how to speak like a New Orleanian. Words like lagniappe, etouffee, and maque choux.

Zatarain’s. How deliciously simple is that?

And Frankly, My Dear . . . that’s all she wrote!

You may also enjoy reading:
Five Years and a Party
My Real Italian Kitchen: Polenta and Sauce
My Interview with Ms. New Orleans 2014, Lindsay Reine
I am Defined. And I am a Mystery.
FIVE THINGS FRIDAY: The Big Easy

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Loozi-ana

Jun 25, 2012 | 0 comments

In researching New Orleans and surrounding area for my current writing project, I’ve discovered and rediscovered some great trivia about the state:

*The Louisiana Purchase was in 1803, and amounted to less than 3 cents per acre at the time.
*The Louisiana territory covered all or part of 15 current United States as well as two Canadian Provinces.
*Louisiana’s roots include French, Spanish, and British.
*Louisiana was named after French King Louis XIV.
*Jazz music was born at the turn of the 20th century, primarily in New Orleans’ black communities.
*Some of the most famous musicians to come out of New Orleans include Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick, Jr., Branford Marsalis, Louis Prima, and many others.
*Many intriguing authors have claimed New Orleans as their home: Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury), and Anne Rice (Songs of the Seraphim).
*Destrehan Plantation, along the banks of the Mississippi River, is the oldest plantation house in Louisiana. It was established 1787.
*Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville is considered one of the most haunted areas in Louisiana.
*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “Evangeline”, about the 1755 Acadian mass exile from today’s Nova Scotia area due to their refusal to conform to British demands to renounce their Roman Catholic faith.
*The Acadian migration to Louisiana’s French territory began the formation of Cajun Country.
*Cajun is a derivative of the original French pronunciation of Acadian:  “Uh-cay-jahn”.
*Louisiana is sectioned into “parishes” instead of “counties”. This is due to being governed under Napoleonic Code.
*Because New Orleans was built on a swamp, their cemeteries are above ground, resembling small buildings which have earned them the nickname “Cities of the Dead”.
*Louisiana has an intense spiritual mixture of Christianity and Voodoo.
*Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”, also known as Shrove Tuesday) originated as a French Catholic celebratory feast of eating richer, fatty foods before the 40-Day Lenten period begins.
*Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday.
*Typical Mardi Gras colors are green, gold, and purple.

That’s a whole lotta trivia and fun facts to work with. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into more and get this story written!

And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!

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