Creamy Cajun Andouille Pasta and Blue Cheese Sausage Jambalaya for Mardi Gras 2019

rachelhammer

So many Mardi Gras memories from 2019! The popularity of the Endymion parade makes it now necessary to camp and keep vigil over our favorite spot on Canal Street days in advance of the Saturday Mid City Parade. For over 50 hours we took shifts at “the spot” but it was worth it! Beautiful night for parading.

Gotta have good BBQ sauce. For a low-sugar alternative, try Lillie’s Carolina BBQ Sauce.
Kermit Ruffins our grumpy hound even got a little festive for Mardi Gras with a gifted decorative collar. Really struggled for this photo.

And although the rest of our Mardi Gras festivities had an unexpected chill, (38 degrees on MG day) great costumes come in layers, so we designed warmth into our already radiant outfits for the big day. Marching with Mondo Kayo may be the best thing I do all year. I told someone, “going downtown on Mardi Gras is like going to a costume ball meets wedding reception meets every musical every produced, and Everyone is invited.” Overwhelming and, I hope, a foreshadowing.

Mondo Kayo 2019
This is 6:30 AM on Mardi Gras.

Creamy Cajun Andouille Pasta

2 TB butter

1 ½ onion, diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

5-6 red and green hot peppers (I used chimayo and dedo de moca from my yard)

4 links Bovine and Swine Andouille sausage, (or pepper and bleu cheese!) sliced in ¾ inch rounds

2 cans diced Rotel tomatoes with green chiles

2 oz No Bull Original starter

½ cup heavy cream

1 TB Cajun seasoning (I used Creole Crack, which you can only buy at the Kitchen Witch shop in New Orleans)

1-2 pounds fettucine (I like mine home made, I use 2 1/3 cups flour, 3 eggs and 1 TB olive oil for the pasta dough, cooks in about 2-3 minutes)

This is possibly the best sausage I’ve ever had. Bovine’ and Swine’s Andouille is also heavenly.

Start with the onions, saute in butter for 10-15 minutes. Add the garlic and the No Bull scratch starter and stir until it becomes fragrant. Add the sausage and heat, and sear the edges a bit. Then add the peppers, the tomatoes and cajun seasoning. Boil water and get your pasta done while you add the cream, the final step. Keep warm until the pasta finishes, then spoon the pasta into bowls and top with the spicy delicious sauce!

If you need a cajun meal even faster, I love throwing some Dede’s Jambalaya Sauce on rice, adding some seared Bovine and Swine sausage to it if you like!

We made this on Lundi Gras after marching in the Dead Beans parade because we knew we needed to make a fast turn-around the next day with an early wake up call at 5A to get lined up for Mondo Kayo! Dead Beans is an off-shoot of the Red Beans Parade, starts in MidCity, NOLA. Our theme this year was Dead Poets, so I went as Emily Dickinson. KP was Walt Whitman. It was a marvelous day for a walking parade.

Sharree Walls was a krewe member of ours who was tragically killed three days before our parade by a drunk driver while riding her bicycle home from Endymion.

These organic juice smoothie’s by Ceres were super easy to bring along and kids loved them.

And on the other side of Mardi Gras, we rest. I’ve been enjoying my Sips By, a monthly sampler of tea you can subscribe to. Goes great with a hound nuzzle.