Crawfish and Sausage Cornbread Dressing

Thanksgiving is coming up and I am getting so excited! I have been planning my menu for weeks. This year, my family will be coming to Louisiana from Texas for Thanksgiving!

Since we'll be having Thanksgiving in Cajun country, I thought I'd add a little Cajun flair to our Thanksgiving menu! While there are some Thanksgiving dishes that you just can't part with and have to make year after year,  the fun thing about stuffing/dressing is that you can really play around with the ingredients and create something totally different each year.

For this year's dressing, I decided to go with crawfish, sausage in a cornbread base. Here is what I came up with! I hope you like it and decide to add it your Thanksgiving menu.

Ingredients:
1 lb. andouille sausage of your choice, casings removed
1 lb. crawfish tails
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 boxes cornbread mix prepared, cubed and dried out or 1 14oz. bag of cornbread stuffing mix*
1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

*If you decide to make your own cornbread, you'll want to do this ahead of time (at least a few hours) to give the cornbread time to dry out.

Make cornbread according to package directions. After cornbread has cooled, make cuts 1 inch apart vertically and horizontally across the pan. Begin to carefully break apart the cornbread. Allow to sit on the counter uncovered to dry out. Toss the cubes/crumbs every few hours to allow it to properly dry out. If you are short on time, pop the pan back in a low oven. Drying the cornbread out first will ensure that you have a light and airy stuffing.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove sausage from casings. In a medium size pan over medium high heat, add sausage and cook until done. Add crawfish and cook for 3-5 more minutes. Transfer sausage and crawfish to a large mixing bowl. Add peppers, onion, celery, garlic and jalapeno to the pan. Saute until onions are translucent and peppers are soft. Transfer vegetables to the mixing bowl. Add cornbread crumbles, broth and cajun seasoning stirring to combine. Add additional stock if you want a wetter stuffing. Spoon stuffing into a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Jambalaya

Jambalaya is definitely one of the standard cajun cuisine dishes; however, just like many other cajun favorites, when it comes to recipes there is probably nothing standard about it! There are probably thousands of variations for jambalaya and I am sure every Cajun family has their own "perfect" recipe, but the following recipe is how I make it and I think it is pretty darn good...for a Texas girl! So give my variation a try, but to all you locals, please go easy on me! Afterall, I am just a Texas girl in a Louisiana world!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 lb. andouille sausage, casings removed, cut into bite sized pieces
1 large yellow onion, diced*
1 large green bell pepper, diced*
6 celery ribs, chopped*
2 cloves of garlic, minced*
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
2 cups uncooked white rice
4 cups chicken broth (2 cans)
1 dried bay leaf
1-2 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Brown chicken and sausage until lightly browned, about five minutes. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, cayenne pepper and cajun seasoning. Saute until onions are translucent. Pour in chicken broth and add the rice and bay leaf to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer for approximately 20-25 minues or until the rice is cooked through. Check the liquid level towards the end of cooking, adding additional water or broth if the mixture is getting too dry. Stir in worchestershire sauce and serve.

Although it is probably not the proper cajun way, we like it with cornbread. Jiffy, of course.

Enjoy!

*For those in Louisiana, feel free to use Guidry's Fresh Cuts if you don't want to/don't have the time to chop the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic.