Shrimp Creole…

Do you save your left over bacon grease? Do you save those last little bits of left over chopped onions, celery and green peppers?

Save bacon grease.  I pour it into a jar and store in the refrigerator. Bacon grease has many uses, I use it grease my pan when I make meatloaf, and fry chicken in it. Some of my other uses for bacon grease is making gravy or a golden roux.

Since onions are not meant to be saved in a refrigerator after slicing, and you can’t leave them out without stinking up the house. Do you throw them away? Nope! I take leftover celery, onions and green peppers and chop them up. I have a zipper freezer bag, I keep in the freezer; I toss the “leftovers” into. This provides me a ready supply of seasoning blend for soups, stews, gumbo and other dishes that need this blend.

Since I already had a seasoning blend stored in the freezer, the only ingredient I had to purchase was the shrimp. If you watch the grocery adds, sometimes you can get bagged shrimp that have already been cleaned, on sale buy one get one free. I found one of these sales; I only spent $5.00 to make this dish.  

Ingredients:

2/3 cup fat (bacon drippings)

¾ cup flour, sifted

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper (you can do a mix of red and green bell peppers)

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Ron’s Cajun Meatball Stew

This sounds strange, but it taste so good. You will need roux for this recipe. If you are not blessed to have a store where you can purchase it you will need to make it or order it from the Cajun Supermarket .
Roux is a simple recipe of fat and flour. The best roux comes from a meat fat such as drippings from sausage, but if need be, you can use butter, vegetable oil, or shortening. Roux is used as a thickener, a light roux will thicken more than a dark roux.
To make a roux you will need ½ cup of fat, melted in a heavy skillet over low heat.
Slowly add in ½ cup of flour. Make sure you stir and do not stop until you reach the color you desire.
Remove from heat stir until cooled.
If your roux has black bits, it is burnt start over. Roux can be made ahead of time and stored in your refrigerator.

Meatball Stew:
Ingredients:
1 pound of ground beef
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
5 green onion, tails, chopped
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
1 teaspoons of Mrs. Dash seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
8 cups of water / half gallon
4 cups of cooked white rice
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
Directions:
In a large bowl mix eggs, ½ of the onion, crushed Ritz crackers, 2 teaspoons of Tony Chachere’s and ground beef together until well blended
Form meat mixture into 2-inch meatballs
In a large soup pot, bring water to boil over medium heat
Add 1 tablespoon of Roux at time; stir until dissolved. Make sure the Roux does not sit on the bottom of the pot. When the Roux is completely dissolved you should have a nice dark sauce. If need be lower heat to prevent boil over
Reduce heat to a simmer and add all ingredients except meatballs and rice. Stir well to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Gently add meatballs and cook for ten minutes. Give a light stir to make sure there is not sticking.
Partially cover pot and simmer for half hour.
Spoon over cooked white rice and serve with cornbread.