Twelfth Night (in Louisiana?)

To honor the twelve drummers drumming and all that, I had started writing a whole post in my head involving something along the lines of “Ha, Twelfth Night…yeah, like Shakespeare [insert random quote and footnote [slash] aside regarding my time as an English major]”…cut to connection to the movie (best EVER) She’s the Man…

[Source]

…we all laugh and dance around happily, I eat some Gouda (for the movie, of course) and all’s well that ends well (and we laugh yet again at my ability to provide yet another Shakespeare allusion).

And then I realized I already wrote a post like that. It was my tenth day of blogging, my eighteenth post, and was notably mostly because it was one of the first times someone commented on my blog who I didn’t know in real life (and they offered me free play tickets!).

So rather than re-write greatness (and yes, I was great before you actually knew about me), I just thought I would republish the post [called, fittingly, "Be not afraid of greatness"] here. Besides, I somehow connected Shakespeare, Amanda Bynes, and gumbo all in one post…and you KNOW that’s gotta be good.*

*Also, I was feeling lazy. And Top Chef is on tonight. Priorities people.

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The title of this post comes from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which my sister and I had the great and hilarious joy of seeing on Thursday night at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia. (This was my second time visiting the theater…and it was just as incredible this time around. I highly recommend a visit! It is the only re-creation of Shakespeare’s original indoor theater in the world, and one of the best reasons to visit Staunton, along with The Pampered Palate Cafe and Cranberry’s Grocery & Eatery.)

Twelfth Night is a play about false identity and illusion, how appearances can deceive, and what might look like one thing is actually another. The basis for the incredible-if-you’ve-seen-it teen romcom, She’s the Man*, Twelfth Night (with a generous helping of drunken shenanigans and comical innuendos) was a delightful show, AND the inspiration for what I made for lunch yesterday…

*She’s the Man is actually the reason we went to see Twelfth Night. It is “our” movie. Why? Because it is so unexpectedly hilarious. Seriously. Go watch it. If you don’t like it…well, then you you don’t…but at least you’ll understand why hearing someone talk about Gouda always makes me laugh just a lil’ bit…
**Actually, during the show, I overheard a woman saying to her daughter, “This is a lot like She’s The Man,” and I ecstatically interrupted their conversation (I am my mother’s daughter) to tell them that She’s the Man was, in fact, based on Twelfth Night. Then we had a moment of simultaneous reflection upon the greatness of the film and went back to sitting quietly during intermission.

OK, back to lunch. [Now you know why my students sometimes found it difficult to follow my explanations in class..]

This idea of mistaken identity reminded me of a recipe I created a few months ago when I was craving okra, found an amazing deal on some Andouille sausage, and had discovered this little hilarity at the grocery store…
…which I actually bought for the sole reason that by being labeled not only Cajun‘s Choice but Creole Seasoning, while trying to sell itself to the consumer who went to the store, never having used cajun spices before, and attempting to find the recipe-required “cajun seasoning”…and only serving to perpetuate the incredible confusion about what the difference is between Cajun and Creole anyway? (A bad marketing decision in my opinion because that same confused consumer is going to ask herself whether she should use this spice for creole cooking or cajun cooking, and, not being willing to really investigate, as she had simply found the recipe in Cooking Light and thought it might taste good but doesn’t really care to waste more time than necessary on this little attempt at cooking something “exotic”, will simply put it back, walk away, and decide to just pick up a frozen pizza on the way out of the store.)

What is the difference between Cajun and Creole anyway? It’s actually something I have been confused about for a long time (and, despite having just watched an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown explained it very nicely while making a delicious looking gumbo, I am not quite sure I can explain it to you…), but my basic understanding is this: while both types of regional cuisine are associated with New Orleans specifically and Louisiana in general, Creole signifies the descendants of French colonists, and is more (as Alton Brown says it) “hoity toity” and sophisticated than Cajun, which comes from Acadian settlers who traveled from the area of modern-day Nova Scotia/Quebec/Maine, and, as far as cuisine goes, is “dirtier” (Alton again) than Creole cooking.

And here is the Twelfth Night connection: Cajun and Creole…so seemingly similar…and yet what you think is one, is actually it’s twin sister disguised as a boy! [or, you know, a more generalized form of identity theft...]

Back to that day of okra craving…

Okra and Andouille led me to gumbo, but, not feeling an extreme desire to cross “Make a real, slow-cooked roux” off my culinary bucket list that day….I turned instead to imitation (it is the sincerest form of flattery, is it not?) and created what, from that day forward, would be known as…

Gumb-faux! (Or Fake-out Gumbo if you feel weird saying Gumb-faux…although, it’s really sort of fun…)

This is an amazing dish that not only tastes incredible, but is SO easy to prepare, with mostly frozen ingredients (although it doesn’t have to be that way), easily adaptable to different palates, and tastes even better many days afterward…so if there are just a few of you in your house, you don’t have to eat it for every meal over the next two days in order to make it worthwhile!

[Note: You can add or substitute shrimp (as I was going to do, until I came up with Mexican Shrimp 'n Grits) in this...or use just sausage or just chicken....or even scrap meat and seafood altogether and make this with red beans for a vegetarian take.]

First, I took out my frozen ingredients….
(This is includes that Hans’ All Natural Chicken Sausage I got from Whole Foods the other day…as well as some of the chicken I had frozen.)

I defrosted the peppers & onion blend in the sink a little bit, rinsing to “get the chill off.”
I took out the rest of the onion from my Mexican Shrimp ‘n Grits, and diced that up (along with two cloves of garlic).
I diced up the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
I also diced up the sausage links. (This was made SO much easier by the fact that they were still just a little bit frozen…)
Next, I browned up the chicken and sausage.
When the chicken was cooked through and the delicious scent of Andouille was wafting through the kitchen, I took out the meat and put it on a paper towel to rest for a bit. (There wasn’t all that much fattiness to drain off or anything.)
Using the same pot, I sauteed the onion and garlic.
Then, I added the pepper & onion blend…
…as well as some spice!
Took my thawed okra…
…and added that to the mix! (and maybe some extra spices as well…it’s all about layering the flavor people…)
After tossing the meats back into the pot…
…I added diced tomatoes and chicken broth. (…and a few more shakes of those spices…)
Brought it all up to a boil…and let it simmer for about 20 minutes to let the flavors continue to meld.
Served it with this instant rice I had bought with a coupon…
…which, although I would prefer to make rice “from scratch,” adding my own level of spices and salt, was surprisingly good and did save a bunch of time, allowing us to make it to matinee of Alice in Wonderland (in 3D!) on time.
There was a lot of “mmmm”-ing happening while we ate this. Even my roommate, “Esmerelda,” loved it. (I served her some before I remembered that it contained her arch-nemesis: red bell pepper…but I just chose to remain silent, and she didn’t seem to realize…meaning that you could probably also trick picky small children with this recipe too…)

In fact, it might be one of the best things I’ve ever created. It’s not real gumbo, but, it certainly tastes wonderful.

And so, Shakespeare, as I admit that I did a good thing when inventing this Gumb-faux, I must say that I am certainly not afraid of greatness…whether or not I was born this great, achieved it, or had it thrust upon me (maybe a little bit of all three…).

2 cups frozen pepper-and-onion blend (or 1/2 cup diced sweet onion + 1 1/2 cups diced bell peppers of any color)
1 cup diced sweet onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cut okra, thawed
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (4-6 oz.), cut into bite-sized pieces
2-3 links Andouille sausage (chicken or pork), sliced into bite-sized pieces
1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (low-sodium preferred)
Cajun/Creole seasoning
2 bay leaves
ground red pepper (cayenne)
dried thyme
salt + pepper

1. In a Dutch oven or other large pot, brown the chicken and sausage (even if it is pre-cooked…why not?) in a wee bit of olive oil. Remove from pot and set aside.
2. In the same pot, saute onion, peppers, and garlic in a dash more olive oil. Add 1 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning, 1 tsp. thyme, 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, and a dash of salt + black pepper. Stir well.
3. Once the onions and peppers have softened up, add the okra (and a dash more of any spice you desire). Stir well.
4. Return the chicken and sausage to the pot.
5. Pour in diced tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil.
6. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes to help the flavors meld.
7. Serve on, over, or with rice!