I like to cook. I enjoy eating, but I absolutely love Cajun cuisine, people and culture. Rebecca and I spent spring break in NO for several years after the storm, helping to rebuild. We, along with most of our best friends would take a large group of high school students there in an effort to remind the people of NO that they are not alone and to give students an opportunity to actually give themselves over to something other than their own agendas. These were among the most powerful experiences in my life. To this day, I can’t distinguish who was blessed more by our efforts… me, the kids or the people of NO:)

People there are really gracious and hospitable. Even though they had just lost everything, it was pretty common for the person receiving our help to feed the entire work team some delicious Cajun food. My love affair began as I sucked my first boiled Crayfish down in the back yard of Keith Masons (below) house and it’s only gotten stronger since.

I’ve pretty much learned to cook the basics, gumbo, jambalaya, dirty rice, Cajun shrimp, crayfish boil…etc, but these days I’m often simply turning other stuff into Cajun / Creole food by including the flavors and techniques I’ve learned over the years.

This recipe was inspired by a Cajun Lasagna recipe I used a few weeks back. I had a couple pasta sheets left over and started messing around with them and this dish sort of just happened….

It’s really easy and was seriously excellent. Hope it makes it onto your “to cook” list:)

 

 

 

 

“Cajun Alfredo Rolls.”

Ingredients:

* 8 big lasagna noodles

* 1 16 ounce jar of Alfredo sauce or make it yourself if that your deal.

* 1 pound of spicy Italian sausage (removed from casing)

* 5 or 6 fresh white cap mushrooms (optional)

* 1 onion (diced finely)

* 1 stalk of celery (cut into 4 or 5 big pieces)

* 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella

* Cajun seasoning of your choosing to taste.

Instructions:

* Cook noodles as per package then drain and set aside.

* Fry the sausage just like you would ground beef in a skillet. (save renderings)

* Add sliced mushrooms to skillet for last 2-3 minutes of frying.

* Remove pork / mushrooms and set aside.

*  Put the diced onion in the skillet and cook them until they are soft and mushy. (3-6 minutes on medium)

* Pour the jar of Alfredo sauce into the pan with the onions and turn the heat to medium / low. While it’s heating up, add the Cajun seasoning to the sauce and stir in.

*Add the celery. (Just for flavor so just cut into big pieces you will be able avoid when ladling the sauce later.)

(Between the seasoning and the pork renderings you left in the pan, it’s going to transform the sauce into a nice spicy creamy situation.)

* Once it’s to where you like it in terms of spice, turn it to low and just keep an eye on it.

* The dish is designed to feed 4 people with each person having 2 rolls.

* To make a roll, lay it flat on the counter then sprinkle with cheese about as heavy as you would a pizza. Then ladle a few tablespoons of sauce right on top of the cheese. Lastly sprinkle a couple tablespoons of the pork / mushroom mixture on top. Roll it up nice and tight and plate it in the dish you will serve from. Do this 8 times and line then up on the plate nice and snug to one another.

* pour the remaining sauce over the top and pour the remaining pork /  mushrooms over that.

* Sprinkle one last time with cheese and then put it in the broiler on high for 4 minutes just to brown  / melt the cheese.

* Enjoy!

PS: If you actually make this at home, please take a picture and send it to me because I’m not happy with the one I took of it. It actually looked very good in person:)