A Fish Recipe for Friday

Happy Friday!  Do you come from a family that eats fish on Fridays?  I do and I was wondering why. Not why I come from a family but why we eat fish on Fridays.  I mean, where did the custom come from?  So I Googled it.  Don’t you love the information age?!

So I looked up “why we eat fish on Friday”  and lo and behold I got way more than I was expecting.  Of course you do have to take the internet with a grain of salt.   Friday was named for the Greek goddess Freya. She was an ancient goddess whose sacred symbol was the Fish. Her Holy Day is on the day that was named after her - Friday.  Freya's Day (Friday) is set aside to honor her by eating Fish on her special day.

Well, when Christianity came along Christians replaced Freya with Christ and now you know why Christians eat fish on Fridays.

Funny how the meaning of a tradition can get lost but the tradition remains.

Anyway so I thought we would have “fish” for dinner tonight but I’m substituting with shrimp.

A few years back David and I visited the home of Tabasco, Avery Island, LA.  While there I picked up this wonderful cookbook.

Tonight’s dinner is Eula Mae’s Chicken and Ham Jambalaya. 

First gather all your ingredients: 

1 ½ lbs chicken, raw and cut in small pieces

½ lb ham, cooked and cut in small pieces

2 lbs raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped bell pepper

4 tsp minced garlic

16 oz Can of whole tomatoes, chopped liquid reserved

1 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp Tabasco pepper sauce

2 cups raw white rice

In a large pot heat oil, add chicken and sprinkle with salt pepper and cayenne. When done transfer to large mixing bowl.  Add ham to pot and stir till slightly browned.  Add ham to chicken.

 Add the onion, celery and bell pepper (Holy Trinity) and garlic to the pot and cook scraping the bottom of pot to loosen any browned bits.

Return the chicken and ham to the pot reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 min stirring occasionally. 

Add the chicken broth and reserved tomatoes with juice, cover and simmer for another 20 min. 

Add rice, shrimp and Tabasco, cover pot and simmer for 25 minutes until rice is tender and fluffy and the liquid is absorbed.

Bon Appetite and Happy Friday!

Here are some pictures from our trip.  It really is a beautiful place.

Avery Island, LA Sept. 2007