My husband’s college roommate used to make jambalaya. Although, his version was more like “jumble-aya” as he put whatever was in the fridge and pantry together in one skillet and that was dinner…made for some very interesting meals.
Last night, I tried making it with what I had on hand: a pound of ground beef, diced tomatoes, ditalini pasta, a red onion, garlic and rosemary and basil from my herb garden.
I fried up the red onion and garlic in some leftover bacon grease from our daily baconfest, added the ground beef and cooked until browned. I then added two home-canned jars of dice tomatoes (courtesy of our friends who generously shared their bounty from last year’s garden). Once it came to a boil poured in the ditalini pasta…and voila!
I really was not expecting it to be the amazing comfort food meal that it turned out to be. I should note that I did not add any seasoning aside from the fresh herbs and garlic. No salt or pepper.
Most of the time my experimental food creations lack something in the flavor or texture department, but this meal was delicious. Ray and Joe both loved it. It was the perfect comfort food.
a pinch of homestead 