Not Ya MawMaw’s RiceNGravy

Rice and gravy is a staple in every Cajun household.

As a matter of fact, it’s basically one word here: ricengravy, and it’s one of my sure-thing meals when the kids have a picky streak. It’s made by browning meat in a pan over and over again, all the while deglazing (using liquid to help you scrub the gratins from the meat off the bottom of the pan) the pan with beef stock or water. After hours of work, you are left with tender meat and a delicious gravy. And of course, we serve it over rice.

It was ALWAYS what MawMaw cooked on Sundays, and you could smell it from the driveway.

This mama ain’t got time fa dat.

LUCKILY, I figured out a way to make a ricengravy that is NEARLY as good as MawMaw’s, and so dang easy. And you can make it on a Tuesday.

Stuff the roast.

The secret to a good ricengravy is the meat. Splurge and get the good stuff at a local butcher shop. But even if you get your meat at Super One, stuffing it will help it out by 1000%. In my family, we stuff our meat with minced garlic and bell peppers. We mix these with Cajun seasoning and stuff it into slits we cut all over the roast. Then we season the outside of the roast with Cajun seasoning. I like to do this the day I buy the roast. This way, I can wrap it and ready it for the freezer, and it will be ready to go when it’s cooking time.

Now, when your roast is stuffed and seasoned, well, this is when your MawMaw slapped that into her Magnalite and started browning.

But I’m not your MawMaw.

I throw that sucker in my slow cooker.

Then I add enough beef stock to cover the bottom third of the roast and sprinkle in ½ of a packet of Brown Gravy Mix. Slosh the mix around, set your slow cooker to low and slow for 8 hours.

Boom. RiceNGravy.

If you like your gravy thick enough to stick to your rice, pour the au jus into a pan and cook it down at a simmer until you get the consistency you like. You can add additional gravy thickener if you need.

Some may call it sacrilege, but I call it supper. 

C’est bon y’all!