Creole Rice Side Dish Recipe

This creole rice side dish recipe is prepared with white rice, onions, carrots, thyme, and parsley for an authentic french caribbean flavor. The vegetables are removed after cooking, leaving you with a flavor-infused, non-starchy side dish for any meal, but try it with chicken columbo, another recipe from ovide's "French caribbean cuisine. "Creoles refer to the original europeanparticularly french and spanishsettlers of new orleans who were mostly from wealthy families, and who brought their personal chefs from paris, madrid, and other european capitals. Since many of the ingredients they traditionally used were unavailable locally, they adapted their recipes to include native louisiana ingredients like shellfish snapper, pompano, alligator, meats, game, and squash like cushaw and mirliton (chayote), sugar cane, and pecans. Add to that the cooking tips and seasonings from the native indians, caribbean, and african cooks, and this new style of creole cooking was born. Cajuns are descendants of the acadians expelled from acadia (formerly nova scotia) in 1755 who resettled in southwest louisiana. While the language (french) and religion (catholic) were familiar to them, the swamps, bayous, prairies, and native ingredients weren't. The cajuns applied their french cooking techniques to the meats, fish, and produce of this new homeland to create cajun cooking, considered to be a homespun version of creole cooking. A popular misconception is that cajun food is spicy hot. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Click here for more about the differences between creole and cajun cuisines. Recipe reprinted with permission from french caribbean cuisine by stephanie ovide (hippocrene books).