My mouth is on fire from this one!
To tell the truth, I don’t know much about Cajun cuisine. It’s not exactly a cuisine that Midwesterners ever experience, sadly (we fear cayenne pepper), and it’s not the most vegetarian-friendly cuisine, either. However, I recently discovered Cajun seasoning, and I love it. I made these awesome crunchy Cajun tofu sticks once, and they were so great . . .
*ahem*
Anyway, the idea for this recipe came from my new-found loves of red peppers and Cajun seasoning. I liked the thought of black beans with it (and the spinach was pretty much an afterthought). From there, I Googled “Cajun cuisine” and blindly put my trust into Wikipedia to help put the finishing touches on my recipe.
IT’S SO COLORFUL!
From my research, I found out the “holy trinity” of Cajun cuisine is bell pepper, onion, and celery. This recipe contains two of those items; if you’d like to complete the trinity, go ahead and add celery! However, I thought this recipe was superb the way it is! Om nom nom . . .
What you'll need:
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1/2 clove garlic, minced
- 1/3 a red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin, 2-inch long strips
- oil for sauteeing
- 1 cup loosely packed chopped spinach
- 1 cup vegetable broth or water
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (I use Country Choice Organic)
- 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 1/4 cup cooked and rinsed black beans
How to make it:
- Saute the onion, garlic, and pepper strips in a bit of oil in a skillet for 4-7 minutes, until slightly tender. Add chopped spinach and a pinch of salt and cook an additional minute, until the greens begin to wilt. Remove from heat, and set aside for later.
- Bring vegetable broth to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium.
- Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add Cajun seasoning. Stir.
- Add pepper, onion, and spinach, as well as the black beans. Stir.
- When you're pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. You could top this with fresh flat-leaf parsley, hot sauce, crushed red pepper, and/or ground black pepper. I don't have fresh parsley or hot sauce, so I just went with black pepper and a diced pepper strip that I saved from the skillet.
I did it! I posted a savory oatmeal recipe! *pats self on the back*
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