The Saints are hosting their first Monday Night Football game of the season. Now if you’re a frequent guest of the Monday Night Tailgate, you know we’re all about bringing the Monday Night parking lot atmosphere to your house. Of course we also try to go with some fairly easy recipes. This way it’s something you can throw together when you get home from work.

That said, we’re going to switch things up a tad with today’s installment.

Since we’re in the Crescent City, the home of soul warming, stomach filling goodness. What better way to watch the Saints than to sit down with a steaming bowl of Jambalaya?

This recipe came from Cold Hard Football Facts, and they got it from Louisiana Cookin’ magazine. This does take some time to prep and cook, about an hour, so plan accordingly.

Ingredients:
First thing you need is a big old pot. Then the following:
- 6TBS of butter,
- ½ cup of chopped green and ½ cup of chopped yellow onions
- One green bell pepper (take out the seeds)
- 1 cup of coarsely chopped celery
- 1 tsp of minced garlic
- ½ pound of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (most places will do this for you if you ask. It might cost another dollar, but it’s well worth it.)
- ½ pound of cubed boiled ham
- 1 can (16oz) of crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- Salt and cayenne pepper to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
- Hot sauce

Once you’ve got everything ready to roll, the only thing left is to Get Cooking.

- Place that large, behemoth pot on the stove and set to medium heat. Start by melting the butter and then add the onions, pepper, celery and garlic. Cook
those for eight minutes, or until they are soft (not mushy) and golden colored.
- Add in the shrimp and ham and cook until the shrimp turns pink (2-3 minutes), which means it’s cooked.
- Add the tomatos and broth and then season with salt and cayenne pepper.
- The last step is to add the bay leaves and the rice.
- Stir it all together, cover with a lid and set the temperature to medium low. Make sure to adjust the temp.
- Let it cook (no peaking) for about 25 minutes. Once the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, it’s time to eat.
- Don’t forget to take out the bay leaves and add as little or as much hot sauce as you can handle.

We can’t imagine you would need any other food after the above gut busting dish. Therefore, we’ll turn to the Twin Cities for our beverage of the evening.

If you can find it, grab some Pig’s Eye Pilsner.

What says football more than Pig’s Eye? If not, you can always go with some St. Pauli Girl. It’s German, but it’s close enough to St. Paul, and hell, after a six-pack, Irina Voronina looks pretty damn good.