Mardi Gras meats: Andouille sausage

January 18, 2006 -- Mardi Gras is just a few weeks away, which means local Cajun restaurants are firing up big pots of gumbo and loading up on the andouille sausage.

If peppers, onions and celery are the "holy trinity" of Cajun cooking, then tasso ham, crawfish and andouille sausage are surely the holy triumvirate. When it comes to finding good andouille, one local chef reaches all the way south to Louisiana, where the Cajun smoked sausage is custom-made exactly to his specifications.

Just like the amalgam of Cajun and Creole fare it serves up on its plates, Heaven on Seven is a true melting pot. Where else can a Greek owner - who grew up in an Italian neighborhood - teach Mexican chefs how to cook Cajun? The one ingredient binding them together? Andouille sausage.

"I love sausage. Doesn't it look like I love sausage? Ha Ha Ha&Andouille sausage is a Cajun, smoked pork sausage. Usually cayenne pepper, black pepper, white pepper, little bit of crushed red, garlic," said Jimmy Bannos, Heaven On Seven. "I get it from a place in Opaloussas, Louisiana, called Savoie's...Miss Eula Savoie been in the business for over 40 years. It's my Cajun mother, and I tried her stuff, I really liked it."

Andouille shows up in the house gumbo, but also in a few other dishes. For one of them, the andouille is simply grilled. A cook rims a plate with honey creole mustard...then fills in the center of the plate with warm, soft, sweet potato polenta. The grilled sausage is laid across the center, and it's topped with some caramelized onions - a nod, perhaps, to the famous sausages on Maxwell Street.

Another Bannos take on jambalaya is his orzolaya. The andouille is sliced into bite-sized pieces, then sauteed along with tasso ham, peppers, chicken and shrimp. Instead of rice, orzo, a rice-shaped pasta, is added at the last moment. The dish is smoky and satisfying, but not quite as intense as what you'd find down South.

"Ours is not as smoked as much - heavily smoked - because if it's really heavily smoked, it just takes away from all the dishes, so I tell 'em to cut back on the smoke."

Heaven on Seven
111 N. Wabash, 7th Floor
312-263-6443

600 N. Michigan Ave., 2nd Floor
312-280-7774

3478 N. Clark St.
773-477-7818

224 S. Main St., Naperville
630-717-0777

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