"Cajun Trinity" or "Holy Trinity" is a term used in Cajun and Southern cooking to describe a group of aromatic seasoning vegetables such as: onion, bell pepper and celery. These three items are the base seasoning mixture for most recipes such as gumbos, jambalayas, etouffees, sauces, chili and stews. Variations of the Cajun Trinity would include adding fresh garlic and chopped parsley.

More common now in Cajun cookbooks is the use of the term "Start with the Cajun Trinity" instead of saying: 1 onion, 1 bell pepper, stalks of celery. The Cajun Trinity is often sautéed in butter or oil. Then, flour is added as a thickening agent.

But, what really does Trinity mean? Unlike the Holy Trinity of the Christian faith, Trinity refers to the combination of three essential seasoning ingredients in a recipe. Other cuisines with three essential ingredients are:

• Mexican - corn, beans and chilies
• Italian - tomato, garlic and basil
• Greek - lemon juice, olive oil and oregano
• Spanish - bread, olive oil and wine.

In this episode, I'll show you how to prepare the Cajun Trinity for using fresh or freezing for convenient later use. Now get you an onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic and parsley and let's got chopping cher!

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Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 6-8 stalks celery
• 5 gloves garlic
• 2 handfuls of fresh parsley tops

Wash bell peppers, celery and parsley thoroughly and pat with paper towels to remove excess water. Slice them up. Dice them up. Chop them up. Mince them up. Throw it all in a large mixing bowl and stir to mix evenly.

Four cups of the Cajun Trinity mixture is sufficient for a stew, gumbo or etouffee. To store for later use, place four cups mixture in freezer safe zipper bags and label with the date prepared. Place flat in the freezer. _________________________________________

What a convenient way and cost effective way to chop all your own fresh vegetables and save for quick use later. Who wants to chop seasoning veggies every night? Not me mon amie!

Happy cooking and see you next time!