Slice off both ends of the onion. Cut in half pole to pole. Lay it down cut side down and thinly slice it pole to pole. Thinly slice across to create a chop.

Lay the bell pepper on it’s side with the stem facing away from you. Slice a plank off of the bell pepper as close to the stem as you can get. From the blank, remove the vein and seeds. Slice it thinly along the length and then thinly slice across. Repeat the process until you’re left with the stem and seeds.

There are different kinds of roux, but in Cajun cooking it refers to a brown roux, usually peanut butter color.

Typically it’s made with 1 part oil and 1 part flour. I was a child of the 90s and grew up with a “dry roux” which means sans oil. You won’t know the difference and you can make it in a fraction of the time. True confession: I’ve never made a brown roux with oil, but we won’t be talking about that.

Put flour (I use whole wheat preferably pastry flour but white flour is more common) in a frying pan and turn the heat to medium. Flatten out the flour into an even layer. When you start to smell the flour toasting, give it a quick stir. Repeat every couple of minutes. When you notice the flour gaining color at a quicker pace, stir constantly. When it’s peanut butter color, pull it off the heat.

I am a middle child and like to push things so I go a couple shades darker than peanut butter, especially when using whole wheat flour. Just be mindful that the darker the roux is, the less thickening power your roux will have.

PS If you have a sensitive smoke alarm, make sure you put it on test mode while you make the roux.

Slice off the dry end of the garlic. Hold a knife flat on top of the clove and give the knife a good whack with the exterior of your fist. the thin skin should pop off. Remove it. Thinly slice the garlic along the length. Turn the garlic strips 90 degrees and repeat. Rock your knife back and forth until the pieces are extremely small.

Lay the citrus on the counter parallel to you. Apply downward pressure with the heel of your hand and rock it back and forth. When you feel the rind give, cut it across the equator. Poke the flesh a few times with the prongs of a fork then stick the fork in the center, turn it flesh-side down and squeeze.

Lay the citrus on its side. Slice off the top and bottom. Stand it upright. Slide you knife down following the curve of the fruit between the peel and flesh. With a pairing knife, you can cut between the sections, but I don’t do that. I lay the citrus on it’s side and slice it to create rounds. I then cut it half across the diameter, turn it 90 degrees and repeat. You’ll end up with small triangles.

If you don’t have a zester, you can use the small holes on a box grater. Be careful to not get the white part because it is bitter.

Cut an “x” about 1/2 way deep at the bottom of the pomegranate. Over a large bowl placed in the sink, hold the pomegranate cut side down down in the palm of your non-dominate hand. Hit the top and sides of the pomegranate with a wooden spoon. You’ll want to give it several good whacks. If you’re a strong person, don’t use all of your force. Depending on the pomegranate anywhere from a few seeds to most of the seeds will fall out. Place both thumbs into the x and break the pomegranate into quarters. Then pick out the remaining arils from the peel. Even if the seeds don’t fall out, they’ll be easy to remove. Some people don’t like using this method because they say the spoon smashes the arils. I haven’t experienced that issue and this method cuts the peeling time in half for me.