It happens every summer to gardeners in South Louisiana. You plant your vegetable patch, and watch with anticipation as your plants grow and flourish. Then, it happens. The plants start producing. And producing. And producing.  Oh goodness, look at those bell peppers. Have some bell peppers, neighbors and friends. Look, here’s more. Need any more? No?

This was the scenario that led to the inception of a great idea — C’est Tout Dried Trinity Mix. Dreux and Monique Barra had just too many peppers from the harvest of 2016. They decided to put those abundant bell peppers to the test. They knew they were perishable, and did not want to waste them.

At first, Dreux would chop them up and freeze them, figuring he could use them as needed. Then, he had an idea. He regularly dehydrated meats to make jerky, and he wondered what would happen with the bell peppers. And more than bell peppers, what if he could make trinity that could be dehydrated and used like fresh? C’est Tout was conceived and on its way. 

He recruited friends and family to serve as tasters, and started testing theories and recipes. He found that dehydrated onion, celery and bell peppers bounced back to “just like you just chopped them,” Dreux said. In addition, they sauteed to caramelization much quicker than fresh, with no chopping, no waste, no problem.

Dreux, whose real-world job is consulting for an international security company, had a new hobby. He tweaked and perfected his dehydrated trinity recipe, and added a new product, trinity with garlic. He followed the advice of friends and family, brought his ideas to his mom, who as a Home Economics graduate gave him expert advice. She suggested the addition of red bell pepper to the mix, for a touch of sweetness and a pop of color. “Mom said, ‘We taste with our eyes, too,’ and she was right,” he said.

He began producing and selling C’est Tout, first at farmers’ markets, then online and retail. “We’ve had really great success at the Delcambre Seafood and Farmers Market, as well as the market at the horse farm in Lafayette,” he said. “We sold 13 cases in 4 hours at the horse farm.This is fast becoming my second full-time job.” His first retail outlet was Heleaux’s in Lafayette, and since then he has branched out into more than 125 stores, including Rouse’s, Bi-Lo and Super One in New Iberia.

“My best successes have come from doing store demos, where the customers can see exactly what the product is, how convenient it is, and how it can work in their kitchens, campers and RVs,” he said. “COVID curtailed that for a while, but we’re back on the road, cooking trinity.”

C’est Tout trinity is easy to use. “Four tablespoons of the mix yields one cup of vegetables,” said Dreux. “If you’re using C’est Tout in a gravy, you can just drop it in. If you’d like to sauté the vegetables before, put them into a pan with water to cover, bring to a rolling boil and stir. Soon, the trinity will be back to life just like you chopped them. You can then cook them to desired doneness, and use in any recipe.” 

One of the most popular C’est Tout recipes done as a demo is Farmer’s Market Jambalaya (recipe below). 

“At farmer’s markets, I have as many people wanting to buy the jambalaya as C’est Tout. It’s not a traditional Jambalaya, but it’s easy and oh, so good.”

C’est Tout’s online sales are going strong, and every online order gets a little lagniappe from Dreux and Monique. “We add a personal thank you note to every order, and purple, gold and green Mardi Gras beads. Just a little something to remember us by,” Dreux said. Visit C’est Tout’s website: ThisIsCajun.com.

This is the recipe for the Jambalaya the Barras hand out at all of our Farmers Markets/Store Demonstrations. It is a very simple recipe, but very good.

FARMERS MARKET JAMBALAYA – INSPIRED BY CHEF KRISTIE NEVEAUX

1pound pork (tenderloin, pork chop or other cut) 

6 tablespoons or so of C’est Tout Dried Trinity Mix

3 Cans Cream of mushroom soup

Cajun seasoning to taste.

Kitchen Bouquet

5 – 7 cups Uncle Ben’s Original Converted Rice (Cooked separately)

1 Pound of smoked pork sausage

3 Tablespoons cooking oil

Cut meat up in bite size pieces. (For the market, I cut it up really small, so it fits in the small souffle cups I use to hand out samples.) Cut the sausage and meat to your preference size. Coat the meat with liberal amounts of Cajun seasoning. Again, this is going to be your preference on how “seasoned” you want your meat.

Over medium-medium high heat. Heat pot and add the oil … then add all your meat. Brown it, and really let it cook down … (20 minutes or so). This process creates the “browning” on the bottom of the pot which is good. Once the meat is good and browned, add three cans of cream of mushroom, and blend it in with the meat, making sure you scrape the bottom, grabbing all that crust on the bottom of the pot. This creates a creamy meat gravy of sorts. Add 6 tablespoons of C’est Tout and blend that into the mixture really well … letting this cook down for about 20 minutes or so until the veggies hydrate and become a bit transparent. Once at this stage, add Kitchen Bouquet seasoning/coloring sauce to bring the base to the color you desire. This is preference again … how light/dark you want your jambalaya. 

While the meat is simmering, cook the rice in the rice cooker, and by the time you have the color the way you want it, it is time to add in the rice. Fold in rice using a large spoon, continually adding rice and folding until you have the jambalaya to the “creaminess” you like. Fold and stir, completely getting all the rice mixed into the mixture. Reduce heat to a simmer or low, and let cook for a bit to ensure all the flavors come together. 

This recipe is rather large and can be divided in two for smaller batches. 

Pork can be substituted with any protein (chicken for example).