Kwame Onwuachi's stupendous jambalaya

Can't get to New York to experience the restaurant everyone's talking about? Treat yourself to a Creole classic from the chef's cookbook.

Happy Friday, jubilant cook!

Since visiting New Orleans a few weeks ago, I’ve had Creole cooking on the brain. That’s why I finally dove into My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef, by Kwame Onwuachi. The author — one of the most talked-about chefs of his generation — has been thrilling diners at Tatiana, his restaurant in New York City’s Lincoln Center. There he features flavors from Nigeria (where his father grew up, and where Kwame lived in his youth), Louisiana (where his mother’s from and where he first self-actualized as a cook), the Caribbean, and all over the African diaspora. Last year, Tatiana earned the number one spot on New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells’ list of the 100 best restaurants in the city.

There’s so much in My America that looks wonderful — the Baigan Choka that’s on the cover (it’s a charred vegetable salad from Trinidad and Tobago); Jamaican Stew Peas (with ham hock, pig tails and dumplings) and Senegalese Chicken Yassa.

Alas, most of the recipe…