Monday, August 17, 2009

Jambalaya

I'll apologize upfront to everyone from Louisiana or elsewhere who knows how to make actual authentic Jambalaya. 

Jambalaya (serves 4)
1/2 - 1T olive oil
1 med onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1-2 bell peppers (green is traditional but I use whatever's handy)
1 garlic clove (diced)
8-12 oz chicken (cooked or raw, cut into bites)
1 t thyme
8 oz sausage (I used chicken-apple tonight, but normally I used Kielbasa)
14.5oz can diced tomatoes
1 c water + 1t Better than Bullion (or 1 bullion cube/1 c broth)
3/4c uncooked white rice
  1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy pan/skillet.  Add onions, celery, peppers, and garlic.  Saute til onion is translucent.
  2. Add in chicken and diced tomatoes.  If chicken is raw, let it get started cooking before adding in the rice.  You can crank up the heat a bit here.
  3. Add broth, sausage, and rice.  Make sure it's simmering well, then cover and keep at medium for 15-20 minutes til the rice has cooked. 
  4. Serve with Tony Chachere's. 
This is a very versatile recipe and a great way to use up leftover meats. I usually default to making it with chicken (esp. dark meat leftovers from a whole chicken) and sausage (any kind of smoked/cured sausage that you like). If you like shrimp/crawfish, you can toss those is as well.

Variations: 
Add some sherry and oranges and a pinch of saffron --> Quick Paella.

Omit chicken and add a can of kidney beans/red beans.  Substitute a can of tomato sauce for the diced tomatoes --> Red Beans and Rice

2 comments:

  1. Katie, this is similar to the jambalaya my husband and I make a couple of times a year:

    http://tunyurl.com/oood86

    We make the tomato "base" separately and freeze it in separate containers, then, to serve, we just stir in cooked rice - it makes such great, quick meals!

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  2. Thanks for sharing! I like the idea of freezing some of the base ahead of time. Next time I do it, I'll double it to have some for the freezer. Always looking for easy freezer stuff.

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