For a Relief Society cooking group today, I made jambalaya and rice pudding. I was a bit worried-- ok, a lot worried-- because I hadn't ever made either and I was playing with the recipes. Foolish! But I think I was blessed for hosting, because both turned out delightfully well. I will give you the recipes as I made them.
This jambalaya recipe is adapted from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, but it's really quite different. Even with the intentional changes that I made, I chopped things rather large and roughly and was a little bit loose with the timing of things. I think it's rather robust-- the thing turned out absolutely ideally.
This makes a very spicy dish. I like spicy, and yes, this really is spicy. Serve with milk, a nice french bread, and a leafy green salad.
Jambalaya
2 whole bay leaves
1 1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t white pepper
1 t dried thyme leaves
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t rubbed sage
2 T butter
1/2 pound chopped andouille sausage (I cut disks in quarters), about 2 cups
3/4 lb boneless chicken, cut into bite-size pieces, about 2 cups (I used thigh meat)
1 T minced garlic
1 c chopped onions
1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped green bell peppers
1/2 c canned tomato sauce
1 c chopped tomatoes
2 1/2 c low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 c uncooked converted rice
Melt butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add sausage and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add chicken and continue cooking until chicken is brown, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, and scraping pan bottom well if it's not nonstick. Stir in seasonings (bay leaf through sage), garlic, and 1/2 c each of the onions, celery, and bell peppers. Cook until vegetables start to get tender, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring. Stir in tomato sauce and cook about 1 minute, stirring often. Stir in the remaining 1/2 c each of the onions, celery, and bell peppers and the tomatoes. Remove from heat. Stir in the broth and rice, mixing well. Transfer mixture to an ungreased 8x8-inch baking pan (must not be unusually shallow). Bake uncoverd in a 350 F oven until rice is tender but still a bit cruncy, about 1 hour. Remove from oven. Stir well and cool a bit before eating.
1 comment:
We had our jambalaya for Mardi Gras on Ash Wednesday. Skip made it, because I was at school all day. The recipe, which I have made a few times before, is for a "brown" jambalaya: i.e., without tomato sauce. Its flavor (which is delicious) is provided almost entirely by the "trinity" ingredients (onion, bell pepper, and celery). The key to a good flavor is a nice, dark roux. For meat, it contains only chicken, but sausage and the like could, of course, be added. Skip made it with almost no pepper-heat. I just ate a dish of the leftovers for lunch.
Post a Comment