| I know, I know, jambalaya sort of seems like the odd woman out among my other recipes. People often inquire about this. Here is the schtick. Growing up, my mom used to occassionally make my brothers and I jambalaya. So I have been treated to the goodness of jambalaya for YEARS. Among the many dishes my mom used to make for us growing up, this one stuck with me. It is a burst of flavors, it is different, and despite the wordiness of my directions below, it isn’t difficult to make. It is one of my go-tos on a cold, rainy day or if I feel like my dinners are beginning to get stale or overused, I go with the jambalaya. Jambalaya is one of those meals, too, that you can really easily substitute different ingredients in and out to experiment with. The ingredients I’ve included below are pretty classic in jambalaya but do not be afraid to go a little crazy with this one and experiment! | |
| Total Time | Servings |
| 1 hour | 4 |
| Ingredients | |
| Base | 1 cup long grain white rice 32 ounces Chicken Bone Broth 2 Slicer Tomatoes |
| Protein | 4 Chicken Thighs (or substitute breasts) 1 LB Andouille Sausage |
| Additions | 1 Green Pepper 1 Red Pepper 3 Celery Stalks 5 Cloves of Garlic |
| Directions | |
| Prep the Protein: Chop the chicken thighs (or breasts) into chunks, small enough to be in a spoonful of a jambalaya bite. For reference, an inch by an inch is too big for my preference. Chop the andouille sausage into medallions about 1 cm thick. Cook the Protein: Put a dutch oven on medium heat. Add a tablespoon (or so) to the dutch oven. Place all of the chicken thigh (or breasts) chunks and andouille sausage medallions into the dutch oven. Stirring occassionally, cook for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken and andouille sausage from the dutch oven and set off to the side. You should remove most of any liquid in the dutch oven, a little remaining is fine. (As the protein cooks) Prep the Additions: Chop the green and red pepper. Chop the celery stalks. When chopping, keep in mind that the chunks will get smaller when sauteed. Do not dice the pepper and do not dice the celery stalks. For size reference, refer to the pictures that are part of this post. Dice the cloves of garlic. Check my products page for the BEST tool for quickly and cleanly dicing garlic cloves. “Prep” the Base”: The only prep that the base requires is the slicer tomatoes. Typically, the ingredients for a jambalaya recipe will tell you to pick up a can of crush tomatoes. If that is your preference, be my guest. However, if this blog is one you follow often, you know I try my darnedest to use all fresh ingredients. Thus, I substitute fresh slicer tomatoes for the typical can of crushed tomatoes. I think this context is important mainly because it sets the stage for the purpose of the slicer tomatoes in this recipe. Cut the slicer tomatoes into small squares. You can check out the pictures that are part of this post as an example. (Once protein is cooked) Cook the Additions: After you remove the cooked protein from the dutch oven, place all 4 of the additions (green pepper, red pepper, celery, garlic) into the dutch oven. Cook on medium heat, stirring occassionally, until slightly softened, for about 15 minutes. Assemble & Simmer: Add all 3 of the base ingredients (rice, broth, slicer tomatoes) to the dutch oven (with the cooked additions). Cook on medium heat for a few minutes (~3), then turn the heat down to low and let simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Don’t just set the timer and walk away until it goes off 20 minutes later. Keep a loose eye on this. You do not want to simmer too long or you risk the jambalaya turning into more of a mushy, sticky rice dish. Nothing against mushy, sticky rice, but it just isn’t jambalaya. To Serve: Add the protein to the dutch oven. Stir. Ladle into a bowl and serve! | |
