Creole Jambalaya Recipe With The Works

Ingredients

• 1 pound andouille sausage, smoked sausage, or ham, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast
• Kosher salt & freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 (28 ounce) can of whole tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (10 ounce) can of Rotel tomatoes, undrained
• 4 cups of chicken stock or broth
• 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• Palmful of dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning (like Slap Ya Mama), or to taste
• 4 cups of long grain rice
• 3 tablespoons of butter, cut into slices (can omit if using dark or mixed chicken)
• 1 pound of raw shrimp, cleaned and deveined
• Old Bay seasoning
• Chopped parsley, to garnish
• Hot pepper sauce, for the table

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut up sausage, onion, bell pepper and garlic; set aside.

Sprinkle the whole chicken breasts with salt and pepper and brown in oil over medium to medium high heat in a 6 quart cast iron dutch oven that has a lid. Don't overcook! Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Once cool, coarsely chop into bite sized pieces. To the dutch oven, add the chopped sausage and cook until browned; remove and set aside.

Add additional oil as needed to bring up to a tablespoon. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly until lightly browned. Do not burn! Add onion and bell pepper and saute a few minutes until softened. Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic, cooking another minute. Using kitchen shears, roughly chop the tomatoes right in the can, then carefully stir them into the veggie/roux mixture, add the Rotel tomatoes and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, thyme, basil, parsley, Cajun seasoning, white pepper, and cayenne, bring back up to a boil. Add the rice and stir in. Return to a boil. Add the chicken and sausage, dot the top with butter, stir, cover the pot and place it into the oven. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until the majority of liquid is absorbed.

Remove, stir, taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Sprinkle the shrimp lightly with Old Bay seasoning, stir the shrimp into the rice mixture and return to the oven to bake until liquid is absorbed and shrimp are cooked through. Fluff with a large serving fork.

Scoop onto plates, garnish with a bit of parsley, add a side salad or a green veggie, and pass hot pepper sauce at the table.  Makes a massive amount of jambalaya.  Reheat leftovers covered in the microwave.

Lighten it up: Substitute turkey smoked sausage and use non-stick cooking spray to brown the meats instead of oil.  For the roux, omit the oil, use a bit more spray, and just brown the flour in the dutch oven long enough to cook the flour, about 5 minutes. Whisk in a bit of water to form a gravy and add a splash of Kitchen Bouquet. Omit the butter at the end.