Jambalaya to Bridge the Gap

Hey guys! Wow, has it been over a month already? The whole month of July went by in a blink. It was a busy month. Full of many, MANY changes for my little family. And we're still adjusting. Trying to settle in. Until then, I'm afraid the blogs are going to be few and far between. I may not get back to a regular posting schedule until September. So please, bear with me. But today, to kinda bridge the gap, I have a new recipe for you!

So many of the recipes in my repertoire are simple childhood favorites. I knew what they were supposed to taste like, and I could throw my own spin on them. With this recipe, that was NOT the case. I had only tried jambalaya once in all my 32 years. My fiancé ordered it at a restaurant, and we shared it. I'm not sure it was even authentic to the original cuisine. So, essentially, I was flying taste blind when I recreated a recipe for us to try.

I researched for a week: Authentic Creole and Cajun recipes for jambalaya. And I used it to create a recipe that would work for my family's preferences. We tried it out this past Saturday, and it was delicious! I'm not sure it's traditional, but it definitely worked for us!

But first... here's the thing... I don't measure. Not nearly as much as I probably should. I eyeball most things. The beauty of this, is that it's easy to make as little or as much as you want without too much math. The downfall is, it makes it difficult to write out a recipe that others can follow exactly. Just know that this recipe is extremely flexible to your family's preferences. Ok? Here we go:

Important note:

I used a dutch oven which is a cast iron pot with a lid. If you don't have one, a large pot with a tight fitting lid should work, but may affect cooking times and temperatures. Keep an eye out, and adjust accordingly to your stove and equipment.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil OR Vegetable oil
• **Butter OR margarine
• Yellow onion
• Celery
• Red bell pepper
• Green bell pepper
• Garlic - minced, you can get it already minced in a jar, which is what we use, or you can use fresh. Up to you. 
•  Old Bay seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper 
• Dried oregano
• Cayenne pepper
• Tomato paste
• Chicken OR Beef stock 
• Uncooked white rice 
• Chicken breast
• Sausage - could be Andouille sausage, but we used polska kielbasa. 
• **Water

** Optional

Prep:

You will want these steps done BEFORE anything is put on heat. It's important so as to keep things running smoothly. Otherwise you risk burning certain ingredients if you're distracted trying to prep while you cook. Just my 2 cents. 

•  Cube chicken breast into bite size pieces.
• Slice sausage - my family prefers round pieces, but you can slice it any way you choose. 
• Here's where you measure: getting your rice ready. * For every cup of rice, you need to measure out 2 cups of chicken/beef stock. Then measure out an additional 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water, depending on how "soupy" you want your jambalaya. If you want it dry, add very little water. If you want it saucy, add one cup. 
• De-seed bell peppers, and dice. The size of the dice is up to you, but I found the smaller the better. 
• **Dice onion and celery into similarly sized pieces. 
• Cry from cutting onion. It's ok. Let it out. 😉

**I used this machine my mom gave me. Looks like a blender, or a food processor. Not really sure what it's called to be honest. But it took so much of the guesswork out of it. Chopped the veggies in no time. 

Now to COOK:

1. Heat about a tablespoon or two of olive/ vegetable oil, and add Celery, Bell Peppers, and onion. *Most recipes I found called these veggies the Holy Trinity of the South. Just an interesting tidbit.* Cook on medium to medium-high heat until they are soft. *Now, as I'm still trying to figure out our new stove, this was a bit tricky. I found that adding a bit of butter/ margarine along the way helped to keep them from burning, and cook down while I adjusted the temperature. In any case, prepare for quite a bit of steam. 
2. Once the trinity is soft, add in your chicken bits and season the WHOLE POT *trinity included* with salt, pepper, oregano and cayenne pepper. *Try not to use too much salt. Just a dash will do. You can go as crazy as you want with the oregano and black pepper. The cayenne pepper is totally up to preference as well. But watch the salt for sure!
3. Stir together and cook until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Stir in sausage, tomato paste, and garlic. Cook until fragrant. *Now this is a bit vague. The dish is already pretty fragrant with the onions and whatnot. So the fragrance you're really looking for here is the smell of garlic. Not just the whiff you caught when putting it in. The scent will become warm and inviting. Filling your kitchen with a cozy feeling. It only takes a few minutes. No more than 4 or 5 minutes depending on the size of the pot. For my family it took around 3 minutes. 
5. Add chicken/ beef stock, water, rice and Old Bay seasoning. Give it a good stir. Bring it to a bubble. 
6. Then, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover with the lid. Let this cook until the rice is fluffy. Start with 20 minutes, then check it. If it needs more time, stir the pot, cover again and add 5-10 minutes. *Most* of the liquid should be absorbed. But not ALL of the liquid. 
7. Once the rice is cooked, it's ready to serve! We chose to top ours with a bit of shredded cheese, but it's totally optional. 

And there you have it! If you decide to try it out, let me know how it goes! My fiancé and I decided to go full steam ahead next time, and add shrimp, a splash of hot sauce after separating our 6 year old daughter's portion out, and possibly some other extras we found in more traditional recipes. If that's something you want on the blog, let me know and I'll try to take pictures when we test it out!

❤ Much Love ❤