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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes |
Ready In: 30 Minutes Servings: 4 |
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I first tried my hand at making jambalaya after picking a southern cook's brain one night when my former band Cruces played at a venue called The Loose Caboose in West Monroe, LA. 18 years of subtle tweaks, additions, and revisions have passed since then. Read more . What I offer to you is my take on jambalaya infused with the rich taste of life itself. It's even better eaten the next day as a left over...that is if there is any left over. Ingredients:
2 cups calrose rice - if you don't like sticky rice, any medium grain white rice will do |
1 cup chicken broth |
1 cup sherry |
2/3 cup water |
2 sticks unsalted butter |
3 tbsp olive oil |
1 cup cubed ham |
1 chicken breast 1 in. slices |
1 cup medium or large cooked shrimp |
optional: if you don't mind a slight fishy odor, about a 1/2 cup of crawfish tailmeat can be added with the shrimp |
1 14oz package (2 links) smoked sausage - 1/2 in. slices |
1 green bell pepper diced |
1 large yellow onion diced |
5 green chiles finely sliced (not de-seeded) |
1 bottle guinness draught |
4 tsp minced or freshly pressed garlic |
paprika |
fresh ground black pepper |
cayenne pepper |
salt |
thyme |
4 whole bay leaves |
your favorite creole or cajun seasoning |
Directions:
1. Soak rice in chicken broth, sherry, and water.
2. Place sliced sausage on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with Cajun seasoning, and place in oven set to broil. You want to achieve a nice crispy char to the edge of the slices. Just keep tabs on it while you're doing the next several steps, because this won't take long. You don't want to burn it! When it's done just remove and set aside.
3. Over med. heat, begin to saute half of the garlic.
4. After garlic is heated, add sausage, ham, and chicken.
5. Begin to saute onion and green bell pepper in a whole stick of butter over med. heat on a separate burner. Just continue to watch your veggies and turn off the burner when they've reached that nice golden color and are slightly tender.
6. Add sliced chilies to meat mixture -you may start to cough a little.
7. Bring soaked rice to a boil on a separate burner. When liquid begins to boil, add bay leaves, the remaining garlic,and the last stick of butter, then reduce heat to simmer and cover.
8. After meat mixture is thoroughly browned, add the sausage that you had set aside from the oven, spice to taste with seasonings, and add entire bottle of Guinness...well, minus a good sampling for yourself, of course.
9. Bring beer to boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cover for five minutes.
10. Uncover meat mixture, add shrimp, and raise heat so that the beer can boil off a bit. At this point you may want to sample a bit of the mixture and decide if you need to season a bit more. I usually end up adding a bit more salt and cajun seasoning.
11. Taste test the texture of the rice to make sure that it is cooked through.
12. When the rice is tender enough, the meat mixture should be thickened. At this point you can add the meat mixture and peppers and onions to the rice, and stir thoroughly. Try to find and remove the bay leaves. No big deal though if one turns up in a serving. Just tell that friend they're a winner.
13. Bring it to the table in your favorite serving dish with a bit of attitude, serve and enjoy!
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