recipe : jambalaya

You know how sometimes when you talk to someone from the South, or someone from England, you suddenly take on their accent?  Well that doesn't happen to me, but I do tend to talk with a southern drawl when I'm make Jambalaya.  I just feel as if I should be living in New Orleans while making this (*I've never been to Louisiana, therefore, these assumptions are all in AnnE's land of make believe.*)

Anywho, in our quest to be gluten free, we've whole heartedly embraced brown rice.  And because I can't seem to get enough of spicy chicken sausage and shrimp, this recipe already seems to be a winner even before I made it.

Check out the recipe and pictures here: Jambalaya Recipe

And just like the pad thai I talked about last week, below is the recipe with my tweaks...mainly for my benefit of replicating this meal at a later date.  If you are in need of a super easy dish to feed a crowd - this is it.  Seriously, I don't think I had to cook for several nights after this since we had so many leftovers.  The good news is that it reheats like a dream.  We ate all the protein on night one and two so I just made a few chicken breasts and tossed them in for the third night.

Ingredients

6	slices bacon, diced
5	links andouille sausages, cut crosswise into ½-inch cubes
30	ish shrimp, peeled and deveined
2	onions, chopped
5-6	garlic cloves
3	large celery stalks, chopped
1	8-to 10-ounce red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1	8-to 10-ounce green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
2	bay leaves
4	large skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1- to 1½-inch pieces
2	tablespoons paprika
3	tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1	tablespoon chili powder
½	teaspoon (or more) cayenne pepper
2	10-ounce cans diced fire roasted tomatoes
1	28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2½	cups shrimp*, chicken or beef broth
2	cups (19 to 20 ounces) long-grain white rice
8	green onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
	Chopped fresh Italian parsley

Directions

*If making shrimp broth, peel shrimp, saving shells. Cover with 3 cups water and bring to boil. Simmer for several minutes.
Cook bacon in a large pot. Remove bacon, crumble and set aside. Cook onions and celery in bacon fat till softened. Add garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add seasonings and chicken. Cook chicken until outside turns white. Add bacon crumbles and rice and cover, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Add peppers, bay leaves, tomatoes and broth. Bring to boil. Turn down heat, cover and simmer until rice is cooked. Turn off heat and stir in shrimp. Cover for 5 minutes. Check shrimp for doneness. Garnish with green onions and parsley.



AnnE's additions:
This is a great recipe to clean out the frig, so I added a few carrots chopped up, along with a package of spicy chicken sausage and about a dozen shrimp.  We also had some frozen corn, so I tossed about a cup and a half of corn into the mix too.

Also, instead of using a measurement device for the cayenne pepper or chili powder, I just tossed a palmfuls of each in - but let me remind you, we are big fans of spice, so do whatever you want on that one...there's so much liquid though that it really wasn't over powering.  I don't typically buy fire roasted tomatoes, so I just used another can of crushed or diced tomatoes (whatever was in the pantry.)